This document provides an overview of key figures and ideas in British Empiricism. It discusses philosophers such as John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume, John Stuart Mill, and their defense of empiricism against rationalism. It also summarizes the works and core theories of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, David Hume, John Locke, David Hartley, James Mill, and Alexander Bain on topics like utilitarianism, liberty, causation, the mind-body problem, and the association of ideas.

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3. Introduction
 British Empiricism is a practical philosophical movement which grew up, largely in Britain, during th
e Age of Reason and Age of Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th Century.
 Empiricism is the idea that the origin of all knowledge is sense experience. It emphasizes the role of
experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas.
 Empiricism is usually contrasted with Rationalism
 Locke, Berkeley and Hume vigorously defended Empiricism against these Rationalists.
 In the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, developments stemming from British Empiricism al
so gave rise to several important movements including Pragmatism, Positivism and Logical Positivis
m

4. John Stuart Mill(1806—1873)
John Stuart Mill (1806–73) was the most in
fluential English language philosopher of th
e nineteenth century, He was a naturalist a
utilitarian, and a liberal, whose work explor
es the consequences of a thoroughgoing e
mpiricist outlook.

5. Works
The Subjection of Women
 The Subjection of Women" published in 1869
 Mill argued that if freedom is good for men, then it is for women too,
and that every argument against this view drawn from the supposedly
different "nature" of men and women is based on mere superstitious
special pleading.

6. On Liberty
 The work, published in 1859.
 The importance, to man and society, of a large variety in types of character, an
d of giving full freedom to human nature.
 Three basis
The freedom of thought and emotion
The freedom to pursue tastes
The freedom to unite

7. Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism is a system of ethics based upon utility developed in the modern period by Jere
my Bentham and John Stuart Mill
 The action of most utility is that action which his most useful. The most useful action is that a
ction which most encourages happiness or discourages the opposite of happiness.
 Utilitarianism is in a position to criticize harmful practices that have been regarded as "moral,
" rigid legalism of every sort, and theories that make morality depend upon religion.

8. John Locke
(1632-1704)
John Locke (1632-1704) was an English philos
opher who is considered to be one of the first p
hilosophers of the Enlightenment and the father
of classical liberalism. In his major work Two Tr
eatises of Government Locke rejects the idea o
f the divine right of kings, supports the idea of n
atural rights

9. Work
Two Treatises of Government
 The “Two Treatises of Government” developed in 1690.
 . The First Treatise attacks patriarchies in the form of sentence-by-sentence
refutation of Robert Filmer's Patriarchal.
 the Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society base
d on natural rights and contract theory.

10. The Tabula Rasa
 "Essay Concerning Human Understanding," Locke refutes ideas proposed by René
Descartes
 Locke believed the human mind was what he called a "tabula rasa," which is Latin for “ clean sheet o
f paper.
Locke believed there were two types of experience:
 Sensation and Reflection
 Simplicity and Complexity

11. David Hume(1711 – 1776)
David Hume (1711-1776) was a moral p
hilosopher and historian. In philosoph
y he was a skeptic. In his multi-
volume History of England, he showed
how the rule of law and the creation of
an independent judiciary created the
foundation for liberty in England.
Hume also wrote on economics.

12. Works
INDUCTIVE REASONING
 This kind of reasoning where we infer one thing from another is called „inductive re
asoning‟
 It is one of Hume's most prominent theories
 Related to „causation‟, the concept of always seeing one thing follow another and co
ncluding that
• A) They are connected (A causes B)
• B) Will always react the same way (A will always cause B)

13. HUME VS. DESCARTES
 Hume was an atheist and believed in no high power whatsoever, whereas Descartes worked hard
to prove that God existed, and if not his God, then an evil but omniscient and omnipotent demon
 Hume believes that there is no innate knowledge, that all knowledge is derived from
experience, whereas Descartes believes the opposite.

14. David Hartley
(1705-1757)
David Hartley (1705–57) is the author of Obser
vations on Man, his Frame, his Duty,
and his Expectations a wide-ranging synthesis
of neurology, moral psychology, and spirituality
(i.e., our “frame,” “duty,” and “expectations”).

15. Observation on man
 Hartley wrote one important work, Observations on Man, His Frame, His Duty, and Hi
s Expectations
It is in two parts—
 The first dealing with the frame of the human body and mind, and their mutual conn
ections and influences,
 The second with the duty and expectations of mankind

16. Two main theories
Doctrine of vibrations
 Hartley's physical theory gave birth to the modern study of the intimate
connection of physiological and psychical facts.
 He believed that sensation is the result of a vibration of the minute particles of the medullary subst
ance of the nerves.
Doctrine of associations
 The course of reminiscence and of the thoughts generally, when not immediately dependent upon e
xternal sensation.
 The nature of these vibrations is determined by each man's past experience, and by the circumstanc
es of the moment.

17. James Mill
(1773 – 1836)
James Mill (1773-1836) was an early 19th
century Philosophic Radical, journalist,
and editor from Scotland. He was very
influenced by Jeremy Bentham’s ideas
about utilitarianism.

18. Work
The History of British India
 The History of British India purports to be a study of India in which James set out to attack the histor
y, character, religion, literature, arts, and laws of India, also making claims about the influence of the
Indian climate.
 He also aimed to locate the attacks on India within a wider theoretical framework

19. Ideas on government
 His best-known political work, the Essay on Government (1820), argued the case for representative de
mocracy against monarchy and aristocracy and declared that the purpose of all government was to ac
hieve the happiness of the whole community.
 This article also asserts that in order to ensure the greatest happiness to the greatest number, men m
ust be guaranteed the highest compensation for their work and that a representative system could be
st fulfil this need

20. Alexander Bain
(1818-1903)
Alexander Bain was a prominent philosopher and logician
who excelled in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic a
nd moral philosophy It was
Bain who for the first time in the 19th Century’s
Britain applied physiology for the clarification of mental st
ates. He established a link between
physiological and psychological processes.

21. Work
Mind and Body
 The first contains a discussion of his attempted solution to the mind-body
problem which was a form of psychophysical
 parallelism.
 In his view mind and body are seen as forming a unity.
 Observed objectively, from the outside mind is a bodily process, matter; vi
ewed subjectively, from the "inside", the process is mind

22. Law of Association
Two laws of association
 Law of compound association
Single ideas are not associated, rather an idea is usually associated with several o
ther ideas through contiguity or similarity.
 Law of constructive association
Mind can rearrange memories of experiences into an almost infinite number of
combinations, accounts for creativity.

23.  Who is Jeremy Bentham?
 Tell me the three basis of liberty?
 Who introduce the concept of mind and body?
 Who Established the link between psychological and psyc
hological process?
 Who proved the existence of God?
 What are main arguments of David Hartley in
Observation on man?
Questions

24. Thank You
For your Attention