Talk:Introduction to Philosophy/Empiricism

"Tabula Rasa" basically translates as "blank slate." Empiricists believe that we are born with a "blank slate" and the environment "stamps" us with experiences.

Rationalists believe that we're born with some "innate ideas"--every one of us is born with them imprinted on our souls or minds. Locke argued that we are not born with innate ideas, but that we learn absolutely everything we ever know from our experience with the environment. Sensation (using the senses to learn) and Reflection (using our minds to assemble our experiences into new knowledge) were the 2 methods of gaining knowledge in Locke's empiricism.