The Doctrine of Ideas - Essay Example

 Name Date professor’s Name Course Section/# Title: John Lock and the Philosophy of Sedentary Intellectualism Philosophy, education and understanding have been fundamental components of the way in which humans understand the world around them and attempt to define it. As a result of the lack of understanding that was so pervasive throughout lunch of human history, modern philosophy has often looked back to this particular period of time as being a to the vacation of insular understanding and stunted human ability. With the advent of the scientific method and the understanding that education, study, and a continual thirst for knowledge helps to expand the world of understanding, these fundamental concepts have been promoted almost exclusively over the past several hundred years. As indeed, many individuals have effectively argued that one of the main goals of education is to expand the realm of understanding and knowledge of the individual and present them with alternative levels of engagement and appreciation for complexities that they might not otherwise have been able to engage with as a result of a previously limited worldview. It is essentially this very danger that John Locke speaks to. Says Locke, “Here is one (a country gentleman) muffled up in the zeal and infallibility of his own sect” (Locke, 2010 p. 534). Accordingly, the focus of this particular analysis will be to analyze this particular quote and indicate why John Locke saw insular knowledge, even on the part of individuals that were relatively well-educated, as a waste of human potential and ultimately contrary to the concepts of science and continuing understanding that he believed it should define the future of humanity. Interestingly, instead of using the case of a religious individual, or one that is not sufficiently educated, John Locke instead uses the example of a person that has achieved a degree of education and then returns to the countryside or to a specific “sect” of people; no longer blossoming or flourishing in the knowledge that they have learned and choosing to turn inwards upon oneself. Locke says “After learning in the university, he removes himself thence to his mansion house, and associates with neighbours of the same strain, who relish nothing, but hunting and a bottle” (Locke, 2010 p. 534). Within this particular line of argument, it is clear for the reader to see that Locke is especially judgmental of those individuals that have achieved a degree of knowledge and understanding from higher education and philosophical or scientific inquiry and squander it by turning inwards and wasting the talents that they have gained. There is of course a slightly biblical reference with regard to the servant that buried his talent and did not utilize it for when the master returned. Regardless of this, locks frustration with this particular behavior can be summarized into main aspects. The first of which is with respect to the fact that the talent itself is wasted and the benefit of humanity is not place as a primal and fundamental goal towards which the individual ascribes. The second is with respect to the fact that the remaining energy of the individual is turned nothing productive and instead only focuses on entertainment. By referencing the fact that these individuals idolize nothing except hunting and “bottle”, Locke indicates that these people have become nothing but seekers of pleasure. Regardless of the extraordinary insights that they have gained as a result of their education and the potential benefits of these insights could have on themselves and with respect to their “neighbors”, Locke is frustrated, to say the least with their mental impotence. Additionally, instead of the person being a seeker of pleasure and interested only in themselves, there is another personality flaw that John Locke seeks to point out with respect to this particular type of behavior. Essentially, this is with regard to laziness. Says Locke, “Here is one muffled up in the zeal and infallibility of his own sect, and will not touch a book, or enter into debate with a person, that will question any of those things which to him are sacred” (Locke, 2010 p. 535). The element of laziness is clearly displayed within this particular worldview; in that the individual is sufficiently satisfied with their own point of view and sees no need to discuss any aspect of the information they “believe” or are convinced of; as the result of the fact that laziness and forces them to conclude that they must be correct. For this type of individual, one that is lazy and one that is self-indulgent, John Locke holds very little hope. Instead, he argues in favor of the fact that others should avoid this temptation at all costs and utilize the talents and education that they receive as a function of bettering themselves and bettering the world around them. From the information that has thus far been engaged, it can be concluded that much of the discussion that John Locke has presented is not only relevant with respect to individuals within his own time but is currently relevant with regard to the way in which education is utilized and individuals carry with them a thirst and desire for knowledge long after their college or postgraduate work has been concluded. All too often, an understanding that infallibility has been gained and a full level of understanding on any given topic has now been achieved is something that exists within the minds of many students or former students. Whereas there are many ways that this can be guarded against, John Locke argues for the fact that a continual thirst for information and a need to consider, read, and debate these points of view can be understood as the antidote for the way in which laziness and self-indulgence oftentimes rot at the core of human knowledge and understanding. Essentially, what John Locke is proposing is very much an active process of continual engagement and mental stimulation. As a means of comparison and contrast, the self-indulgence and expectation of infallibility are very much a passive process that are encouraged as a result of the fact that the individual believes that they have “arrived” and gained all possible or useful knowledge on a given topic; thereby having no need to share it with anyone but a close and insular group of friends/neighbors or a “sect”. Bibliography John Locke, 2010. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: With the Author's Last Additions and Corrections; and an Analysis of the Doctrine of Ideas. Thoughts ... of the Conduct of the Understanding. Edition. Nabu Press. Read More