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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page paper discussing Locke’s arguments for primary and secondary qualities and Berkeley’s exception to Locke’s arguments. The points that Berkeley chooses to discuss do indeed cast doubts on Locke’s definitions. Berkeley successfully refutes Locke’s position on primary and secondary qualities. The refutation is not as complete as Berkeley likely intended, however. According to Berkeley’s objections, Locke’s greatest offense may lie in placing specific qualities in the wrong categories. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KSphiloLockeBerk.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
Locke provides what appear to be fine arguments for primary and secondary qualities, but Berkeley takes exception to Lockes arguments. The points that Berkeley chooses to discuss do
indeed cast doubts on Lockes definitions. Lockes Primary and Secondary Qualities Locke provides a view of the causal theory of perception reminiscent of
Descartes in that our ideas of objects are only that: ideas. Unlike Descartes, Locke does not go so far as to claim that objects themselves exist only within the
human mind; he keeps his distinctions focused on our ideas of objects. He does allow objects to exist in reality, which is his strongest argument.
It is Lockes belief that our ideas of objects arise from the causal interactions that we have with them (LM2002). Objects themselves possess properties that can
be placed into one of three categories: primary qualities, secondary qualities and powers. Primary qualities are those properties that objects "possess intrinsically,
and non-relationally" (LM2002). Representing another diversion from Descartes position, Lockes primary qualities give objects "solidity, extension, figure, number, motion, or rest of objects" (LM2002). Such qualities can define
the ways that we experience these objects. A table is solid; stars in the night sky are innumerable. Secondary qualities of objects
are those that are subjective and can be interpreted in different ways by different individuals. They are "dispositions of objects to produce certain experiences in us ... These qualities
include the colour, taste, and feel of objects" (LM2002). The rational, thinking individual does not deny that eggplant exists. It is a thing, a solid, tangible, space-requiring thing.
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