Locke

According to Locke, the minds get ideas which are stamped in their minds during their first being through experience since the minds are like white paper lacking any characters or no ideas. Such ideas are therefore referred to as native ideas and knowledge cane derived either through internal operation of people’s minds or through external sensible objects. The observation of children, Locke asserts, can make people to believe in the existence of native ideas because the child is normally furnished with ideas as time goes by. The minds of children are imprinted with native ideas arising from the surrounding bodies. The seclusion of a child from external environment will therefore deny it a chance of achieving any native ideas of either color or any other aspects.

Different objects men converse with greatly yield towards their being furnished with ideas. The higher the rate at which men converse with objects, the more ideas they gain and vice versa. Experience is also known to provide the mind with ideas according to Locke. Sensation and reflection are therefore important aspects in the acquisition of ideas by man and form the beginning and originality of such.  Plato’s thesis that the soul normally starts with present ideas that are inaccessible and buried until they are drawn out by experience or teaching can also be applied to Kasper’s case. According to information regarding Kasper Hauser’s case from the film, it can well be ascertained that it support’s Plato’s case.

To lead a life that is more restricted in terms of objects met and the experiences obtained will conceptually and verbally lead to the impoverishment of the minds. This is because the lack of exposure will deny the minds the right to gain ideas from either the internally or external environment, (Locke, 1689:7). Imagination cannot remedy the lack of ideas since native ideas can be achieved through experiences and encounter with various objects in life. Majority of the United States Presidents, take for instance Barrack Obama, the current President of the United States of America who is deemed to have rich intellectual and verbal resources achieved their ideas through various objects they encountered and through the various life experiences they underwent. The various environments and life experiences are some of the factors that make them to be different from other people. Some people lack ideas because of leading lives which are restricted in both experiences and the objects they encounter (Lex, 2007:10).

Sensation refers to various distinct perceptions regarding to things and the objects that affect them through the minds. These perceptions are normally conveyed to the minds from the external environment.  Reflection, on the other hand refers to the perceptions of operations in the minds of individuals through the ideas it has. It also includes the source of ideas possessed by every individual being, (Locke, 1689:2). Reflection is also used to imply to the notice of ideas afforded by the minds through its own operations. Locke’s reference to Descartes,”…For to be happy or miserable without being conscious…seems to me utterly inconsistent and impossible…” Descartes believe that one ceases to exist at any time one stops thinking is similar to Locke’s notion of reflection.    

It is certain that Socrates asleep and Socrates awake is not the same person because waking Socrates will normally have no concernment or knowledge for misery or happiness enjoyed by the sleeping Socrates. The sleeping Socrates also has no consciousness and therefore cannot think. According to Locke, the passive understanding is when one is asleep while the active understanding s when one is awake. When one is asleep, the mind cannot think but only dream. He also asserts that the memory of thoughts is usually retained through made impressions in the brain and leaves traces of thinking. When in the womb, a child suffers to be informed through observation and experience. Locke further asserts that the soul cannot be separated from the body, (Locke, 1689:7).