Abstract
Este artículo pretende mostrar que en el Ensayo sobre el entendimiento humano, Locke asume la hipótesis mecánico corpuscular –sostenida particularmente por Boyle y, en general, expuesta por la ciencia del siglo XVII–, para fundamentar su teoría en torno a los límites entre la certeza y la probabilidad.
El corpuscularismo asumido por Locke es un constructo hipotético que atribuye a los corpúsculos esas partículas de materia, activas, de las que dependen las operaciones mecánicas de los cuerpos-comportamientos semejantes a los de los cuerpos perceptibles. Pero, puesto que no se tiene una certeza de las variadas formas como operan los corpúsculos, somos incapaces de poseer un conocimiento cierto de los cuerpos que nos rodean. A este respecto sólo se puede conjeturar por analogía con los cuerpos perceptibles.
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