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John Locke & David Hume Perspective of The Self

John Locke (1632-1704 CE) believed that the human mind at birth is a blank slate (tabula rasa) and that personal experiences shape who a person becomes. He defined a person as a thinking being that can consider itself the same over time through consciousness and memory. Locke argued this allows a person to be accountable for their past actions if they can remember them.

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John Kerby Amanonce
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1K views16 pages

John Locke & David Hume Perspective of The Self

John Locke (1632-1704 CE) believed that the human mind at birth is a blank slate (tabula rasa) and that personal experiences shape who a person becomes. He defined a person as a thinking being that can consider itself the same over time through consciousness and memory. Locke argued this allows a person to be accountable for their past actions if they can remember them.

Uploaded by

John Kerby Amanonce
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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John Locke

(1632-1704 CE)
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
“Human mind at birth is
tabula rasa.”
A person is born with knowing nothing
and that is susceptible to stimulation and
accumulation of learning from the
experiences, Failures, references and
observations of the person
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
The experiences and
perceptions of a person is
important in the
establishment of who that
person can become
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
The Memory Theory holds that we are the
same person as we were in the past for as
long as we can remember something from
that past. The memory renders us self-
conscious that we are one and the same
person.
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
Locke defines a person as
“a thinking intelligent Being, that has
reason and reflection, and can
consider itself as itself, the same
thinking thing in different times and
places; which it does only by that
consciousness, which is inseparable
from thinking, and as it seems to me
essential to it.” (2.27.9, 335)
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
Locke suggests here that part of what
makes a person the same through
time is their ability to recognize past
experiences as belonging to them.
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
Your ability to remember allows
you to be who you are today
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
• His theory of personal identity justifies
the defense of accountability that to him
since the person is the same in the
passing of the time then he is held
accountable for his past behavior. The
person could only be held accountable for
the behavior he can remember. Locke
believed that punishing someone for the
behaviors he has no recollection is
tantamount to punishing him for the
action he never performed.
John Locke
(1632-1704 CE)
Self is that conscious thinking thing,
(whatever Substance made up of
whether Spiritual or Material, Simple
or Compounded, it matters not)
which is sensible or conscious of
Pleasure and Pain, capable of
Happiness or Misery, and so is
concerned for its self as far as that
consciousness extends
David Hume
(1711-1776)
David Hume
(1711-1776)
There is no self.
A person is a bundle of
perceptions.

No impression corresponding to
a self that endures through time.
David Hume
(1711-1776)
Disagrees with the all the other
aforementioned philosophers
“one can only know what comes from the
senses & experiences” (he is an empiricist)
“the self is not an entity beyond the
physical body”
you know that other people are humans
not because you have seen their soul, but
because you see them, hear them, feel them
etc.
David Hume
(1711-1776)
“the self is nothing but a bundle of impressions and
ideas” 
IMPRESSION
- those things we perceive through our senses as we
experience them
- forms the core of our thoughts
IDEA
- copies of impressions
- not as “real” as impressions
- things that we create in our minds even though we
are no longer experiencing them.
David Hume
(1711-1776)
“the self is nothing but a bundle of impressions and
ideas” 
IMPRESSION
- those things we perceive through our senses as we
experience them
- forms the core of our thoughts
IDEA
- copies of impressions
- not as “real” as impressions
- things that we create in our minds even though we
are no longer experiencing them.
David Hume
(1711-1776)
There is no permanent self because
impressions of things are based from our
experiences where we can create our ideas
and knowledge. Thus, it may improve or
totally be replaced
The self keeps on changing, like how one
looks, one feels. one thinks they constantly
change. He concludes that the self is
nothing over and above the stream of
perceptions we enjoy. An enduring self is
just a fiction produced by our imagination.
(Law, 2007)
David Hume
(1711-1776)
People will be
constantly changing
because of the different experiences he has.
That constant change will affect and
reshape his personhood. Thus, we
therefore conclude that
there is no self.

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