Greg Detre
Monday, 22 April, 2002
idea
= equated with medieval philosophical technical terms (�phantasm�, �notion�, �species�
= used in a relative or functional way to stand for items that have a certain role in our lives:
�whatsoever is the object of the understanding when a man thinks � or whatever it is which the mind can be employed about in thinking�
just as early geneticists explained �genes� as standing for whatever it is that control heredity in accordance with Mendelian laws
it�s a functional definition because Locke thought that each individual idea has an intrinsic nature very well known to its owner but that he didn't think he could capture/explain this in public language
think = covers the whole range of mental events, sensory + intellectual
ideas of sensation + reflection (introspection)