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innatism
innatism is a rationalist view that we are born with some innate ideas or innate knowledge (so we are not born as a blank slate)
therefore innatism suggests that some knowledge can be known a priori, before experience, and can be justified without the need to refer to experience
[outline plato’s ‘slave boy’ argument]
plato - ‘slave boy’ argument
P1. a slave boy who was born in meno’s house has not been taught geometry so has no prior experience of geometry
P2. socrates asks the boy various questions about the areas of squares
P3. the boy can answer the questions correctly and has grasped an eternal truth about squares
P4. this truth was not derived from experience or from socrates, who might have taught him
C1. therefore the slave boy had knowledge of geometry prior to experience which he gained from the world of forms and was recalled through questioning by socrates
C2. therefore there is innate knowledge
leibniz - necessary truths
P1. sense experience only reveals contingent truths, particular instances of how the world is, that could be otherwise e.g. in other possible worlds
P2. sense experience cannot reveal necessary truths, which are true in all possible worlds, including mathematical truths e.g. 2+2=4
P3. necessary truths can only be known a priori and cannot be derived from experience (a posteriori)
C1. therefore our ability to grasp the necessity of these truths is not derived from the senses, but is based on innate principles
C2. therefore there is some innate knowledge
these innate principles (such as logic) do not exist fully formed within us from birth, but our minds are structured such that certain ideas and principles will appear once prompted by the senses (though they are not derived from the senses)
example of a piece of marble: it has veins running through it that will allow it to take a specific shape. it does not contain the fully formed statue but has the ‘inclination’ to take the shape when struck.
locke - no universal consent
P1. the law of identity (“whatever is, is”) and the law of non-contradiction (“it is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be”) are widely thought to be innate
P2. any innate idea if it exists would be universally held
P3. children and idiots have no grasp of the law of identity and the law of non-contradiction
IC. therefore these laws are not innate
P4. there are no concepts which every person possesses
C. therefore there are no innate concepts
