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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which predecessor is Locke attacking with his discussion of understanding?
(a) Leibniz.
(b) Descartes.
(c) Erasmus.
(d) Milton.

2. Where do secondary qualities originate, according to Locke?
(a) Things themselves.
(b) In the universe.
(c) Historical narratives.
(d) Interactions.

3. What does Locke say retention allows us to do?
(a) Evaluate ideas.
(b) Organize ideas.
(c) Store ideas.
(d) Forget ideas.

4. What consequence does the fact that knowledge is limited have on our knowledge, according to Locke?
(a) It means that man has to devise better tools for experimenting.
(b) It limits the fields in which we can know anything.
(c) It does not invalidate it.
(d) It obligates people to constant conversation.

5. How does Locke use garlic to illustrate his argument about the qualities of things?
(a) Garlic has cleaning properties in addition to nutritional uses.
(b) Different cultures use it for different things.
(c) The taste is different if it is cooked.
(d) Garlic has many different stages of development.

6. How does Locke say an object's qualities can change?
(a) He says that qualities can change in memory.
(b) He says that a thing's color can change in different light.
(c) He says that things' qualities can change depending on who you talk to.
(d) He says that qualities can change upon reflection.

7. What does Locke say about this standard for whether an idea is innate?
(a) He says it is a bird of a different color.
(b) He says that it is too wide a net.
(c) He says that it is too high a hurdle to pass.
(d) He says that it is a kettle of fish.

8. What does Locke use an example to illustrate mode?
(a) Water.
(b) Science.
(c) Space.
(d) Time.

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

10. What do we need to do with ideas over time, according to Locke?
(a) Test them.
(b) Abandon them.
(c) Renew them.
(d) Challenge them.

11. How does Locke handle the notion that knowledge begins in doubt?
(a) Locke says that certain things are known a priori.
(b) Locke says that doubt is the eternal enemy of knowledge.
(c) Locke says that doubt is for science, not philosophy.
(d) Locke says that understanding is divine and God is up to the job of inquiry.

12. What example does Locke use for an idea that is innate?
(a) The idea that God is infallible.
(b) The idea that the earth is the center of the universe.
(c) The idea that things cannot simultaneously be and not be.
(d) The idea that man arose from apes through slow changes.

13. What does Locke say about the difference between reflection and sensation?
(a) They are mutually exclusive.
(b) Reflection works first.
(c) They are not totally different.
(d) Sensation provides material for reflection.

14. What quality does Locke say innate principles lack?
(a) Universal consent.
(b) Variability.
(c) Presentability.
(d) Translatability.

15. To what does Locke attribute the ability to create technology and to organize our environment?
(a) Reason.
(b) Science.
(c) Sensitivity.
(d) Perception.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Locke say was the second thing he wanted to study?

2. What does Locke say we do with ideas?

3. Which is NOT a category of complex ideas, according to Locke?

4. Where do primary qualities originate, according to Locke?

5. What does Locke say perception creates?

(see the answer keys)

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