COMMONWEALTH ASSOCATION FOR
EDUCATION, ADMINISTRATION AND
MANAGEMENT
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 3
ISSN NO 2322- 0147
MARCH
2014
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2
Locke Distinguished Between Primary and
Secondary Qualities
Excellence International Journal of Education and
Research (Multi- subject journal)
Excellence International Journal Of Education And Research
VOLUME 2
ISSUE 3
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Locke Distinguished Between Primary and Secondary Qualities
By
DEEPAK BAKSHI
Research Scholar
DEPT. OF PHILOSOPHY
H.N.B.GARHWAL UNIVERSITY SRINAGAR (GARHWAL)
Abstract
In my paper, under Entitle ‘Locke Distinguished Between Primary and
Secondary Qualities’ I shall discuss of my paper into seven sections. The section first
deals with the general introduction about the qualities in Locke’s philosophy. The next
section deals with the importance of qualities in Locke’s philosophy. The section third
and fourth are the theme of my term paper, in this sections I briefly elaborate primary and
secondary qualities and also give the distinction between them respectively. The next
parts of my term paper, I shall state the argument about the entitled of my paper. The
sixth section deals with the Empirico-Inductive method. And then the last section of my
paper deals with the conclusion portion.
Before discuss of my term paper under Entitle ‘Locke Distinguished Between
Primary and Secondary Qualities’. It is important to note here that, when we have to
discuss about the ideology of any philosophy of philosopher, first of all it is important to
know about her/him life history
Life history of John Locke
John Locke was born at Somerset on the 29th of August, 1632 and was educated
at Oxford University. He also practiced and was mostly concerned with political
activities. John Locke was the first of the greatest British philosopher. He is the father of
the empiricism. He was the first philosopher who criticized the theory of Rationalism’.
Her theory of empiricism is totally against of the theory of rationalism. His chief works
are, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690; Two Treatise on Government,
1690; Letter Concerning Toleration, 1689; some thoughts concerning Education, 1693;
the Reasonableness Christianity, 1695. These are of the some important works of John
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Locke of his whole lifeand than the end of the great philosopher’s life on the 28th
October, 1704.
I shall through the light on Locke’s life and works, now I have to give the
introduction of my paper.
Introduction
In the seventeen centuries there are so many theories and concept about the
qualities, and there are also certain philosopher and scientists who give the concept of the
theories of qualities. But this theory is best represented by John Locke famous distinction
between primary and secondary qualities.
The concepts of qualities are found in the empiricism philosophy of John Locke.
John Locke is the father of empiricism. Empiricism is the theory of knowledge.
According to him, “reason is the primary source of knowledge and experiences is the
secondary source of knowledge. The theory of empiricism is directly criticized the theory
of rationalism. Rene Descartes the father of rationalism, “according to him reason is the
primary source of knowledge and experience is the secondary source of knowledge”.
He says that primary qualities are utterly inseparable from material bodies, in all
their different size and various changes. There are six such original and primary qualities
namely, solidity, extension, figure, motion rest and number. They are constantly found in
body. The secondary qualities, ‘which in truth are nothing in the objects themselves, but
power to produce sensation us by their Primary qualities. They includes, colour, sound,
taste etc. closely following this distinction, Locke point out that primary qualities of
solidity, extension etc., are found in their object right. They are really existing whether
there be any person to perceive them or not. But secondary qualities are totally dependent
on human subject and their various sense-organs. Without eye, there are no colour,
without ears there are no sounds. According to his, ‘Finally secondary qualities are
product by the primary qualities of bulk solidity etc’.
After I shall discuss the introduction of my term paper. It is necessarily to discuss,
why qualities discussion in Locke Philosophy is important.
Why the qualities discussion in Locke in philosophy is important?
John Locke, the originator of the ‘Empiricist System’. Before the Locke there is
on one such Philosopher who give the idea of qualities (Primary and Secondary
qualities).and he is the only Philosopher who give the concept of the qualities., that’s why
the discussion of qualities (Primary and Secondary qualities) are important in the
philosophy of Locke.
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The important ones note here that Locke mentions: solidity, extension, figure,
motion, rest and number are Primary qualities. Some secondary qualities are colors,
sounds, tastes, odors, and temperatures but there are many more why Locke chooses the
particular qualities he does as primary, and whether he is justified in his choice, is
debatable, but this question is not important for our concerns. But the important question
is that why Locke discusses the qualities in his philosophy?
In primary qualities, we find crucial metaphysical position behind Locks refusal
to do away utterly with the confused ideas of substance.
Types of Qualities
As I have already discuss, that the types of qualities (primary and Secondary) are
best represented by the John Locke philosophy. Locke classified qualities in two viz:
1) Primary qualities and
2) Secondary Qualities
Now I shall elaborate these two types of qualities as given by John Locke in very detail
one by one under the following heading.
Primary qualities:
I shall present it here in his own word, in his text An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding
Qualities thus considered in bodies are, First such as are utterly in
separable from the body, in what estate soever it be: such as, in all the
alteration and change in suffers, all the force can be used upon it, it
constant keep; and such as sense constantly find in every particle of matter
which has bulk enough to be perceived, and the mind finds inseparable
from every particle of matter. though less than to make itself singly be
perceived by our senses; e.g., take a grain of wheat, divided it into two
parts, each part has still solidity, extension, figure, and mobility; divide it
again, and it retain still the same qualities; and so divide it on till the part
became insensible, they must retain still each of them all those qualities.
For, division… can never take away either solidity, extension, figure or
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mobility from anybody, but only makes two or more distinct separate
masses of matter of that which was but only before; all which distinct
masses, reckoned as so many distinct bodies, after division, make a certain
number. These I call original or primary qualities of body...solidity,
extension figure, motion or rest, and number.1
The main idea is the primary qualities of the body are those of it sensible qualities that
are inseparable from it. These qualities are thus included in the definition of the body;
they tell us what it means for something to be a body or a material thing.
According to John Locke, “There are six such Primary qualities namely, solidity,
extension, figure, motion, rest and number”.2 All six found six are found constantly found
in the body. We say that a body has extension because it fill or take up space. Solidity is
the capacity is that anybody has to resist the entrance of other bodies into the space that it
occupies. Figure is simply the shape and size of the body. Mobility is capacity to move or
to remain at rest. To say that something is a body is simply to say that it is extended in
space, that it solid, that it has a shape and size and that it is capable for moving and rest.
Secondary Qualities: As for secondary qualities, Locke his own writes in his famous
book, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Such qualities, which in turn in nothing in the objects themselves, but
powers to produce various sensations in us by their primary qualities, i.e.
by the bulk, figure texture, and motion of their inseparable parts, as
colours sounds tastes, etc., these I call secondary qualities.3
The secondary qualities are colours, sounds, tastes, odors, and temperatures. In this
passage, Locke says that, “there are three important things about them”4.
Firstly, secondary qualities are that object has to do certain sorts of things. And
they are only powers, nothing more. A power is a capability or disposition, for example,
take a lump of sugar and drop it into a cup of hot water. The sugar immediately dissolves.
But suppose that instead of placing it in the water; you just hold it in your hand. Even
though the sugar does not actually dissolve, it is still true to say that it is soluble in water.
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This means that it has the capacity to dissolve or the disposition to dissolve when placed
in water. Terms such as soluble, fragile, and flammable indicate powers or dispositional
qualities of bodies.
Secondly, Locke tells us what kinds of powers these secondary qualities are. They
are power to produce sensations in us. By a sensation, Locke means the same things as a
percept or appearance. A secondary quality is a power that bodies have to cause percepts
to occur in minds of perceivers. For example, take the color blue. When a normal human
being looks at a blue object in daylight, then it will look blue to him. The phrase “looks
blue” describes the appearance of the object of the perceiver; it refers to certain percept
that he is caused to have. For example, in “looks blue” and “looks yellow” the word blue
and yellow describe distinct ways bodies appear.
Thirdly, Locke offers an account of why it is that bodies have the secondary
qualities that they have. They have them because of the primary qualities of the atoms of
which they are composed. For example, the reason why one object is blue and another
yellow are due to difference in their underlying atomic structure. And these difference are
themselves difference in primary qualities. We know tend to explain secondary qualities
in term of the atomic and molecular structure of body. For example, the colour of the
body are explained in term of their power to reflect, refract and to emit light, and these
power are themselves to explained in term of their atomic structure.
Different in
temperature are explained as the velocities of the molecules of which the bodies are
composed.
In this section we shall elaborate the types of the qualities. And in the next part or
the theme of my term paper, I shall mention the distinguished between the primary and
secondary qualities.
Distinguished Between Primary and Secondary Qualities
The concept of qualities is found the philosophy of John Locke. Locke distinguish
the qualities into two namely; primary and secondary qualities. According to Locke,
‘material object are found in to possess two types of qualities, the primary and the
secondary’4 matter is solid, extended and mobility, beside which specific units of matter
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possess such qualities as colour, weight, taste, smell and sound. Of these material
qualities, those of colour, sound, taste and smell depend upon our external sense organs
in order to be perceived. When the sense organs change, these qualities undergo subtle
variation. Smell, for example, cannot perceive by an individual suffering from cold, while
the deaf cannot hear sound. Taste also depends upon the individual. Colour of an object
depends upon the distance for the perceived, whose perception is further affected by the
condition of his eyes, whether or not he suffers for such diseases as jaundice in which
vision is affected. Hence the qualities of colour, sound, taste and smell cannot rightly be
said to belong to the object at all. They change with the perceiver. Such qualities are
called secondary qualities by Locke. On the other hand, extension, from, solidity, motion
and inertia are qualities that do not depend upon the person perceiving. According to him,
“there are called the primary qualities, and are presumed to exist in the external world’ 5.
It is in this manner that Locke distinguished the primary and secondary qualities.
If we have to introduce with Lockes famious distinguished between primary and
secondary qualities. it is very important to note the major argument of the above.
Major Argument
The argument that Locke offer us not so easily defeated. Consider the following
example. You stick yourself with a pin and you feel a pain in your finger. The pain is
something that is in you, not in the pain. You do not ascribe the pain to the pin as one of
its qualities. The pin feels sharp. But now you agree that the sharpness is a feature of the
pin, not of you. How can we explain the difference between the way we understand the
pain and sharpness?
The difference can be accounted for in this way. For you to explain why you have
a feeling of sharpness when you touch the pain in certain way, you accept the idea that
the pin itself is sharp. That the pin is sharp is necessary to explain why you have the
experiences of sharpness. We ascribe the sharpness of the pin as one of its features
because it having that feature is implied in our account of experience.
The case is different with pain. To explain why you feel pain when you touch pin,
it is not at all necessary to assume that the pin has pain in it. Give our general
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understanding of the causes of bodily sensations, we realize that to explain the pain, we
need merely refer to the fact that the pin is sharp and that its point has exerted a strong
pressure against your finger. The difference between the two cases is a difference in what
is required to explain the two experiences.
In general, to explain to explain our experiences of the world, we develop
conceptions of how the world works. Some of these conceptions are embodied in our
commonsense understanding and some in scientific theories. These conceptions refer to
certain objects and features of objects; for example the atomic theory that Locke accepted
referred to the existence of atomic and th3eir primary qualities. According to Locke to
explain our experiences of secondary qualities there is no meet to assume that the atoms
themselves posses them. Our experiences of color and sound, for example can be
understood by reference to the ways atoms affect our eyes and ears. Therefore, there is no
need for Locke to accept the objective reality of secondary qualities. At thus there are
mere powers of bodies, ways that bodies affect the senses.
For Locke, there is an even more fundamental difficulty with direct realism.
It is evident the mind knows not things immediately, but only by the
intervention of the ideas it has of them. Our knowledge therefore is real
only so far as there is a conformity between our ideas and the reality of
things. But what shall be here the criterion?... Even man’s reasoning and
knowledge is only about the idea existing in his own mind, which are truly
every one of them , particular existences; and our knowledge and
reasoning about other things are only as they correspond with those our
particular ideas.6
Locke here argues that what is given to us in perception what we are really sure
about, are the appearances of things-the ideas we have of them- not the things
themselves. Objects appear to us have certain sensible qualities. These appearances or
percepts exist in the mind and provide the evidences on the baisc of which all our beliefs
about the physical world are founded. According to Locke the basic idea of direct realism
that sense perception places us in direct contact with nature is mistaken
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Empirico-Inductive Method
The Empirico-Inductive method is found in the philosophy of Locke. Now I shall
explain these topics of my term paper by the following ways firstly, to discuss
Empiricism than Inductive method and lastly relation between them.
Empiricism is essentially a theory of knowledge; John Locke is the father of
Empiricism. According to him, ‘experience is the primary source of knowledge, but on
the other hand, he, ‘indicates that the universal definite knowledge cannot derive from
experiences’7 which asserts that all knowledge is derived from sense experiences. So
experience is the primary source of knowledge. Then also Locke point out that
experience includes two distinct source of ideas:
Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects, or about
the internal operations or our minds, perceived and reflected on by
ourselves, is that which supplies our understandings with all the materials
of thinking. These two are fountains of knowledge, from when all the
ideas we have, or can naturally have, do spring8.
The first source of ideas is our sense awareness of the external world. The second
source, which Locke calls reflection and which later came to be known as introspection,
is the minds awareness of its own operations. Some of the operations of which it can be
aware are thinking, perceiving, reasoning, choosing, and comparing.
Locke theory of ‘Empiricism’ is directly opposed to the theory of ‘Rationalism’
Rene Descartes, the father of Rationalism. Rationalism is the theory in the field
of knowledge, according to which all knowledge is rational in nature. From the historical
point of view rationalism began in the philosophy of Descartes, the father of modern
western Philosophical thought. According to Descartes, ‘reason is the primary sources of
knowledge and experiences is the secondary source of knowledge’ 9
Induction, is also called inductive, it is essentially a process of reasoning in which
a general Principle is inferred through observation. It is contrary to deductive argument in
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which the conclusion follows from the premises, in an inductive argument the conclusion
generally follow from initial observation. For example: Every A we have observed is a B.
Therefore, every A is B
Every cow A we have observed in the past 20 years is black B
Thus the inductive method is generally produces a hypotheis rather than an
irrefutable logic. Inductivism is therefore an inherent part of the scientific method which
was developed by philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626). With the rise of the natural
science, it becomes increasingly clear that the deductive method could only demonstrate
truths which were already implied in the premises. Thus many thinkers begin to turn to
the process of induction.
John Locke the originator of the empiricism, was used the Empirico-Inductive
Method to solving the concept of the distinction between the primary and secondary
qualities.
Conclusion
Finally we have to conclude that, by making the distinction between the primary
and secondary qualities we shall reach at this point that our sense can comprehend only
the secondary qualities, but not in the primary qualities. Locke thus create dichotomy
between the primary qualities and secondary qualities, although he never does prove it
beyond doubt it is implies in his theory that our mind is not equipped to know either
substances or it primary qualities.
References
1 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (London George Routledge
and Sons). Par. 9. Quoted in Charles Landsman, Philosophy An Introduction to the
Central Issues, CBS College of the City Cniversity New York,1985,P.215
2 Y.Masih, A Critical History of Western Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass Delhi, 1994,
P.276, L.12
3 ibid.1 par.10
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4 Sharma Ram Nath, Western and Indian Metaphysics and Epistemology an Overview,
Surjeet Publication, P.140, L.25.
5 Ram Nath Sharma, A History of Western Philosophy, Kedar Nath Ram Nath, Meerut
Delhi, P.271, L.19
6 Charles Landsman Philosophy An Introduction to the Central Issues, CBS College of
the City Cniversity New York,1985,P.217, L.19
7 ibid 4.1, P.138, L.29.
8 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (London George Routledge
and Sons). Par. 9. Quoted in Charles Landsman Philosophy An Introduction to the
Central Issues, CBS College of the City Cniversity New York,1985, P.247, L.11,
9 ibid 4.1, P.189.
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