Mark Johnstone January 15, 2013

PHIL 2XX3 ESSAY ONE: LOCKE Due date: All essays are due by 11:59pm on Saturday, February 2. They should be submitted electronically, using the Dropbox tool on the course website.

Word Limit: Essays should be no more than 4 pages (approx 1200 words) in length (12 pt. font, double-spaced, regular margins excluding bibliography). Choose one of the following questions: 1. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (especially Book II Chapter 8), Locke draws a famous and influential distinction between what he calls primary and secondary qualities. What is a quality according to Locke? What is a primary quality? What is a secondary quality? Is his distinction a good one, in your opinion? Give reasons in support of your answer. 2. In Book II Chapter 21 of the Essay, Locke considers our idea of the will. What does Locke mean by the will? Why, according to him, does it make little sense to ask whether our will is free? How are the acts of our will (our volitions) related to our desires? Has Locke provided a good account of the nature of the will and of its relations to freedom and desire, in your opinion? Give reasons in support of your answer. 3. In Book II Chapter 27 of his Essay, Locke discusses the conditions under which things of various different kinds persist across time. According to Locke, under what conditions can we accurately say that the same person persists across time? Is he right about this, in your opinion? Give reasons in support of your answer. 4. How do we arrange particular things into sorts or kinds and apply general terms to them, according to Locke in Book III Chapter 6 of his Essay? What role does what Locke calls abstraction play in this process? Do you find his explanation of how general terms arise plausible? Give reasons in support of your answer. 5. Critics sometimes claim that Lockes view allows us immediate awareness only of the contents of our own minds, inviting doubts about our ability to know what the world apart from us is really like. Is this criticism of Lockes view justified? Discuss, with reference to Lockes claims about our knowledge of the existence of external things in Book IV Chapter 11 of his Essay. Further notes and instructions:
Please include your name, the name of your TA and the course code on all written assignments. Please also clearly indicate which question you are answering. Please submit your essay in one of the following file formats: MS Word or pdf. Late essays will be penalized at a rate of 2% for every day or part day late (this includes weekend days). Essays more than two weeks late will not be accepted at all, except where there are legitimate medical or personal grounds. Requests for extensions should be directed in the first instance to your TA. Please do not submit assignments to the philosophy department office. The members of the office staff do not accept them, nor do they return assignments to students. Please see the course outline for a detailed description of my policies on late work and extensions, including on the use of MSAFs. Help and advice for writing the essays (including information about criteria for assessment) is available on the course website. Further help and advice will also be offered in tutorials. Please retain a copy of all your graded papers.