Locke’s Limited Representationalism states that “Locke agreed with the naive representationalist that some of the properties of our sense data resemble properties of the matter that cause sense data. However, according to Locke, not all properties of our sense data resemble properties of matter”. Locke upheld that all objects have certain characteristics that fall into two categories, primary qualities and secondary qualities. Primary qualities exist in the object such as the shape size and location of an object. These qualities are objective because they are perceived the same to everyone. Secondary qualities are the aspects that the perceiver brings to the object such as smell, taste, color and sound. These qualities become subjective
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Everything we perceive has primary and secondary qualities through experiences. Such as holding a baseball, when we hold a baseball in our hands we are taking in its primary qualities, by its size, shape and solidity, and secondary by seeing and feelings the red seams that have been sewn into it feeling while Locke does a great job of explaining the characteristics between the primary and secondary qualities. While the primary qualities of something cannot be disagreed upon, however the secondary qualities can be a subject of some controversy. (Back to the baseball) a baseball is roughly the same as every other baseball, except does it make a noise when you drop it? Yes, does it make a noise when you hit it with a wooden bat? Yes, does it make a completely different noise when you hit it with an aluminum bat? Yes. Is the color of leather of the baseball white or is it an off white? No leather is imperfection free. Therefore the secondary qualities are up for debate to prove for instance, what sound the baseball actually makes, and what shade is the leather on the …show more content…
You simply can’t distinguish an oranges shape without first taking into account the color orange. So your mind needs to find the primary qualities of the orange before you can find the secondary qualities of the orange. Simply put you cannot take away the secondary qualities of the orange, if you do, you will not have an orange. Picture an orange with only primary qualities. Its round, it’s a certain size, but what is the color of it and what does it taste of? If you were to picture an orange in your mind you just end up with a picture that it is black or white, or transparent, and the texture that you perceive this “orange” to have would be just as consistent as the image you are perceiving. So can we say that we have an orange only based off this? No we cannot. Locke states that secondary qualities are only able to exist in the mind. To restate you cannot have primary qualities without first seeing the secondary qualities, if you erase the oranges secondary qualities in a bid to uncover the primary ones you are left with no orange. So in conclusion you will never have the secondary qualities without the primary qualities because they are related to each other. Which means if the secondary qualities are in your mind, they are not real and if they are not real then
Everything we perceive has primary and secondary qualities through experiences. Such as holding a baseball, when we hold a baseball in our hands we are taking in its primary qualities, by its size, shape and solidity, and secondary by seeing and feelings the red seams that have been sewn into it feeling while Locke does a great job of explaining the characteristics between the primary and secondary qualities. While the primary qualities of something cannot be disagreed upon, however the secondary qualities can be a subject of some controversy. (Back to the baseball) a baseball is roughly the same as every other baseball, except does it make a noise when you drop it? Yes, does it make a noise when you hit it with a wooden bat? Yes, does it make a completely different noise when you hit it with an aluminum bat? Yes. Is the color of leather of the baseball white or is it an off white? No leather is imperfection free. Therefore the secondary qualities are up for debate to prove for instance, what sound the baseball actually makes, and what shade is the leather on the …show more content…
You simply can’t distinguish an oranges shape without first taking into account the color orange. So your mind needs to find the primary qualities of the orange before you can find the secondary qualities of the orange. Simply put you cannot take away the secondary qualities of the orange, if you do, you will not have an orange. Picture an orange with only primary qualities. Its round, it’s a certain size, but what is the color of it and what does it taste of? If you were to picture an orange in your mind you just end up with a picture that it is black or white, or transparent, and the texture that you perceive this “orange” to have would be just as consistent as the image you are perceiving. So can we say that we have an orange only based off this? No we cannot. Locke states that secondary qualities are only able to exist in the mind. To restate you cannot have primary qualities without first seeing the secondary qualities, if you erase the oranges secondary qualities in a bid to uncover the primary ones you are left with no orange. So in conclusion you will never have the secondary qualities without the primary qualities because they are related to each other. Which means if the secondary qualities are in your mind, they are not real and if they are not real then