John Locke was an empiricist who believed that all knowledge comes from experience. He disagreed with Descartes' view that humans are born with innate ideas, and instead agreed with Aristotle that humans are born with a blank slate. According to Locke, we gain simple ideas from our senses, and complex ideas are combinations of simple ideas. He distinguished between primary qualities like shape and size that are objective, and secondary qualities like color and taste that are subjective. Our sense experiences lead to sensations and impressions in the mind, which we then reflect on to form ideas.

1. John Locke Saad Nikki Mohit

2. Rationalist or Empiricist Locke believed that we gain knowledge by experience, this is called empiricism Locke agreed with Aristotle that we are not born with innate ideas, and that we learn through experience

3. Issues with Knowledge Locke’s theory was that the only way we learn is by tasting, smelling, touching, and hearing the external world Locke believed that there were two types of ideas, Simple and Complex Simple ideas are easy sensations like feeling a hot stove Complex ideas are a grouping of simple ideas like when you look at a banana, you see it is yellow (color) it is mushy (texture) it is sweet (taste) these ideas form the idea of a banana Ideas that are nonmaterial were also explained by simple ideas If you imagine a griffin, you have put together the parts of different animals the body of a lion, the head, wings, and talons of an eagle Locke stated that all things have primary and secondary qualities Primary: height and weight (undeniable truths) Secondary: rely on subjective or personal judgments (color, taste and sound)

4. From Sense Experience to Ideas Sense Experience Sensation Impression in the Mind Reflection Idea You touch ice Cold Ice is cold Ice = cold If you touch ice, it will be cold

5. Responding to? Different from? Locke disagreed with Rene Descartes, he believed that humans are born without any knowledge of the world Descartes borrowed ideas from Plato, he believed that we are all born with innate ideas Locke agreed with Aristotle’s theory that humans are born with a clean slate, and that we learn while we grow, experiencing the world as we go Aristotle believed that we gain knowledge by experiencing the world with our senses

6. Vocabulary SENSE: Sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch SENSATION: The operation or function of the senses; perception or awareness of stimuli through the senses REFLECTION: Thinking about what you experienced, processing the information IMPRESSION: The first and immediate effect of an experience or perception upon the mind QUALITIES: Essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute