Philosophy has gone through periods of revolutions during which new radical ideas were incorporated and became mainstream knowledge. On of this period was stated by Rene Descartes who used clear and apparently simplistic methods to legitimize the new science and asserted that the human is different from the mind. Descartes argued that the human mind is rational and adaptable and thus it can not be compared with any automation generated from clever designs. Contemporary philosophers in England reacted differently to Descartes ideas. Thomas Hobbes, a political philosopher did not agree that humans should be treated any different because of their infinitely adaptable minds while John Locke argued that all ideas can be traced back to experience. In this essay, the views of Hobbes and Locke on state of nature and how to get past life’s inconveniences are compared.
Thomas Hobbes View on Nature
Thomas Hobbes was a political philosopher born in 1588 in England. He studied physical doctrines such as motion and physical momentum although he did no experimental work which is characteristic of physicist. Descartes had dismissed mechanical causality but Hobbes rejected the Aristotelian view of the world. According to Aristotle, motion changes potentiality to actuality and asserts that rest is the fulfillment of this goal. On contrast, the new science pioneered by Galileo and which Hobbles believed asserted that motion is a change of an object in geometric space. With this new definition, a state of rest was viewed as a limiting case of motion and Galileo differentiated between accelerated motion and constant motion (Melchert, 364). Hobbes adopts the method pioneered by Galileo and used by Harvey to explain blood circulation. This method involves breaking down a complex problem into simple steps which can be understood and then put back together to understand the bigger problem. The issue of motion is important to Hobbes as he uses motion to define living things.
Hobbes asserts that living things cannot be differentiated from non living things by considering the soul or any other non-material property. To him living things have a natural source of motion within them while artificially created forms of life such as automata have artificial sources of motion. He compares the heart, nerves and joints in a human body with springs and wheels in a watch that makes it move. The watch is automata while a human is living but both have motion. Unlike Descartes who compares animal to machines with no souls, Hobbes argues that animals have souls too but their difference from humans is the degree of the soul. For this conclusion, Hobbes provides evidence of a dog that comes to its master when he whistles as a thinking and understanding creature. Besides motion, Hobbes considers thoughts, feelings, desires, imagination and memory which are all characteristic of living things.
Hobble does not consider proving that thoughts exist, an important endeavor as Descartes did. Instead, he asserts that thoughts come from sensations of external sensory body organs such as ears, eyes, skin, nose and tongue. Outside motions are picked by these sense organs and communicated inwards to the brains and the heart (Melchert, 366). Hobbes advocates for an epiphenomenalistic point of vie in which appearance of motions constitute sensations. This means that there are mental qualities and physical states which do not affect the physical world and unifies the mind and body. This is in total contrast to Descartes who argued that the mind is a different substance from the body.
Further, Hobbes asserts that sensations remain with us but are weakened by other newer sensations. This is in agreement with Galileo’s law of inertia which says that a body will continue in its state of rest or in constant motion in a straight line unless something hinders it. To Hobbes the original thought are sensation motions while the weakened and decaying sensations are memory.
If sense is the source of all thoughts, then its impossible for a human to think of something s/he has not experienced before. This has important consequences on our thoughts ob God. To Hobbes, Descartes assertion that God is a being of infinite perfection does not describe God but is a way of paying homage to God (Melchert, 367). Depending with how thoughts are structured and how ideas are associated, one can have unregulated or regulated thoughts. Unregulated thoughts appear random and generate creative ideas such as daydreams, unicorns and goblins. Regulated thoughts aim at attaining a certain goal or evaluating consequences of taking a particular course of action. The initial motion that triggers thoughts is an endeavor towards something or away from something. This allows Hobbes to describe good as the notion value we want to move towards while evil is the notion value we want to avoid. For instance, the fear of death and desire for happiness motivates people towards a society where good an evil dictates rather than monarchs. Replacing war with peace relieves the fear of death and increases happiness. Therefore, Hobbes argues that it is the natural order of things and that such rules like seeking peace are inevitable conclusions of rationality and any rational creature will come upon the rule.
John Locke View on Nature
John Locke is founder of a classic liberalism born in England in 1632. His major work in philosophy is “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” but he also published work about education, governments, Christianity and toleration. In his theory of mind, Locke defined the self using the notion of continuity of consciousness and argued that humans are born without innate ideas. If ideas were innate, they would be common to all human beings but this is not the case. Understanding how the mind works and from where it gets content is important to avoid wasting time in controversial matters that are beyond our grasp and end in confusion rather than knowledge (Melchert, 375). Locke asserts that experience leading to ideas come from sensation and reflection. Sensation is the experience of external objects through our senses. These include qualities such as red, hot, hard, sweet, and cold. Reflection perceives ideas such as doubting, believing and knowing from mental operations. Locke differentiates simple ideas from complex ideas. Simple ideas can be distinguished clearly and compared to other ideas while complex ideas consists of modes build by adding many simple ideas. Ideas can be associated and ideas expressed in a child are the foundations of the self. Locke gives the example of a child who learns to associate goblins and sprites with darkness from what a foolish maid tells him or her (Melchert, 387). With time, the child learns to associate the two ideas and from then onwards he fears darkness as much as he fears goblins and sprites.
In addition, Locke differentiates a substance from its properties. Milk is a substance while its whiteness and liquidity are its properties. This helps to differentiate between forms and substances. Milk is not whiteness or liquidity, neither is it a collection of these properties; it is a substance that has those properties (Melchert, 378).
Locke’s idea of the soul is radically different for that of Hobbes. Unlike Hobbes who sees the mind and the body as the same thing, Locke agrees with Descartes that minds and bodies are radically different things. Further, Locke asserts that our notions of an immaterial soul are controlled by a persons will. The idea of will affects personal identity. Locke questions what gives a person an idea about him or herself. Consciousness is seen as always accompanying thoughts and is the source of personal identity. Consciousness is the commonality that makes a person the same person he was when he was a child. Although you might have the same soul substance as Nestor, the wise counselor of the Greeks at Troy, you do not have any memory that connects you to him and whats true over time is seen to be true in space too (Melchert, 380). Locke argues against Descartes Cartesian position that sees man knows basic logical propositions and replaces it with an empty mind which is shaped by experience. This is in keeping with his intent in the Essay of determining the source, certainty and extent of human knowledge.
Comparison between and plausibility of Hobbes’ and Locke’s ideas
Hobbes ideas of nature are characterized by his view of motion. He concurs with Galileo and differs with the Aristotelian view of motion as a means to an end and state of rest as a fulfillment of this goal. Hobbes view of nature has shortcomings in that the difference between humans and animals is seen as the degree of soul. This is a vague explanation but Hobbes supports it with several pieces of evidence including the one cited in this essay about a dog that thinks and understands when its master whistles to it. On his part Locke argues that consciousness is what defines humans and differentiate them from other animals which might have a brain but no soul. In addition, Locke differentiates a substance from its property and gives this as one aspect of nature. The shortcomings of Locke’s ideas include discouraging creativity by advocating against ideas such as goblins and sprites. This shortcoming can be overcome by engaging both sources of experience because sensations give ideas from the physical world while reflection allows flexibility in the type of ideas generated. Hobbes’ theory is more plausible than Locke’s theory. This is because it allows a human to appreciate their thinking and compare it to that of animals. Modern psychologists compare learning in animals to be similar to learning in humans. This is an argument for animals being more than the machines or automata Descartes assumed them to be. In addition, Hobbes provides credible evidence for contrasting Descartes’ Cartesian view in favor of the new science. On his part Locke provide a simple explanation for consciousness and its importance in defining personality.
Works Cited
Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy, Volume 1.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 2010. Print.
