John Locke's experience of the human mind briefly. John Locke. "An Essay on Human Understanding". I. from Narsky. john locke and his theoretical system

Ideas are what each person is aware of, what he thinks, what his mind is doing during thinking. All ideas come from sensation or reflection. The mind is a tabula rasa and it receives material for reasoning and knowledge from experience, i.e. our observation, directed at external sensible objects or internal actions of the mind, provides our mind with all the material of thought. Sources of ideas: 1) objects of sensation. The senses give the mind different perceptions of things, which gives us ideas of red or yellow (i.e., sensible qualities) for example. That. they bring to the mind that which calls forth these perceptions in it. This is the source and there are sensations.

2) internal perception of the actions of our mind when it is occupied with the ideas it has acquired. This is reflection, understood as observation, to which the mind subjects its activity and the ways of its manifestation, as a result of which the ideas of this activity appear in the mind. External ideas furnish the mind with ideas of sensory qualities, and the mind furnishes the mind with ideas of its own activities. People are supplied with ideas in various ways according to the difference of the objects they encounter. Ideas of reflection arise later, because they require attention. The task of a person in childhood is to get acquainted with the outside world. But growing up in constant attention to external sensations, until a more mature age, people rarely think about what is happening inside them. The mind acquires ideas when it begins to perceive. A person first has ideas when he begins to perceive, because to have ideas = to perceive them. If a person thinks, but he himself does not know about it, then no one else knows about it either. Dreams are composed of the ideas of a waking person in a rather bizarre form. During sleep, the soul remembers its innate ideas and that during that separation from the body, when it thinks for itself, the ideas that occupy it, at least sometimes, are more innate and natural. The latter come from the body or from the actions of the soul in relation to these ideas. Memory retains only those ideas that originated from the body or from the actions of the soul in relation to them. Observations on children show that there are no other ideas than those obtained from sensations and reflection. The soul thinks before the senses supply it with ideas for thinking. The soul develops the ability to think, just as subsequently, by combining these ideas and reflecting on its activities, it increases its reserve, develops the ease of imagination and reasoning. Through the senses, the soul is enriched with ideas. She thinks the more intensely, the more material she has for thinking. She gradually moves to the exercise of the ability to expand, combine and abstract her ideas.

A person begins to have ideas when he first gets a sensation. Reflecting on its activities in relation to the acquired ideas, it enriches itself with a new series of ideas - reflection. These impressions made on external objects outside the soul are the soul's own activity. Thus the first faculty of the human mind is its capacity to adjust itself to receiving impressions made upon it or by external objects through the senses, or by its own activity when it reflects upon it. When perceiving simple ideas, the mind is passive or the mind is formed from simple ideas received from sensation and reflection. At the same time, he performs his own actions, with the help of which more complex ideas are built from simple ideas: 1 . combining several simple ideas into one complex one; 2. . bringing two ideas together and comparing them, so that the mind acquires the ability to all of them at once, without combining them into one (this is how all ideas of relations are acquired); 3 isolation of ideas from all the others, accompanying them in reality (abstraction) - the way of formation of general ideas. Complex ideas include beauty, man, the universe, etc.

The largest part of words in all languages ​​are general terms. At first, the children have ideas, like the persons who talk to them, are single (not a “mother” in general, but a specific one). Then they notice that there are many others with similar qualities. This eliminates the idea of ​​a particular person and leaves only what they have in common. The general nature of things is nothing but an abstract idea.

Our knowledge concerns our ideas. Since the mind in all its thoughts and reasonings has no immediate object other than its thoughts, those that it considers, it becomes clear that our knowledge concerns only them. Cognition is the perception of the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas. It is the perception of the connection or lack thereof between our ideas. This ratio is of four kinds: identity or difference; relationship between two ideas; coexistence in the same subject; real existence.

The soul seizes the truth in different ways (knowledge). Types: actual - direct contemplation by the mind of the correspondence or not - of one's ideas or their mutual relationship; acquired; intuitive - the mind perceives the relationship between ideas directly through themselves, without the intervention of other ideas; demonstrative - the mind is not always between ideas, where it can be found and it does not go beyond probabilistic assumptions. When the mind cannot connect its ideas in such a way as to perceive their relation through their direct comparison, it tries to discover the desired relation through other ideas. This is a discussion. This is a type of evidence-envy cognition.

About the sphere of human knowledge Cognition consists in the perception of the relation of our ideas. Hence: 1. no more knowledge than ideas; 2. no more than we can perceive from relation; Perception happens through intuition (direct comparison), reasoning (relation of two ideas by means of others) and sensation (perception of other things); 3. Intuitive knowledge does not extend to all relations of our ideas. Similarly for the rational; 4. sensory knowledge is more limited than all others; 5. our knowledge is more limited than ours and

There were natural sciences, medicine, politics, economics, pedagogy, problems related to the attitude of the state to the church, in particular the problem of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience. Throughout his life, Locke retained an interest in Socinianism, a rationalist trend in Protestantism that developed mainly in Poland. In 1667, Locke wrote "An Essay on Toleration". Based on this...

And this is his duty. But for this you need to learn how to control your passions. By persistent orientation of the mind to perfection and happiness, a person is determined to the universal and freed from the particular. 1 Locke J. Experience of human understanding // Decree. op. P. 316. 20-677 The problem of tolerance. Important for understanding the moral and moral-political views of Locke is ...

The entire content of the premises, insofar as it is necessary for the conclusion, has an insensible character. (axioms, postulates). VI. Intuitionism, individualistic empiricism and apriorism of critical philosophy in their relation to the theory of elementary methods of knowledge. Three answers to the question about the origin of general judgments: 1) By direct methods (direct induction) = intuitionism. 2) There are no general judgments. Only an illusion. (...

He brought fame, but his influence on the philosophy of politics was so great and so long-lasting that he can be regarded as the founder of philosophical liberalism, as well as empiricism in the theory of knowledge. Locke is the most successful of all philosophers. He finished his work on theoretical philosophy just at the moment when the government of his country fell into the hands of people who shared ...

BOOK ONE

CHAPTER FIRST

INTRODUCTION

1. <...>The mind, like the eye, enables us to see and perceive all other things without perceiving itself: it takes art and labor to put it at some distance and make it our own object.<...>

3. Method.<...> First, I investigate the origin of those ideas or concepts (or whatever you like to call them) that a person notices and is aware of as present in his soul, and then the ways in which the mind receives them.

Secondly, I will try to show what kind of knowledge the mind comes to through these ideas, and also to show the certainty, evidence and scope of this knowledge.

Thirdly, I examine the nature and foundations of a belief or opinion. By this I mean our agreement with some proposition as if it were true, although we have no certain knowledge of its truth; here we shall have occasion to examine the grounds and degrees of agreement.

8. What does the word "idea" mean?<. ..> Since this term, in my opinion, better than others denotes everything that is the object of human thinking, I used it to express what is meant by the words “imaginary”, “concept”, “view”, or what the soul may be occupied during thinking.

CHAPTER TWO

THERE ARE NO INDIRECT PRINCIPLES IN THE SOUL

1. To point out the way in which we arrive at all knowledge is sufficient to prove that it is not innate.- Some consider it established that there are some innate principles in the mind, some primary concepts, coinai ennoiai, signs imprinted in the mind, so to speak, which the soul receives at the very beginning of its existence and brings with it into the world. To convince unprejudiced readers of the falsity of this assumption, it is enough to show how men, solely by their natural faculties, without any assistance from innate impressions, can reach all their knowledge and arrive at certainty without such original concepts or principles. For, I think, all will readily agree that it is bold to suppose the ideas of colors innate in a being to whom God has given sight and the ability to perceive colors with the eyes from external things. It is no less foolish to consider certain truths as natural imprints and innate signs, for we see in ourselves the ability to come to the same easy and reliable knowledge of them without them being initially imprinted in the soul (which I hope to show in the subsequent sections of this work). ).<...>

2. General agreement as the main argument. Nothing is so generally accepted as that there are certain principles, both speculative and practical (for both are spoken of), on which all men agree. Hence the defenders of the above view conclude that these principles must necessarily be permanent imprints which the souls of men receive at the beginning of their being, and bring with them into the world as necessarily and really as all their other faculties inherent in them.

3. General agreement does not prove innateness at all.- The universal consensus argument has the flaw that, even if it were true that there are several truths recognized by all mankind, it would still not prove the innateness of these truths if it could be shown that there is another way. how people generally agree on the things they agree on, which I suppose is possible to show.

4. The propositions “What is, that is” and “It is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be” are not universally accepted.— But, what is much worse, the argument by reference to universal agreement, which is used to prove the existence of innate principles, seems to me rather to prove that they do not exist: for there are no principles that would enjoy the recognition of all mankind.

5. These positions are not imprinted in the soul by nature, because they are unknown to children, idiots and other people.- For, in the first place, it is obvious that children and idiots have not the slightest idea or thought about them. And this gap is enough to upset the universal agreement, which must necessarily accompany all innate truths; It seems to me almost a contradiction to say that there are truths imprinted on the soul which the soul does not recognize or understand, since imprinting, if it means anything, is nothing else than helping to make certain truths come to consciousness.<...>

11. Whoever takes the trouble to think at least a little attentively into the activity of the forces of the mind, will find that the quick agreement of the mind with certain truths does not depend on innate imprinting and not on reasoning, but on the ability of the mind, completely different from both, as we we'll see later. Therefore, reasoning has nothing to do with our agreement with these principles. And if by saying: “People know and recognize these truths when they begin to reason,” they want to say that reasoning helps us in the knowledge of these positions, then this is completely false; and even if it were true, it would not prove the innateness of these propositions.

15. The steps by which the mind arrives at various truths. - Sensations first introduce individual ideas and fill the still empty space with them; and as the mind gradually becomes familiar with some of them, they are placed in memory along with the names given to them. Then, moving forward, the mind abstracts them and gradually learns the use of common names. Thus the mind is endowed with ideas and words, material for the exercise of its faculty of reasoning. With the increase in the material that gives the mind work, its application becomes more and more noticeable every day. But, although the stock of general ideas usually grows along with the use of general names and reasoning activity, still I do not see how this can prove their innateness.

CHAPTER FOUR

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS ON INGENITAL PRINCIPLES,

BOTH speculative and practical

8. The idea of ​​God is not innate.- If any idea can be conceived as innate, then the idea of ​​God most of all, for many reasons, can be considered as such. For it is difficult to understand how moral principles can be innate without the innate idea of ​​a deity: without the concept of a legislator, one cannot have a concept of the law and the obligatory observance of it.<...>

9. But even if all mankind everywhere had the concept of God (although history tells us otherwise), it would not follow that the idea of ​​him is innate. For even if it were impossible to find a people without the name of God and meager, vague ideas about him, this would also prove little that they are natural impressions in the soul, just as the words "fire" or "sun" denoting them prove the innateness of ideas, " heat" or "number" on the ground that the names of these things and their ideas are so generally accepted and well-known in mankind. On the other hand, the lack of such a name, or the absence of such a concept in the human soul, is just as little an argument against the existence of God as it can serve as proof that there is no magnet in the world, the fact that the majority of mankind has no concept of such a thing. , no name for her.

25. Where does the opinion about innate principles come from?- When people found a few common sentences that they could not doubt as soon as they were understood, this, in my opinion, led directly and easily to the conclusion that they were innate. Once accepted, it saved the lazy one from the trouble of searching and stopped the doubter in his researches concerning everything that was once called innate. And for those who aspired to the role of scientists and teachers, it was no small advantage to establish as a principle of principles the position that principles cannot be questioned, for, having once established the principle that there are innate principles, they placed their followers in the necessity of accepting certain teachings as such principles, freeing them from using their own reason and judgment and forcing them to take everything on faith and on their word, without further examination. With such blind credulity, it was easier to control them and make them useful to those who had the skill and who had the task of instructing and guiding them. To have the authority of a dictator of principles and a mentor of undeniable truths, and to force others to accept as an innate principle everything that can serve the purposes of the teacher, is no small power of man over man.

BOOK TWO

CHAPTER FIRST

ABOUT IDEAS IN GENERAL AND THEIR ORIGIN

1. An idea is an object of thought.- Since each person is conscious of what he thinks, and since the ideas in the mind are what the mind is occupied with during thinking, it is undeniable that What people have different ideas in their minds, such as those expressed by the words "whiteness", "hardness", "sweetness", "thinking", "movement", "man", "elephant", "army", "drunk" and etc. First of all, therefore, it is necessary to investigate how a person comes to ideas.<...>

2. All ideas come from sensation or reflection. Suppose that the soul is, so to speak, white paper without any signs or ideas. But how does she get them? Whence does it acquire that vast stock which the active and boundless human imagination has painted with almost infinite variety? Where does it get all the material of reasoning and knowledge? To this I answer in one word: from experience. All our knowledge is based on experience, from which it ultimately derives. Our observation, directed either at external sensible objects or at the internal actions of our soul, perceived and reflected by ourselves, supplies our mind with all the material of thinking. These are the two sources of knowledge from which come all the ideas we have or naturally can have.

3. The object of sensation is one source of ideas.- Firstly, our senses, being turned to separate sensible objects, bring to the mind different perceptions of things in accordance with the various ways in which these objects act on them. Thus we get the ideas of yellow, white, hot, cold, soft, hard, bitter, sweet, and all those ideas which we call sensible qualities. When I say that the senses deliver them to the mind, I mean that from external objects they deliver to the mind that which causes these perceptions in it. This rich source of most of our ideas, depending entirely on our senses and through them entering the mind, I call "sensation."

4. The activity of our mind is another source of them.- Secondly, another source from which experience supplies the mind with ideas is the inner perception of the activity of our mind when it is engaged in the ideas it has acquired. When the mind begins to reflect and consider these activities, they bring to our mind ideas of a different kind, which we could not get from external things. Such are perception, thinking, doubt, faith, reasoning, knowledge, desire, and all the manifold activities of our mind. When we are aware of and notice them in ourselves, we receive from them in our mind ideas as different from each other as those that we acquire from bodies that act on our senses. Every man has this source of ideas entirely within himself, and although this source is not a feeling, since it has nothing to do with external objects, nevertheless it is very similar to it and can be quite accurately called "inner feeling". But in calling the first source "sensation," I call the second "reflection," because it supplies only such ideas as are acquired by the mind by reflection on its own activities within itself.

23. If you ask when a person begins to have ideas, then the correct answer, in my opinion, will be: "When he first gets a sensation." Since there is no sign of ideas in the soul before they are delivered by the senses, I understand that the ideas in the mind are simultaneous with sensation, i.e. with such an impression or movement in some part of our body as produces some perception in the mind. It is these impressions made on our senses by external objects that the soul seems to engage for the first time in the activity we call "perception, remembrance, reflection, reasoning," etc.

CHAPTER TWO

ABOUT SIMPLE IDEAS

1. Easy presentations.- In order to better understand the nature, character, and what is the scope of our knowledge, you need to pay serious attention to one circumstance concerning our ideas - that among them some are simple, while others are complex.<...>

The coldness and hardness that a person feels in a piece of ice are as different ideas in the mind as the smell and whiteness of a lily, or the taste of sugar and the smell of a rose. For man, nothing can be more obvious than a clear and distinct perception of such simple ideas. Each such idea, being uncomplicated in itself, contains only a monotonous representation or perception in the mind, which does not break up into different ideas.

CHAPTER SIX

ABOUT SIMPLE IDEAS OF REFLECTION

1. The simple ideas of reflection are the actions of the mind in relation to its other ideas.- Receiving from the outside the ideas mentioned in the previous chapters, the soul, turning its gaze inward on itself, and observing its actions in relation to its ideas, receives from here other ideas that are just as capable of being objects of its contemplation as ideas perceived from external things .

2. We get the idea of ​​perception and the idea of ​​will from reflection.- The two main activities of the soul, which are most often investigated and are so often found that everyone who wishes can notice them in himself, are perception or thinking and desire or volition. The power of thinking is called "reason" and the power of desire is called "will"; both of these powers of the mind are called "faculties." About certain modes (kinds) of these simple ideas of reflection, such as recollection, discrimination, reasoning, judgment, cognition, faith, etc., I will have occasion to speak later.

CHAPTER EIGHT

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON OUR SIMPLE IDEAS

8. Everything that the mind notices in itself and that is the immediate object of perception, thought or understanding, I call "ideas"; the faculty which evokes an idea in our mind I call the "quality" of the object in which this faculty resides. Thus, a snowball can generate in us the ideas of white, cold and round. Therefore, the forces that bring about these ideas in us, because they are in a snowball, I call "qualities", and because they are sensations or perceptions in our mind, I call them "ideas". If I sometimes speak of ideas as if they were in the things themselves, I mean by them those qualities in objects that evoke ideas in us.

9. primary qualities.- Among the qualities considered in this way in bodies, there are, firstly, those that are completely inseparable from the body, in whatever state it may be, those that cannot be separated from the body with all its changes, no matter what force is applied to him, such that the senses constantly find in every particle of matter a volume sufficient to perceive, and the mind finds that they are inseparable from any particle of matter, even if it is smaller than that which can be perceived by our senses.<...>These qualities of the body I call initial, or primary. I think we can see that they give rise to simple ideas in us, i.e. density, extension, form, motion or rest, and number.

10. secondary qualities. Secondly, qualities such as colors, sounds, tastes, etc., which are not actually in the things themselves, but are forces that cause different sensations in us with their primary qualities, i.e. volume, shape, cohesion and movement of my imperceptible particles, I call secondary qualities. To these one could add a third kind, recognized only as forces, although these are real qualities in the subject to the same extent as those that I, adapting to the usual way of expression, call qualities, but for the sake of distinction - secondary qualities. For the power of fire to produce a new color or density in wax or clay through its primary qualities is the same quality of fire as its power to generate in me a new idea or a feeling of warmth or burning, which I have not experienced before, through its same primary qualities. , i.e. volume, cohesion and movement of its imperceptible particles.

11. How do primary qualities produce their ideas?- The next question we have to consider was how bodies evoke ideas in us. Obviously, by means of a push, the only way possible for us to imagine the effects of bodies.

23. Three kinds of qualities in bodies. - In reality, therefore, there are three kinds of qualities in bodies:

First, the volume, form, number, arrangement and movement or rest of their dense particles. These qualities are in the bodies, whether we perceive them or not. If they are in such a position that we can detect them, we get through them the idea of ​​the thing as it is in itself, which is evident in artificially made things. These qualities I call primary.

Secondly, the power, contained in any body, the ability to act in a special way on any of our senses, thanks to the imperceptible primary qualities of the body, and because of this, to cause in us various ideas of different colors, sounds, smells, tastes, etc. These qualities are usually called sensible.

Thirdly, the ability contained in any body, due to the special structure of its primary qualities, to produce such a change in the volume, shape, cohesion of particles and movement of another body, so that it does not affect our senses as before. Thus, the sun is able to make wax white, and fire is able to make lead liquid. These qualities are usually called faculties, or "powers."

CHAPTER TWELVE

DIFFICULT IDEAS

1. They are formed by the mind from simple ideas. So far we have been dealing with ideas in the perception of which the mind is purely passive. These are simple ideas derived from the above sensation or reflection. The mind cannot create for itself any of these ideas, and cannot have any idea that is not entirely composed of them. But the mind, being quite passive in receiving all its simple ideas, performs certain operations of its own, by means of which others are built from simple ideas, as the material and foundation for the rest. The operations in which the mind exercises its faculties in relation to its simple ideas are mainly the following three: 1) the combination of several simple ideas into one complex one; this is how all complex ideas were formed; 2) bringing together two ideas, whether simple or complex, and comparing them with each other so as to survey them at once, but not to combine them into one; thus the mind acquires all its ideas of relations; 3) isolation of ideas from all other ideas accompanying them in their actual reality; this action is called "abstracting," and by it all general ideas are formed in the mind.<...>

3. They are either modes, or substances, or relations.- No matter how much complex ideas are added and separated, no matter how infinite their number and unlimited the variety with which they fill and occupy human thought, I still consider it possible to reduce them to the following three categories: 1) modes, 2) substances, 3) relationships.

4. Mods.- Firstly. "Modes" I mean such complex ideas, which, however they are combined, do not have in themselves the prerequisites for their independent existence, but are considered either dependent on substances or properties of the latter. These are the ideas denoted by the words "triangle, gratitude, murder", etc.<...>

5. Simple and mixed modes.- Two kinds of these modes deserve special consideration. In the first place, some modes are only varieties or different combinations of the same simple idea, without the admixture of some other idea, for example, a dozen or twenty, which are nothing but the ideas of so many separate units put together. ; I call them "simple modes" because they are contained within the boundaries of the simple idea alone. Secondly, others are composed of simple ideas of various kinds, combined to form one complex idea; for example, beauty, which consists in a certain combination of color and form, which arouses admiration in the viewer.<...>

6. Substances are singular and collective.- Secondly. Ideas of substances are such combinations of simple ideas, which are considered to represent various separate things that exist independently, and in which the presumed or obscure idea of ​​substance as such is always first and foremost. Thus, if the simple idea of ​​a whitish color, and of a certain weight, hardness, malleability, and fusibility, is added to the idea of ​​substance, we get the idea of ​​lead; the combination of ideas of a certain form attached to the [idea] of substance, together with the ability to move, think and reason, forms the ordinary idea of ​​\u200b\u200bman. And the ideas of substance are also of two kinds: the ideas of simple substances that exist separately, for example, the ideas of a man or a sheep, and the ideas of several such substances combined together, for example, an army "of people or a flock of sheep; when such collective ideas of several substances are combined, each of them the same individual idea as the idea of ​​a person or a unit.

7. Attitude.- Third. The last class of complex ideas is what we call "relationship," which consists in considering and comparing one idea with another.

Locke D. Experience about the human mind // Anthology of world philosophy. - M., 1970. - V.2. - P.412-422.

TEST

J. Locke "An Essay on Human Understanding"

What sources of ideas are described by J. Locke, what is their originality and what role does association play. And what types and degrees of knowledge does J. Locke describe in his work. How did Locke's views influence the further development of sensationalism and associationism?

Introduction

The philosophy of modern times, which expressed the essential features of this era, changed not only value orientations, but also the way of philosophizing. The 17th century was the era of fundamental changes in the social life of Western Europe, the century of the scientific revolution and the identity of the new worldview. Since the 17th century, natural science has been rapidly developing. A great contribution to the development of mathematics, mechanics, physics, physiology was made by R. Descartes, G. Leibniz. The development of science could not but have an impact on the philosophy of its time. In philosophy there is a decisive break with scholasticism and religion. Major philosophers in Europe of the 17th century are F. Bacon, S. Hobbes, J. Locke, R. Descartes, B. Spinoza, G. Leibniz. There is not only a genuine scientific natural science, but also a qualitatively new picture of the world based on science and its philosophical understanding. The struggle against scholasticism brought to the fore the question of the method of knowledge, which was closely connected with questions of the theory of knowledge; It is precisely these questions that are devoted to the main work of John Locke - "An Essay on Human Knowledge", on which he worked for almost 20 years and published in 1790. Thinkers of the 17th century were interested in the problem of determining the source of human knowledge, the cognitive role of sensual and rational forms of knowledge. Differences in the assessment of the role of these forms gave rise to the main directions of European philosophy of modern times: rationalism and empiricism. Locke is the successor of the "Francis Bacon line" in European philosophy of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; he can rightly be called the founder of "British empiricism." Locke had an enormous influence on later generations of European thinkers. V. And Lenin noted that Berkeley, Diderot and many others "came out of Locke." In Locke we have a philosopher whose work became a turning point in the development of economic, political, and ethical ideas in Europe and America.

J. Locke "An Essay on Human Understanding":

Sources of knowledge, their originality. The role of the association. Types and degrees of knowledge. Influence of views on the development of sensationalism and associationism.

In his main scientific work, An Essay on the Human Mind, John Locke defined his task as follows: to find out where human knowledge comes from, how reliable it is and where its limits are. This is typical for the philosophy of the New Age and, in particular, for the British philosophical tradition - philosophy is not about what is in the world and how it is, but about how a person is "equipped" to know what is and how to eat. Locke set himself the goal of comprehensively substantiating the proposition about the empirical origin of all human knowledge.

The first question that he had to solve on the way to the realization of his plan was to express his attitude to the widely spread theory of "innate ideas", which originated from ancient and medieval Platonism, in the 17th century. updated by Descartes and the so-called Cambridge Platonists. Speaking against Descartes, who justified his theory of knowledge by the presence of innate ideas in man, Locke proved the fallacy of this position and categorically rejected the possibility of the existence of such ideas. If ideas were innate, he wrote, they would be known to an adult, a child, a normal person, and a fool. However, in this case, it would not be difficult to form a child's knowledge of mathematics, language, and moral standards. But all educators know that it is very difficult to teach a child to write and count, and different children learn material at different speeds. There is, according to Locke, another proof of the absence of innate ideas: if ideas were innate, then all people in a given society would adhere to the same moral and political beliefs, and this is not observed anywhere. Moreover, Locke wrote, we know that different nations have different languages, different laws, different ideas about God. The difference in religion was especially important, from the point of view of John Locke, since Descartes considered the idea of ​​God to be one of the basic innate ideas. Locke shows that "universal agreement of people about the "first principles" (even the basic laws of logic) never happens, while the self-evidence of some truths (for example, the truths of arithmetic) does not yet testify to their innateness."

Locke formulates the problem of the origin of human knowledge as the problem of the origin of ideas. "Where there are no ideas, there is no knowledge." But since D. Locke rejected the existence of innate ideas, the question naturally arose: what is the source of these ideas? John Locke clearly formulates the initial principle of empiricism: "All our knowledge is based on experience, from it, in the end, our observation comes, directed either at external objects, or at the internal actions of our soul, perceived and reflected by us, delivers to our mind all the material thinking." Locke is sure that knowledge about the world can only be achieved through sensory experience and subsequent reflection on this experience. As can be seen from D. Locke's statement, he distinguishes between two types of experience: external and internal, and in accordance with this indicates two empirical sources of our ideas: sensation and reflection. "If someone asks me when does a person begin to have ideas, then the correct answer, in my opinion, will be: when he first gets a sensation." Perceptual knowledge appears in Locke as an integral component of experience. "There is nothing in the mind that was not previously in the sensations" - the main thesis of Locke. Sensations are obtained as a result of the action of external things of the material world on our sense organs. This is the outer experience. External objects, acting on the senses, give rise to simple ideas that have a real (objective) content, while the mind is passive. Such, for example, are the ideas acquired through sight, hearing, touch, and smell. Proving that there are no innate ideas, Locke argued that the child's psyche is a "blank slate" (tabula rasa), and it is thanks to the experience of communicating with external things that the first records appear on it in the form of sensations and feelings, images of things and their qualities.

About external experience as a source of ideas, Locke writes as follows: “Our senses, being turned to separate sensible objects, deliver to the mind different, different perceptions of things in accordance with the different ways in which these objects act on them. Thus, we we get the ideas of yellow, white, hot, cold, soft, hard, bitter, and sweet, and all those ideas which we call sensuous qualities. depending entirely on our senses and through them entering the mind, I call sensation. Thus, according to Locke, an inextricable link is established between sensations, perceptions and most of our ideas, which a person gets without much effort on his part, since the mind is passive in this case.

Where does a person get all the material of reasoning and knowledge? Synthesis of the ability of sensory reflection of the material world with other cognitive abilities Locke carries out, recognizing, along with external sensory experience, from which the initial information about the external world comes, internal experience, reflection: "Our observation, aimed at the internal actions of our mind, which we ourselves perceive and about which we ourselves reflect, supplies our mind with all the material of thinking. The activity of our mind, to which Locke ranked thinking, doubt, faith, reasoning, knowledge, desires, is known with the help of a special inner feeling - reflection. Inner experience or reflection is the observation of the activity of our mind when it is processing the acquired ideas. John Locke notes that reflection presupposes a special focus on the activity of one's own soul, as well as a sufficient maturity of the subject. Children have almost no reflection, they are mainly busy with the knowledge of the outside world. It may not develop in an adult if he does not show a tendency to reflect on himself and does not direct special attention to his internal processes. Internal experience is the experience of self-consciousness, observation of a person over the operations of his own consciousness. Consciousness is the perception of what is happening in a person in his own mind.

Explaining his understanding of internal experience or reflection, D. Locke emphasizes the idea that "every person has this source of ideas entirely within himself", that he "has nothing to do with external objects, and although this source is not a feeling, it does not nevertheless, it is very similar to it and can be quite aptly called an inner feeling. When receiving ideas of reflection, our mind is not passive, but active. He performs certain actions of his own, by means of which others are built from simple ideas as the material and foundation for the rest. Thanks to this faculty, the mind has more opportunity to diversify the objects of its thinking more than what sensation or reflection has given it. But, nevertheless, substantiating the main position of empiricism, D. Locke repeatedly emphasized that the activity of the mind, which becomes the subject of reflection, proceeds only on the basis of sensory data that arise in a person before the ideas of reflection. Locke clearly states that the mind cannot go beyond those primary ideas that are formed on the basis of sensations.

By experience, Locke understood the totality of everything that a person deals with throughout his life. "" All our knowledge lies in experience, from it, in the end, it comes. "According to Locke, the content of experience is, first of all, , sensations coming from the senses and proving the “existence of external things.” Thus, John Locke substantiated the principle of materialistic sensationalism - the origin of all knowledge from the sensory perception of the external world.

The categorical rejection of the traditional point of view on the innateness of human ideas and ideas, the defense of the sensationalist theory of knowledge allowed Locke to develop an interesting pedagogical system that had a very great influence on the further development of pedagogy.

However, later Locke made some adjustments to his theory of knowledge. It is noteworthy that in the work "On the Education of the Mind" John Locke introduced clarifications and corrections to the interpretation of tabula rasa, according to which the "blank slate" turns out to be not so "clean". He emphasized the development of the inclinations that "nature lays in us." According to Locke, the diversity of human minds also testifies that the human soul is not originally a “blank slate”, on which experience and education can put any writing: “... the natural constitutions of people create in this respect such wide differences between them that art and zeal are never able to overcome these differences. Differences in natural "temperament" also play a significant role.

In this sense, Leibniz's objection to Locke is justified: "This blank slate, about which so much is said, is, in my opinion, only a fiction that does not exist at all in nature and has as its source the imperfect concepts of philosophers." The original natural equality of all children, whose mind from birth is an "unfilled blank slate", is inevitably violated due to the existing inequality of individual abilities, varying degrees of diligence and the external circumstances that accompany them.

As we can see, Locke nevertheless recognized the role of innate inclinations in education.

Idea as an object of consciousness. Theory of Primary and Secondary Qualities

It was believed that the object of consciousness is not external objects, but ideas (images, ideas, feelings, etc.), as they are to the "inner eye" of the subject observing them. The concept of "idea" Locke gives a special meaning, significantly different from the interpretation of ideas in previous, subsequent and contemporary philosophy. “Everything that the mind perceives into itself and that is a direct object of perception, thinking or understanding, I call an “idea”, a force that causes some idea in our mind, I call the quality of an object to which this force is inherent. Thus, a snowball capable of generating in us ideas of white, cold, and round. Therefore, the forces that call forth these ideas in us, since they are in a snowball, I call qualities, and since they are sensations, or perceptions in the processes of our understanding, I call them ideas.

“Since each person is aware,” writes Locke, “that he is thinking, and that what the mind is occupied with while thinking are ideas in the mind, it is certain that people have different ideas in their minds. First of all, therefore , it is necessary to investigate how a person comes to ideas.

"Ideas, as Locke understands them, are not somewhere in the other world, as Plato believed, and not in some absolute spirit, as Hegel would later think. Their place is only in the human mind. Their source is sensations and reflection, highlighting ideas as a kind of elements of the mind.

Following R. Boyle, Locke develops the theory of primary and secondary qualities. Through ideas of sensation we perceive the qualities of things. Locke divides these ideas into two classes: ideas of primary qualities and ideas of secondary qualities. Grouping ideas according to "qualities," Locke starts from Aristotle, which was very popular in science and philosophy of the 17th century. division of qualities into primary and secondary. Following a strong tradition, adjoining Galileo, Descartes, Hobbes, Boyle and other contemporary teachings, Locke calls the primary qualities form (figure), density, extension, movement or rest, volume, number. In a word, everything that the then mathematicized physics considered the defining properties or qualities of the body was credited by the thinkers of the 17th century. in the category of primary qualities.

But it was important for Descartes to emphasize that these "qualities", which science refers to the bodies themselves, at the same time have an "intellectual nature" and are not physically present in real bodies directly. Locke, in contrast to Cartesianism, insisted that the primary qualities, as they are represented by science and philosophy, are inseparable from bodies. These are "real entities", properties objectively inherent in things, they are studied by the exact sciences. Thus, Locke calls the primary qualities that belong to the objects themselves and reside in them such as they appear to us in our sensations. Primary qualities are inseparable from the body and remain in it constantly with all its changes.

The ideas of primary qualities are copies of those qualities themselves. Only the ideas of the primary qualities of bodies are similar to them, and their prototypes really exist in the bodies themselves, that is, the ideas of these qualities accurately reflect the objective qualities of the properties of these bodies. For the materialist and sensualist Locke, it is very important that such ideas "are consistent with the reality of things, they are real", because they are correlated with the qualities of the things themselves, "acting on the mind in a natural way" and "adequate", because the mind does not contribute anything to the correct representation by the senses. the ideas of things themselves.

As for the secondary qualities, and they were considered to be sound, color, smell, taste, warmth, pain, Locke joined the current interpretation: they relate rather to the cognizing subject and are determined by his sensations, although, ultimately, secondary qualities are associated with primary qualities. , i.e. bodily. If we turn to Locke's example with a snowball, then the primary qualities that are inseparable from the body itself can be attributed to the round shape, size, while whiteness, coldness should be considered secondary qualities.

Secondary Locke called qualities that seem to us to belong to the things themselves, but in fact, are not in the things themselves. Secondary qualities - colors, tastes, smells - are "subjective nominal entities", the ideas they evoke do not have a direct resemblance to bodies. In things themselves there is only the capacity to produce these sensations in us. What in the idea seems pleasant, blue or warm, in the things themselves there is only volume, figure and movement of particles inaccessible to perception. Secondary qualities depend on the primary ones and are realized under a number of conditions. For example, in order to perceive the color of an object, this object itself with certain primary qualities, sufficient illumination of the room and the normal functioning of the human visual apparatus are necessary.

However, with all the differences between primary and secondary qualities, they have something in common: both of them produce their ideas through a “push”. So the violet, through the "shocks" of particles of matter inaccessible to perception, differing in volume and shape, degrees and types of their movements, produces in the soul the ideas of the blue color and smell of this flower.

Locke's doctrine of the difference between primary and secondary qualities is a development of ideas outlined by the ancient Greek atomist Democritus, and in modern times - revived by Descartes and Galileo. This doctrine is based on the absolute opposition of the subjective to the objective.

According to Locke, according to the methods of formation and formation, all ideas are divided into simple and complex. Simple ideas contain monotonous representations and perceptions and do not fall apart into any constituent elements. By content, simple ideas, in turn, are divided into ideas of primary and secondary qualities. Locke refers to the ideas of primary qualities as ideas that reflect the primary or original qualities of external objects, in whatever state they are, and which our senses constantly find in every particle of matter. Such qualities act on the sense organs by means of a jolt and give rise to simple ideas in us. Among the simple ideas of secondary qualities, Locke refers to ideas that reflect secondary qualities, which, in his opinion, are not in the things themselves, but are forces that cause different sensations in us with their primary qualities. Thus, the manifestation of secondary qualities is associated by the English thinker not with the objective world itself, but with its perception in the human mind.

Simple ideas are ideas delivered through:

1) one sense organ (thus, light and color are delivered only by sight);

2) several senses (ideas of space, extension, form, rest and movement);

3) reflection (ideas of perception, thinking, desire);

4) all kinds of sensation and reflection (for example, pleasure or pain).

Locke assessed his study of simple ideas and their emergence as “a true history of the first beginnings of human knowledge.” If, according to Locke, the mind is not free and passive in the perception of simple ideas, then complex ideas are created due to the activity of the mind, its independence and freedom. However, here, too, freedom is limited, because the mind composes complex ideas from simple ideas. Examples of complex ideas are beauty, gratitude, man, army, the universe.

John Locke identifies three main ways in which complex ideas are formed:

1) combining several simple ideas into one complex one;

2) bringing together two ideas, whether simple or complex, and comparing them with each other in such a way as to survey them at once, but not combine them into one;

3) the isolation of ideas from all other ideas accompanying them in their actual reality, or the abstraction of general ideas from others (this is how all general and universal ideas are formed).

Thus, complex ideas, according to the teachings of Locke, are formed from simple ideas as a result of the self-activity of the mind.

The elements of experience, the "threads" of which consciousness is woven, were considered ideas, which are ruled by the laws of association. Through associations, the "simple ideas" of inner and outer experience are combined into complex ones. Thus, three types of complex ideas arise: ideas of substances, modes and relations (temporal, causal, identity and difference).

Locke admits that he uses the word "mode" in an unusual sense. To the ideas of modes or "empirical substances" he refers dependent ideas (such are the ideas of the "triangle", "gratitude", "beauty", etc.) - ideas dependent on substances (primary grounds). The ideas of relation consist in considering and comparing one idea with another. The philosopher refers to the ideas of relationships the ideas of "father - son", "husband - wife", causes and effects, identities and differences. An example of the idea of ​​substance is the idea of ​​lead: we get it by combining the idea of ​​a whitish color with the ideas of a certain weight, malleability and fusibility. There are two kinds of such ideas: simple substances that exist separately (for example, the idea of ​​a person or a sheep), and ideas of some substances combined together - collective (for example, an army of people or a herd of sheep). Under the substance, Locke understood the substrate, the carrier of a certain quality or set of qualities.

In the formation of complex ideas, the soul, according to Locke, is active.

Locke also raised the question of the truth of ideas, that is, ideas clear, distinct and vague, real and fantastic. For Locke, this meant establishing the relation of ideas to reality.

We have already spoken about the "notorious" adequacy of simple ideas. Complex ideas, unlike simple ones, are not, according to Locke, directly related to real things and their existence. Locke, for example, is willing to agree with the Cartesians that the triangle, that characteristic mathematical idea, exists only "ideally" in the mind of mathematicians.

Locke's doctrine of the formation of ideas correlates with the doctrine of language. Language is made up of words. Any "definite" idea must be associated with a sign. Words are sensible signs of ideas necessary for communication and transmission of thoughts; in Locke's philosophy of language, ideas function as meanings of words. Words do not directly designate things, but ideas of things. "If we were able to get to the primary sources of words already formed by people, we could reduce them to sensible ideas, and through them to sensible bodies." In addition, thinking without language is impossible. In essence, if you don't understand what language is, you won't understand what thinking is.

Ontological, logical and epistemological aspects in Locke's interpretation of language are closely related to communicative aspects, that is, to the problems of human communication. "Words are sensual signs necessary for communication. Logical and epistemological aspects occupy the most prominent place in Locke's theory of language: the question of the purpose of words, proper names, general terms (signs of general ideas), and ways of forming general and universal ideas are discussed.

Of particular interest is the concept of abstraction developed by Locke, or the theory of the formation of the most general concepts.

The problem of abstraction in the history of philosophy was considered, first of all, as the problem of the relationship between the individual and the general in cognition, closely related to the definition of the role of language. In medieval philosophy, this problem was solved from two diametrically opposed positions - nominalism and realism. Nominalists argued that the common is just a name - a nomen (name). In reality, there are only single things. Realists, on the other hand, argued that the general idea exists in reality, and the individual is only a reflection of the real existence of the idea of ​​these things. D. Locke seeks to find a new way to solve this problem based on the theory of knowledge. According to Locke's views, general ideas are formed by abstracting from those simple ideas or features of objects that are common to all objects of a given group. So, for example, if from the complex ideas of specific people we exclude only what is special in each of them, and retain only what they have in common and then denote this common by the word "man", then we get the abstract idea of ​​"man".

Thus, according to Locke, only ideal singular things exist. General ideas are the product of the abstracting activity of the mind, "the general and universal do not refer to the actual existence of things, but are created by the mind for its own use and concern only signs - words or ideas." Words that express the general are only signs of general ideas. But in the end, according to Locke, general ideas, being the product of the mind, "have their basis in the likeness of things." True, the movement from complex, abstract ideas and their names to the things themselves is a very difficult process. It gives rise to numerous errors and misconceptions, fraught with serious consequences for practice, science and philosophy. Very often this is due to the incorrect use of words. Therefore, Locke pays great attention to the connection of ideas with words, terms and names, creating a philosophy of language, one of the most developed in his time.

Locke's conceptualism represents a seriously weakened medieval nominalism by strengthening materialistic tendencies. Locke was an empiricist, but his empiricism was not simplistic. The theory of abstraction shows that Locke attached great importance to the rational form of knowledge. This rationalistic bias is clearly manifested in his doctrine of three kinds of knowledge: intuitive, demonstrative and experimental. Locke's theory of the formation of abstractions was called "traditional" and subsequently criticized more than once.

Types of knowledge and the degree of their reliability

Locke distinguished three types of knowledge according to their degree of certainty: sensory knowledge of individual things; demonstrative (evidence) knowledge and intuitive.

The most reliable kind of knowledge, according to Locke, is intuition. Intuitive knowledge is a clear and distinct perception of the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas through their direct comparison. The interpretation of intuition, however, is of a simplified character in Locke; it results in trivial judgments like "white is not black", "three is greater than two", "the whole is greater than the part", etc.

In second place after intuition, in terms of reliability, Locke has demonstrative knowledge. In this kind of knowledge, the perception of the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas is not carried out directly, but indirectly, through a system of premises and conclusions, through reasoning and inference.

The third kind of cognition is sensory or sensitive cognition. This kind of knowledge is limited to the perception of individual objects of the external world. In terms of its reliability, it stands at the lowest level of knowledge and does not achieve clarity and distinctness. Through intuitive cognition we cognize our being, through demonstrative cognition, the existence of God, through sensitive cognition, the existence of other things.

Conclusion

The needs of the developing natural sciences and philosophy of modern times were to find a rigorous, scientific form of knowledge. Philosophy of the 17th century distinguished by criticism, the search for a scientific method, the study of the nature of reliability and its relationship to truth, to the objective. The question of substantiating the scientific nature of knowledge - the question of the relationship between subject and object, thinking and being - is central both for the philosophy of experience, empiricism, and for the philosophy of the "natural light of reason" - rationalism, or rational metaphysics. If the first direction tried to comprehend the unity of subject and object from experience, then the second - from pure reason, from its idea of ​​substance, from the sphere of the abstract universal.

The development of empiricism by John Locke is characterized by an aggravation of the contradiction between the subjective and the objective - between the facts of experience and the ideas of the mind, the phenomenon and the essence, the particular and the universal, the sensuously concrete and the abstractions of the mind. Being essentially a theoretical understanding of natural science, this direction developed mainly the objective certainty of knowledge, its content. Thinking was based on the immediate, initial, and therefore the most untrue stage of knowledge - sensual consciousness, which acted as a criterion of truth, objectivity. Therefore, the sensuously single, given in experience, was considered truly objective, and the universal definitions of thinking (substance, space, time, etc.) were considered as only subjective definitions, names. Objective reflection of the very object of knowledge, the disclosure of the universal in the most special and individual, as its own regularity, is perceived by experimental thinking as an exclusively subjective reflection. Therefore, the universal, the law, the essence are perceived as existing only in the form of subjectivity.

Thus, "simple ideas", direct data of the senses, are objective for Locke, while "complex ideas" and "ideas of modes", arising as a result of abstraction, are subjective, invalid, they are only props of diverse sensually perceived properties, "simple ideas". The general and universal do not refer to the actual existence of things, but are invented and created by the mind for its own use and concern only signs - words and ideas.

The concept of thinking as tabula rasa, the concept of the passivity of the subject of knowledge, necessarily leads to a dualism of primary and secondary qualities, essence and appearance, experience and reason, being and thinking. cash

the being of essence is thinking in the form of its universality and necessity.

3. philosophical encyclopedic dictionary, - M: Infra - M, 2002.

4. Zaichenko G.A. "Locke. Essay on Creativity". - M., 1973.

5. Narsky I.S. "Philosophy of J. Locke". - M., 1960.

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BELARUSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Department of Philosophy of Culture

Test

"John Locke, An Essay on Human Understanding"

2nd year student

specialty "philosophy"

extramural studies

Sashcheko Roman Sergeevich

Minsk 2014

John Locke (born John Locke; August 29, 1632, Wrington, Somerset, England - October 28, 1704, Essex, England) is a British educator and philosopher, a representative of empiricism and liberalism. He contributed to the spread of sensationalism. His ideas had a huge impact on the development of epistemology and political philosophy. He is widely recognized as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and liberal theorists. Locke's letters influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers and American revolutionaries. His influence is also reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Born August 29, 1632 in the small town of Wrington in the west of England, near Bristol, in the family of a provincial lawyer.

In 1646, on the recommendation of his father's commander (who during the Civil War was a captain in Cromwell's parliamentary army), he was enrolled at Westminster School. In 1652, Locke, one of the best students of the school, entered Oxford University. In 1656 he received a bachelor's degree, and in 1658 - a master's degree from this university.

In 1667, Locke accepted the offer of Lord Ashley (later Earl of Shaftesbury) to take the place of his son's family doctor and tutor, and then actively involved in political activities. Starts writing the Epistles on Toleration (published: 1st - in 1689, 2nd and 3rd - in 1692 (these three are anonymous), 4th - in 1706 ., after Locke's death).

On behalf of the Earl of Shaftesbury, Locke participated in the drafting of a constitution for the province of Carolina in North America ("Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina").

1668 - Locke is elected a member of the Royal Society, and in 1669 - a member of its Council. Locke's main areas of interest were natural science, medicine, politics, economics, pedagogy, the relationship of the state to the church, the problem of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience.

1671 - decides to make a thorough study of the cognitive abilities of the human mind. This was the idea of ​​the main work of the scientist - "Experiment on human understanding", on which he worked for 16 years.

1672 and 1679 - Locke receives various prominent positions in the highest government institutions in England. But Locke's career was directly affected by the ups and downs of Shaftesbury. From the end of 1675 until the middle of 1679, due to deteriorating health, Locke was in France.

In 1683, Locke emigrated to Holland following Shaftesbury. In 1688-1689, a denouement came that put an end to Locke's wanderings. The Glorious Revolution took place, William III of Orange was proclaimed King of England. Locke participated in the preparation of the coup of 1688, was in close contact with William of Orange and had a great ideological influence on him; at the beginning of 1689 he returned to his homeland.

In the 1690s, along with the government service, Locke again led a wide scientific and literary activity. In 1690, "An Essay on Human Understanding", "Two Treatises on Government" were published, in 1693 - "Thoughts on Education", in 1695 - "The Reasonableness of Christianity".

"An Essay on Human Understanding" by John Locke is one of the most important works of philosophy in the 17th century. It is divided into four parts or books. “In the first, he examines the question of the innate ideas of the mind and tries to prove that they do not exist. The second examines the question from where the mind gets its representations. The third deals with the significance of language in cognition and, finally, the fourth deals with different types of cognition along with faith and opinion. For Locke, the theory of knowledge is not a secondary, but the main and even exclusive subject of study. Therefore, he is called: "the founder of the theory of knowledge, as an independent discipline." This is how he begins his work: “Since reason puts man above other sentient beings and gives him all the superiority and dominion that he has over them, then he is, without a doubt, a subject worthy of study already for its nobility. The mind, like the eye, which enables us to see and perceive all other things, does not perceive itself: art and labor are needed to place it at some distance and make it its own object.

Locke developed the sensationalist theory of knowledge. The starting point of this theory was the proposition about the experiential origin of all human knowledge.

Locke considered the idealistic theory of innate knowledge, created by Plato and later developed by Descartes, to be the main obstacle to knowledge.

According to Locke, there are no innate ideas: "All human knowledge and even the idea of ​​God stems from external experience through our senses (sensualism) and the internal experience of the mind observing its activities." Knowledge is based on simple ideas that we get through experience. In each individual consciousness, they appear as different qualities of bodies, thanks to the ability of the latter to influence us, our sensory. In a similar way, primary knowledge is born, identical to ideas (length, figure, movement) and secondary, not similar to universals (color, smell). The mind itself cannot generate a single idea and always envy from experience, therefore the consciousness of a newborn is always a “blank slate” that does not contain knowledge. Locke considers the concept of innate ideas untenable. Moral propositions are also not innate. In different persons and in different states, moral convictions can be different and even opposite. "Where are these innate principles of justice, piety, gratitude, truth, chastity? Where is the universal recognition that assures us of the existence of such innate rules? ... And if we take a look at people as they are, we will see that in one place some feel pangs of conscience for what others elsewhere claim credit for."

The idea of ​​God is also not innate. “Even if all mankind everywhere had the concept of God, it would not follow that the idea of ​​God is innate. For even if it were impossible to find a people who [did not know] the name of God and did not have meager, vague ideas about Him, this would prove just as little the natural imprint in the soul of these ideas as the universal acceptance and knowledge by people of the names "fire ”, “sun”, “heat”, “number” and their ideas prove the innateness of the ideas denoted by these words. On the other hand, the absence of such a name or the absence of such a concept in the human soul is just as little an argument against the existence of God as it can serve as a proof that there is no magnet in the world, the fact that the majority of mankind has no concept of such a thing. , no name for her." Some nations don't have it. There are different ideas about God among polytheists and monotheists; even among people belonging to the same religion, ideas about God are very different from each other. About what innate practical principles of virtue, conscience, reverence for God, etc. can we talk, said Locke, if on all these issues there is not even a minimal agreement among people? Many people and entire nations do not know God, they are in a state of atheism, and among religiously minded people and nations there is no identical idea of ​​God. Some people do things with complete calmness that others avoid. The idea of ​​God is the work of man. “In all the works of creation, the signs of extraordinary wisdom and power are so clearly visible that any intelligent being who seriously thinks about them cannot fail to discover God.” Locke then sums up his reflections: “If the idea of ​​God is not innate, no other idea can be considered innate. From the foregoing, I hope it is clear that although the knowledge of God is the most natural discovery of human thought, the idea of ​​Him is nevertheless not innate.

Locke's most important contribution to modern metaphysics was his distinction between primary and secondary qualities.

Locke not only invented the terms, but also the subject itself, which he so traditionally staked out - fixed this position in modern European metaphysics; this is due to the separation of things and images of these things.

Locke says that not all components of the ideas of sensation, i.e. far from all the components of the world that we directly perceive in the senses right now are similar to how things themselves are arranged. In things themselves there is only extension, solidity, and figure. There are no colors, no smells, no tastes in the things themselves. What do they have? There is some kind of movement of the smallest particles, which, when exposed to the sense organs, produce the corresponding sensations. In reality, color is a certain kind of motion of matter, nothing more.

Based on these arguments, Locke formulates his concept of primary and secondary qualities. He says this (in strict terms, his position is as follows): “Ideas of primary qualities, we must call those ideas that are similar to the arrangement of material things themselves. Take, for example, a grain of wheat and divide it in half - each half still has density, length, shape and mobility; divide it again - it still retains these qualities; divide it further in this way until the parts become invisible, and yet each part will retain all these qualities. For the division of any body can never take away density, extension, form or mobility, but only forms two or more different and separated masses of matter from what was previously one mass. Ideas of secondary qualities are not like what causes them. The idea of ​​extension, for example, is similar to extended things themselves. Form idea. The idea of ​​density. And the idea of ​​color is not like what evokes it. So color is a secondary quality. And extension is primary.

Developing the sensationalist theory of knowledge, Locke distinguishes between two types of experience, two sources of knowledge: "external, which he calls "sensuality" (sensation), and internal, which he calls "reflection" (reflexion). The first arises as a result of the influence of the external world on the soul, the latter - as a result of the action of the soul itself on itself. The source of external experience is the real world outside of us.

Internal experience - "reflection" - a set of manifestations of all the diverse activities of the mind. locke mind knowledge language

Rejecting innate ideas, he says: “Suppose the mind to be, so to speak, white paper (tabula rasa) without any signs or ideas. But how does he get them? Where does it get that vast stock of them, which the active and boundless human imagination has drawn with almost infinite variety? Where does he get all the material of reasoning and knowledge? To this I answer in one word: from experience. All our knowledge is based on experience, from which, after all, it comes.

According to Locke, according to the methods of formation and formation, all ideas are divided into simple and complex. Simple ideas are "given to us from outside, imposed from outside and cannot be changed either in number or in properties, just as particles of matter, for example, cannot be changed in number or properties." Reason in the perception of these ideas is completely passive, since both the number and their properties depend on the nature of our abilities and the accidents of experience.

The simple ideas are all derived directly from the things themselves, they are given to us:

a) some kind of sense - "ideas" of color (vision), sound (hearing), etc .;

b) the activity of several senses together - the "ideas" of extension, movement (touch and sight);

c) "reflection" - "ideas" of thinking and desire;

d) feeling and "reflection" - "ideas" of strength, unity, continuity.

Complex ideas, according to Locke, are formed from simple ideas as a result of the mind's own activity. Complex ideas are a collection, a sum of simple ideas, each of which is a reflection of some particular quality of a thing.

“1) combining several simple ideas into one complex one; this is how all complex ideas are formed;

2) bringing together two ideas, whether simple or complex, and comparing them with each other so as to survey them at once, but not to combine them into one; thus the mind acquires all its ideas of relations;

3) isolation of ideas from all other ideas accompanying them in their actual reality; this action is called abstraction, and by means of it all the general ideas in the mind are formed.

John Locke identifies three main ways in which complex ideas are formed:

1. “By the name of MODUS, Locke does not mean the ideas of something independent, but the ideas of modifications of space, time, number and thinking. The very idea of ​​space is derived from the sensations of sight and touch. Its modifications give modes: extensions, distances, sizes, figures, places. The idea of ​​time comes from the reflection of a successive change of ideas, and Locke generally understands time as duration. Modifications of duration give modes: unity or unity, multitude, infinity. The idea of ​​thinking comes from reflection. Modifications of thinking give modes: perception of an idea, holding it, distinguishing, combining, comparing, naming and abstracting. These are the seven mental faculties admitted by Locke.

2. Another kind of complex ideas are the ideas of SUBSTANCE, by which Locke means ideas of something independent. These ideas come from the combination of several simple ideas gleaned from experience as properties of one and the same thing. There are bodily substances, the main properties of which are the cohesion of particles and the power to communicate movement, and spiritual ones, the main properties of which are thought and will ...

3. The third kind of complex ideas are the ideas of RELATIONSHIPS, arising from the observation of objects related to each other. The ideas of relationships are countless; the most important among them: identities, differences, causality.

The mind creates complex ideas. The objective basis for the creation of the latter is the consciousness that there is something outside of a person that binds into a single whole things that are separately perceived by sensory perception. In the limited accessibility of this objectively existing connection of things to human knowledge, Locke saw the limited possibilities for the mind to penetrate into the deep secrets of nature. However, he believes that the inability of the mind to obtain clear and distinct knowledge does not mean at all that a person is doomed to complete ignorance. The task of a person is to know what is important for his behavior, and such knowledge is quite accessible to him. According to Locke: “knowledge is only the perception of connection and correspondence or inconsistency and incompatibility of any of our ideas ... Where there is this perception, there is knowledge: where it is not there, we can, however, imagine, guess or believe, but we never have knowledge » .

Knowledge is of two types: reliable and unreliable. Reliable knowledge is that which corresponds to reality; but the unreliable must be those which, at their origin, were modified by reflection, as a result of which a subjective element entered into them, which violated their original correspondence to their object. It turns out that reliable knowledge “can only be those that are perceived by us with suffering in external or internal observation, which are all simple ideas.

Everything that is formed by the activity of our mind must be unreliable.

Locke identified two degrees of knowledge. 1) Intuitive, acquired directly or visually, which the mind receives from an assessment of the correspondence or inconsistency of ideas with each other. 2) Demonstrative, acquired through evidence, for example, through comparison and relation of concepts. Demonstrative knowledge necessarily presupposes the existence of intuitive knowledge, since inference requires that those judgments that serve as premises be known.

However, “the difference between intuitive and demonstrative cognition is not that the former is more certain than the latter, but that the former (for example, three is one and two, white is not black) immediately causes agreement, while the latter often it is only through hard research that this consent is forced."

The most reliable kind of knowledge, according to Locke, is intuition. Intuitive knowledge is a clear and distinct perception of the agreement or disagreement of two ideas through their direct comparison. “As for our own existence, it is so obvious that it does not need any proof. Even if I doubt everything, this very doubt convinces me of my existence and does not allow me to doubt it. This conviction is absolutely direct (intuition). Here Locke is fully on the point of view of Cartesian Cogito ergo sum.

In second place after intuition, in terms of reliability, Locke has demonstrative knowledge. In this kind of knowledge, the perception of the correspondence or inconsistency of two ideas is not made directly, but indirectly, through a system of premises and conclusions. The third kind of knowledge - sensual or sensitive is limited to the perception of individual objects of the external world. In terms of its reliability, it stands at the lowest level of knowledge and does not achieve clarity and distinctness.

In the field of knowledge, Locke distinguishes between two kinds of general judgments: judgments formed by a simple decomposition of a concept, which contain nothing new in comparison with this concept; and judgments, which, although formed on the basis of some concept and necessarily follow from it, yet carry in themselves something that is not yet contained in the concept itself.

Truth or knowledge, as the agreement of ideas among themselves, manifests itself in four different ways of the relationship of ideas: 1) in their identity or difference, 2) in relation between them, 3) in coexistence (or necessary connection) and 4) in the reality of their existence.

According to Locke, knowledge of the existence of something is possible only in relation to two ideas - the idea of ​​"I" and the idea of ​​"God". The existence of the idea of ​​"I" is obtained intuitively, and the existence of the idea of ​​"God" - demonstrative.

“The proof of the existence of God comes from the intuitive knowledge of the existence of the “I” and consists in the following conclusion: everything that has a beginning is caused by another being, and therefore there must be a beginningless creative being, and, moreover, it must be a being with higher intelligence, since I am a created thinking being." Our confidence in the existence of the external world is based on the same demonstrative knowledge: “God gave me enough confidence in the existence of things outside of me: through different treatment of them, I can cause both pleasure and pain in myself, which is the only thing that is important for me in my present position. ".

Thus, according to Locke, the existence of external objects, the existence of God and our own existence are not subject to any doubt. Although neither the soul, nor God, nor the world in itself, are given to us in sensory perception. Our knowledge of these subjects, despite its imperfection, "is quite sufficient for the life here."

“It has seldom happened that a philosopher by one work has made for himself such fame and such a name, and achieved such influence in the history of thought, as Locke did with his Essay. All modern historians of philosophy consider Locke a first-class thinker, along with Descartes, Bacon, Spinoza, Leibniz, and recognize him as the true predecessor of Kant, the founder of the latest critical theory of knowledge, as well as psychology.

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A study of John Locke's views on the nature and reliability of knowledge, on the prospects for the development of the system of government. The original pedagogical views of Locke, which influenced the formation of the pedagogical theories of thinkers of the Enlightenment.

Against the theory of innate ideas (Cambridge Platonists and Descartes).

2 facets of Locke's empiricism:

- He was a supporter of the empirical study of the phenomena and processes of consciousness without discussions about the nature of the soul.

In resolving the issue of the nature of the substantive carrier of mental processes, he hesitates, does not say whether the substance is corporeal or spiritual.

• About the vitality of the formation of ideas

Locke opposes to all arguments in defense of the innateness of knowledge the position of the possibility of proving its origin.

"It is enough to point out the way in which we arrive at any knowledge to prove that it is not innate."

“Positions are not imprinted in the soul by nature, because they are not known to children, idiots and other people.”

“In what way could people confidently and calmly break moral rules if they were imprinted in the soul.” The difference in religion was especially important, from Locke's point of view, since Descartes considered the idea of ​​God to be one of the basic innate ideas.

Locke's postulate was that " there is nothing in the mind that is not in the sensations". Based on this, he argued that the psyche of the child is formed only in the process of his life.

Having thus proved that there are no innate ideas, Locke further argued that the child's psyche is a "blank slate" (tabula rasa) on which life writes its writing. Thus, both knowledge and ideals are not given to us in finished form, but are the result of upbringing, which forms a conscious adult from a child.

It is therefore natural that Locke attached great importance to education. He wrote that in moral education it is necessary to rely not so much on understanding as on the feelings of children, educating them in a positive attitude towards good deeds and aversion to bad ones. In cognitive development, one must skillfully use the natural curiosity of children - it is that valuable mechanism that nature has endowed us with and it is from it that the desire for knowledge grows. Locke noted that it is directly the task of the educator to take into account the individual characteristics of children. This is also important in order to maintain a good mood of the child in the learning process, which contributes to faster assimilation of knowledge.

• About ideas, experience and the subject of psychology.

The source of knowledge is experience as an individual life history of an individual. Locke for the first time refers to the very beginnings of the spiritual life, which lie in childhood. “Follow the child from its birth and observe the changes produced by time, and you will see how, thanks to the senses, the soul is more and more enriched with ideas, more and more awakened, thinks the more intensely, the more material it has for thinking.”

In the experiment itself, Locke singled out two sources: sensation and reflection.

1. sensations.

Its object is the objects of nature, external material things; organ - external sense (vision, hearing, etc.); product - ideas.

The senses give the mind different perceptions of things.

2. reflection.

Its object is the ideas acquired earlier; an organ (or tool) - the activity (ability, according to Locke's terminology) of our mind (perception, thinking, doubt, faith, reasoning, desire, and all the diverse activities of our mind); the product is ideas of a different kind, which we could not get from external things.

Internal experience gives both knowledge about the external world, and even more about ourselves.

The mind can simultaneously engage in acquired ideas and reflect on its activities.

Along with the ideas that "deliver" the senses, there are ideas generated by reflection as "internal perception of the activity of our mind." Both those and others appear before the court of consciousness. "Consciousness is the perception of what is happening in a person in his own mind." This definition has become the cornerstone of introspective psychology.

It was believed that the object of consciousness is not external objects, but ideas (images, representations, feelings, etc.), as they are to the "inner eye" of the subject observing them. From this postulate, most clearly and popularly explained by Locke, the understanding arose. subject of psychology. From now on, in its place began to claim the phenomena of consciousness generated by external experience, which comes from the senses, and internal, accumulated by the individual's own mind.

All ideas come from one or the other source. Locke distinguishes, but does not separate them from each other: sensation is the beginning of knowledge, reflection arises after and on the basis of sensations. Therefore, in the last analysis, sensation is the source of all knowledge.

The division of experience into external and internal gave rise to introspective psychology as the science of internal experience, the method of which is introspection. According to Locke: the method of SELF-OBSERVATION is the internal perception of one's own mental processes. Consciousness is the perception of what is happening in a person in his own mind. "If I think but do not know it, no one else can know it."

Ideas, according to Locke, are simple and complex. A simple idea contains only one representation or perception in the mind, not divided into different ideas. These are the elements of knowledge. They constitute the material of all knowledge and are delivered to the soul in the two indicated ways - through sensation and reflection.

With Locke, the atomistic elementary attitude begins in the study of the content of consciousness: simple is primary, complex is secondary and derived from it.

In the doctrine of simple and complex ideas, Locke considers important questions of knowledge: the relationship of ideas and things, the activity of knowledge.

We have ideas in our souls.

They correspond to qualities in things. Locke distinguished three kinds of qualities: primary, secondary, and also tertiary, which are essentially reduced to secondary, so that the main distinction is made between primary and secondary qualities.

Primary Qualities are real, completely inseparable qualities, whether we perceive them or not.

Secondary qualities- these are colors, sounds, smells, etc., in fact, they are not found in things, they exist while we feel, and depend on the primary ones, namely on the volume, shape, structure and movement of particles (tertiary ones do not differ from secondary ones. Why he singled them out is not clear).

The division of qualities into primary and secondary contains the possibility of an idealistic detachment of sensation from the object.

Unlike simple ideas, complex ideas are combinations of them, joined together under one common name.

Complex ideas are formed by the mind arbitrarily as a result of the following actions: connection, summation of simple ideas; comparison, comparison; generalization through the previous abstraction.

Locke gave generalization process diagram, which includes the following operations:

Selection of single objects about which we want to get a general idea.

Breaking down each object into elements (their constituent properties)

Comparison of objects by elements.

Ideas that are not repeated in objects are isolated and discarded (this is called abstraction).

Abstracted, that is, highlighted, those ideas that are repeated in all objects.

Summarize ideas that are repeated, which gives a set of ideas that make up the complex general idea we are looking for.

Word designation.

Locke called association one of the mechanisms for the formation of complex ideas. He first introduced the term "association of ideas"(The phenomenon itself was described earlier, back in antiquity). According to Locke association - this is an incorrect, i.e., not corresponding to a natural ratio, combination of ideas, when “ideas, in themselves not related, in the minds of some people are combined in such a way that it is very difficult to separate them. They always accompany each other, and as soon as one such idea enters the mind, an idea connected with it appears with it ... ". Examples are all our sympathies, antipathies, brownie ideas, etc.

Despite the fact that Locke introduced the concept of associations in a limited way, after him this mechanism of consciousness received the greatest development, on the basis of which associative psychology arose and developed.

Locke considers Consciousness as a Mandatory Sign of Mental Phenomena. “It is impossible for anyone to perceive without perceiving what he perceives” (kick!!!).

Consciousness is also considered as a kind of spiritual force that unites the available experiences, makes them a person.. (“Personality is a rational thinking being that has reason and reflection and can consider itself as itself, as the same thinking being, at different times and at different moments only thanks to consciousness, which is inseparable from thinking”).

Locke distinguished the following psychic processes:

Feeling the properties of an object

Automatically appear in consciousness (mind is passive)

The concept of the threshold of perception

More active mental process

Emotionally not indifferent ideas are best captured

Thinking

The most active activity of our mind

Operations: comparison, abstraction, generalization, - with their help - the transformation of simple ideas (elements of knowledge) into complex ideas.