ABSTRACT
Locke’s epistemology is characterized by a strict distinction between knowledge and opinion. He nevertheless bridges the divide by placing knowledge and opinion on a single continuum when it comes to the epistemic quality of the beliefs yielded by each. Some opinions yield beliefs as good as knowledge and some knowledge yields beliefs which are highly opinion-like. I argue that the best way to understand this tension is by understanding Locke as distinguishing knowledge and opinion as different psychological processes rather than in normative terms. Locke divorces the epistemic values and norms we nowadays attach to knowledge from the nature of knowledge itself.
