Tabula Rasa vs Innate Ideas: A Philosophical Debate - Essay Sample

Introduction

John Locke introduced a theory that the human child is born with a tabula rasa or a blank slate (Duschinsky, 2012). However, this theory was disputed by other philosophers who argued that a child is born with innate ideas (Duschinsky, 2012). The human mind is what drives a person in doing their daily activities, learn and absorb knowledge. However, the arguments presented by the philosophers on the blank slate and innate ideas have conflicting views. While the tabula rasa theory of John Locke has compelling ideas that can be universally accepted, the innate theory is more logic and the arguments surrounding it are authentic.

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An argument that a child is born with a blank slate and that the slate is filled with knowledge as learning takes place is not plausible because at birth the human child is able to make some choice. When hungry, the child cries for food or attention from their mother. The innate idea theory is more reasonable because it presents the views that the child is born with some knowledge and as they grow up they are able to build on this knowledge. In life many things that we do thinking that it is from our free will are not. Fate decides which society we find ourselves in and the kind of teachings that we receive. The free will of an individual is affected by teachings that alter how we perceive things even as adults.

The tabula rasa theory also diminishes the free will of the child. The child is perceived to have no knowledge about everything surrounding them and the grasp that they possess is only passed to them through learning. The idea of having to learn everything may seem appropriate but it denies the child the ability to choose what they want as it is assumed that they do not know. The theory suggests that the society and the environment surrounding will influence a child's perception of the things that they come across in life. However, the innate idea theory is more realistic and values the concept of a child having knowledge of their own by the time they are born. The understanding that they possess influences their decisions on things that affect their daily life. The innate ideas theory supports the free will of a child as they only build on what they already have.

Based on the societal prejudice of the Black Americans many people grow up having a distrusting attitude towards them. The society paints the blacks to be inferior in thinking and in the way they do things. The society though not always intentionally instills these traditions to the children who grow up having the same prejudices. The information presented in the media and all the people surrounding me in my childhood affected my views about the Africans. The society presented them as human beings who are inferior in nature and who cannot be trusted in making the right choices in life.

The information may be presented in forms that seem harmless to the children. However, their perception is based on what their mind can process at that point. The decisions reached can be attributed to the values instilled in them during their young age. The Africans were presented to be similar to monkeys by some articles in the past when the issue of racism was at the peak.

The prejudice presented by the community affected my views about the Africans during my childhood life. The media and the society's ideas hindered my free will of making decisions on how to perceive them. However, the information presented by both the community and the media is sometimes unintentional. The learning process of a child is based on the things that they see and hear daily. The information sticks to their mind until they are adults and sometimes they never get a chance to make their own decisions. The knowledge that I possessed in childhood life affected my interaction with those people that were disregarded by the community.

The decision to limit my interaction with the Blacks was as a result of the societal norms that existed since childhood. The free will of deciding whether to interact with them or not was limited by the knowledge already received from society. However, the interaction based on racial discrimination could have been avoided if the right teachings were given from the start. The media is a major source of influence especially to the children who yearn for information and are ready to act on it once received.

In life, many things that we believe in comes from external influence. Once I realized that I started working towards proving the things that I learned from society. Judging others based on their skin color or place of origin seemed and I had to seek justification for the prejudices. After interacting with the Africans both at school and workplaces I realized that the way they were portrayed was wrong. I learned that they have high intelligence quotient and that they function the same as other races. The idea of racism was still present in society but I stopped judging people based on their race.

When faced with challenging or conflicting schools of thought, a person is supposed to analyze the issue critically without any form of bias. The reason why people make the wrong decisions in life is because of societal biases. Analyzing an issue critically before making any decision is the best approach because the issue of prejudice will not be there. According to Harrison (2000), the perception of individuals is based on the societal values instilled in them during their childhood and the only way they can change it is by investigating the source of that information.

References

Duschinsky, R. (2012). Tabula rasa and human nature. Philosophy, 87(4), 509-529.

Harrison, P. (2000). Making sense: embodiment and the sensibilities of the everyday. Environment and Planning D: society and space, 18(4), 497-517.