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John Locke Persuasive Essay

1307 Words6 Pages

Here lays the scene of a group of four-year-olds at day care in south Philadelphia. Modern philosophers Rene Descartes, John Locke and David Hume have been reincarnated centuries ahead into mischievous toddlers with keen interest in objects that reside in the world around them. The toddlers: strong-willed and intuitive Renee, respectful and cooperative Little John, and intellectual, obnoxious Davie, all have an idea of what knowledge consists of and how we can perceive existence from those ideas. Renee, being Descartes’ reincarnation, is a rationalist that desires reason to allow the acceptance of knowledge. She insists that using our senses alone is not adequate in believing the existence of the things we suppose exist. Renee is keen to doubting …show more content…

“What you fail to realize is our senses are technically the only things we have that separate what is real and what isn’t. Without our ability to perceive the properties that make everything up, nothing is filling existence after all,” Davie counteracts. Little John takes in the information he has learned from his playmates and shuffles the details in his underdeveloped mind. He then comes up with a reasoning of his own after toying with the creature. “From my newly-found experience, I have decided that this living machine does exist, only because I have witnessed it. Before, I had never come across a design like it before. From this point on, I have the only fact I need that it exists: my experience of its life. Whether my senses of the physical form of the creature are correct or false, I have a definite reason to believe the “caterpillar” exists and that he can breathe and walk just like I can,” he offers confidently. The toddlers stare at each other in confusion when learning that they each have a different position on the idea of this thing that can exist in any number of ways other than their own ideas. Davie remains unconvinced and lightly reasons with Little John’s

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