Free Essay Example: John Locke on Human Understanding

John Locke is among the most famous philosophers of the 17th century. He is associated with the branch of philosophy known as British Empiricism, and this is seen through the active contributions he made towards the limited and liberal government types. However, he is most famous for his works on human understanding, where he offers useful insights into the human mind and the processes it undertakes in acquiring knowledge (Locke, 1948). Through an empiricist theory, he explained how the human mind develops ideas through experiences. Through the experiences that one undergoes, the mind then undergoes different processes through which examines, compares, and combines the other ways, hence coming up with a unique way to associate the experiences they underwent. Locke noted that the development of ideas comes from the links made by the mind from the different experiences that they underwent to varying stages of their lives.

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Locke, therefore, strove to philosophically study the human mind so that it could act as a preliminary step towards the effective investigation of the world since he believed the world was made up of a collection of different ideas that were brought about by single minds, with the links and patterns created in the universe coming from the different ideas that were formulated by the humans currently and previously in the universe (Locke, 1948). Additionally, Locke's essay contains several other divergent and more specific ideas on the world and its effects on the daily life experiences of the humans who exist in it. Additionally, the essay criticizes the nativity story. Locke disputes the nativity narrative by mentioning that humans are born with innate beliefs and memories, which are the original nativity experiences that humans feel to be nativity experiences. Therefore, this means that there are some units of mental experiences and contents innately received by humans. Through them, the nativity of humans is developed through different experiences.

The philosopher also noted that the human knowledge acquisition process is achieved through the different experiences that they go through in life. Therefore, the build-up of the experiences in the individuals' lives creates links between the various experiences that they undergo, with the mind playing the final role of creating a sense between the different experiences and creating new ideas from them. In the same sense, this is the same way through which humans acquire language skills. Locke notes that language acquisition is developed through the need to communicate the individual's ideas (Locke, 1948). First, the individual develops ideas, and through them, they learn the language and language patterns required of them to express their ideas and therefore share their ideas with the people that they interact with. When this is done, the people's minds are concerned to develop further as they acquire more knowledge and communicate it to others through the languages they have acquired and efficiently mastered.

John Locke on Personal Identity

First, Locke tackles the principle of guiding individualization. On the issue, he came up with a place-time-kind principle. The principle stipulates there cannot exist two things in one place at the same time. On the other hand, he also states that an individual cannot exist in two different places simultaneously (Nimbalkar, 2011). Locke noted that above the idea of persons being living individuals who can think and decide on different issues that they face, they are also accountable for their actions. They should have that in mind whenever they need to make any decision concerning their lives. He noted this because the human mind can debate over the directions to take in life by developing an eye that looks ahead and discusses the rewards that they stand to gain from their actions and the punishments that may come from the same decisions.

Next, Locke discusses the sameness of human consciousness by giving several examples. First, he provides imagery of Theseus's ship, which has different planks changed in it, over time, replacing all the planks initially used to make the ship. Locke then asks if the ship will be the same as before, in terms of its identity and purpose (Perry, 2008). Additionally, through the prince and the cobbler's narrative, Locke posits that wherever a person goes, so does their consciousness and that despite the different circumstances that the people may go through, they remain the same. Given that consciousness is the building matter for personal identities, Locke was claiming that through the different experiences that people go through, it is possible to the outward appearances to change. However, the person will remain the same through the various situations that they go through.

Locke further claims that consciousness can be transferred from one soul to another. The soul contains the consciousness and personal identity of the individuals concerned. Therefore when the consciousness is transferred to another soul, the individual shares the same consciousness as the person who shared them (Perry, 2008). For example, through the prince and the cobbler's narrative, the dead prince resurrects as a cobbler, and the consciousness that he had as a prince is still in him, therefore resulting in a cobbler who had the consciousness of a prince. Thus, Locke believed in persons' resurrection in new bodies when the souls in the bodies depart from them. Therefore, through the resurrection, the souls continue with their consciousness and personal identity, although they exist in alternative bodies. Thus, Locke disregarded the importance of a body as a tool for human existence and personal uniqueness, placing more emphasis on whether the soul was still in existence or not since the soul was the representation of the person and the identity that they held.

Comparing Locke’s Idea of Personal Identity and the Buddhist Idea of Non-Self

The Buddhist ideology of non-self, `Annata,' is a direct opposite of the doctrine given by John Locke. In the ideology, Buddhists believe that there is no permanent sense of self, the soul, or the general phenomena of the self's idea. Annata is one of the pillars upon which Buddhism stands and the benefits gained through the practice of Buddhism. Annata is also one of the three forms of existence recognized by Buddhism, along with the ideologies of suffering and impermanence of human existence (Dennett, 2017). Therefore, Buddhism does not acknowledge the soul's presence and therefore places no importance on people's personalities.

Instead of the soul, Buddhism believes that humans have five ever-changing factors. Therefore, humans must work towards achieving a state whereby they can harness the different aspects of themselves and thus achieve a state of self-actualization. Buddhism believes that humans suffer from the lack of satisfaction in the physical world that they are in as well as their minds and therefore tend to look for pleasure in the different doctrines such as the existence of the soul or the self (Sidertis, 2016). The constant search for answers results in the forming of attachment to different things that either do not satisfy our thirst or are not long-lasting, resulting in further suffering in the people concerned. The delusion of a self comes from man's futile efforts to find themselves and the purpose of their existence. The search for the self comes from the five skandhas held by the Buddhist ideology. Through the skandhas, people experience the world, and therefore they cling to things as a coping mechanism, leading to suffering in the end.

However, Buddhism recognizes the impossibility of the achievement of Annata's state of mind, since the state requires the psychological and physical discipline that only monks can achieve. This is because achieving a state of Annata involves the denial of one's desires, which are part of how people find solace through the different experiences that they go through in life (Kuan, 2010). Buddhism also believes that the existence of a sense of identity is the reason for selfishness, pride, and greed, which are some of the issues that Buddhism is against. Therefore, Buddhists believe that Buddha is the only real self, and it is the only way through which people can achieve a real sense of existence. Thus, Buddhism suggests that people should undertake intense meditation sessions to abandon self-love and embrace the sense of self that Buddha had.

Plausibility of Locke’s and Buddha’s Ideology

Among the ideologies advocated for by Buddhism and John Locke's idea of self-identity, I feel that Locke's concept of self is more plausible. As much as the Buddhist notion of non-self is attractive, there is little sense and evidence to back the ideas advocated for by the ideology. The Buddhist ideas are more of wishful thinking and ideas of what an ideal world would look like, should it exist. On the other hand, Locke's idea of self-identity is backed by evidence and practical examples which go on to strengthen the possibility of the concept being real and believable.

References

Dennett, D. C. (2017). Brainstorms: Philosophical essays on mind and psychology. MIT press.

Kuan, T. F. (2010). Rethinking Non-self: A New Perspective from the Ekottarika Agama. Buddhist Studies Review, 26(2), 155-175.

Locke, J. (1948). An essay concerning human understanding, 1690.

Nimbalkar, N. (2011). John Locke on personal identity. Mens Sana monographs, 9(1), 268.

Perry, J. (Ed.). (2008). Personal identity (Vol. 2). Univ of California Press.

Siderits, M. (2016). Personal identity and Buddhist philosophy: Empty persons. Routledge.