Questions for discussion and revision

Summary

introduction Empiricism and rationalism

1. Explain the distinction between the two senses of empiricism.

2. Explain the distinction between real existence and ideal existence. What does an empiricist have to hold about mathematical propositions such as “Parallel lines never meet”? People sometimes say that God exists in our minds. Is this a form of belief in God?

3. What is a synthetic a priori proposition?

4. In what sense is a hallucination dependent on mind? Give an example.

one Locke, knowledge and the innate

1. How did the new science undermine the Aristotelian-medieval theory? How do Descartes and Locke try to solve the problem?

2. What are Leibniz's main criticisms of Locke's attack on innatism? To what extent does he misrepresent Locke's position? What is the main issue between them?

3. Explain Locke's theory of natural science. To what extent does he think we can discover the ultimate nature of things? To what extent is he skeptical?

4. What does Locke mean by “sensitive knowledge”? How does he defend its claim to be knowledge? What problems does it pose for him?

two Berkeley's idealism

1. Explain and evaluate Berkeley's main argument for idealism.

2. Explain idealism and realism. Does Berkeley's version of it reduce the world to illusion? Discuss.

3. Why does Berkeley's idealism seem inconsistent with his empiricism? Is the charge just? Why does it seem to assume the existence of God? Does it?

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