John Locke
Knowledge is a good thing to have, but where does is come from? Are we born with all of our knowledge. At birth, do we know everything that we will ever know in our lifetime? These are some very interesting questions that could, and have brought up large debates on just where knowledge comes from. Picture being a little child again. Do you remember knowing then all that you know now? Were you able to do complicated math problems, or solve puzzles? Did you know all about the English language? Most people would say no to those questions. John Locke was very intrigued by this question. After years of research, he came up with a theory on where knowledge and ideas come from. Knowledge is not given to a person at birth, it is gained by a person throughout time, and in that time it is gained by experience. John Locke was born on August 29, 1632 in the village of Wrington, Somerset. John's early years were very rough on him. First, he lost his mother when he was only a toddler. Soon after his mother died, he lost his father also. John lived with many members of hi family after he lost his parents. At the age of 14, John began schooling at the Westminster School. After going to school there for six yea
rs, John went to the Christ Church College in Oxford, and while going there he lived in Oxford. John graduated the Christ Church College with a Bachelors of Arts degree. He continued his schooling and came out with his Masters of Arts degree. Also, while at the college, he took courses on medicine, and came just short of earning a degree in medicine. In the end of the book two of "Essay Concerning Human Understanding," Locke goes over what is found about the nature of our ideas. John said that ideas are real, but they must have a "foundation in nature." The third book of essay talks about the nature of words in language. Again, Locke says that in time through experience, we learn words and our language. As we grow older our words and language become wider and better spoken. In the final book of essay, it deals with general knowledge, and how sure of our knowledge we can be. Our knowledge is based on our ideas. A type of knowledge according to Locke is "sensitive knowledge." This occurs with experience and an outside object exist that causes these experiences. Locke stated that " we can not reasonably believe that all of our experiences are imaginary , or are just part of a dream. Hence we have sensitive knowledge, a degree of assurance that something real is going on outside of us." (Locke) These are the main ideas of John Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding." This essay was the "first major presentation of the empirical theory of knowledge." This theory played a huge part in British Philosophy. John was schooled at Oxford, and though he did not tend to be a doctor, he practiced medicine as said before. Science and math were the two subjects that really interested John. It is said that the reason he began writing this essay was that his medical research was providing him with his thoughts. Locke wanted to know were our thoughts and ideas came from, what humans are able to know, how positive of what we know that we are, and when we can believe that our opinions about our ideas are right. He wanted to know what "the busy mind of man" could actually know that way people would "sit down in a quiet ignorance of those things" out of the minds lim
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Approximate Word count = 1481
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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