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Full Idea
We have no idea of the place of the universe, though we can of all the parts of it.
Gist of Idea
We can locate the parts of the universe, but not the whole thing
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 2.13.10)
Book Ref
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.171
A Reaction
Locke evidently agrees with the Leibniz view of space as relative, rather than with Newton's absolute view. …But see Idea 15981.
Related Idea
Idea 15981 Absolute space either provides locations, or exists but lacks 'marks' for locations [Alexander,P]
| 1511 | If everything is in a place, what is the place in? Place doesn't exist [Zeno of Elea, by Simplicius] |
| 5098 | Place is not shape, or matter, or extension between limits; it is the limits of a body [Aristotle] |
| 15980 | We can locate the parts of the universe, but not the whole thing [Locke] |
| 12952 | Space is an order among actual and possible things [Leibniz] |
| 18219 | Relational space is problematic if you take the idea of a field seriously [Field,H] |
| 22928 | For relationists moving an object beyond the edge of space creates new space [Le Poidevin] |
| 4228 | If space is entirely relational, what makes a boundary, or a place unoccupied by physical objects? [Lowe] |
| 21190 | 'Space' in physics just means location [Hesketh] |