Thank u so much. Im a Moroccan who reads in English and its hard to find many information about John's essay on the internet. I really appreciate your video! And I'd love if you make more of them.
This distinction concerns whether or not a property ascribed to an object is actually in the object itself, or is instead an effect produced in the perceiver of the object. It goes back as far as Democritus, but really gets worked out as a concept in the Early Modern era. The Wikipedia page is a fair place to start (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary/secondary_quality_distinction) and if you're looking for something a bit meatier you can try the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Locke's Philosophy of Science (plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-philosophy-science/#TenLocThoConDeb). Hope this helps! AR
Thank you for posting. I have started reading An Essay Concerning Human Understanding on my own and I found this video while searching for information to help me understand the essay. If you read comments I have a question myself. How does a baby get the idea breathe? It has never had air in its lungs before and its lungs have never been deflated. I’m guessing this question has been asked before. Also I could be completely missing the point on inate ideas.
Good question. My sense is that a baby's ability to breathe isn't necessarily the sort of thing that we'd call an "idea." It's *some* sort of innate, instinctual ability or capacity, but it seems like Locke has something a bit more specific in mind when he talks about "ideas." A newborn need not have an idea of breathing in order to breathe - this ability could be a non-mental sort of autonomic, bodily condition. If we think of it like this, then it would seem that we don't get the idea of breathing first and then the ability to breathe after that, but rather we have the ability to breathe first and the idea of breathing comes later and only after an experience of breathing. Hope this helps!
