more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The floating of other Mens Opinions in our brains makes us not one jot the more knowing, though they happen to be true.
Gist of Idea
Other men's opinions don't add to our knowledge - even when they are true
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 1.04.23)
Book Ref
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.101
A Reaction
Kusch calls this thought of Locke's 'notorious'. Locke is certainly expressing extreme individualism in epistemology, and Kusch's views are the exact opposite. I'm more with Kusch.
| 10326 | Other men's opinions don't add to our knowledge - even when they are true [Locke] |
| 12417 | Mathematicians only accept their own proofs when everyone confims them [Hume] |
| 6599 | Knowing has no definable essence, but is a social right, found in the context of conversations [Rorty] |
| 8800 | If you would deny a truth if you know the full evidence, then knowledge has social aspects [Harman, by Sosa] |
| 3270 | Justifications come to an end when we want them to [Nagel] |
| 2772 | Coherentism moves us towards a more social, shared view of knowledge [Dancy,J] |
| 10323 | Communitarian Epistemology says 'knowledge' is a social status granted to groups of people [Kusch] |
| 10335 | Myths about lonely genius are based on epistemological individualism [Kusch] |
| 10348 | Private justification is justification to imagined other people [Kusch] |