logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2020
48m 34s

Ep. 257: Locke Against Innate Ideas (Par...

Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey
About this episode

On Book I of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).

How do we know things? Locke thought all knowledge comes from experience, and this might seem uncontroversial, but what are the alternatives? We consider the idea that there are some ideas we're just born with and don't need to learn. But what's an "idea," and how is it different from a principle? Clearly we have instincts ("knowhow") but is that knowledge? We consider occurrent vs. dispositional nativism, the role of reason, and what Locke's overall project is after.

Don't wait for Part Two; get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Up next
Aug 31
Ep. 399: Dan Dennett's Model of Mind (Part One)
On Daniel C. Dennett's Consciousness Explained (Ch. 1, 5), featuring guest Mark, Seth, Dylan, and guest Chris Heath. What is the mind? Dennett puts forth his "multiple drafts" model against the centralization that he characterizes as the "Cartesian Theater." Dennett claims that t ... Show More
47m 34s
Aug 30
PREMIUM-PEL Sunami Nightcap August 2026
Chris Sunami, the editor of the PEL book, joins Mark, Wes and Seth as part of the launch of his new book, Free Your Mind, which is a series of PEL-like conversations all coming out of Chris' brain, using the model of Plato's symposium to talk about race, AI, art, religion, and mo ... Show More
10m 25s
Aug 28
PEL Presents NEM#259: Glenn Morrow (Bar/None): Songwriting Re-Emergence
lenn was a central figure in the Hoboken punk scene, fronting the band "a" in the late '70s and then The Individuals in the early '80s. His next band, Rage to Live, was the first release from Bar/None records in 1986, and Glenn then joined the label as a partner and signed They M ... Show More
1h 2m
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2014
Episode #035 ... John Locke pt. 1
On this episode of the podcast, we begin learning about John Locke. First, we ask ourselves whether or not we own our bodies and what other things we are entitled to simply by virtue of being born. Next, we consider whether its possible to develop a system of ethics by studying t ... Show More
30m 28s
Jun 2022
Understanding the Human Mind - the Philosophy of John Locke
Is the mind a blank slate? John Locke's famous essay on Human UnderstandingThis video is a voice over of the introduction from John Locke's publication from 1689: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Essa...Author: John LockeLearn more: https:/ ... Show More
7m 24s
Feb 2023
Episode 233
Philosopher John Locke believed that we have no innate ideas; our minds are blank slates upon which experience writes. Modern geneticists argue that we are nothing but the stage on which a play written by our genes is performed. The nature versus nurture debate is one of the olde ... Show More
1h 8m
Dec 2022
Ep 165: Knowledge and Ignorance Part 5
Here we delve more deeply into the ways our senses and our reason might go wrong in the creation of knowledge. There are no authoritative inerrant sources of knowledge and yet we can nonetheless come to knowledge...by creating it. Unusually for ToKCast we take a left turn into vi ... Show More
51m 41s
Sep 2014
Episode #036 ... John Locke pt. 2 - The Blank Slate
On this episode of the podcast, we continue our discussion of John Locke. We first admire how brave Locke was to share his ideas during a time when dissent earned you the privilege of being drawn and quartered (literally… quartered). Next, we discuss Locke’s views on the Nature v ... Show More
28m 38s
Oct 2014
Episode #039 ... The Limits of Empiricism
On this episode of the podcast, we explore the idea of reality and how our senses prevent us from perceiving its true nature. First, we launch a smear campaign against human eyes and their limitations. Next, we discuss the difference between deductive reasoning (the kind you see ... Show More
26m 57s
Jul 2023
Sources of thinking
Where does our thinking come from? And what are the generators of our thoughts? An episode that will bring enlightenment to the table and leave you with a greater knowledge of your brain. 
3m 52s
Mar 2024
John Locke's "First Treatise of Government"
In this episode, I cover John Locke's "First Treatise of Government." Tune in next week for the much-more-important Second Treatise. If you want to support me, you can do that with these links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy paypal.me/theoryphilosophy Twitte ... Show More
29m 35s
Aug 2023
Luck and Knowledge | Mylan Engel
<p>What is knowledge? Does a justified true belief count as knowledge? And is our knowledge lucky?</p> <p> </p> 
58m 4s
May 2020
SYSK Selects: How The Enlightenment Works
<p>The Enlightenment stands as the moment the West withdrew from superstition and found its faith in reason. Did it shift too far? In this classic episode, learn about this massive shift in thinking which we are still sorting through and coming to understand today.</p><p> </p> Le ... Show More
40m 35s