Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke
Appears in 37 ideas
Epistemology/Philosophy of Mind
Theology
Science
- AnimalWhat distinguishes the animal from the plant and the human, and what is the nature of animal life?
- MedicineIs medicine an art or a science, and what is the relation of health to disease?
- ElementWhat are the basic building blocks of the physical world, and how do they combine to form complex things?
Ethics
Metaphysics
- FormWhat makes a thing the kind of thing it is: an intelligible pattern, an indwelling principle, or a structure imposed by the mind?
- MatterWhat is matter, the stuff of the physical world, and how does it relate to form, mind, and change?
- SpaceIs space a thing in itself, a property of bodies, or a form of the mind?
- RelationDo things exist in themselves, or only in their connections to other things?
- Same and OtherWhat makes things the same, and what makes them different?
- QualityAre the qualities we perceive in things real properties of nature, or projections of the mind?
- QuantityIs quantity the measure of reality, and how does the quantitative differ from the qualitative?
Epistemology
- KnowledgeWhat can we know, and how do we come to know it?
- LanguageIs language a natural expression of thought or a conventional system that shapes what we can think?
- ExperienceIs experience the source of all knowledge, or does the mind bring something of its own?
- WillIs the will free, and if so, what is the nature of its freedom?
- RhetoricWhat is the art of persuasion, and can it serve truth as well as power?
- Memory and ImaginationHow do memory and imagination extend experience beyond the present, and what do they reveal about the mind?
- OpinionHow does opinion differ from knowledge, and what authority does it deserve?
- IdeaWhat is an idea, and how does it relate to the things we claim to know?
- JudgmentWhat is it for the mind to affirm or deny, and how do we distinguish sound judgment from error?
- SenseWhat do the senses contribute to knowledge, and where do they fall short?
- PrincipleWhat are the starting points of knowledge and reality, and how do we know them?
- ReasoningHow does the mind move from what it knows to what it does not yet know?
- Sign and SymbolHow do signs and symbols carry meaning, and what is the relation between words, ideas, and things?
- MathematicsWhat is the nature of mathematical objects, and why does mathematics apply to the physical world?
Logic & Method
- LogicWhat are the rules that govern valid reasoning, and is logic a science, an art, or both?
- InductionHow does the mind move from observed particulars to universal truths, and can this move ever be rationally justified?
- DefinitionDoes a definition state the nature of a thing, the meaning of a word, or merely the purpose for which we classify it?
- Universal and ParticularDo universals exist independently of particular things, or are they only names we apply to collections of similar individuals?