The Blank Slate Analysis

The philosophical issue raised by this stimulus is human nature. The philosophical issue relates to the stimulus, because it raises the question “what is it to be human”, when the clown questions why boys and girls are different. Pondering the differences leads to connections on whether or not man is a blank slate or irrational. Blank slate meaning that we start off blank and later conform to our surroundings, represented by Watson's and Locke’s studies; and the counteractive side of being irrational, meaning we are not in control of ourselves as seen through Thomas Nagel and studies that have been around for a long time.. Both issues are represented within the comic, through the dialogue regarding males and females.It acknowledges and provides evidence through the mention of associationism, conditioning, perspectivism, and modern rationality. The mention of social stereotyping is one of the keys to how females and males respond to situations and certain items. The female in the story was playing with dolls, however, the male was gawking at a garbage truck. These fit the standard societal stereotypes as females are supposed to adhere to feminine things, such as cleaning or gentle things. Men, on the other hand, are supposed to react more to …show more content…
The clown claims that he just can’t make the switch between two different types of dessert brands. This must have come from association as a child, for example he might have been eating Hostess desserts since childhood. If he’s been eating them that long, then he probably associates them with good memories from that point in time, similar to the previous examples of conditioning. Blank slate also relates to the clown’s desire to bring down a garbage truck, because he believes uneaten snacks are inside. This is an example of empiricism, because he had most likely seen uneaten snacks thrown in at some point to come to that