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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. What does Locke say we use when we define a word?

2. What does Locke say is a philosopher's primary method, in Locke's account?

3. Where does Locke say our ideas of morality come from?

4. Where do pleasure and pain come from, according to Locke?

5. What can we talk about once we begin to abstract?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do we arrive at the essence of an idea?

2. How does Locke suggest philosophers curb the abuse of words?

3. Where do the notions of good and evil come from, in Locke's opinion?

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

5. What is the debate between determinists and libertarians?

6. What is the difference between love and desire, according to Locke?

7. What does Locke say is the danger in man's freedom to use words however he likes?

8. Who does Locke say is guilty of these abuses?

9. Why are most words general, according to Locke?

10. How does Locke define words?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the beginning of "Essay Concerning Human Understanding," Locke says that variability in people's ideas undermines the possibility of innate knowledge. Analyzing Locke's writing, describe how Locke accounts for variability in his own philosophy. How does he keep it from being a disruptive force in his own philosophy?

Essay Topic 2

How would you reconcile Locke's philosophy with Jung's idea of the collective unconscious, which is a body of archetypes and symbols that are held and maintained in common by all human beings, with roles like the hero, the helper, the warrior, the seducer, the joker, the king and queen, the servant, the thief, etc. Is there a way to see the idea of the collective unconscious as being compatible with a tabula rasa mind?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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