Editing Idea (section)

===John Locke===
[[John Locke]]'s use of idea stands in striking contrast to Plato's.<ref>Vol 4: 487–503</ref> In his Introduction to [[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]], Locke defines ''idea'' as "that term which, I think, serves best to stand for whatsoever is the object of the understanding when a man thinks, I have used it to express whatever is meant by phantasm, notion, species, or whatever it is which the mind can be employed about in thinking; And I could not avoid frequently using it."<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=An Essay Concerning Human Understanding |wslink=An Essay Concerning Human Understanding/Introduction |section=Introduction |first=John |last=Locke |at=§ What Idea stands for. |year=1689}}</ref> He said he regarded the contribution offered in his essay as necessary to examine our own abilities and discern what objects our understandings were, or were not, fitted to deal with. In this style of ideal conception other outstanding figures followed in his footsteps — Hume and Kant in the 18th century, [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] in the 19th century, and [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]], and [[Karl Popper]] in the 20th century. Locke always believed in the ''good sense'' — not pushing things to extremes and while taking fully into account the plain facts of the matter. He prioritized common-sense ideas that struck him as "good-tempered, moderate, and down-to-earth."

As John Locke studied humans in his work "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" he continually referenced Descartes for ideas as he asked this fundamental question: "When we are concerned with something about which we have no certain knowledge, what rules or standards should guide how confident we allow ourselves to be that our opinions are right?"<ref name="ReferenceA">Locke, John. "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding." (n.d.): An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book, I: Innate Notions.</ref> Put in another way, he inquired into how humans might verify their ideas, and considered the distinctions between different types of ideas. Locke found that an idea "can simply mean some sort of brute experience."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=John R. |title=Starting with Mill |date=2010 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-0044-3 }}{{page needed|date=April 2021}}</ref> He shows that there are "No innate principles in the mind."<ref>Locke, John. "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (n.d.): An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book, I: Innate Notions</ref> Thus, he concludes that "our ideas are all experienced in nature."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sheridan |first1=Patricia |title=Locke: A Guide for the Perplexed |date=2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-8983-8 }}{{page needed|date=April 2021}}</ref> An experience can either be a sensation or a reflection: "consider whether there are any innate ideas in the mind before any are brought in by the impression from sensation or reflection."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Therefore, an idea was an  experience in which the human mind apprehended something.

In a Lockean view, there are really two types of ideas: complex and simple. Simple ideas  are the building blocks for more complex ideas, and "While the mind is wholly passive in the reception of simple ideas, it is very active in the building of complex ideas…"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sheridan |first1=Patricia |title=Locke: A Guide for the Perplexed |date=2010 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-8983-8 }}{{page needed|date=April 2021}}</ref> Complex ideas, therefore, can either be ''modes'', ''substances'', or ''relations''.

''Modes'' combine simpler ideas in order to convey new information. For instance, David Banach <ref>Banach, David. "Locke on Ideas." Locke on Ideas. St. Anselm College, 2006{{page needed|date=April 2021}}</ref> gives the example of beauty as a mode. He points to combinations of color and form as qualities constitutive of this mode. ''Substances'', however, are distinct from modes. ''Substances'' convey the underlying formal unity of certain objects, such as dogs, cats, or tables. ''Relations'' represent the relationship between two or more ideas that contain analogous elements to one another without the implication of underlying formal unity. A painting or a piece of music, for example, can both be called 'art' without belonging to the same substance. They are related as forms of art (the term 'art' in this illustration would be a 'mode of relations'). In this way, Locke concluded that the formal ambiguity around ideas he initially sought to clarify had been resolved.