John Locke's Theory of Knowledge Essay

John Locke was perhaps one of the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke discusses the move from a state of nature and perfect freedom to a then governed society in which authority is given to a legislative and executive power. His major ideas included liberalism and capitalism, state of nature, state of war and the desire to protect one’s property.

John Locke had many accomplishments. John Locke has public may significance writing; Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1689, Two Treaties of Government in 1690, and Letters Concerning Toleration in 1689-1692. John Locke’s “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” defined the theory of human knowledge, identity and selfhood. In his “Two Treatises of Government” believing that the legitimacy of government relies on consent from its citizens which is given on the basis of equality. A government has the duty to protect the natural rights of its people, if they fail to protect these rights, the citizen have the right to overthrow the government. This writing shows John Locke beliefs in “life, liberty, and property.” In his “Letters Concerning Toleration,”

John Locke and David Hume, both great empiricist philosophers who radically changed the way people view ideas and how they come about. Although similar in their beliefs, the two have some quite key differences in the way they view empiricism. Locke believed in causality, and used the example of the mental observation of thinking to raise your arm, and then your arm raising, whereas Hume believed that causality is not something that can be known, as a direct experience of cause, cannot be sensed. Locke believed that all knowledge is derived from our senses, which produce impressions on the mind which turn to ideas, whereas Hume's believed that all knowledge is derived from experiences,

Locke’s states that “All knowledge comes from the senses through experience” interpreted when Locke’s “blank slate” idea to when we are kids we know nothing. Our brains have to make connections to things and these connections are gained through experience and continues

Commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism,” Locke has had a lasting influence in politics. Locke wrote many political documents, including North Carolina’s first constitution and An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, but one of his most famous documents is the Second Treatise of Government. The Second Treatise, which was written during a political crisis in Europe, was a voluntary acceptance of order where the government respects the people and the people respect the government. This document, along with Locke’s many other documents and ideas, led to a political advancement throughout

Locke also believes that people have innate ideas through experiences. He has three explanations for this idea. Firstly, if we had innate ideas, we would know that we have them, which means that if you have ideas they are conscience and everything you think, you think you think. Secondly, if there were innate truths of reason we would all agree on them. Lastly, our memory cannot recall these innate ideas.

John Locke, an influential English philosopher, has been considered one of the greatest thinkers during the Enlightenment. Well-known for his fundamental role in developing political philosophy, John Locke is widely regarded as “the Father of Liberalism”. Furthermore, being a pioneer empiricist, his famous theory of the human mind as containing non-innate ideas is often seen as an inspiration for contemporary empiricists. He also contributed to the social contract theory. This theory states that: individuals in a society consent to surrender some of their freedoms in exchange for protection of their other rights. Due to his contributions, many people believe that he influenced a great number of thinkers in history, including Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence. In this essay, I will be focusing on John Locke’s liberal theory. Furthermore, I will discuss how his thinking influenced the composition of The Declaration of Independence, a statement by which the thirteen American colonies announced that they were not a part of Great Britain. And I will discuss whether he did carry out his liberal theory or he lived by different standards.

In Book I of, "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," John Locke presents his argument against innate ideas. Innate ideas are ideas that the human mind has had since birth. Philosophers like Descartes are well-known for their defense of innate ideas. For example, Descartes argues that the idea of God is an innate one and that all humans are born with the idea of god inside of themselves and they recognize this innate idea when they compare themselves to God and see what it is they lack (humans are finite, while God is infinite). Locke, on the other hand, is of the belief that ideas are not innate but rather are gained through experience.

Providing the 17th century world with an alternative, innovative view on philosophy, politics, economics, and education among other interrelated and important aspects of life, John Locke proved to be a person of immense impact. Born in 1632, in Wrington, England, Locke was the author of many known writings which include the Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), The Two Treaties of Government (1698), A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), and Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) (Goldie 32). Locke’s writings represent a series of topics involving the purpose of philosophy, emergence of empiricism, and the role as well as limits of governments and churches in terms of liberty and natural rights. In a time where exposure of such

Socrates once said, “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it, as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge, while in Empiricism, true knowledge derived from the senses. Rene Descartes, a rationalist, and John Locke, an empiricist, were prime examples of epistemologists who were seen to differentiate greatly within each of their philosophies. However, although Descartes and Locke’s ideas did contrast in that sense,

Locke feels that we do not have any innate ideas.  Then the question arises of

Locke discards the suggestion of innate ideas. Locke believes that if we always had innate ideas, it would be impossible for us not to perceive or be aware of them. He believes that if there were innate ideas then they would be universal ideas present

     Locke instead is an empiricist, and therefore he directly critiques Descartes epistemic system and tries to establish his own foundation of knowledge. Locke believes that our knowledge of the world comes from what our senses tell us. Locke’s theory state that we are all born with a blank slate, tabula rasa, before we

Empiricism, favored by John Locke, is a philosophical opinion that reveres and favors the experiences gathered by the human condition as the only means to true understanding. For Empiricists, knowledge is formed by the sense experiences and these form our opinions and reasoning. Should there be an absence of experiences there would then be a void of knowledge.

One of the most predominate opposing philosophers of Rene Descartes was John Locke. Locke was an empirical philosopher and critiqued many of Descartes ideas on how humans obtain knowledge. Looking at Descartes first meditation, Locke proposes that the senses are not deceiving us, nor are we in a dreaming state. He believes that if knowledge were innate an individual would have the consciousness that this ‘innate’ knowledge exists, but the fact that an infant does not know that his parents are his parents, then that knowledge cannot be innate. (Anstey 2003, p. 61) Alternatively Locke came up with a logical process of how we attain knowledge. He calls it ‘Tabula Rasa’ which is a clean slate, he states that humans experience this at infancy, and we