John Locke Research Paper

John Locke stated that we acquire knowledge via sense perceptions even though this kind of knowledge is not that of demonstration. To Locke we are born as not knowing anything, everything we inquire is from indirect experiences. External objects cause us to have certain experiences, sense data in which we have direct access to. This is the idea of representative realism in which we see a distinction from our experiences with objects and the objects. With this claim he avoids the critical worries like the bent straw argument since according to him just because we see those things does not mean they actually exist in reality.
Locke’s idea of representative realism states that there are two properties corresponding to the distinction of object perception. First there is the primary qualities, the power to produce any idea in the mind. This is due the objects having independent of any observer. An object is a certain shape, or weight, for instance, irrespective of whether anyone is perceiving it to be such. Shape and weight are therefore primary qualities. Secondly is the secondary qualities, in which objects only exist because they are perceived. An example would be color, they are projected onto the world by …show more content…
He also states that primary qualities exist independently of sense organs, but secondary qualities depends their existence on sense organs. This may be due to its being objective and independent in the sense that it exists in the body itself, being inseparable from the body. Primary qualities are dependent on solidity, extension, figure, mobility, quantity and texture of the object. All these allow for the power to produce carious sensations, secondary qualities, in human. This allows for things to be explained scientifically and