Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Locke: Sensation and reflection

Locke, as an empiricist, obviously believes that we are all born with our minds as a blank slate (tabula rasa), and we learn ideas and concepts through experience. The two sources of our ideas are sensation and reflection. The argument for sensation is obvious--you must perceive via the senses in order to understand what it really is. This contributes to Locke's rainbow argument for definitions of complex ideas. Even if you described every little detail of a rainbow (order of the colors, size, brightness, etc) and individual who has never sensed color would not understand the concept. This person who was blind from birth has not had anything etched onto his blank slate in regards to vision. Therefore, he does not know what it's like to see color, nor does he truly understand the difference between red and blue. Locke describes the reflection part of his argument as "the perception of the operations of our own mind within us, as it is employed about the ideas it has got." This accounts for our abilities to remember, discern, reason, judge, etc. I think that Locke's discussion of reflection gives his argument solid ground, as we all know that sensations can quickly fade away. Without the reflection part of his argument, we would be a blank slate after each passing moment. The ability to remember and analyze lets us retain past sensations via ideas and concepts.

3 comments:

Matthew Lorah said...

I agree with Lockes idea that we are born with a blank slate and that we gain information by the intake of our senses. I also agree with Locke how people that were born blind would have no idea of color because he would have not percieved it

Sandy Rizzo said...

I see Locke's point here. It seems harder to imagina that we are born with ideas in our minds already than it is to believe we are taught everything.

Noemi Gomez said...

I agree with Locke in that I believe knowledge is gained through experience. However, I don't think all knowledge is gained through experience. the idea of language, survival instincts and the natural instincts to take care of our young. I think there is much to be said for the human mind and soul and we shouldn't jump the gun and give all credit for our knowledge to experience.