Tabula Rasa

Definition

Tabula Rasa is Latin for "blank slate." It refers to the idea that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that all their knowledge comes from experience or perception.

Related terms

Innate Ideas: These are ideas that are present in the mind from birth (the opposite of tabula rasa). They're like pre-installed software on your computer.

Empiricism: Again, this theory emphasizes experience as the primary source of knowledge. If tabula rasa is your blank hard drive, empiricism would be adding files to it through experiences.

Behaviorism: This psychological approach suggests all behaviors are learned through interaction with environment. Like programming responses into a robot based on different inputs or situations.