John Locke

On the fateful fay of August 29, 1632, John Locke was born. Raised into a life of education, Locke became a scholar and philosopher. He became the author of many writings and philosophical works, influencing the world's thinkers to this day. One of his prominent ideals was that man is born with a blank slate, a "tabula rasa" lacking innate ideals. His argument contributed to the environment side of the nature vrs. nurture debate, maintaining that man's personality, behavior, and intelligence are determined by the social environment he lives in. Locke's tabula rasa thesis postulated that man is born neither good nor evil, devoid of kind or mean tendencies. Do you think that Locke was right? That humans are born with that blank slate and we are determined by the world we live in? Or do you believe that man is innately good or evil, and all his actions are determined by that hereditary predisposition? Locke's tabula rasa theory inspires such questions. His theory contradicted philosophers of his day who said that humans were instictually evil and aggressive or good and kind. Despite all the theories on Locke's ideas, what do you think about the tabula rasa? Are we born with that blank slate or instinctually good or evil? Or are we none of the above?