#Locke is the watchman, #Bentham is the spy. #JasperJohns

"Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge; it is thinking makes what we read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections; unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment."
#Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, §20

#philosophy #books #quotes

"Men are fond of certain tenets upon no other evidence but respect and custom, and think they must maintain them, or all is gone...we should contend earnestly for the truth, but we should first be sure that it is truth, or else we fight against God, who is the God of truth, and do the work of the devil, who is the father and propagator of lies; and our zeal, though ever so warm, will not excuse us."
#Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, §11

#philosophy #quotes #books #histodons

#Locke's #philosophy of language is often regarded as a blunder which Locke was the first to make.

In fact, the theory is well-motivated and wholly unoriginal.

Locke has original things to say about the theory's consequences for #epistemology & philosophy of #science.

(Recent specialist work on the topic is not as bad as this, but the trope is alive and well among, e.g., analytic philosophers of language casually referencing Locke. I love Alston, but he's largely to blame here!)

Tiens, il y a une histoire doublon dans les tomes entre ciel et terre et l’âge d’or. Je me demande pourquoi 🤔 #Locke&Key

"were the Latin words inhaerentia and substantia, put into the plain English ones that answer them, and were called sticking on and under-propping, they would better discover to us the very great clearness there is in the doctrine of substance and accidents"
#Locke, Essay, §2.13.20

#philosophy #quotes #books #histodons

Buroker likes to cite #Frege's essay 'Negation' as showing that the theory of propositions as acts of affirmation/denial (& of affirmation & denial as separate acts) in Port-Royal & #Locke is confused, but arguably this theory captures something Frege misses.

#philosophy #logic #language #histodons

"Ott purports to ground his analysis in a historicist reading but in fact he joins the congregation of devout scholars who have flocked to the supposed grave of Locke's philosophy of language in order to revive the dead with anachronisms that breathe unrecognizable life back into the body."
Dawson, review of Ott, Locke's Philosophy of Language
🔥

#Locke #philosophy #histodons #books #quotes

Please enjoy this filtered photo of an object from the Joe Shoong School, in #Locke, #California, the identification of which will have to come from someone else. I don't know what it is.
#PhotoMonday #MonochromeMonday #EinfarbigMontag #FotoMontag #Monochrome #Photography #Fotografie

One of #Berkeley's most fundamental disagreements with #Locke is over Locke's claim that the "civil Use" of words is "very Distinct" from the "Philosophy Use" (Essay 3.9.3).

I defend this reading in some detail here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/papq.12199

The paper could've been improved if I'd had this particular bit of Locke at the front of my mind back then! 🙂

Free version of paper: http://writings.kennypearce.net/gardener.pdf

#philosophy #earlymodons

#Locke's Essay in 1 toot:
Once you understand how knowledge works, you'll love Baconian natural history & hate religious persecution.

#Bacon #philosophy #science #religion #epistemology

Although #Locke didn't found a school or tradition of 'British empiricism' (there's no such thing!), he did combine aspects of the very different empiricisms of #Bacon & #Hobbes in interesting ways.

#philosophy #earlymodons

It's often thought that the way to avoid purely verbal disputes is to FIX the meanings of words, but in Essay 3.11.7, #Locke says the solution is to CHANGE them. In Locke's view, the question "Whether a Bat be a Bird, or no" is legitimate only as an inquiry aiming to conform the meanings of 'bat' and 'bird' to archetypes in nature.

#philosophy #earlymodons #science

"triangle, gratitude, murder, etc." (#Locke, Essay, 2.12.4)
You know, stuff like that!

#LockeMinusContext #philosophy #books #quotes

A last photo from historic Locke, California.
#Photography #Monochrome #Locke #California #Chinese

Detail of a building facade in Locke, California, a historic Chinese American community in the Sacramento River Delta.
#Photography #Locke #California #SacramentoRiver

Why call arguments 'fallacious', 'invalid', 'weak', or 'unconvincing' when you could write, "This argument...has this misfortune in it..." (#Locke, Essay, §1.2.3)? So much better!

#philosophy #books #quotes #earlymodons

A few scenes from Locke, California, a historic Chinese American community in the Sacramento River Delta.
#Photography #Locke #SacramentoRiverDelta

Word of the day: 'complexedness'.
(#Locke, Essay, §4.3.19, heading)

#books #quotes #earlymodons #philosophy

I'm currently writing about #Locke, & I'm worried that my draft sounds like I'm simultaneously grumpy at Locke's interpreters for failing to take his ideas seriously & grumpy at Locke for not being as good at philosophy as #Arnauld & #Berkeley.

Trouble is, poor Locke was very popular among 'analytic' historians of #philosophy in the 20th century & those folks think every time Locke agrees w/ #Frege he's confused, but if they had understood the Port-Royal Logic they wouldn't've thought that.