An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

This chapter is Locke’s first examination of complex ideas. He outlines an intention of holding up a complex idea of a simple mode and examining its various complex iterations. The concept of space is a simple idea that the sensory experiences of sight and touch communicate to the mind. Perception conveys various modes of space, such as measure, body, and extension, as complex ideas. Measurement reveals different modifications of the same concept. Locke suggests that a sense of place is yet another modification of the complex idea of space. All understandings of space come from an object’s relativeness to another.

Simple ideas like motion and solidity inform the mind about space. Some may view concepts like “body” and “extension” as synonymous modifications of the complex idea of space; however, Locke argues that they are distinct. Bodies are limited, but extension is infinite within an unmoving space. Locke concludes the chapter by critiquing language and its slipperiness. He argues that the use of multiple words to represent the same idea confuses the mind.

Locke then considers the idea of duration. Like his approach with space in the previous chapter, Locke examines the complex modes of duration. He explains that perception of one idea after another invokes a sense of succession. The space between those ideas represents duration. As the individual reflects upon ideas over time, this sense of duration strengthens. The individual can then apply it to a better understanding of many different experiences; for example, Locke suggests that a sense of duration can help one better understand the thoughts that pass through the mind while sleeping. In addition, Locke shows how the human limitations of duration help create the ideas of infinity and eternity.

In this chapter, Locke takes the topics from the previous two chapters—durations and expansion—and compares them. He shows how looking for patterns and deviations reveals further truths about an idea. Unlike “extension,” “expansion” does not require solidity or a physical body. In combining the concepts of duration and expansion, the human mind can continue to multiply or add space until it reaches an understanding of “eternity.” This, Locke argues, is another example of how the human mind reflects God. He compares the ideas of space and time, explaining that time, too, can represent something that is either finite or infinite.

Locke asserts that numbers are the most essential idea and the closest thing to universal consent that humans share. The number “one” is a simple and intimate concept that, when repeated, creates complex patterns and ideas. However, numbers are not innate knowledge. The idea of numbers requires a collection of other ideas about objects, as well as names, before the mind can reach a thorough understanding.

In a natural progression from the previous chapter, Locke moves on to consider more fully the complex idea of “infinity,” which combines other ideas of duration, space, and number. The consideration of numbers and quantities brings the human mind closer to the divine, although Locke recognizes the absurdity of the reality of an infinite number. Nevertheless, humans are limited in their comprehension of eternity. Their abstract understanding cannot approach the reality of God’s infinite nature.

The mind uses extension to take simple ideas and carry them outward to form more complex ideas. The concept of “infinity” is a clear example of extension at work. The mind can extend all sensory experiences to produce different modes. For example, sounds have unending modifications, from the call of a bird to the cry of a baby. Other simple concepts, such as motion and color, reveal further modifications. As humans encounter ideas more often, they apply names to refine their understanding.

Locke describes the act of thinking as the moment “when the mind turns its view inwards upon itself, and contemplates its own actions” (217). When an idea is repeated, memory or “remembrance” occurs. The mind presents itself in different states while thinking. For example, dreaming is a passive state of thinking, while the examination of an object and all its sides, called “study,” presents a starkly different state of thinking. Locke argues that the type of state depends on intention. To apply more focused attention to more complex ideas, an individual must commit to actively contemplating.

Rather than defining pleasure and pain, Locke begins this chapter by arguing that knowing these two concepts can come only through experience. Pleasure and pain provide information about right action. Locke argues that pleasure accompanies good ideas and actions, while pain accompanies bad ideas and actions. Contemplating personal pleasure and pain provides insight into passion. Variations of mode include delight, joy, sorrow, hope, fear, despair, envy, and anger. Locke argues that all passions, or emotions, directly link to pleasure and pain.

In this chapter, Locke devotes careful attention to the idea of power. Locke divides the concept into two parts: passive and active power. Passive power is about receiving, and active power is about making. Locke proposes that passive power is unique to animals because God cannot be impressed upon. Power is a simple idea, but it contributes to many complex ideas.

Locke devotes most of the chapter to a discussion of will, a mode of power. Locke suggests that the question of free will is an absurd one. All humans have will that is independent of action. All people have desires and hopes—and liberty is how the individual can act on will. Humans have many powers—willing, thinking, choosing, etc. Each power is independent of the others, and they cannot exert influence over one another. Pleasure and pain contribute to will and liberty, and humans gauge easiness and uneasiness based on the two senses. The aim of will is happiness.

Locke moves from simple modes to mixed modes. He provides the examples of “obligation, drunkenness, a lie” to indicate mixed modes. Notions represent mixed ideas that exist in the mind rather than in the external world. The naming of notions contributes to their persistence in a culture. Mixed modes present themselves in three ways: experience and observation, invention, and imagining.

When simple ideas of concrete concepts repeat in different variations, the mind forms complex ideas of substances. For example, encountering many different men produces the blanket idea of “man” as a general concept. However, it takes more than observable qualities to develop complex ideas. Secondary qualities lend context to help shape these simple concepts, and powers contribute to the human understanding of substances.

Locke proposes that both the mind and the spirit inform knowledge of a complex idea. The body gathers information through sensation, and the mind and spirit organize and contemplate information through reflection. Even complex ideas about God are formed in this way.

Collective ideas are formed through the “power of composition,” which enables the mind to bring various ideas together in unity (299). Locke argues that these ideas are superficial; they exist only to assist the mind in thinking more broadly about ideas. Minds are especially adept at grouping ideas and finding patterns, and all concepts can become part of collections to form overarching categories.

An idea is also given context by comparison. Locke provides the example of “father” and “son.” These concepts make sense only in comparison to their counterparts. Locke argues that almost any idea can be the basis for an infinite number of relative comparisons. In addition, he suggests that ideas about relations are often clearer than simple ideas about substances. The ability of the human mind to find similarities, differences, and patterns gives ideas greater clarity.

As the mind begins to consider relations, the ideas of cause and effect take shape. This section continues the work of relative ideas from the previous chapter. Locke asserts that time and place are relative ideas. All perceptions of time are relative to rotations of the sun, and age is relative to context. For example, a 20-year-old human is young, while a horse of the same age is old. Certain qualities, such as weak and strong, are relative to one another as well.

Locke again emphasizes comparison and relativity through the complex ideas of “diversity” and “identity.” He suggests that substances fall into three categories: “1. God, 2. Finite intelligences, 3. Bodies” (310). God is singular and separate from the other two categories. Finite intelligences have individual identities relative to time and space, while bodies are made up of particles of matter. Identity intrinsically links to a person’s sensory experience and actions. All parts of the body communicate information about pleasure and pain and contribute to the whole of the identity. If the entity manages to leave the body and enter another, it maintains its identity. Locke calls this wholeness of person “consciousness.”

Relative ideas present numerous issues of power and disagreement. The distinction between the ideas of good and evil, as well as “conformity or disagreement” (332), create the necessity for laws. Locke points first to divine law, which is established agreements about morality ordained by God. The civil law represents rules that benefit the commonwealth. The law of opinion, sometimes called “philosophical law,” refers to how laws change based on social norms and cultural customs. The law of opinion deals with virtue and vice, actions which could be assigned to either category based on their perception within a specific culture.

To determine whether a law is moral, Locke suggests considering it within two frames of reference. The first examines the law within its context, breaking it down and considering its simple ideas. The second explores a law’s relative ideas.

Ideas, just like sensory impressions of sight, can be clear or obscure. As simple ideas become more complex, they can be more difficult to decipher. Weak sensory impressions or failure to remember can contribute to obscurity, while categorizing and naming help bring clarity to an idea. Confusion can occur when ideas are not fully formed or cannot be separated into distinct parts. Humans often have incomplete knowledge about an idea. For example, a person may understand the concept of eternity and have the word for it. This same person may have a clear grasp on duration and number. However, the wholeness of the idea of eternity is still a confused one; confusion litters the pathway to complete comprehension. The same is true for infinitely small numbers.

Locke offers three more classifications for distinguishing idea types: “real or fantastical,” “adequate or inadequate,” and “true or false” (352). “Real” ideas have a foundation in natural law and align with their archetypes, meaning that they match with the physical embodiments that they represent.

In juxtaposition to a real idea, an inadequate idea aligns with only part of an archetype. Simple ideas are always adequate and imparted by God. Adequate understandings of ideas include both abstract and concrete meanings. Locke suggests that most complex ideas may be inadequate. He divides abstract ideas into three categories: perfect copies, imperfect copies, and modes and relations.

When the mind refers to things outside the self, it can determine truthfulness or falsehood. Locke proposes three scenarios in which the mind makes this determination. The first scenario is when other people share the definition of an idea. Locke uses the examples of justice and religion. In the second scenario, the mind perceives that the idea is consistent with something in the external world, even though others may have a different frame of reference. In the third scenario, the idea lives only in the abstract, unconnected to substance.

Locke concludes the book by explaining that all people hold tightly to unreasonable ideas. Although associating this phenomenon with self-love may be tempting, Locke suggests that it relates to “education and prejudice” (374). Children develop prejudices over time through customs, culture, and education.