Comparison Of René Descartes And John Locke

Philosophy is an ever-growing field of study due to the fact that people are constantly yearning to discover the underlying truth in all of life’s matters. Dating back all the way to before the life of Jesus Christ, a great Greek philosopher by the name of Plato, exemplified this nature. He earnestly sought to find the root of true knowledge by using the Divided Line. Plato laid a strong foundation for the future of philosophy and since his time other intelligent philosophers have arose. In the seventeenth century two of the most vital philosophers in all of history came on the scene, René Descartes and John Locke. In attempt to discover how one acquires true knowledge, these two philosophers developed extensive concepts and ideas that greatly

differed from one another. In the following text I will compare and contrast the two philosophers and will offer additional information as to why Locke’s empiricist ideas are most accurate in discovering the source of real knowledge.
In 1641 René Descartes composed his Meditation’s on First Philosophy due to all of the skepticism going on in society. Like Plato, he was considered a rationalist and idealist for his time because he believed that true knowledge comes from reasoning and not through sensory experiences. Descartes was on a mission to separate what could be known as certain and what could not be. To fulfill this aspiration he created the famous, Method of Doubt. This method allowed him to completely clear his mind of the things he had always thought to be true and to start with a clean slate. He thought for sure there would be some things that were not subject to doubt. However, he became startled and frustrated after figuring out that he could only prove one thing, his own existence. Descartes defended this proclamation by the simple sentence, Cogito Ergo Sum (“I think, therefore I am”). All other external things in the world could not be proven as true because humans experience the world through senses and senses can be greatly fallible. Descartes expressed, “I have found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once.” (Descartes 145) For all Descartes knew, there could have easily been some sort of evil genius playing tricks on people’s minds or experiences could even just be vivid dreams.
Also, according to Descartes there are three types of ideas one can have: innate, adventitious, and fictitious.

He felt that all humans are born with innate knowledge, such as the knowledge of an infinite being, God. An adventitious idea is the thought of actual things that have been experienced such as a table or chair. Descartes believed these were most reliable because they are very clear and distinct. Fictitious ideas are completely made up by use of one’s imagination. Flying horses and ninja turtles are examples of fictitious ideas because they are entirely make believe. After Descartes established that the non-extended mind is most important to allow thinking, he wondered how the mind communicated with the extended body. He came up with what is known as Cartesian Dualism. The Pineal gland, located in the middle of the brain, is the “messenger” between the two. He felt that the mind and soul are inseparable but there must be some form of connection between the mind and the extended

body.
Forty-nine years after Descartes revealed his own ideas, John Locke came onto the scene with his work, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.

Locke was an empiricist and materialist who believed that knowledge comes from experiences and that substances outside of the mind are indeed real. To him, the mind was considered a blank slate or “tabula rasa” at birth and knowledge of the world comes through sensations and reflection. In his essay Locke expresses, “Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects or about the internal operations of our minds perceived and reflected on by ourselves, is that which supplies our understanding with all the materials of thinking.” (Locke 158) Direct sensory experiences and personal memories of past experiences actually make each and every person unique and knowledgeable. Locke believes there are two different ideas to every object, simple ideas and complex ideas. A simple idea is one attribute that aids in making the object what it is. A complex idea is the actual object it’s self; many simple ideas form the complex idea. In addition to Locke’s ideas, he also believes that every object has two types of qualities, primary and secondary. Primary qualities are “in the object” such as figure, motion, or extension. If it was not for these particular qualities, an object could not be known for what it is. Secondary qualities are solely in the perceiver and can change without the object itself changing. Color, sound, and taste

are all examples of secondary qualities.