REASON- Tabula Rasa (against Innatism)

Question 1

What was Lockes main argument against innatism

Answer 1

That the mind is born ‘empty’ like a tabula rasa (blank slate) and this shows that all our ideas/ concepts are derived from the senses or experience.

Question 2

What does the tabula rasa theory depend on

Answer 2

Ockham’s razor- if competing explanations explain some phenomenon equally well, go for the simpler one

Question 3

Locke and Hume argued that our minds receive impressions from the senses that are the copied into ideas or concepts- what do these ideas allow us to do

Answer 3

Think about things that are not present to our senses eg. I can think about cheese even though I am not currently in the presence of cheese

Question 4

If we combine simple ideas in our minds what do we create

Answer 4

Complex ideas that have no corresponding impression eg. A unicorn but the elements (white, horse, horn) all must derive from actual impressions

Question 5

What causes a simple idea eg. Idea of red

Answer 5

A simple impression from the senses eg. Smell

Question 6

What can complex impressions from the senses ,eg. A painting, create

Answer 6

Complex ideas eg. A unicorn

Question 7

How can the tabula rasa argument be summarised as

Answer 7

P1) the theory of innate ideas claims we are born with innate ideas.
P2) all of our ideas can be shown to be derived from experience (tabula rasa)
C) the theory of innate ideas is redundant

Question 8

What support is there for the tabula rasa theory

Answer 8

• people born lacking a sense (eg. Lacking impressions of the colour red) also lack the corresponding ideas (red)
• can you imagine a new idea (eg a gold mountain) that is not ultimately derived from impressions you have experienced (gold +mountain)

Question 9

What is the criticism of Do all ideas come from impressions?

Answer 9

Maybe I can create a new shade of blue in my mind by merging ones I already have. This new simple idea/shade has not come from a simple impression. Also, I can have the concept of ultraviolet light without having experienced it.

Question 10

Whatis the criticism of Rational concepts

Answer 10

What about concepts such as sameness? It doesn’t have a particular colour or taste, it cannot be related to any specific impressions. Do we derive the concept of sameness from our impressions ? Or do we have it innately, prior to experience

Question 11

What is the criticism of concepts needed for experience

Answer 11

Kant argued that we experience the world as a series of objects in space and time interacting in causal ways because your experience has the concepts such as utility, space, time and causation already applied to it by you.
Sense impressions (intuitions) prior to any form of conceptional ordering cannot yet form any part of any experience. We have innate concepts that’s enable experience to happen.
Chomsky argued that our minds must have innate structures in place to learn language so efficiently as children