An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, vol. 1

by John Locke

Publisher:

Clarendon Press

, 1894

Overview

Volume one contains books I and II of Locke’s essay. In book I, Locke directly attacks the theory of innate knowledge held by Descartes and other continental rationalists. He argued that, at conception, the human mind was a blank slate (tabula rasa). All the ideas and principles in the mind were created by each person’s experience of the world. Descartes and the other continental rationalists held that knowledge could be reached through pure reason, apart from experience, because the human mind had innate principles—ideas and concepts that were there from birth.

In book II, Locke puts forward his theory of ideas. He argues that all ideas come from two different types of experience: sensation and reflection. He distinguishes between simple ideas (red, round) and complex ideas (apple). He also distinguishes between primary and secondary qualities. A primary quality is something which is actually attributable to a thing (solidity) and a secondary quality is a quality which the particular thing produces in the human observer (such as smell). Locke uses his understanding of simple and complex ideas to form an argument for the existence of God.

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Key Features

• Highlights the philosophical beliefs and teachings of John Locke
• Presents the concepts of tabula rasa and primary and secondary qualities
• Discusses the philosophy of knowledge and ideas

Contents

• Prolegomena
  • Preliminary
  • Biographical
  • Critical
  • Historical
• An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding
  • Book I: Neither Principles Nor Ideas Are Innate
  • Book II: Of Ideas

Product Details

• Title: An Essay concerning Human Understanding, vol. 1
• Author: John Locke
• Editor: Alexander Campbell Fraser
• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication Date: 1894
• Pages: 535
• Resource Type: Topical
• Topic: Empirical Philosophy

About John Locke

John Locke, widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy.