Philosophy: Locke, Berkeley and Hume
In John Locke's philosophy of mind, all people are born with minds that are a blank slate. As such, we build up a body of knowledge through perceptions as we grow. In this way, all knowledge is received indirectly from outside of the human mind. In this, Locke distinguishes between primary and secondary perception. Primary perception gives an accurate impression of the qualities of an object, in terms of physical properties that can be measured, such as height, weight and width. Secondary perception on the other hand is dependent on the senses. Human sense organs differ from each other, and information such as color, taste and smell are therefore often perceived differently by different people. In this, Locke emphasizes that, while some perceived information may be regarded as reliable and some not, the object perceived can never fully be known in itself. George Berkeley takes Locke's philosophy a little further, questioning the actual existence of matter in terms of the human perception in terms of primary or secondary qualities alone. This doubt in the existence of matter is referred to as Idealism. The basis of Berkeley's philosophy is an attempt to reinstitute a belief in God in the field of philosophy. The reaso
Matters of fact, according to the philosopher, can be found beyond immediate factors such as the senses and memory by causes and effects whose connections to the present can be presumed. Secondary qualities such as sensation, taste, color and speed are used to demonstrate that subjective perceptions are different in each perceiver, but cannot be different at the same time in the same object. This is based on the human tendency to learn from experience; matters of fact are therefore perceived as a result of similar past experiences. Causality, according to the philosopher, is a habit that human beings acquire through their lifetimes of experience. To therefore claim that an object can be perceived both in realistic and empirical terms is a contradiction which Berkeley attempts to prove incorrect. The regularity with which these causes and effects occur is referred to as "constant conjunction". Hume and Causality In Hume's view, causality is the most important element in the universe, binding everything together as a whole. The object does not exist outside of perception; indeed, it is created by the power of our perception rather than the other way around. In his philosophy, David Hume is concerned with explaining the origin of matters of fact. In turn this can then be used to free the human mind from assumptions about the world and concentrate on disciplines that are useful in the study of causes and effects, such as mathematics and science. In more technical terms, we expect the effect (the rising sun) when experiencing the cause (the earth that turns on its own axis). The reason for this is that two different qualities cannot exist in the same thing at the same time. He bases his critique of these on his views on cause and effect. In contrast to empiricism, this is then seen as the most useful response to the phenomena observed on earth.
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