Reading Questions for John Locke, From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

1. Compare Locke's overall argument in Book I Chapter I with Descartes's contention in his third meditation that, "Among my ideas, some appear to be innate, some to be adventitious, and others to have been invented by me. My understanding of what a thing is, what truth is, and what thought is, seems to derive simply from my own nature." How does Locke rethink this Cartesian assumption?

2. Locke describes one of the arguments for innate ideas as follows: "There is nothing more commonly taken for granted, than that there are certain principles both speculative and practical ... universally agreed upon by all mankind: which therefore they argue, must needs be the constant impressions, which the souls of men receive in their first beings." Explain this argument and Locke's criticisms of it.

3. What does universal assent have to do with innate ideas for Locke? Why does Locke believe it is a necessary condition for a proposition to be innately known that it be universally assented to? Locke argues that the fact that there are propositions to which human beings universally assent shows that there are no propositions that are innately known. Explain the structure of his argument, identifying each of the premises. Why does he think these premises are true?

4. How does Locke explain the origin of simple ideas?

5. Explain the distinction between simple and complex ideas.

6. What happens to transform simple ideas into complex ones?

7. What does Locke mean when he states that, "our complex ideas of substances, besides all these simple ideas they are made up of, have always the confused idea of something to which they belong, and in which they subsist"? Where and how do we store complex ideas?

8. What is the spirit or the soul for Locke?

9. Locke thinks the "idea of corporeal substance in matter is as remote from our conceptions, and apprehensions, as that of spiritual substance, or spirit." How does this distinguish him from Descartes (and the Cartesian notion of the clear and distinct conception)?

10. Do you think that Locke is skeptical about the existence of the soul?

11. Where does the idea of God come from according to Locke? How is Locke's notion of the origin of this idea different from Descartes's?

12. What is the difference between primary and secondary qualities? Where do these qualities come from? See if you can find Locke's alternative definition of primary qualities on the last page of Book II Chapter XXIII.