Locke’s Philosophical Ideologies
Paper #3 Prompt: How does Locke account for general terms? for abstract ideas? What difficulties does Locke’s account face? What is Berkeley’s criticism of Locke’s account? Why is it that Berkeley is called a ‘nominalist’? What difficulties are faced by nominalist accounts of abstract ideas? How does Berkeley deal with them?
Paper #3 ALT Prompt: What is Locke’s account of the origin of our ideas of space and time? What is Leibniz’s conception of space; in particular, what is his argument against the possibility of empty space? Do arguments against the possibility of a vacuum refute the Leibnizian understanding of space and support Locke’s conception? Is Locke’s conception of space the same as Newton’s? Why does Newton believe that his famous “spinning bucket” example supports an absolutist conception of space? Was Newton right according to Einstein’s theory?
Locke’s Philosophy
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Locke’s Philosophy
John Locke is a monumental character in the world considering the impact that he has had on knowledge creation through different eras. Locke’s philosophy revolved around the execution of natural rights, which stimulated the implementation of the Bill of Rights in various nations. Locke’s knowledge exploration extended to examining general terms and abstract ideas as well as insights into the philosophy of space and time. In this analysis, the focus will be put on addressing prompts linked to the philosophical ideologies that Locke attached to various knowledge areas including the ideal of abstract and general terms as well as the philosophy of space and time.
Paper #3 Prompt
The description of general terms and abstract notions developed by John Locke is important to his philosophy of language and epistemology. General terms, according to Locke, are generated by abstraction, in which the mind pulls common features from particular examples and generates a general notion. For example, the broad term "tree" is generated by combining common characteristics of specific trees (Rickless, 2014). In contrast, abstract thoughts are mental representations of traits that are distinct from specific objects according to Locke. He dismisses the notion that concepts of substances denote essential qualities inherent in the natural order of phenomena. Locke labels