PHILOSOPHY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

PHILOSOPHY - Essay Exampleby ideas taken from particular beings, become general representatives of all told of the same kind and their names, general names, applic sufficient to whatever exists conformable to such abstract ideas.To make this simpler, according to Locke, for an average hu public, knowledge comes only from what he is able to perceive, and already has perceived. He is unable to imagine qualities, unless he has already not seen, or felt those qualities before. He gives the example of whiten, and how it would be impossible to perceive the white in chalk or snow if it had already not been seen in milk, and thus by association, the mind is able to conceive of qualities, even that which it has previously no knowledge of. Thus abstraction signifies classing a particular characteristic of a substance in ones mind from all its remaining characteristics and use it as a mean of comparison with all other materials.Up to that point Berkeley agrees,Introduction, (9) as he conced es that if one perceived a certain coincidence between three men, the mind would emphasize (or abstract) that similarity, and diminish the differences. Yet he also criticizes using this theory on humanity in general, for it does not come across that we imagine a human of complete and utter indeterminacy that is though we recognize the fact that he will have the required two arms, two legs, one head (even that he questions as Berkeley states it is possible for him to imagine a man with two heads thus also canceling the very first idea of man being unable to perceive anything he already does not know) it is also necessary for the human mind to wonder about the color, the stature and the build of the man. In essence, it is impossible to imagine a man simply on a general abstract, it is necessary to wonder on the particulars.He further postulates that Man cannot distinguish himself from animals primarily because he considers himself born with the ability to create general abstract id eas in fact, the only reason