Locke- "Mind and Body II"

Locke talks about simple and complex ideas. By reading Book II chapter XII, I became more clear on what he was talking about. Actually on the bottom on page 104 to the top of page 105 he speaks of the word "whiteness". This is a word for example that is used to describe many things in an abstract and simple way. This describes white snow, the white piece of chalk(which as a class we are all very fimiliar with) and milk. All of these objects are similar because they have a similar characteristc (white), but yet chalk doesnt taste like milk and you cant really write with snow. So these objects are also very different. Complex ideas can be made in two ways. They can be made by putting together the same simple ideas, like a roll of quarters, each thing in the roll is a quarter, but all together they make a roll of quarters or even better ..ten dollars. Or you can have a mixture of simple ideas, such as a doctor, which is a person, who has knowledge, a degree (hopefully), gentle, caring, and patient. Many simple ideas put together create this image of a doctor.