British empiricism: the ideas of Hobbes and Locke

Hobbes is considered the father of British empiricism and associationism. The importance of Hobbes consists in having been the first to understand and express the position of man in his mechanical universe: "Since apparently life is nothing but a movement of limbs...

British empiricism: bases of a scientific thought

Why can't we say that all automata... have an artificial life? For what is the heart but a spring; and the nerves, but many strings; and the joints, but as many gears that carry the movement to the whole body? ".

Hobbes (1588-1679)

He conceives all psychic life and consciousness as corporeal, and ideas as bodily activities.

Hobbes proclaimed that Descartes' spiritual substance was a meaningless idea. Only matter exists, and people's actions are totally determined.

He believed that all knowledge has its roots in sensory perceptionl, holding a radical nominalism. His most interesting psychological theory is that which states that language and thought are closely related, and that they are perhaps identical. He is one of many British philosophers who have held, and still hold, that thought correct (true science) equates to the correct use of language (Russell, Circle of Vienna). The relationship between thought and language is an unsolved problem of paramount importance for cognitive psychology.

Hobbes further claimed to be the inventor of the Politic science. His defense of an absolute despotism, in which the members of society submit their rights to a sovereign who will rule them, is based on the idea that man always seeks his own benefit, and that his existence is lonely, brutal and brief (“Man is a wolf to him man").

Locke (1632-1704)

He was friends with Newton and of Boyle, tutor of noble politicians, and physician. Locke wanted to understand how the human mind works, its limits and the origin of its ideas. His epistemology is psychological, therefore, wondering how it is known, rather than what is known.

Ideas come from experience and observationn. He denied the existence of innate ideas, contrary to the conception of Descartes.

Locke was not, however, a radical empiricist. He believed in the existence of simple ideas and complex ideas. Simple ideas come either from feelings or from reflection about them. Therefore, the mental operations, as well as the faculties themselves (thought, memory and perception), would all be innate. Later empiricists denied this thesis.

Complex ideas are derived from simple oness, and can be analyzed in its components. This notion of combination of ideas marks the beginning of what would be called mental chemistry, characteristic of the notion of association (Wundt and Titchener).

Locke objected, rather than Discards, to the group of English authors who defended the existence of innate moral principles. He considered belief in innate moral truths and metaphysical truths to be the pillars of dogmatism. Locke advocated a pedagogical methodology of discovery (Jean piaget). Students had to keep their minds open, discovering the truth through their own experience.

Locke asserts, like Descartes, that eLanguage is a human trait, characteristic of the species. In his work on education he argues that much of the child's personality and abilities are innate.

For Locke, The mind, more than an empty space to be furnished by experience, is a complex device of information processing, which converts experience materials into human knowledge organized. Knowledge occurs when we inspect (introspection) our ideas and see how they agree or disagree. He therefore believed, like Descartes, that human knowledge, even ethics, could be geometrically systematized.

In his conception of the relationship between thought and language, language is later, words are signs of ideas, from which they come. In a way, Locke was less empiricist than Hobbes, his predecessor.

Two interpretations have followed Locke's work: on the one hand, those who maintain that the ideas of Locke are mental objects, and that language refers not to real objects, but to images mental. On the other, most interpret that for Locke the idea was a mental act of perception, by which the mind connects with the external world. According to this reading, the words would name real objects.

Bibliographic references:

• Caro, M. TO. (2017). The thought of Aristotle, Hobbes and Marx in contemporary criminology theories.
• Gaskin, J. C. TO. (2000). Introduction. Human Nature and De Corpore Politico. (in English). Oxford University Press.
• González, Z. (2002). Elementary philosophy. Second edition, 2 volumes, Printing of Policarpo López, Madrid, 1876. Digital editions of the Philosophy Project in Spanish.
• Hampton, J. (1997). Political philosophy.
• Valero, C.A. (2000). Philosophy 11. Santafé de Bogota: Santillana, 2000.