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CHAPTER XX--LOCKE

I. ARGUMENT WITH MOTHER:--what is the huge mystery?

A. HILDE’S FATHER’S DANGER
B. CONTROL OF SOPHIE’S BEHAVIOR--is the influence of ALBERTO too dangerous?
C. SOPHIE PLAYS TAPE OF ALBERTO IN ATHENS - ALBERTO LOOKS LIKE THE MAJOR

D. IS HIS LAST NAME KNAG OR KNOX?--remember what the task of philosophy is?

II. NOTE FROM HILDE’S FATHER ABOUT ALL BECOMING CLEAR--BERKELEY WILL BE A CLUE

III. TOMORROW IS HILDE’S AND SOPHIE’S BIRTHDAY

IV. HERMES CAN TALK--WISHED SOPHIE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY--how can the dog talk?

V. EMPIRICISM IS A PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE TO COUNTER THE RATIONALISM OF THE 17TH C--OF SPINOZA, and DESCARTES...

A. EMPIRICISM AND PHILOSOPHICAL SKEPTICISM--LOCKE, BERKELEY AND HUME
B. KNOWLEDGE IS DERIVED FROM THE SENSES

VI. LOCKE’S ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING...

A. BLANK SLATE--note carefully the importance of this analogy
B. SIMPLE AND COMPLEX IDEAS
C. SENSATION AND REFLECTION
D. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY QUALITIES

VII. IT IS POSSIBLE BY REASON TO KNOW GOD?

A. REASONABLE CHRISTIANITY--how is religion being redefined?
B. SOCIAL CONTRACT
C. INFLUENCE ON MILL
D. RISE OF DEMOCRACY

EXERCISE

TABULA RASA
POSIT THIS TO BE REALITY
INDEPENDENT OF THE MIND
IDEAS DEVELOP FROM THE SIMPLE TO THE COMPLEX BASED ON SENSE PERCEPTION OBSERVATIONS....

ice cream / kitchen / crying / laughing / mother / father

TO

time / duration / discipline / love / hope / control

QUESTION: IF THESE IDEAS WERE COMBINED, AND THE TABUAL RASA STARTED TO CONTAIN CONTENT, WHAT MIGHT THE CHILD CONCLUDE ABOUT REALITY?

REMEMBER THAT IN PHILOSOPHY
A GREAT DEAL DEPENDS ON
POINT OF VIEW...

RECALL WHY POINT OF VIEW IN
THE LITERARY SENSE IS SO IMPORTANT
FOR SOPHIE (AND US).

IF AT THIS MOMENT IN THE NOVEL, YOU
WERE ASKED TO DEFINE THE
MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT
IN WESTERN PHILOSOPHY,
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

SUGGESTED READINGS

Please check the Supplementary Reading page and reference SECTION 5--read the Locke excerpt.

Click here for an excellent site on Locke, from Stanford including a biography and links to primary sources.

A GUIDE TO LOCKE'S ESSAY ON HUMAN UNDERSTANDING with links to primary sources