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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Locke define truth in an idea?

2. What modern movement did Locke prefigure in his arguments about philosophical language?

3. Why don't most words refer to simple ideas, in Locke's account?

4. What does Locke say is the purpose of language?

5. Which grammatical particle does Locke examine in detail?

Short Essay Questions

1. What role does Locke attribute to God in forming man as a language-user?

2. How does Locke resolve the debate between determinists and libertarians?

3. What is the correspondence theory of truth?

4. How does Locke define words?

5. What does Locke achieve by claiming that good and evil come from pleasure and pain?

6. What is the debate between determinists and libertarians?

7. What do we do when we define a word, in Locke's account?

8. What does Locke say is the difference between a free will and a free agent?

9. How is love like memory, in Locke's account?

10. Where does Locke say our conception of 'number' comes from?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what way is Locke defining a science of knowledge, and in what way is "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" a book of philosophy? Does Locke's taxonomy of knowledge make his philosophy scientific? What would it mean if we define "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" as science, as a taxonomy of ideas, rather than as philosophy?

Essay Topic 2

To what degree is this book internally consistent? How much does it follow the rules it lays out?

Essay Topic 3

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions do they resolve?

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