Jaymie Ticknor Intro Philosophy 1050 Sect 003 19 February 2014 John Locke empiricist born 1632 blank slate tabula rasa theory no ideas are innate Lecture 9 questioned how human beings acquire knowledge proposed a social contract theory of the legitimacy of government and the idea of natural rights to private property Category of epistemology Descartes Locke and Hume how we acquire knowledge split into rationalists through reason innate ideas and recollection Plato all ideas are innate and Descartes some ideas are innate and empiricists experiences and senses Aristotle and John Locke Empiricism did not accept the theory of innate ideas near contradiction to say that there are truths imprinted on the soul which is perceives or understands not Locke reject the doctrine of innate ideas he does not reject the concept that human beings have innate capacities he believes that the possession of capacities such as perception and reasoning are central to his accounts of the mechanism of human knowledge and understanding Noam Chomsky further developed this idea The mind is a blank canvas at birth he believes that anybody can be transformed by a good education one that encourages rational thought and individual talents An Essay Concerning Human Understanding published in 1690 most influential works divided into four books the foundation of human knowledge and understanding is the first systematic assault on Cartesian rationalism and is one of the principal sources of empiricism which influenced later empiricists such as David Hume and George Berkeley Book I aim is to set out to rebuke the rationalist notion of innate ideas thesis is no innate ideas consider new born children little reason to think that they bring many ideas into the world with them eyes and understanding look outward need to look inward Innate Idea in philosophy an idea allegedly inborn in the human mind as contrasted with those received or compiled from experience Nativism view that certain skills or abilities are native or hard wired into the brain Locke s argument against innate theoretical principles if there are any innate principles then everyone would assent to them there are no principles that everyone assents to universally where ideas do not come from Book II tells us where ideas do come from term idea stands for whatsoever is the object of the understanding when a man thinks two types of ideas simple and complex ch II Complex Ideas are made up of simple ideas building block of knowledge Simple Ideas come from sensations and reflections Four types of simple ideas ideas that come from one sense colors sounds two senses shape size using vision and touch reflection remembering reasoning judging doubting and both sensation and reflection unity existence pleasure pain and substance Overview Empiricist senses and experiences no innate ideas Ideas simple sensation and reflection complex two or more simple ideas