In any textbook on philosophy, you can read that John Locke is an outstanding representative of the New Age. This English thinker made a great impression on the later rulers of the minds of the Enlightenment. Voltaire and Russo read out his letters. His political ideas influenced the American Declaration of Independence. Locke's sensationalism was the starting point from which Kant and Hume pushed themselves. And the idea that human knowledge directly depends on the sensory perception that forms experience is extremely popular during the life of the thinker.
Brief description of the philosophy of the New Time
In the XVII-XVIII centuries, science and technology began to develop rapidly in Western Europe. This was the time of the emergence of new philosophical concepts based on materialism, a mathematical method, as well as the priority of experience and experiment. But, as often happens, thinkers were divided into two opposite camps. These are rationalists and empiricists. The difference between the two was that the former believed that we draw our knowledge from innate ideas, and the latter - that we process the information that enters our brain from experience and sensations. Although the main "stumbling block" of the philosophy of New Time was the theory of knowledge, nevertheless, thinkers, based on their principles, put forward political, ethical and pedagogical ideas. Locke's sensationalism, which we will consider here, fits perfectly into this picture. The philosopher adjoined the empiricist camp.
Biography
The future genius was born in 1632 in the English city of Rington, Somerset. When revolutionary events broke out in England, John Locke's father, a provincial lawyer, took an active part in them - he fought in Cromwell's army. At first, the young man graduated from one of the best educational institutions of that time, Westminster School. And then he entered Oxford, which since the Middle Ages was known for its university academic environment. Locke received a master's degree and worked as a teacher of Greek. Together with his patron, Lord Ashley, he traveled a lot. At the same time, he became interested in social problems. But due to the radicalization of the political situation in England, Lord Ashley emigrated to France. The philosopher returned to his homeland only after the so-called “glorious revolution” of 1688, when William of Orange was proclaimed king. The thinker spent almost his entire life in seclusion, almost a hermit, but he held various government posts. His girlfriend was Lady Dameris Mash, in whose mansion he died of asthma in 1704.
The main aspects of philosophy
Locke's views formed rather early. One of the first thinkers noticed a contradiction in the philosophy of Descartes. He worked hard to identify and explain them. Locke created his own system in part in order to contrast it with the Cartesian one. The rationalism of the famous Frenchman hated him. He was a supporter of all sorts of compromises, including in the field of philosophy. No wonder he returned to his homeland during the “glorious revolution”. After all, this was the year when a compromise was reached between the main fighting forces in England. Similar views were characteristic of the thinker and in the approach to religion.
Criticism of Descartes
In our work “The Experience of the Human Mind, ” we see Locke’s already practically formed concept. There he opposed the theory of “innate ideas, ” which Rene Descartes promoted and made very popular. The French thinker greatly influenced Locke's ideas. He agreed with his theories of certainty. The latter should be an intuitive moment of our existence. But with the theory of what to be means to think, Locke did not agree. All ideas that are considered innate, in the opinion of the philosopher, in fact, are not. Only two abilities belong to the beginnings that are given to us by nature. It is a will and a mind.
John Locke's Theory of Sensualism
From the point of view of the philosopher, experience is the only source of all human ideas. He, as the thinker believed, consists of single perceptions. And they, in turn, are divided into external, which we know in sensations, and internal, that is, reflection. The mind itself is something that reflects and processes information from the senses in a peculiar way. For Locke, it was sensations that were primary. They generate knowledge. In this process, the mind plays a secondary role.
Doctrine of qualities
It is in this theory that J. Locke's materialism and sensualism are most manifested. Experience, the philosopher argued, produces images that we call qualities. The latter are primary and secondary. How to distinguish between them? Primary qualities are permanent. They are inseparable from things or objects. Such qualities can be called a figure, density, extent, movement, number, and so on. And what is taste, smell, color, sound? These are secondary qualities. They are unstable, they can be separated from the things that give rise to them. They also vary depending on the subject who perceives them. A combination of qualities creates ideas. These are kind of images in the human brain. But they relate to simple ideas. How do theories come about? The fact is that, according to Locke, there are still some innate abilities in our brain (this is his compromise with Descartes). This is a comparison, combination and distraction (or abstraction). With their help, complex ideas arise from simple ideas. This is the process of cognition.
Ideas and Method
John Locke's theory of sensualism not only explains the origin of theories from experience. She also shares various ideas by criteria. The first of these is value. According to this criterion, ideas are divided into dark and clear. They are also grouped in three categories: real (or fantastic), adequate (or not consistent with patterns), and true and false. The last class can be attributed to judgments. The philosopher also spoke about what is the most suitable method in order to achieve real and adequate, as well as true ideas. He called it metaphysical. This method consists of three stages:
- analysis;
- dismemberment;
- classification.
We can say that Locke actually transferred the scientific approach to philosophy. His ideas in this regard were unusually successful. The Locke method prevailed until the 19th century, until Goethe criticized him in his poems that if someone wants to study something alive, he first kills him, then disintegrates him into pieces. But there are still no secrets of life - in the hands of only dust …
About language
Locke's sensualism became the rationale for the emergence of human speech. The philosopher considered that language arose as a result of the presence of abstract thinking in people. Words are, in essence, signs. Most of them are general terms. They arise when a person tries to identify similar signs of various objects or phenomena. For example, people noticed that a black and a red cow is actually the same kind of animal. Therefore, a general term appeared for its designation. Locke justified the existence of language and communication by the so-called theory of common sense. Interestingly, in a literal translation from English, this phrase sounds a little different. It is pronounced “common sense.” This prompted the philosopher to the fact that people tried to be distracted from the individual in order to create an abstract term, with the meaning of which everyone agreed.
Political ideas
Despite the solitary life of the philosopher, interest in the aspirations of the surrounding society was not alien to him. He is the author of Two Treatises on the State. Locke's ideas on politics come down to the theory of "natural law." He can be called a classic representative of this concept, which in modern times was very fashionable. The Thinker believed that all people have three fundamental rights - to life, liberty, and property. In order to be able to protect these principles, man came out of his natural state and created a state. Therefore, the latter has corresponding functions, which consist in protecting these fundamental rights. The state must guarantee compliance with laws that guard the freedoms of citizens and punish violators. John Locke believed that in this regard, power should be divided into three parts. These are legislative, executive and federal functions (by the latter, the philosopher understood the right to wage war and establish peace). They should be managed by separate, independent of each other bodies. Locke also defended the right of the people to rebel against tyranny and is known for developing the principles of a democratic revolution. Nevertheless, he is one of the defenders of the slave trade, as well as the author of the political rationale for the policies of the North American colonists who took the land from the Indians.
Constitutional state
D. Locke's principles of sensualism are also expressed in his doctrine of the social contract. The state, from its point of view, is a mechanism that should be based on experience and common sense. Citizens renounce their right to protect their own life, liberty and property, leaving the special service to do so. She must monitor the order and enforcement of laws. For this, a government is elected by consensus. The state must do everything to protect the freedom and well-being of man. Then he will obey the laws. For this, a social contract is concluded. There is no reason to obey the arbitrariness of the despot. If power is unlimited, then it is a greater evil than the absence of a state. Because in the latter case, a person can rely at least on himself. And with despotism, he is generally defenseless. And if the state violates the agreement, the people may demand their rights back and withdraw from the agreement. The ideal thinker was a constitutional monarchy.
About a human
Sensualism - the philosophy of J. Locke - influenced his pedagogical principles. Since the thinker considered that all ideas come from experience, he concluded that people are born with absolutely equal abilities. They are like a blank sheet. It was Locke who made the Latin phrase tabula rasa popular, that is, a board on which nothing has been written. So he imagined the brain of a newborn man, a child, in contrast to Descartes, who believed that we have certain knowledge from nature. Therefore, from the point of view of Locke, the teacher, through "putting into the head" of the right ideas, can form the mind in a certain order. Education should be physical, mental, religious, moral and labor. The state should make every effort to ensure that education is at a sufficient level. If it impedes enlightenment, then, as Locke believed, it ceases to fulfill its functions and loses legitimacy. Such a state should be changed. These ideas were subsequently picked up by the figures of the French Enlightenment.
Hobbes and Locke: What are the similarities and differences in the theories of philosophers?
Not only Descartes influenced the theory of sensualism. Thomas Hobbes, a famous English philosopher who lived a few decades earlier, was also a very significant figure for Locke. Even the main work of his life - “The Experience of the Human Mind” - he composed according to the same algorithm as the Hobbes Leviathan was written. He develops the thoughts of his predecessor in the teaching of language. He borrows his theory of relativistic ethics, agreeing with Hobbes that the concepts of good and evil do not coincide among many people, and only the desire to enjoy is the most powerful internal engine of the psyche. However, Locke is a pragmatist. He does not set the task of creating a general political theory, as Hobbes does. In addition, Locke does not consider the natural (stateless) state of man as a war of all against all. After all, it was precisely this provision that Hobbes justified the absolute power of the monarch. For Locke, free people can live spontaneously. And they form a state only by agreeing among themselves.
