The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-04-29

VI tu0 CuTlOuS pFOSlSlUilS Was duyOHo
over seventeen years of age not MEM
Der of some church was declared an
outlaw and condemned to penal servi-
tnde. For thirty years this infantstate
struggled with the constitution drawn
by the wisest Englishman of his time.
The jails were full, anarchy was every
where, everyone was striving to be
magnate.
Locke's supreme work in philosophy !
was the "Essay on the Human Under
This was q comprehensive
treatise on the human mind-an anaIy-
sis of it's workings and its proper cor
duct. Locke likened the mind to j
blank piece of paper on which Expert
ence writes character which stands for
the material of all thinking done by
man. Locke's fundamental principle
was that sensation aud reflection were
the two sources from which our ideas
were derived. In this he was not strict
ly original as Descartes and Hobbies
had been before him-but it was Locke
who expounded and by mastery argu-
ment in clear, lucid language gave to
all the world solution of the great
question on the origin Of knowledge
and tie proper conduct of the under
standing. The charm of his essay lies
in the clear, forceful argument, in
plain untechnical phrases that are with
in the mental comprehension of any
normal minded person. There are no
word juggleries, no involved sentences
giving vague formulas overlaid with a
veil OF useless words, to make the read
er think they are profound because
their meaning is obscure Indeed it is
not too strong to say that of all writer's
on abstruse subjects Locke is distin-
guished by his good sen;e in the choice
of his language.
The Essay is complete and concise
treatise on every subject with which
the mind of man concerns itself-con-
tanning chapters full of wise and pro-
found advice for daily obser.an It
has chapters on Pleasure and Pain,
Revenge and Justice, on Study and Ed
ucation and how and why people be-
come proficient in their vocations. An
example he uses compares the grace of
dancing master and the skillful per-
former on the piano with the crude
bearing of a farmer ignorant of the
customs of polite society. His argu-
mt mt develops the reason why one is
more proficient than the other.
The puzzling question, slave we any
ideas independent OF experiencey" is
answered by Locke in his Essay-say-
ing that We had no ideas independent
of experience. "Sense and reflection"
he says, "aIe the sources of all our
ideas" BY sensation is meant the SIM
pie operation of external objects
through the senses. Tie mind is lere-
in wholly passive. The senses there
fore may be said to furnish the mind
with one portion Of its material. By
reflection, Locke understands athat in
ternal sense by means of which the
mind observes its own operation. We
have to learn to see, hear and to touch.
We must be trained to think and act
correctly" The senses iearn by fepeti-
tion to trace ineligible figures OH the
tabular surface of the mind.
Great credit is given and justly SO,
to the man who makes two shafts of
wheat grow where only one grew be-
fore. This in the domain of material
things. How much more difficult to
strike out new line of thought deal
ing with abstruse subjects with which
Socrates aud Plato have wrestled.
i To fully realize the value of Locke.s
great Essay it would be necessary to
pass in review the fundamental princi-
Piles of ancient and modern philosophy
J beginning with Thales, the father of
Greek speculation who was born B. G.
636, and embracing names that stand
for distinct epoch in Metaphysics
These include Pythagoras, the Sophists
] Socrates. Plato. the Cynics, ending with
Bacon, Descartes and Spinoza.
II A learned writer summarizes the re.
J suit of all these systems Of speculation
: by stating that $ Locke settled for 9 long
: while the dispute respecting cause and
} effect and gave a new direction to sub
lsequent Investigations on the origin ol
knowledge T.J.W.