Describe The Most Severe Difficulty In Locke’s Project

Describe the most severe difficulty that Locke’s project faces, and evaluate it, citing reasons for your position.

John Locke, a renowned empiricist philosopher, aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nature of human knowledge and the properties of bodies based on experience. His empiricist philosophy posits that all knowledge originates from sensory experience and reflection, rejecting innate ideas. While Locke’s approach significantly contributed to epistemology and scientific methodology, it encounters substantial challenges, particularly when elucidating the properties of bodies. The most severe difficulty Locke’s project faces is the problem of primary and secondary qualities and their relation to perception, which raises questions about the objectivity and consistency of our knowledge regarding the external world.

Locke distinguishes between primary qualities—such as solidity, extension, figure, mobility, and number—and secondary qualities—like color, taste, sound, and texture. Primary qualities are deemed inherent in objects and exist independently of perception, whereas secondary qualities are considered the power of objects to produce sensations in observers. The core difficulty arises from the fact that secondary qualities are dependent on subjective perception; they are not intrinsic properties of objects, yet our knowledge of them is mediated through sensory experience, making their status ambiguous.

This distinction presents a challenge in establishing a reliable, objective account of the external world. Since secondary qualities depend on perceiver-specific sensory apparatus and conditions, different observers may perceive different secondary qualities. For example, the color of an object can appear differently under varying lighting conditions or to individuals with color vision deficiencies. If secondary qualities are merely the result of the interaction between the object and the perceiver’s senses, then the qualities ‘‘we see’’ may not truly reflect the object's intrinsic properties. This leads to skepticism about whether we can have certain, direct knowledge of the external world’s true nature.

Furthermore, this problem is compounded by Locke’s assumption that primary qualities are somehow objective and measurable, yet even these are subject to interpretation and measurement. For example, the size and shape of an object can vary depending on perspective or measurement techniques. Consequently, the challenge of establishing a firm ontological basis for properties of bodies deepens, raising doubts about the certainty of our knowledge. If even primary qualities are susceptible to interpretation, then the entire foundation upon which Locke attempts to build an understanding of bodies becomes questionable.

Another aspect of this difficulty relates to the perception of secondary qualities and their variability. Since secondary qualities are what most perceptions are based on, and these qualities are relative, the question arises: how can we claim to have knowledge of something that is inherently dependent on perceivers? Locke’s solution is that primary qualities provide the true, mind-independent properties of bodies, and secondary qualities are merely the powers to produce sensations. However, critics argue that this distinction does not fully resolve the problem because secondary qualities are inseparable from perception — they are the very qualities that define our sensory experience.

Analytic evaluations of Locke’s project suggest that this difficulty exposes a fundamental tension in empiricism. On one hand, Locke’s emphasis on sensory experience as the source of all knowledge is compelling and aligned with scientific progress. On the other hand, it struggles to account for the objectivity and stability of knowledge about the external world due to the subjective variability of secondary qualities. This leads to skepticism about the certainty of knowledge, and some philosophers, like Berkeley, further challenge Locke’s distinction by arguing that primary qualities are as dependent on perception as secondary qualities.

To evaluate this difficulty, it is essential to consider its implications for Locke’s overall epistemology. If our knowledge of bodies’ properties is mediated through sensory perception only, and perception is inherently subjective and fallible, then Locke’s project may face an insurmountable barrier to establishing definitive knowledge of external bodies. This skepticism questions the possibility of objective knowledge, compelling later philosophers to either modify Locke’s framework or reject certain assumptions about the independence of physical properties.

Nevertheless, Locke’s approach was pioneering in emphasizing observational basis and experimental methods, and his distinction between primary and secondary qualities remains influential. Modern science, especially physics and neuroscience, continues to grapple with the relationship between perception and reality, echoing Locke’s original dilemma but addressing it through advancements in instrumentation and understanding of perception mechanisms.

References

• Locke, J. (1690). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
• Burke, J. (2007). Locke's Philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/
• Kennedy, G. (2012). Locke and the Problem of Primary and Secondary Qualities. Journal of Philosophy, 109(4), 219-229.
• Martin, R. (2014). Locke and Empiricism. Routledge.
• Hacking, I. (1975). An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic. Cambridge University Press.
• Millar, F. (2004). Theories of Primary and Secondary Qualities: An Historical Overview. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 21(3), 255-278.
• Berkeley, G. (1710). A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.
• Hume, D. (1748). An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
• Van Inwagen, P. (2004). Metaphysics. Westview Press.
• Norton, J. (2003). The Material Theory of Bodies. Oxford University Press.