He points out that Filmer's essay had been written before Cromwell's victory over Charles I, and that the attitude towards government in general and the monarchy specifically had greatly changed. The way he describes the unique circumstance in England, too, especially in regards to the situation of religion, makes it clear that Locke's thoughts could really only have been possible in a given environment. This notion seems initially repugnant to me; if philosophy is logical, as it is purported or even required to be, then what is true in one situation ought to be just as true in another. What Russell seems to be suggesting in his description of how Locke's thoughts arose, however, is hat there is no such thing as eternal truth or even eternal or consistent logic -- that extrinsic realities will and do and even must affect internal reasoning. I would have liked to see Russell address this issue directly in this section, though perhaps what he touts as a historical volume is not the correct venue for this...
Still, it could shed even more light on the development of Locke's philosophy to know -- or at least more closely examine -- exactly how Locke's situation and the circumstances in England as a whole affected his thoughts and writings. One way this could be accomplished is by comparing Locke's philosophy and situation to that of contemporary and similar thinkers in other countries. The philosophy of Rousseau, for example, could be considered alongside Locke's as well as a detailed analysis of the differences in the governments surrounding them. Though these two philosophers did not exist in isolation, so their ideas might be commingled (Rousseau built largely on Locke's work, in fact), their differences could possibly be attributed to the differences in governmental upbringing, as it were. The idea that thoughts can be shaped by the political environment can be scary -- as in 1984 -- but once it is recognized as a truth, perhaps we can better understand ourselves and the nature of government.
East/West An Analysis of Eastern Influence in Western Art The American/English poet T.S. Eliot references the Upanishad in his most famous poem "The Wasteland," a work that essentially chronicles the break-up of Western civilization and looks to Eastern philosophy for a kind of crutch in the wake of the abandonment of Western philosophy. Since then, Westerners, whether in literature or in film, have continued to look to the East for inspiration and
Berkley stated that because the senses were potentially faulty, everyone's sense perceptions and thus everyone's 'truth' was unique and variable. However, most empiricists like Locke believed that some (few) things could be known with certainty, like shape and color, even if other properties of things could not be known. The empiricists come from the Aristotelian rather than the Platonic tradition of philosophy, and had rigorous standards of truth based upon
Philosophy While there is plenty to criticize in the work of Descartes, Locke, and Hume, one cannot justifiably claim that Jose Vasconcelos criticisms of traditional Western views on the nature of knowledge apply to these theorists if only because Vasconcelos' criticisms do not really apply to anything, as his criticisms are largely based on straw men. This is not to say that traditional Western views on the nature of knowledge should
How many value-added units is the teacher-scholar producing?" and, Van Luchene continues, "Lip service is paid to educational considerations beyond quantitative measures... [and because of that] we stand to lose the vitality of our educational system. To boot, we may also lose our democratic form of government, depending as it does on education to foster deliberation, judgment, imagination..." Meantime, Van Luchene stresses that Dewey's writing "provides a refreshing antidote..." To
Rather than continue the process that began in the first two books, in which the Rosicrucian Order first announced themselves, gave their history, and then responded to certain criticisms while making their position within Christian theology clearer, the Chymical Wedding can almost be seen as the first instance of literature written within the Rosicrucian tradition, rather than as part of its manifesto-like founding documents, because it does not seek to
Accidental possessions are those that an entity can achieve and fail, yet he exists. If a set of required possessions is mutual by various individuals than the set of possessions represents the essence of a natural sorts. The point of Aristotelian science is to find out the continuations of the natural kinds. Kinds can then be prearranged with hierarchically within a classificatory arrangement of genus and types. When we
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now