Theory of ideas: John Locke vs. Auguste Comte vs. Hume

Different perspective of how we have ideas.

John Locke believedthat no one is born with innate ideas and principles, when man comes into thisworld his brain is in the “unknown” state and is blank. But once man has gone through life with experiences and perceives the world of his own knowledge then he will be able to have innate ideas and principles. Locke believed that ideas came from sensation and reflection. ‘They are either by direct sensory or by reflection on the remnants of prior sensory stimulation.

Hume’s three laws of association are: Law of Resemblance, Law of Continuity, Law of Cause and Effect. The cause and effect must be contiguous in space and time. The cause must be prior to the effect. There must be a constant union betwixt the cause and effect. It is chiefly this quality that constitutes the relation. Basically, what Hume’s is saying is that ideas don’t just randomly come into our head but when they do they come in a orderly connection associated with our perception. Comte positivism differs from Bach’s in a very distinctive way. “Comte, the only thing we can be sure of is that which is publicly observable — that is, sense experiences that can be shared with other individuals. The data of science are publicly observable and therefore can be trusted.” Since it can be seen and shared with others it is real or can be proven real. Whereas Mach, “There can be no a prior knowledge of the world, only experiences that, when systematically organized, can lay claim to the status of scientific knowledge” (D. N. Robinson, 2000, p. 1020). In agreement with Hume, Mach concluded that so-called cause and-effect relationships are nothing more than functional relationships among mental phenomena. Mach’s theory consisted of biological factors that are associated with knowledge of the physical and metaphysical realm.

According to Kant, what we experience subjectively has been modified by the pure concepts of the mind and is therefore more meaningful than it would otherwise have been. Kant included the following in his list of a priori pure concepts, or categories of thought: unity, totality, time, space, cause and effect, reality, quantity, quality, negation, possibility-impossibility, and existence-nonexistence. Kant does not think we can know, imagine, the universe as an infinite or finite entity through space or time. Because space is and time is only perception and cannot be conceptualized as a whole. Heligian dialectic is a concept or method used to solve argumentative issues through reasoning, logical arguments.

Herbart methods of teaching has 5 elements. Preparation prepare students for the new material, presentation presenting the material in a hands on fashion, association through assimilation, generalization help them develop a mind beyond perception. Lastly application applying it to real-life scenarios. All these stages are phases in which teachers should take to teach their students effectively.