John Locke Research Paper

In this paper, I will critique the philosophical puzzle, “If a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?” In my assessment, I will show how this question is part of the epistemological problem. Furthermore, I will present that this question is a puzzle because it reveals what we can verify to know based on sensory experience. Finally, I will explain how the empiricist, John Locke, will evaluate and answer the puzzle, “If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?”. I agree with Locke and his views that a tree that falls in the forest with no one around to hear it does not make a sound. This is because sound is a sensibility which happens to transpire only

The question above wants to know, with complete and appropriate research, how the idea of sound, which is a subjective and sensory experience, connects to what we know of reality. Which brings us back to the idea of epistemology. We will now look at the different views to the question above. John Locke, was an influential English philosopher and physician, he answered this philosophical puzzle through one of his greatest work called, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Per Locke, a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it will not make any sound because sound is a secondary quality and only a sensation of the mind. Locke believes that this is also how we obtain our knowledge about the world. Locke believes that for everything that gets into your mind comes from one source which he believes to be experience. Secondly, Locke says and idea is whatever the mind comprehends as the immediate object of perception. He considers that ideas in this sense are involved in the processes of what we sense as humans such as what we see, hear, smell, taste and feel physically in the environment that we are in. A quality is a power in a thing to cause an idea in a mind. Locke Believes that there are primary and