Locke: readings and topics (subject to change)
Philosophy 471b, Jan 2006
1. Introductory (Jan 18)
Purpose of the Essay, sections 2-3; note emphasis on belief and
probable opinion, as well as on knowledge and certainty
Importance of realizing the limits of the understanding, sections 4-6 (link to section 5)
Note metaphors of candle and sunshine, legs and wings, sailor and his line;
reflect on what they mean.
2. Innate Principles (Jan 23, 25)
Reading: Book I (especially chapters 2 and 4)
Locke's target more a matter of attacking innate principles than innate ideas
Scholastic accounts of maxims, demonstrations, and certainty
Innateness used to explain the certainty and self-evidentness of a certain
class of principle (maxims, postulates, axioms etc).
Locke will show
1)There is no good argument for innate principles.
2)That there is another account of the origin of our ideas (experience, see
Book 2)
3)That there is another explanation of the certainty and self-evidentness of
maxims (see his account of intuition in Book 4)
In Chapter 2, Locke will argue against the two main arguments in favor of
innate principles:
1)Universal Consent (sections 2-5)
2)Immediate Consent (sections 17-19)
In between, there is a consideration, and rejection, of the argument that we
are only innately disposed to accept principles.
3.Ideas (Jan 30)
4.Qualities (Feb 1) (discussion Feb 3)
See also 2.9, especially 2.9.8 (Molyneux's problem)
5.Substance and Essence (Feb 6, 8, 13) (discussion Feb 10)
Substance: 2.12, 2.13 (especially sections 18-20), 2.23 (sections 1-23, 28-32)
Essence: 3.3, 3.6 (especially sections 1-10) (link to
3.6.43)
-link to notes on real essence
6.Words and Abstraction (Feb 20, 22) (discussion Feb 24; led by Mike
Bruno)
Words: Book 3 (especially chapters 1-3, 9-11)
Abstraction: II.xi.9, II.xii.1, III.iii.6-10, IV.vii.9
7.Knowledge and Opinion (Feb 27, Mar 1) (discussion Mar 3: personal
identity (2.27): led by Sara Bernstein)
-link to notes on knowledge and belief