Locke claims that “complex” ideas like “beauty, gratitude, etc.” are ideas that we create by putting together several simpler ideas. And some of those simpler ideas might themselves be made out of...

Locke claims that “complex” ideas like “beauty, gratitude, etc.” are ideas that we create by putting together several simpler ideas. And some of those simpler ideas might themselves be made out of even simpler ideas. Ultimately, we should be able to break any idea down into the completely simple ideas we got through our senses, like “yellow, white, heat, cold, soft, hard, bitter, sweet,” and other or the completely simple ideas we get from “the operations of our own mind within us,” like “thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning, knowing, willing, etc.” Try the following experiment to see if Locke is right. Choose any “idea” that seems to be a complex idea and is not a completely simple idea. Now see if you can break that complex idea down into the completely simple ideas that Locke says we get through our senses and from inside our minds. Are you able to do that with any complex idea? Next, try to construct at least one complex idea by putting together some of Locke’s completely simple ideas. Are you able to create any complex idea this way? What do these experiments tell you?