Abstract

For John Locke, the first step in an investigation of perception should be reflection. Locke's use of the term "perception" is somewhat broad. This chapter first presents a background to Locke's theory, and then describes the general psychophysical principle that governs his approach to sensation and two exceptions to that principle. Next, the chapter elucidates some of the subtleties of Locke's account of the visual perception of shape, subtleties that end up supporting an orthodox interpretation of his answer to the Molyneux question. Some remarks on Locke's account of time perception are then presented. These remarks explain Locke's reasons for thinking that we get the idea of succession and duration from reflection, though he believes that we get ideas of our measures of duration from sensation. Locke infers that we may treat the perception of motion as a useful proxy for thinking about the succession of ideas in our minds.