Innatism

What does innate mean?

exits within a person from birth

What is innatism?

The idea that we have at least some knowledge from birth

What is Platos theory of innatism relating to forms?

- our souls are immortal

- in our past life we encountered perfect concept of forms in their purest state.

- in our current life, we have forgotten most of these forms but can remember them through reasoning

- in our current lives we can only experience concepts imperfectly but be have an idea of perfect beauty eg the perfect circle

What is Platos slave boy argument

- in meno

p1. The slave boy has no prior knowledge of geometry/squares

2. Socrates only asks questions; he does not teach the boy

3. By the end the boy is able to grasp the eternal truth of geometry

4. This eternal truth was not derived from the boys prior experience or from Socrates

C1. This eternal truth must have existed innately in the boy to begin with

What are Platos theories about universals?

1 - the senses only reveal particular instances

2. understanding gained through senses is only contingently true (could be false)

C1. concepts cannot be derived through senses

C2. they must be contained within us

What is one criticism of Platos theories about universals?

empiricists argue we produces our own concepts of 'perfect circle' or perfect forms from prior experience

- perfect forms remain undefined in the theory

What is one criticism of the slave boy argument relating to reason?

- was it memory of a past life or the faculty of reason

- the boy could be working out with prompt from Socrates the eternal truth of geometry

What is rationalism?

theory that we can gain knowledge through reason alone

What is Leibniz's marble block analogy?

- our minds are like blocks of marble, not fully formed but veined in such a way that they are likely to take a specific shape when hit by a chisel

- our minds are structured such that certain ideas and principles will appear once prompted by specific senses

What is a necessary truth?

there are no situations in which the statement would be false

eg all bachelors are married

2+2 = 4

What is a contingent truth?

A proposition that happens to be true but does not have to be

eg water boils at 100C, but if physics were different it might boil at 105

I am sitting in a chair, I am but could have chosen not to

What is Leibniz's argument based on necessary truths?

1. the senses only give us specific instances

2. A collection of instances can never show us the necessary truth

3. we can grasp and prove many truths

C1 Therefore the necessary truths we grasp with our mind are not derived from senses - the mind is the source

C2 these are innate

eg the we see the sun rise every morning and conclude it always will but this is actually only a contingent truth

What is Lockes first argument against innatism?

- There is no universal knowledge so there is no innate knowledge

1. If there was any innate knowledge it would be universal

2. There is nothing everyone knows

C. Therefore there is no innate knowledge

What two ideas does Locke attack to illustrate his first argument?

1. Whatever is, is (the law of identity)

2. It is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be (the law of non-contradiction)

These are prime subjects for innatism and therefore disproving that they are innate will attack the theory significantly

eg children and idiots have no understanding of these things

What is universal consent?

the idea that there are principles universally agreed upon by all humans

- Locke attacks this

What are the counter-arguments to Lockes first argument?

- Leibniz claims children and idiots do possess innate ideas but may be unaware of them eg a child knows that their toy cannot be in her hand and in the loft at the same time

knowledge does not need to be universal to be innate - not a sufficient condition

What is Locke's second argument against innatism?

Transparency of ideas

P1. We are conscious of, or have been conscious of at some point in the past, everything that is in our minds

P2. If we had innate knowledge, it would have to be knowledge that we had never been conscious of in the past

C Therefore there is no innate knowledge

- if we held knowledge, we have to perceive it in our mind

What are the counter-arguments to Locke's second argument against innatism?

- Leibniz in New Essays suggests that we can take in information subconsciously

- we can be aware of knowledge but unable to articulate it

What is Locke's third argument against innatism?

How can we distinguish innate ideas from other ideas?

P1. If we have experience to activate out innate knowledge then there is nothing to distinguish innate experience knowledge from knowledge gained by experience

P2. If there is innate knowledge, we should be able to tell the difference between our innate knowledge and knowledge gained by experience

C Therefore there is no innate knowledge

What is the counter-argument to Lockes third argument against innatism?

• Leibniz argues that we can distinguish innate knowledge from non-innate knowledge

• - innate knowledge is necessarily true

What is Locke's fourth argument against innatism?

The mind as tabula rasa (blank slate)

- states that the mind is a black slate with no propositional knowledge which slowly has stuff written on it throughout life

either we are born with an innate idea of each colour or we see colour with our eyes

- seeing colour with our eyes is far simpler (Ockham's razor)

What is Hume's Copy principle?

We gain simple ideas by making copies of simple impressions (experiences)

- ideas are less vivid copies of impressions

What are the types of impressions according to Locke and Hume?

Inward impressions: emotions

Outward impressions: seeing a tree

- no all ideas (inward impression) are derived from sense experience

What is Hume's theory regarding combination?

We also have ideas of things we have never experienced.

- these are derived from a combination of simple ideas we use to make complex ideas

eg wings + horse = Pegasus