An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
/ John Locke ; edited with an introduction, critical apparatus and glossary by Peter H. . Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1975. liv, 867 p. (The Clarendon edition of the works of John Locke)
(From I.1.8—What Idea stands for) Thus much I thought necessary to say concerning the occasion of this inquiry into human understanding. But, before I proceed on to what I have thought on this subject, I must here in the entrance beg pardon of my reader for the frequent use of the word idea, which he will find in the following treatise. It being that term which, I think, serves best to stand for whatsoever is the object of the understanding when a man thinks, I have used it to express whatever is meant by phantasm, notion, species, or whatever it is which the mind can be employed about in thinking; and I could not avoid frequently using it. I presume it will be easily granted me, that there are such ideas in men’s minds: every one is conscious of them in himself; and men’s words and actions will satisfy him that they are in others.
: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).38th Edition from William Tegg, London; scanned in three separate excerpts from early in the work.
The Works, vol. 1 An Essay concerning Human Understanding Part 1
Title page for each volume.
Seventh and enlarged edition of John Locke’s Essay "Concerning Human Understanding," a philosophical landmark originally published in 1689 (although dated 1690).5
One of the principal sources of empiricism in modern philosophy, this essay presents a detailed, systematic philosophy of mind and thought, and wrestles with fundamental questions about how we think and perceive, and it even touches on how we express ourselves through language, logic, and religious practices.
Essay concerning human understanding / John Locke. // IN: / edited with an introduction and analytical index by L.A. . Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1897. vol. 2:326-347.
First published in 1689, John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding is widely recognised as among the greatest works in the history of Western philosophy. The Essay puts forward a systematic empiricist theory of mind, detailing how all ideas and knowledge arise from sense experience. Locke was trained in mechanical philosophy and he crafted his account to be consistent with the best natural science of his day. The Essay was highly influential and its rendering of empiricism would become the standard for subsequent theorists. This Companion volume includes fifteen new essays from leading scholars. Covering the major themes of Locke's work, they explain his views while situating the ideas in the historical context of Locke's day and often clarifying their relationship to ongoing work in philosophy. Pitched to advanced undergraduates and graduate students, it is ideal for use in courses on early modern philosophy, British empiricism and John Locke.
/ written by John Locke, Gent. ; with the notes and illustrations of the author, and an analysis of his doctrine of ideas. London ; New York : Ward, Lock, [188-]. 2 vols. (The works of John Locke)
[PDF] An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book I: Innate Notions
Thus much I thought necessary to say concerning the occasion of this inquiryinto human Understanding. But, before I proceed on to what I have thought onthis subject, I must here in the entrance beg pardon of my reader for thefrequent use of the word IDEA, which he will find in the following treatise. Itbeing that term which, I think, serves best to stand for whatsoever is theOBJECT of the understanding when a man thinks, I have used it to expresswhatever is meant by PHANTASM, NOTION, SPECIES, or WHATEVER IT IS WHICH THEMIND CAN BE EMPLOYED ABOUT IN THINKING; and I could not avoid frequently usingit. I presume it will be easily granted me, that there are such IDEAS in men’sminds: every one is conscious of them in himself; and men’s words and actionswill satisfy him that they are in others.
An essay concerning human understanding, 1690
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding
John Locke (1632-1704)
London: Printed by Elizabeth Holt for Thomas Basset, 1690
First edition, first issue
B1290 1690
Essay Concerning Human Understanding: Study Guide | SparkNotes
But had all mankind everywhere a notion of a God, (whereof yet history tells usthe contrary,) it would not from thence follow, that the idea of him wasinnate. For, though no nation were to be found without a name, and some fewdark notions of him, yet that would not prove them to be natural impressions onthe mind; no more than the names of fire, or the sun, heat, or number, do provethe ideas they stand for to be innate; because the names of those things, andthe ideas of them, are so universally received and known amongst mankind. Nor,on the contrary, is the want of such a name, or the absence of such a notionout of men’s minds, any argument against the being of a God; any more than itwould be a proof that there was no loadstone in the world, because a great partof mankind had neither a notion of any such thing nor a name for it; or be anyshow of argument to prove that there are no distinct and various species ofangels, or intelligent beings above us, because we have no ideas of suchdistinct species, or names for them. For, men being furnished with words, bythe common language of their own countries, can scarce avoid having some kindof ideas of those things whose names those they converse with have occasionfrequently to mention to them. And if they carry with it the notion ofexcellency, greatness, or something extraordinary; if apprehension andconcernment accompany it; if the fear of absolute and irresistible power set iton upon the mind,—the idea is likely to sink the deeper, and spread thefurther; especially if it be such an idea as is agreeable to the common lightof reason, and naturally deducible from every part of our knowledge, as that ofa God is. For the visible marks of extraordinary wisdom and power appear soplainly in all the works of the creation, that a rational creature, who willbut seriously reflect on them, cannot miss the discovery of a Deity. And theinfluence that the discovery of such a Being must necessarily have on the mindsof all that have but once heard of it is so great, and carries such a weight ofthought and communication with it, that it seems stranger to me that a wholenation of men should be anywhere found so brutish as to want the notion of aGod, than that they should be without any notion of numbers, or fire.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
My understanding is that this is not the current cutting-edge model of how appetite regulation works, but the underlying insight that these natural appetites that function for homeostatic equilibrium and such can be totally set off kilter is an important observation, even if we are glad that we nowadays have a lot of more nuanced/refined scientific understanding of the actual mechanisms behind that.