Module description
This module will develop students’ familiarity with Modern philosophy through an examination of the thought of Locke and Berkeley. Students will gain a familiarity with the central epistemological and metaphysical claims of each philosopher, through a reading of central primary texts. Students will develop an appreciation of the historical context within which the empiricist tradition developed. The module will examine various key aspects of the Lockean approach and evaluate Berkeley’s criticism of it as well as his idealist response.
Assessment details
Summative assessment: 1 x 2-hour exam (100%)
Formative assessment: 1 x 2,000-word essay
Educational aims & objectives
Through attention to the primary texts to communicate an understanding of the thought and core arguments of Locke and Berkeley.
- To convey how the problems under discussion were motivated for these thinkers.
- To develop a more advanced approach to the history of philosophy through engagement with more sophisticated secondary literature.
- To teach students to read texts in the history of philosophy with care and subject them to philosophical analysis.
- To gain an appreciation of the problems of interpretation that can arise in regard to figures in the history of philosophy as well as specifically philosophical challenges.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, the students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practicable skills appropriate to a Level 5 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
- A critical understanding of the metaphysical and epistemological views of Locke and Berkeley.
- An understanding of the need for interpreting a philosopher’s claims in their historical context.
- A careful readings of and reflection upon some core texts, as well as introductory and secondary material, and attention to questions of interpretation.
Indicative list of topics:
- General introduction to Locke’s project; his critique of innate ideas.
- Locke on primary and secondary qualities.
- Locke on substance; thinking matter.
- Locke on personal identity.
- Locke on power and liberty; language; real and nominal essences.
- Berkeley on language, and (the impossibility of) abstract ideas.
- Berkeley’s rejection of the primary/secondary quality distinction.
- Berkeley’s rejection of material substance; the ‘master argument’; scepticism and common sense.
- Berkeley on the permanence of bodies and the existence of God (and related issues).
- Objections and replies; Berkeley on the human mind, and our knowledge thereof.
Teaching pattern
One one-hour weekly lecture and one one-hour weekly seminar over ten weeks.