View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Locke say about sensations that an infant feels in utero?

2. To what does Locke attribute the ability to create technology and to organize our environment?

3. How does Locke describe experience?

4. How are primary qualities different from secondary qualities?

5. How does Locke characterize perception?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Locke define the faculty of perception?

2. How does Locke define discerning?

3. Describe Locke's account of the primary and secondary qualities of things.

4. What does Locke mean when he says that the mind is a blank slate?

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

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

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

8. What is the difference between natural principles and innate principles?

9. Describe the two kinds of ideas Locke describes.

10. How does Locke use the concept of number in his discussion of primary qualities?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How Christian is Locke's philosophy? In what specifics is it Christian, and in what ways does it have allegiances to other forms of religion? Is the ability of the individual to seek his own happiness a substitute for religion in Locke's philosophy? How does Locke's philosophy perform the central task of Christianity, namely of letting people transcend the physical plane, where death exists, and live another eternal life beyond life?

Essay Topic 2

Which was more important in Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding," the actual terminology Locke uses for breaking knowledge down into parts, or the concept that epistemology liberates people from the concepts of instinctual knowledge of concepts like right and wrong?

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 731 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample