An Analysis of John Locke’s Essay
A person can understand what the definition of a table is, but they can’t really understand what the table is until they use the secondary qualities of the table. Locke furthers his interpretation of ideas by examining ideas as perceptions of reality in the mind. When our mind gives us an object of understanding, such as light bulbs in cartoons, that is an idea. The power behind someone’s mind to view the external qualities of a certain object produces the power to have ideas that are seen as sensations or perceptions in an individual’s understanding. Quality is behind the power of the mind to produce ideas.
The ideas of primary and secondary qualities are produced by a person’s impulse. Primary qualities are produced within people by the perception produced by the use of the senses in defining what is being looked at. The secondary qualities are also produced in much of the same way. However, through most of our own experiences we tend to take the analysis of our sense’s perceptions to go way beyond the primary definition of the object. People use their senses to take in more of the detail of the object that they are looking at. The link between primary definition and the actual object is because the definition comes from that object. There is, however, not a very good link between the secondary definitions of the object and the object.
This is because the secondary qualities are from our own senses, with semi-little connection to the definition of the object. Locke uses the idea that pain to the movement of a piece of steel slicing our flesh. This idea of pain is not part of the primary qualities of the steel. When a person uses their own senses to define this, the mind makes the connection of the act of the steel breaking the skin and pain. There isn’t a definition of the object that is right, because the real definition is evident only in a person’s individual mind. Locke considers these qualities that are part of the primary definition of an object and the hard definition as real qualities because they all exist in the object.
Locke separates the qualities that are in our bodies into three types. First the “bulk, figure, number, situation and motion” of an object are a part of the object regardless of our perception of it, hence the primary qualities. Secondly, the power that exists in the body to define the object beyond the primary qualities by using our senses, he calls these sensible qualities. Third is what he defines as powers. These powers have the ability to change the primary qualities of an object, making it function differently than before. The two powers he refers to, second and third, are the power that exists to change the definition of the primary qualities in an object. These two powers are part of the idea of the secondary qualities because they build on the already existing definition of the object by changing or adding interpretation by the mind.
The primary qualities of an object are existent with the object because they are defined within the object itself. The body and the mind formulate a definition by using internal powers of perception to develop a more detailed definition of the object that exists only within the mind of the individual. The secondary qualities are different from person to person and are only understood by the person who develops them within their mind. Both definitions are used to describe our understanding and sensation of objects. Both are used to better describe to us the meaning particular things in our lives by both the reference of the primary and then our interpretation of these qualities with the use of the secondary.
