John Locke

An Essay concerning Human Understanding John Locke

The main thesis is that there are "No Innate Principles," by reasoning that "if we will attentively consider new born children, we shall have little reason to think that they bring many ideas into the world with them," and that, "by degrees afterward, ideas come into their minds." Book I of the Essay is devoted to an attack on nativism or, the doctrine of innate ideas; Locke indeed sought to rebut a prevalent view of innate ideas that was vehemently held by philosophers of his time. He allowed that some ideas are in the mind from an early age, but argued that such ideas are furnished by the senses starting in the womb; for instance, differences between colours or tastes. If we have a universal understanding of a concept like sweetness, it is not because this is an innate idea, but because we are all exposed to sweet tastes at an early age.