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Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern PhilosophyThree Problems in Locke’s Ontology of Substance and Mode

Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy: Three Problems in Locke’s Ontology of... [Locke holds that we have two radically different types of ideas. Ideas of substances like a horse, a pig, and the metal gold are designed to correspond to things in the world that exist and have their properties independently of our ideas. Mode ideas have the opposite direction of fit. They are not meant to capture independently existing archetypes but rather function as categories that we impose on the world. Examples of mode ideas are the idea of a rainbow, a tune, a duel, and etching. But this category is important for Locke because it includes the key ideas of mathematics and morality. Thus, Locke’s distinction between two types of ideas corresponds to a distinction between bodies of knowledge that derive norms from observation (the various sorts of natural philosophy) and those intended to prescribe norms (mathematics and ethics). But although this way of thinking is fundamental to Locke’s moral epistemology, I argue that he has some difficulty accommodating the substance-mode ontology with his other metaphysical and semantic commitments.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern PhilosophyThree Problems in Locke’s Ontology of Substance and Mode

Part of the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Book Series (volume 29)
Editors: Lenz, Martin; Waldow, Anik
LoLordo, Antonia
Contemporary Perspectives on Early Modern Philosophy — Mar 11, 2013
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References (5)

Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordecht. 2013
ISBN
978-94-007-6240-4
Pages
51 –64
DOI
10.1007/978-94-007-6241-1_4
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Locke holds that we have two radically different types of ideas. Ideas of substances like a horse, a pig, and the metal gold are designed to correspond to things in the world that exist and have their properties independently of our ideas. Mode ideas have the opposite direction of fit. They are not meant to capture independently existing archetypes but rather function as categories that we impose on the world. Examples of mode ideas are the idea of a rainbow, a tune, a duel, and etching. But this category is important for Locke because it includes the key ideas of mathematics and morality. Thus, Locke’s distinction between two types of ideas corresponds to a distinction between bodies of knowledge that derive norms from observation (the various sorts of natural philosophy) and those intended to prescribe norms (mathematics and ethics). But although this way of thinking is fundamental to Locke’s moral epistemology, I argue that he has some difficulty accommodating the substance-mode ontology with his other metaphysical and semantic commitments.]

Published: Mar 11, 2013

Keywords: Mixed Mode; Natural Kind; Mode Direction; Dependence Relation; Complex Idea

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