Wednesday, October 8, 2008

More on Locke's innate ideas

We ought to record, so we don't forget, that we saw that Locke had several arguments against the notion of innate ideas and they went something like this:
1. If any idea were innate in all human minds then surely certain ideas would be universally accepted and agreed on. But they're not.

2. It makes no sense to speak of an idea being in our minds without us being aware of it. How can we have 'understandings' that we don't understand. Surely the whole point of an idea is that it is 'had'. (As in, "I've just had an idea!" said Clive.) 

3.  The argument that we only come to knowledge of these 'innate' ideas when we develop our 'reason', is again non-sensical and seems circular' according to Locke. (And Sam.) Because in order to know innate ideas we have to have reason, but the evidence that we have 'reason' is our knowledge of innate ideas.

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