<P> In the thirteenth century, St. Thomas Aquinas brought the Aristotelian and Avicennian notions to the forefront of Christian thought . These notions sharply contrasted with the previously held Platonic notions of the human mind as an entity that preexisted somewhere in the heavens, before being sent down to join a body here on Earth (see Plato's Phaedo and Apology, as well as others). St. Bonaventure (also thirteenth century) was one of the fiercest intellectual opponents of Aquinas, offering some of the strongest arguments toward the Platonic idea of the mind . </P> <P> The writings of Avicenna, Ibn Tufail, and Aquinas on the tabula rasa theory stood unprogressed and untested for several centuries . For example, the late medieval English jurist Sir John Fortescue, in his work In Praise of the Laws of England (Chapter VI), takes for granted the notion of tabula rasa, stressing it as the basis of the need for the education of the young in general, and of young princes specifically . "Therefore, Prince, whilst you are young and your mind is as it were a clean slate, impress on it these things, lest in future it be impressed more pleasurably with images of lesser worth ." (His igitur, Princeps, dum Adolescens es, et Anima tua velut Tabula rasa, depinge eam, ne in futurum ipsa Figuris minoris Frugi delectabilius depingatur .) </P> <P> The modern idea of the theory, however, is attributed mostly to John Locke's expression of the idea in Essay Concerning Human Understanding (he uses the term "white paper" in Book II, Chap . I, 2). In Locke's philosophy, tabula rasa was the theory that at birth the (human) mind is a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences . The notion is central to Lockean empiricism . As understood by Locke, tabula rasa meant that the mind of the individual was born blank, and it also emphasized the freedom of individuals to author their own soul . Individuals are free to define the content of their character--but basic identity as a member of the human species cannot be altered . This presumption of a free, self - authored mind combined with an immutable human nature leads to the Lockean doctrine of "natural" rights . Locke's idea of tabula rasa is frequently compared with Thomas Hobbes's viewpoint of human nature, in which humans are endowed with inherent mental content--particularly with selfishness . </P> <P> The eighteenth - century Swiss philosopher Jean - Jacques Rousseau used tabula rasa to support his argument that warfare is an advent of society and agriculture, rather than something that occurs from the human state of nature . Since tabula rasa states that humans are born with a "blank - slate", Rousseau uses this to suggest that humans must learn warfare . </P>

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