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John Locke Research Paper

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An understanding of John Locke’s philosophy is foundational to the understanding of the popular American philosophical thought — his works Two Treatises of American Government and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding are two of the most influential works in regards to popular western philosophy. However, this fact is not meant to imply that Locke’s ideas are more correct than that of his peers — rather, Locke’s ideas are more important than that of his peers because of both the time period in which he published his work as well as the sheer amount of people his work influenced. Again, that is not to say that Locke’s ideas are perfect or infallible. Locke’s ideas, especially when explored in the context of fundamentalism, are fallible not …show more content…

Because of this, Hobbes believed that a government should be created to control these innate impulses. Locke took this same idea and flipped it on its head; Locke believed that people aren’t innately selfish, instead humans aren’t innately anything. Humans are born with a blank mental slate, otherwise known as the tabula rosa or blank white page. Like Hobbes, Locke took that same idea and applied it to his own civics framework — Locke believed that the government should function for the people and be ruled by the …show more content…

By definition, each quale (s.) is unique. While Locke may not use this exact term, he brings up the concept frequently, especially in his Inverted Spectrum problem.
Memory Locke’s theory of self is contingent on his idea of memory. Essentially, each individual’s qualia are compounded to more complex experiences, and Locke believes this to be the root of the self. This continuation of memory is one of the most important parts of Locke’s theory, and the synthesis of his theory on memory into his theory of self was one of the more groundbreaking achievements in Locke’s philosophy. Self Locke’s “self” is that of complete self-determination. As Locke sees it, there is no innate understanding -- instead, Locke believes in the previously defined tabula rosa, or a mental blank slate at birth. Furthermore, Locke believes in the continuation of memory; that is to say, simply, Locke believes that compounded memories are what constitute the self, rather than that of predetermination or innate

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Interesting thread, "tabula rasa is the latin term for a cleaned tablet, one that has been erased and is ready for new marks" (Argumentation and Advocacy, 1994). John Locke is one of the most influential philosophers of modern times and his complete comprehension concern human understanding in the 20th century. Either way, John Locke was a philosopher who did not care for the Cartesian theory that soul accounts for personal identity, that is where empty mind a tabula rasa which is shaped by experience and sensations and reflections being that of the two ideas. Either way, the third term between soul and body that John Locke thought would be meditation would be the brain with consciousness (Finan, 2015 p. 30). The brain is that of the body

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