Locke’s and Plato Views

There are two parts in this week discussion

1. Locke’s view is the opposite of Descartes’ view.

·Descartes is a rationalist (who thinks all knowledge comes from reason, conception, and thinking) and idealist (who thinks all knowledge comes from ideas)

·John Locke is an empiricist (who believes all knowledge comes from sensory experience like touch, sight, taste, smell) and a materialist (who believes there is some material or substance outside of us that all of these sensory things reside in.)

What experiences have you had that make your thoughts or your senses seem the more real?

If Locke’s sensory knowledge is right, does that mean in fact that objects can “make us” think of certain things? When I look at a table, do I unavoidably think, Oh, it’s flat on top, it’s brown, it’s got four legs; without having any choice in the matter? Does that make it seem like objects have too much control of our minds?

(Keep in mind one of Locke’s major distinctions, that “primary” qualities must be “in the object” itself, because they are necessary for the object to be what it is; but that “secondary” qualities are only in us, our mind, because of our preferences. An example of this would be a table that is brown in color. The table’s flatness is primary quality, because it must be flat to be a table, but the table’s color brown is secondary, because it could be any color and we perceive color in certain ways because of our senses… even if we are color blind, the table is still a table because of its shape.)

2. There are a variety of major distinctions that people always use to describe the Plato’s Republic section we have read. The distinctions are:

·The appearances vs. reality

·One vs. the many

·Forms/ideals vs. physical objects

After doing the reading, describe how you understand these distinctions. Do you agree with the basic claim, that appearances can be deceiving? Why or why not?

Another way to understand the Allegory of the Cave and the Divided Line is to use one particular example and take it through all the different levels of the Divided Line. Here’s some examples like that:

·A picture of a dog in a dog magazine/ An actual physical dog//A diagram of a dog used to train a dog show judge at Westminster Dog Show/The idea of the perfect dog – Less “real”//More “real”

·A picture of a beauty pageant participant/Meeting the actual beauty pageant participant//A description of the ideal “Miss America”/The concept or ideal Miss America in someone’s imagination – Again, the more perfect it is, the more real it is, even if it’s just an idea.

Would you agree with the way Plato connects knowledge and reality? Why or why not?

Solution preview for the order on Locke’s and Plato Views

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