Single Idea 5051

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 3. Innate Knowledge / c. Tabula rasa]

Full Idea

The intellect is in a way potentially the object of thought, but nothing in actuality before it thinks, and the potentiality is like that of the tablet on which there is nothing actually written.

Gist of Idea

The intellect has potential to think, like a tablet on which nothing has yet been written

Source

Aristotle (De Anima [c.329 BCE], 429b31)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'De Anima (On the Soul)', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,H.C. [Penguin 1986], p.203


A Reaction

This passage is referred to by Leibniz, and is the origin of the concept of the 'tabula rasa'. Aristotle need not be denying innate ideas, but merely describing the phenomenology of the moment before a train of thought begins.