John Locke, Primary and Secondary Qualities, Real and ...€¦ · 11/10/2012 · Real vs. nominal...
Transcript of John Locke, Primary and Secondary Qualities, Real and ...€¦ · 11/10/2012 · Real vs. nominal...
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John Locke, Primary and Secondary Qualities, Real and Nominal Essences An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book II; Ch 8, Ch 13 #18-20 Book III; Ch 2, #1-3 and #7, Ch 3, Ch 6 #4, Ch 10 #1-3
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+Empiricism
n “No idea in the mind that is not first in the senses”
n Simple ideas come from the senses
n complex ideas built from simple ideas
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+Locke’s Essay, Book II, Ch viii Primary and Secondary Qualities
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Ideas and qualities Ideas: experiences in the mind
Qualities: properties of objects
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+ Primary and secondary qualities Primary: solidity, extension, figure Secondary: yellowness, bitterness, warmth, etc.
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+What is a primary quality?
n Secondary qualities explained by primary n Heat explained by “violent
agitation” of particles
n Primary qualities not explained by further qualities n Primary qualities universal
Definition 1: They are explanatorily fundamental.
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+What is a primary quality?
n Ideas of secondary qualities arbitrary.
n Compare: n ‘hot’ vs. ‘caliente’
n your idea of heat vs. a Martian’s
n Primary qualities? n map vs. Cartesian
coordinates
Definition 2: They resemble our ideas.
Hot!
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+Primary and Secondary Qualities
n Fire causes sensations of heat and sensations of pain. Pain is not a primary quality, so maybe heat is not primary either.
n Rubbing things together makes them hot. This suggests that heat is a “violent agitation.”
n Do these arguments support fundamentality?
n Do they support resemblance?
n Comparison with Descartes?
Locke’s arguments
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+ Secondary qualities are mere powers. Yellowness: power to produce idea of yellow in us
Heat: power to produce idea of heat in us
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+Locke’s Essay, Real and Nominal Essence Book II; Ch 13 #18-20 Book III; Ch 2, #1-3 and #7, Ch 3, Ch 6 #4, Ch 10 #1-3
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It could have been worse... I could have been born in Nigeria and gotten Malaria.
I could have been born in the 14th and gotten the Bubonic Plague.
I could have been born to different parents and gotten cystic fibrosis.
I could have been born a pig and gotten swine flu.
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+ What properties are essential? individuals “natural kinds” geometrical kinds
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+Real vs. nominal essences
n “workmanship of the understanding”
n based on observable characteristics
n knowable by reflecting on our own ideas
n really exist in nature
n based on underlying properties that explain observable characteristics
n knowable by empirical investigation
Nominal essences Real essences
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Snakes and glass lizards
n real essence of snakes due to DNA
n DNA similarities explain observable similarities among snakes
n but glass lizard has same observable traits but different real essence
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Real vs. Nominal Essence
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+The essence of octagons
n Locke: a priori knowledge is possible
n real essence = nominal essence
n Trifling propositions (tautologies): n Octagons are octagonal. n Octagons are 8-sided. n Octagons have 8 interior
angles. n Octagons have interior
angles summing to 1080 degrees.
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“Nothing essential to individuals” Essential/accidental defined relative to a type of classification
Ch vi, #4 (p. 193)
unintelligible: “What is essential to this thing?” weighing more than 1 oz. essential for a doorstop
being rabbit-shaped essential for a rabbit sculpture