innatism

what example does plato use to prove innatism

the slave boy argument

what happens in plato’s slave boy argument

socrates managed to prompt geometrical knowledge out of meno’s slave boy despite him never being taught anything about it

what is leibniz’s first argument

the fact that we have knowledge of necessary truths is enough proof of innate knowledge. experience can only tell us what is, not what must be or always is

what’s locke’s first argument against leibniz’s necessary truths argument

innate knowledge must be universal and transparent, but children and idiots don’t know geometrical proofs, therefore innate knowledge must not exist

what’s locke’s second argument against leibniz’s necessary truths argument

propositional knowledge is built off of concepts, so if there is innate knowledge then there must be innate concepts. if he can disprove the existence of innate concepts then he can disprove the existence of innate knowledge

what are the two ways locke disproves the existence of innate concepts

1. observations of newborn babies show us that they have no concepts other than what they experienced in the womb (eg warmth)

2. “god” is often used as an example of an innate concept but there have been many atheist communities before

what is leibniz’s response to locke’s first criticism

he agrees that innate knowledge must be universal but he says that you don’t need to be aware of it or able to verbalise it

what two examples does leibniz give as innate logical knowledge

impossibility (a cannot both be and not be a) and identity (a is a)

what is leibniz’s response to locke’s second criticism

just because some societies lack the word for god doesn’t mean that they don’t have the concept for it

why must god be an innate concept

god is an infinite being but no experience can give us the concept of infinity as nothing is infinite