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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Guide To Locke's Essay Representational Reliability Several late chapters of Book II are devoted to a detailed discussion of the success with which ideas of various kinds perform their representative functions. The point here is that since we use ideas as signs, it is vital to be aware of the likelihood that they do actually point beyond themselves to their intended referential objects.

The extent to which they serve these functions will determine the reliability of any knowledge we try to acquire about those objects. Locke explained the clarity of ideas by analogy to visual perception: just as an object is seen clearly when viewed in suitable light, a clear idea is one of which we have a "full and evident perception," whose content is present before the mind. An idea is distinct, on the other hand, when it is perceived to differ from all others.

[Essay II xxix 2-5] Locke had no stake in differentiating sharply between the clarity and distinctness of ideas. In the Essay's fourth edition, he made a half-hearted effort to substitute the single adjective "determined" in place of the customary pair "clear and distinct." His central concern was with the failure of this representational function, in ideas that are confused.

This occurs most frequently with respect to complex ideas, whose simple components may be too few or too poorly organized to determine their content precisely. The problem, Locke argued, is that we often use words as if we knew their significance when, in fact, the ideas associated with them are not fully conceived.

[Essay II xxix 7-11] We'll consider this issue more fully next time, but it's worth noting that Locke believed that many apparently intractable philosophical disputes arise from a failure to employ words to signify clear and distinct ideas.

His examples here all arise from the wide-spread failure to hold in mind a correctly-formed, determined idea in association with the word, "infinity." [Essay II xxix 13-16] In Locke's taxonomy, and idea is said to be real (as opposed to fantastical) so long as there is something that it represents. Notice that the accuracy of representation is not at issue here at all. Even if the idea fails to correspond to its object, it is real provided only that the object does exist.