The tabula rasa assumption. Some 300 years ago, John Locke postulated the tabula rasa doctrine, which denies that any sensation is innate or evoked in the brain. David Hume’s Empiricism, present-day Physicalism and Moral Relativism are all based on the tabula rasa assumption. Sensations are innate and are evoked in the brain. Neuroscientific evidence has established conclusively that sensations are evoked in the brain – directly contradicting the tabula rasa... read more

Sensations are evoked in the brain. It has taken the neuroscientific community some fifty years to recognize that sensations are evoked in the central nervous system and not in the peripheral nervous system. Present-day theories of knowledge are still based on the contrary assumption that sensations are imported into the brain, as postulated by John Locke some 300 years ago. Neuroscientists defer to philosophers in matters epistemological. This state of affairs has far-reaching... read more

1. John Locke’s tabula rasa doctrine Locke’s tabula rasa doctrine (1705/1975) denies the three empirical facts listed below. It has thus been proved false. But it still underlies present-day theories of knowledge and morality. The time has come to set it aside. 1.1 Cognition. The perception of space as three-dimensional is innate and universal. 1.2 Exteroreception. Sensations by which the external world is knowable are evoked in the brain. They are not received from sensory... read more