Alain Stephen

Wittgenstein, perhaps the most famous philosopher of the last century,

his History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell suggests that philosophy sits astride the fields of science and theology, applying reason to hypotheses in areas where hard facts are not yet available.

reality is already pre-determined or pre-existent and, therefore, nothing new can ever occur as all events are simply the effects of other prior effects

Or in other words, all events must have a cause, which determines the outcome

beauty could be related to the senses – the sights, sounds and smells that provoke pleasure

Both Plato and Socrates seem to be siding with a subjectivist approach with regards to beauty: that all knowledge, and therefore by extension our knowledge of beauty, is defined by the experiences of the self and our sensory perceptions. In this respect, beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Locke, the human mind begins with a blank slate or tabula rasa that is filled with ideas through experiences. Knowledge is gained through two methods, which Locke termed ‘sensation’ and ‘reflection’. Sensation relates to the five human senses and gives rise to concepts such as sounds, smells, colours, shapes and tastes. Reflection relates to processes in our internal world, thoughts and memories, reasoning and argument

Locke divided qualities into two categories. The first category, primary qualities, are the aspects that all objects possess, such as size, shape, matter and motion. Secondary qualities are aspects which Locke suggests can be either added to or removed from an object, such as colours, sounds, temperatures and textures