''New Essays on Human Understanding'' (french: Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain) is a chapter-by-chapter rebuttal by
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathem ...
of
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...
's major work ''
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding''. It is one of only two full-length works by Leibniz (the other being the
''Theodicy''). It was finished in 1704, but Locke's death was the cause alleged by Leibniz to withhold its publication. The book appeared some 60 years later. Like many philosophical works of the time, it is written in dialogue form.
Overview
The two speakers in the book are Theophilus ("lover of God" in
Greek), who represents the views of Leibniz, and Philalethes ("lover of truth" in Greek), who represents those of Locke. The famous rebuttal to the empiricist thesis about the provenance of ideas appears at the beginning of ''Book II'': "Nothing is in the mind without being first in the senses, except for the mind itself". All of Locke's major arguments against innate ideas are criticized at length by Leibniz, who defends an extreme view of innate cognition, according to which all thoughts and actions of the soul are innate.
[G. W. Leibniz, ''New Essays on Human Understanding''. Translated and edited by Peter Remnant and Jonathan Bennett. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981, p. 74.] In addition to his discussion of innate ideas, Leibniz offers penetrating criticisms of Locke's views on personal identity, free will, mind-body dualism, language, necessary truth, and Locke's attempted proof of the existence of God.
Editions
* ''New Essays on Human Understanding'', 2nd ed., translated and edited by Peter Remnant and Jonathan Bennett, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, .
See also
*
Implicit cognition
References
Sources
* G. W. Leibniz, ''Akademie-Ausgabe'' (1999): Vol. VI.
External links
*
''New Essays on Human Understanding''Langley translation 1896
Pdf.*
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the fi ...
''Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding – A Critical Exposition'' 1888
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{{DEFAULTSORT:New Essays On Human Understanding
1704 books
1765 books
Dialogues
Works by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz