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Single Idea 12555

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 2. Associationism ]

Full Idea

The idea of whiteness or bitterness, as it is in the mind, exactly answering that power which is in any body to produce it, has all the real conformity it can, or ought to have, with things without us. This conformity is sufficient for real knowledge.

Gist of Idea

The constant link between whiteness and things that produce it is the basis of our knowledge

Source

John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 4.04.05)

Book Ref

Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.564

A Reaction

I take this to say that consistent covariation with certain things in the world is the best criterion we can find for our knowledge of secondary, and hence primary, qualities. Why they two covary is beyond our ken. Sounds right.

The 18 ideas with the same theme [knowledge built by ideas forming links in the mind]:

20306 Once we have experienced two feelings together, one will always give rise to the other [Spinoza]
12527 Some ideas connect together naturally, while others connect by chance or custom [Locke]
12542 Knowledge is just the connection or disagreement of our ideas [Locke]
12555 The constant link between whiteness and things that produce it is the basis of our knowledge [Locke]
2189 All ideas are connected by Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause and Effect [Hume]
6489 Associationism results from having to explain intentionality just with sense-data [Robinson,H on Hume]
22005 Associations and causes cannot explain content, which needs norms of judgement [Kant, by Pinkard]
23697 I exist just as an intelligence aware of its faculty for combination [Kant]
14765 Association of ideas is the best philosophical idea of the prescientific age [Peirce]
19253 We talk of 'association by resemblance' but that is wrong: the association constitutes the resemblance [Peirce]
15269 Humean impressions are too instantaneous and simple to have structure or relations [Harré/Madden]
4047 Gestalt psychology proposes inbuilt proximity, similarity, smoothness and closure principles [Goldman]
12617 Associationism can't explain how truth is preserved [Fodor]
2493 According to empiricists abstraction is the fundamental mental process [Fodor]
3978 Associations are held to connect Ideas together in the way the world is connected together [Fodor]
7510 Connectionists say the mind is a general purpose learning device [Pinker]
14955 Rats find some obvious associations easier to learn than less obvious ones [Ladyman/Ross]
11141 Modern empiricism tends to emphasise psychological connections, not semantic relations [Margolis/Laurence]