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8 - Locke, literary criticism, and philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

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Summary

Alas, she has an innocent, literal understanding.

Wycherley, The Country Wife

The primary observation of Part II (Mind) is that across the voluminous text of the Essay, the mind is figuratively represented as a bipartite entity consisting of a site and an agent. Enclosed space muscles out impressed substance as the principal representation of this site. Impressed substance, which Locke quite consistently treats as the innatists' figure of the mental site, is not, however, discarded: Locke literally describes the bodily organs as material substance which is struck and impressed by other material particles. Enclosed space figures the mental site, and the substance it displaces becomes the literal being of the organs of sensation. This displacement opens the possibility for, but does not demand, a narrative about the mental agent. The terminology of Two Treatises of Government which pervades the Essay identifies this agent as a man and tells the story of his labor (or sloth); it specifies his space as a workplace and storehouse and represents ideas as material objects. The terminology of Restoration comedy identifies this agent as a man and tells the story of his social interactions (or reclusiveness); it specifies his space as a furnished salon or chamber and represents ideas as women. Since there is a considerable measure of terminological common ground between the discourses of property and acquaintance, these two representations do not stand segregated from each other within the Essay, but exist as different dimensions of a coherent spatial/narrative figure of mind.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

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