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Single Idea 6486

[filed under theme 18. Thought / C. Content / 2. Ideas ]

Full Idea

Ideas are whatsoever is the object of a man's understanding whenever a man thinks.

Gist of Idea

Ideas are the objects of understanding when we think

Source

John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 1.01.08)

Book Ref

Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.47


A Reaction

Robinson quotes this to show how infuriatingly vague Locke is about ideas. Obviously they can be further analysed into a variety of mental events, ranging from inputs to reactions to judgements.

Related Idea

Idea 23660 The theory of ideas, popular with philosophers, means past existence has to be proved [Reid]


The 18 ideas with the same theme [mental events which internally represent reality]:

True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God [Descartes]
Ideas are powerful entities, which can produce further ideas [Spinoza, by Schmid]
An 'idea' is a mental conception which is actively formed by the mind in thinking [Spinoza]
Ideas are not images formed in the brain, but are the conceptions of thought [Spinoza]
An idea involves affirmation or negation [Spinoza]
Ideas are the objects of understanding when we think [Locke]
The word 'idea' covers thinking best, for imaginings, concepts, and basic experiences [Locke]
Complex ideas are all resolvable into simple ideas [Locke]
Thoughts correspond to sensations, but ideas are independent of thoughts [Leibniz]
An idea is an independent inner object, which expresses the qualities of things [Leibniz]
The idea of green seems simple, but it must be compounded of the ideas of blue and yellow [Leibniz]
We must distinguish images from exact defined ideas [Leibniz]
True ideas represent what is possible; false ideas represent contradictions [Leibniz]
By an 'idea' I mean not an actual thought, but the resources we can draw on to think [Leibniz]
Berkeley probably used 'idea' to mean both the act of apprehension and the thing apprehended [Russell on Berkeley]
Only philosophers treat ideas as objects [Reid]
Mental representations are the old 'Ideas', but without images [Fodor]
Cartesian 'ideas' confuse concepts and propositions [Scruton]