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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Book I.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Locke say is his purpose in "Essay Concerning Human Understanding"?
(a) To reconcile the tension between modes of understanding.
(b) To break understanding into its parts.
(c) To pin down the mystical origins of understanding.
(d) To define a unified theory of understanding.

2. What limitation does Locke describe in human faculties?
(a) Language is never more than self-referential.
(b) Compassion is removed from understanding.
(c) Reason is closed to direct perception.
(d) Envy is bound to the passions.

3. Where do ideas come from, according to Locke?
(a) The mind itself.
(b) History.
(c) Genes.
(d) Sense experiences.

4. What claim is Locke attacking in "Essay Concerning Human Understanding"?
(a) The claim that people know the world solely through the senses.
(b) The claim that people can merge compassion and reason.
(c) The claim to use pure reason in thinking.
(d) The claim that people can introspect into understanding.

5. What did Locke study first?
(a) The mechanisms for measuring understanding.
(b) The origins of understanding.
(c) Differences in animal and human understanding.
(d) The weight of understanding.

Short Answer Questions

1. How would you characterize Locke's description of knowledge in his introduction?

2. What does Locke say is required for an idea to be innate?

3. Who proposed the notion that knowledge begins in doubt?

4. What does Locke say about this standard for whether an idea is innate?

5. What standard would an idea have to meet to be considered innate?

(see the answer key)

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