Abstract Ideas: Locke vs. Berkeley

In the following paper I will present and analyze John Locke's position on the nature of general terms. I will do so by breaking down his position and then through the criticisms presented by George Berkeley will unveil more about the nature of general terms. In Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding he discusses the nature of general terms. For this, Locke defines a general term as that which is used as sorter, putting entities …

…Berkeley's position differs from Locke in that it seems to heavily rely on a notion that all ideas are visual representations in the mind. Although, on his account, you cannot produce a visual image in your mind of a general 'man', you can still understand the concept of what it is to have the attribute that make one a man. If Berkeley's view were less visually strict, his criticism of Locke would be more coherent.