Philosophy has always been one of the most important and fascinating aspects of human life. Its significance is due to the fact that it develops meanings and values. Moreover, philosophy thus makes the life of individuals complete. The study and evaluation of various philosophical concepts are necessary for a better understanding of everything that surrounds people. That is why this work will be considered the object of John Locke’s essay on human understanding as a source of useful and precious knowledge.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, authored by the philosopher John Locke is one of the most significant works of the seventeenth century. This essay is divided into four parts, which cover various topics. The first part provides proof that there are no innate concepts in the human mind, and the next part provides information about where they actually come from (Mills, 2021). Next, the author examines the meaning of language in cognition. In the last part, the types of knowledge are given, taking into account the faith and opinions of people. Fuller et al. (2019) emphasized that “apart from the discussion of the extent and limits of human knowledge, then it deals with the philosophy of perception, the origins of concepts, the foundations of science, the nature of language, a variety of metaphysical topics, and with morality and religion” (p. 5). The theory of knowledge is a key point in the work of a philosopher.
John Locke is considered to be the receiver of Bacon’s materialistic thought. Focusing on the development of empiricism, the philosopher brought it towards materialistic sensualism. Thus, the author gave his own explanation of the principle of the origin of concepts in the human mind through the sensory world. Locke’s Essay on Human Cognition is a refutation of the philosophical thought of his contemporaries and their predecessors. Those thinkers of those times tended to the theoretical basis of the anti-sensualist and adhered to the side of the theory of knowledge that recognized extrasensory knowledge.
The first argument that Locke’s work is of particular importance is his reflections on the birth of human ideas. So, according to the author, certain concepts cannot be immediately embedded in a person’s mind. All of them are based on the experience experienced through the prism of feelings. The bases for the formation of concepts are simple ideas that a person receives through a practical component. Thus, the mind alone has no way to create and develop an understanding of anything and always depends on experience. This thinking contributed to the development of the concept of “tabula rasa,” or a clean slate (Ali Zaiter, 2018). This aspect of philosophy is inherent only in newborns whose mind does not yet contain any information (MacBlain, 2018). Moral characteristics and views of people are also considered acquired by the author. In support of the argument, Locke says that people in different states have different beliefs from each other.
As already mentioned, Locke accepted simple knowledge as the basis for the formation of ideas. The author claims that they are fundamental parts of the human experience. An example is a chair that is perceived by a person through one sense, through multiple feelings, a reflection, or a combination of these two concepts (Locke, 2019). Thus, the stool is conducted by the individual as brown, through color, or hard, through its function. Such consideration helps to form a complete image of a larger concept. Thus, people acquire certain knowledge through the processes of experience and feelings.
The philosopher also emphasizes in the work that not all components of concepts are sensations. Thus, not all components of the surrounding world, perceived through the senses, are similar to how various things are actually arranged and framed. They are endowed with characteristics such as size, density, or shape, while not having color, smell, or taste. However, they are endowed with the smallest particles, which, when moving and acting on the senses, create a certain sensation. Therefore, such aspects as, for example, the color of an object are a kind of motion of matter. Various kinds of experiences, especially sensory ones, also determine the level of people’s cognition abilities of the world around them. Thus, individuals can realize and form certain concepts in the context of their own sensory perceptions and experiences. They are defined by Locke as closed areas of knowledge that are inaccessible to people.
Since morality is not a natural trait inherent in people, Locke argues that it, like most concepts, is formed with the help of experienced experience and the openness of the human spirit. Moreover, the argument for the validity of this thought is that the philosopher does not accept the universality of moral postulates. The main source of morality, according to Locke, was God. Then, there was a direct human experience that helped people decide what exactly brings both happiness and calm. The last aspect was considered to be the very essence of a person, in which his desire and desires for satisfaction and happiness are embedded. These criteria are an important positive ethical meaning of Locke’s philosophy.
Another important aspect of John Locke’s work is the sensory side of personality experience, which forms concepts. Sensory experience is a source of consciousness containing certain human ideas. Furthermore, many concepts and the very essence of their formation can be explained. To explain them, it is necessary to determine the way in which people form knowledge. Moreover, it is necessary to find an explanation of how certain information appears in consciousness. It can be just through perception, feeling, experience, and observation, which is proof that all knowledge is not innate. Moreover, Locke’s concept of the non-innateness of concepts can also be supported by psychology. Thus, people may simply not realize the ways of forming thoughts and ideas that they believe they already have in their minds. This is due to the lack of awareness of the role played by upbringing, experience, and customs in this process.
Therefore, this work explored the philosophical thought of John Locke as an important aspect of the worldview. In his essay, the author focuses on the main problems of epistemology. He focuses on how people acquire certain knowledge. Moreover, the most important aspect of Locke’s teaching is that he took the position of denying the innateness of concepts, which were promoted by such famous philosophers of those times as Plato and Descartes. Moreover, Locke does not deny the existence of external objects, God, and human existence. In the modern world, the philosopher, the predecessor of Kant, is considered the founder of the newest critical theory of knowledge.
References
Ali Zaiter, W. (2018). The impact of John Locke’s tabula rasa and Kant’s faculty of intuition on the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats: Implications and applications. AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, 2(3).
Fuller, G., Stecker, R., & Wright, J. P. (Eds.). (2019). John Locke: En essay concerning human understanding in focus. Routledge.
Locke, J. (2019). An essay concerning human understanding. Creative Media Partners.
MacBlain, S. (2018). Learning theories for early years practice. SAGE.
Mills, R. J. W. (2021). Locke against innatism. The Religious Innatism Debate in Early Modern Britain, 71-76.