Locke, John

Göndermeler

In Locke, for instance, it is often diYcult to tell whether by ‘idea’ is meant an object (what is being perceived or thought about) or an action (the act of perceiving or thinking). Locke says that an idea is ‘whatever it is which the mind can be employed about in thinking’. The crucial ambiguity is in the phrase ‘what the mind is employed about’, which can mean either what the mind is thinking of (the object) or what the mind is engaged in (the action).