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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Abstraction is the ability to do what, according to Locke?
(a) See a concept in a sense experience.
(b) Turn an idea into a representative.
(c) Deduce a meaning from a category.
(d) Contradict an idea.

3. What does Locke say we do with ideas?
(a) Aspire to them.
(b) Name and organize them.
(c) Doubt and hate.
(d) Eat and digest them.

4. What does Locke use as an example of abstraction?
(a) Nature.
(b) Chairs.
(c) History.
(d) People.

5. What does Locke claim separates mankind from all other creatures on earth?
(a) Compassion.
(b) Envy.
(c) Understanding.
(d) Language.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Locke say the mind is before it has experiences?

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

3. How does Locke use walnuts to illustrate the qualities of things?

4. What does Locke say retention allows us to do?

5. What does Locke say justifies moral principles?

Short Essay Questions

1. What arguments does Locke make against innate knowledge?

2. In what way is understanding limited, according to Locke?

3. What example does Locke use of natural principles?

4. What aspect of knowledge does Locke exclude from "Essay Concerning Human Understanding"?

5. What does Locke set out to do in Book II?

6. How does Locke define the faculty of perception?

7. How does Locke define retention?

8. What is the difference between sensation and reflection, in Locke's account?

9. What benefits do humans receive from understanding, according to Locke?

10. How does Locke define abstraction?

(see the answer keys)

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