LOCKE - MIND

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>LOCKE</FONT><BR> PRACTICAL MAN OF THE WORLD</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Mind over Matter</B></FONT><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>WHITE PAPER</B></FONT><BR> Locke asks us to "suppose the mind to be a white paper, void of all characters " and then asks "Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge?". The answer - "All that we know comes from sense experience, and from reflection upon experience." Locke differs from the outlook of others in two ways. First he rejects <A HREF="../11/11f01.html" TARGET="_top">Descartes</A>' concept of <A HREF="../t03/g025.html" TARGET="_top">innate ideas</A>. We are born ignorant and just as importantly without original sin. Second, he claims that perception involves not two but three things - the observer, the idea and the object. Objects of perception are not things, but "ideas" and perception is a "species of understanding". The perceiver responds not to the object itself, but to ideas, to qualities of the object. <P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>IDEAS</B></FONT><BR> You look at an object. Your senses tell you it has a number of primary qualities inherent in the object - solidity, figure, number. These are what science can accept as having an objective existence. It also has a series of secondary qualities, dependent on the perceiver and factors external to the object. Colour, for instance can appear different in different conditions. The perceiver creates a mental picture which involves a combination of sensory responses and mental comparisons. You know that this is a coin because of the co-existence of ideas you have come through experience to associate with coins. Its roundness, its solidity, these are as much ideas as the value you place on it. <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>