Speaker: See Above.
Date/Context: The time period of this document is during the years of Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution. Specifically in 1690, this document focuses on the human mind molds life experiences. Another thing discussed is if we are born with opinions/ideas, or if we create them as we age.
Summary: One of his most well know works, this document focuses on the question: Are children born with any innate ideas that have been inherited from parents, or are all ideas products of associations with society? Many men believe that when we are born, our minds have already created ideas about may things. But for others, our minds are blank canvases; no characters or any ideas. So how do we paint our canvas and create a picture? Experience. That is how we form our knowledge. External objects (experiences from life), are what mold and nourish the mind. If we placed a child where they were to never experience anything but just a world of black and white, they would not see the spectrum of color that the world provides to us.
Key Quotations:
- "It is established opinion among some men, that there are in the understanding certain innate principles, some primary notions, characters, as it were stamped upon the mind of man, which the soul receives in its very first being and brings into the world with it.
- "External objects furnish the mind with the ideas of sensible qualities, which are all those different perceptions they produce in us.
- "...if a child were kept in a place where he never saw any other but black and white till he were a man, he would have no more ideas of scarlet or green that he that from his childhood never tasted an oyster r a pineapple has of those particular relishes..."
Great job, Brian! The quotes that you included accurately reflect the essence of the primary document. During this period, John Locke was greatly influenced by the Glorious Revolution, an essentially bloodless change in power in 1688 that brought in new monarchs to rule England under greater control from Parliament. It is also important to note that Locke's work reflects his opinion that the nature of man is to be social and constructive rather than greedy and selfish like Hobbes. Your summary covers the information from the document in great detail as well. Another important idea to understand is that Locke thinks that man is a blank slate at birth, thus, nurture and development control the mind's growth (whereas Hobbes would argue that nature reveals innate characteristics). Overall, good summary and just a little more background information is needed next time!
ReplyDeleteWell done! Locke also wrote "Second Treatise on Civil Government." Published in 1690, this text argues that absolutism violates the basic nature of man. In turn, the best form of government is one in which the citizens have the ultimate authority. Further, it defines certain inalienable rights such as religious toleration, equality under the law, and freedom of the press. This work would serve as an inspiration for both the American and French Revolutions.
ReplyDeleteSome notable quotes from "Second Treatise"
-"To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit."
More notable quotes from "Second Treatise"
ReplyDelete-"The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule."
-"The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property and the end why they choose and authorize a legislative, is that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of society."