John Locke's Argument Against Innate Ideas

Register to read the introduction… This is the belief that it is not possible for there to be ideas in the mind that one is not aware of. Rationalists argued that once children grew up and developed mentally, they would be able to understand the innate ideas. For Locke, the idea that they have to be able to reason to understand and ideas that are supposed to be innate shows and strengthens his argument. This would, however, have to be based on the notion that innate ideas were conscious ideas. On the other hand, if these ideas are gained after reasoning or in conjunction with reasoning, they are not in fact innate fore if they were, such ideas would include mathematics. Based on the idea that reason is helping to grasps ideas that are supposed to be innate and that some innate ideas are unknown leads us into a contradictory status and gives way to the third …show more content…
One of the most famous philosophers to argue for innate ideas was Rene Descartes. Descartes being a rationalist had completely different thoughts on innate ideas in comparison to Locke. It was his belief that we do in fact have ideas that are present in the mind when we are born. For Descartes, these ideas are considered innate but for Locke, this ideas are considered reflections. He claimed that no ideas are present until they are reflected upon and then deduced. The only exception to this was that of the idea of God in which Descartes believed to be innate. John Locke used the idea of God as a buffer for his argument posing the question that if innate ideas do in fact existent, why would God give us the ability to reason …show more content…
The first of these arguments was that there is no universal assent; the second argument was that if innate ideas are through reason, then they are deduced and lastly, the third argument was that if self-evidences is equal to innateness, the consequences of innate ideas end with something absurd. It touched on Locke’s general concept of experience and how we in fact experience things through reflection and sensation. Lastly, examples of supporting and opposing arguments and ideas on the subject matter were discussed as a way of comparing the ideas in all of