Is the soul a blank slate ready to receive all knowledge or are we born with knowledge already written in our souls?
In Latin, Tabula Rasa means a blank state; it’s an epistemological theory where people without in-built mental content and their knowledge will develop from both perception as well as experience. Steven Piker was among the top philosopher in the study of mind and he argued that the mind is not composed of any innate traits. This perspective is complicated as it refuses to acknowledge humanity and individual preferences. It replaces our opinions on certain matters and interferes with our understanding of violence, parenting, arts and politics. His doctrine goes further in convincing individuals that they must acknowledge the human nature on the basis of science and use of common sense.
The mind is considered a metaphor as the souls are just like a blank paper, which is always ready to capture ideas where it affirms that all the ideas are basic in our understanding and gaining of knowledge. This means that the mind develops through the influence of external objects and when a child is born its mind is formless and blank. Empiricism is simply the originating of human knowledge and comes from our sensations. These ideas are supported by popular Empiricists known as Locke, Berkeley and Hume. The human senses will develop the confidence to identify the properties that built up the empirical objects. Locke argues that the mind is a tabula rasa (a blank state), and its gains knowledge and ideas after encountering with interactions within the universe. The experience that we gain in our daily encounters shapes our understanding in the concepts that are related to life. Kant had already argued against this stand and claimed that the blank state of the mind could not fully explain or identify objects. He concluded that the components associated with our beliefs are supported by our mind so that we can experience. Locke claimed that the mind of a child is like a white paper but does not conclude that the mind of the child is formless. He goes further to state that mind rely on experience so that it can understand the concepts in life and enhance its operation (Shelly and Fields 78).
On the other hand, Berkeley was against the Locke arguments. He did not recognize the basis of the human mind in relation to the features of mind-independent objects. He said that the human mind was not in a position to regard the sensations in identifying the real objects but said the mind was limited to interpret senses. He said that there is no way the human mind could distinguish between sensations and the characteristics of objects and such interpretations were to be regarded inaccurate and a failure in the study of the human mind. He went against the concept of mind as an independent object and said that there is no chance that the mind could possess such knowledge. Kant on the other hand regarded this ideas negative since he argued that Berkeley was ideally materialistic. Kant does not support that the knowledge associated with material objects and believes it’s unreal and unachievable. Kant goes further to conclude that the human mind was only in a position to make judgment regarding the experiences in our daily encounters.
There is no way that human beings are born with knowledge on their souls. When a child is born, it is evident that he does not know right or wrong. As he starts to grow and interacts in the society, the child starts to learn. The parents and other people around us matters a lot in building our knowledge. As the child grows older, he will be having an accumulated knowledge due to the different experiences that encounters during survival. I believe that knowledge in our souls is gained when individuals observe the occurrences in the environment and this impacts knowledge in them. The culture that one’s grows up into decides ones judgment on certain objects therefore there is no way one can conclude that we born with knowledge already written in our souls. Therefore, the mind as blank state gains knowledge when one grows depending on the experiences that come up.
John Locke’ argued that there are no innate ideas and in my opinion, this makes sense. This is because when a child is born, he cannot distinguish the real characteristics of an object but with time, the child grows and learns to differentiate objects. When a mind is introduced in the world, it has no any idea or fundamental principles that support ideas. It’s not right to conclude that when an individual is born, he comes with innate ideas and know everything that comes across his life. When a mind comes into existence, it contains no innate ideas and these develop with time. I support his arguments that the mind is like a blank state, a tabula rasa, which gains knowledge with experience. The blank state of the mind considers that the mind is like an empty surface and with time, experience will start to write on it on the things that will come across our lives. It is true that when a mind comes into existence, it may be accompanied with instinctual behaviors but this cannot be regarded as innate ideas but rather the contents of consciousness. The mind may have the ability to have automatic reflex motions in case of responding to any stimulus but this are not innate ideas.
There are no innate ideas and all ideas comes from the experience that we gain aw we grows up. Our consciousness will develop when our source of experience helps our mind grow. Sensation is associated with the outside world experience when reflection is considered an experience from our inside world (John23). Reflection helps us to have a stimulus to fear, love, willingness, beliefs, memory and many others. It can be said that our mind is the center of everything that comes up along our life. Sensation and experience combines to show that no individual is born with innate ideas and the content of our mind increases as we learn from experience. If one argues that we are born with innate ideas, it will mean that a child knows everything from the time of birth and the interaction with others does not serve any purpose in adding knowledge in their minds. In another perspective, it can be argued that, if one was born with innate ideas, there is no way that the cultures that he grows within could change his perceptions or perspectives on objects. The mind could be considered very independent as no influence could have shaped it. The encounters in our daily life are the ones that helps us to know how things operates therefore I strongly affirm that I fully support Locke’s ideas that a child will never be born with innate ideas.
Locke went further to argue that there exists a very critical difference between sensation and perception. Sensation was the condition in which our mind is fed with raw data and the brain acts by bringing senses in our lives (Locke and Alexander67). Perceptions will be regarded as the ingredients that are added by judgments and interpretations to bring up a meaning. In accordance with Locke, our human mind will obtain the raw sensations but the meaning is enhanced by the judgments that we make and the interpretations that accompanies our minds. It can be said that, the combination of sensation and judgment creates perception. The raw sensations are behind the perceptions that our minds contains.
In a nutshell, the soul a blank slate ready to receive all knowledge and no individual is born with knowledge already written in their souls. This means that the mind develops through the influence of external objects and when a child is born its mind is formless and blank. I also agree with John Locke’s perspective that “there are no innate ideas” during birth. The mind gains knowledge as it comes across different encounters. Our consciousness will develop when our source of experience helps our mind grow. In a summary, the soul is a blank state and it’s fed with knowledge as we have experiences in our lives.
Work cited
Reuben, Shelly, and Anna Fields. Tabula Rasa. Ashland, or: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2006. Internet resource
Chaffee, John. The Philosopher's Way: A Text with Readings: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.
Locke, John, and Alexander C. Fraser. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: Volume I. Princeton, N.J: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2005. Sound recording.
