Locke's Primary and Secondary Qualities

A detailed Summary of Locke's Primary and Secondary Qualities

Locke's Primary and Secondary Qualities

When reading Lock's Book II "Of Ideas", one comes to a state of boredom, while reading about things that should seem obvious to an adult. These ideas are mainly trying explain to the reader that a person can not think about something without experiencing it with some sort of sensation first. But then, all of the sudden, one does a double take after reading Lock's thoughts about an object's primary and secondary qualities, which he begins to discuss in chapter eight. Locke states that qualities such as color, smell, and heat do not lie within an object, but are more like powers that an object possesses. This essay will make Locke's points regarding primary and secondary qualities of objects clear, and will discuss why these qualities are important to Locke's philosophy.

Locke describes a primary (real or original) quality, as something an object has within itself. Any other object need not sense these primary qualities in order for that object to really exist. This is because whether something else perceives that object or not, it is still an entity. This object has bulk, figure, number, and motion. Motion can be classified as movement from one location to another, or that the

2. Collins, James D. (1967). The British empiricists : Locke, Barkley, Humes. Milwaukee: Bruce Pub.

One of Locke's more interesting points concerning primary and secondary qualities, is with regard to the science of bodies. He argues that since it is impossible to link an object's primary and secondary qualities, the science of bodies has no merit. For how can one study something without using his own sensations (perceiving the body's secondary qualities)? One can not. If one takes Locke's philosophy to be true, this is a very valid point. The word science usually has math associated with it, and the two are often thought to be perfect or at least near perfect. If this is so, how could one possibly create a "science" of bodies, when it will most definitely not be perfect because the secondary qualities emitted from an object are different depending on who is perceiving them. Since this is the case, this "science of bodies" would only for work for the person who created the science. Locke goes further in stating that this connection will never be made, so this "science" should not no longer be pondered over.

Secondary qualities (sensible qualities) do not lie within the object itself, rather secondary qualities are produced when one perceives an object's unique primary qualities. These secondary qualities are things such as smell, color, texture, taste, etc. These secondary qualities along with it's primary qualities can be sensed by other beings. Secondary qualities are emitted from the object, because of it's primary qualities. Take fire for example. It has a primary quality of molecules moving so quickly that it can be perceived as having extreme heat (relative to healthy human being). This varies in degree of perceived heat as one draws nearer or further from it. Two different people mig

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Approximate Word count = 1229
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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