Abstract

Judging failed attempts by Descartes in explaining existence, John Locke develops the philosophical school of empiricism which has since been traditionally viewed as a contrast to Descartes' rationalism. He first rejected the so-called innate principles introduced by Descartes' rational school and then referred to sensation and reflection as two major sources of recognition. Locke believed that these two sources lead us to simple and compound concepts. The latter, he says, includes conceptions of substances and relations. Here, the relational compound is a conception made up of two other conceptions. One of the two is the causality issue.It so seems that Locke considers causality as a conception prompted by a comparison between the conception of substance and accidents.Though a mental conception, causality, Locke maintains, has a visible abstraction. Based on his argument, prime matter's existence is provable via four causes: creation, making, innovation and changing.While confirming the cause-and-effect relation in the real world, Locke makes out that there is absolutely no way to clearly perceive causuality and the only perceivable thing is the relation or power of affection, and that should be fair enough to believe that an agent i.e. a cause does exist.