Locke's theory of perception

Locke’s Theory of Perception 241
pothesis, which is the one he believes to be true of matter. It
is not Locke’s business, he says in the Essay, to make an ex-
haustive analysis of physical objects and events in them-
selves, but only so much as will disclose their rôles as terms
of the perceptual relation. What he does say however of the
ultimate particles of matter reveals them as minute solid bits,
with definite and unalterable outlines, capable of acquiring
motion only through the impact of other moving particles
and of lending this borrowed motion to other particles by
impact. In this hypothesis there is no trace of what, in the
slang of modern physics, is called the “smear” theory of par-
ticles, according to which particles do not have definite, solid
surfaces, but are more like radiations of energy outward
from an insubstantial nucleus. Locke’s atoms show no signs
of being energetic or smudgy. The causal efficacy they pos-
sess is described as “passive power,” which they exert by be-
ing hurtled through an empty space and bumping into clear-
cut opposition, such motion affecting neither the nature of
the moving particle nor the nature of the space travelled
through. This billiard-ball conception of the atom is old and
simple enough, but its simplicity becomes treacherous when
he who entertains it is called upon to explain the firm cohe-
sion of the parts of a body and the gravitational attraction
between bodies. Because it ignores the intricate properties
of electro-magnetic fields, it is totally at a loss to show why,
for example, a steel spring—supposedly made up of small
marble-like atoms—should resist disintegration any more
than a sand heap, which is very easily dispersed. About such
matters, Locke is frankly ignorant. The cohesion of ultimate
particles to form bodies, the attraction between bodies—the
law of which his friend Newton discovered—and even the
details of the process of imparting motion by impact: these
three factors constitute, according to Locke, a triple mystery,

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