John Locke’s Blank Slate theory is a well-known idea on the
mind. Put simply, it states that a human is born with absolutely no mental
content or knowledge; all of the person’s behaviors and ways of thinking are
gathered by the mind from the external environment. His/her personality is
built slowly as he/she interacts with the world.
If we take the Blank Slate theory to be true, then consider
the following; when a person is born mentally blank, the very first things that
are imparted into that person’s mind come from an external environment, of
which the person (who is an infant at this point) has no control. Furthermore,
the only tools the person now has continue to gather information and fill their
mental “slate” are the initial bits of information received from the
environment. Essentially, the initial information, which you have no control
over, will determine your initial interactions with the world around you, no
matter how trivial they may be. Those interactions further determine how
additional information is gathered by your mind and what kind of conclusions
are formed, which in turn alter your interactions with the world. This cycle of
interactions and information gathering is what creates such varying personalities
among people, but the Blank Slate theory would imply that it all arises from that
initial bit of information that the person has no control over. If this were
the case, an intriguing question arises: are people responsible for their own
actions? Or are their actions the result of the conditions they were placed in
upon birth, conditions that they had no way of influencing? If we answer "yes", we free all people of blame from any actions they may take in their lives.
Naturally, this idea runs completely opposite to notions of
human choice or free will; the very basis of those notions claim that people’s
lives are heavily influenced by their own thinking and decision-making. But if
you can see logic in the previous paragraph, the conclusion is that formation
and first creation of any person’s “thinking and decision-making” can be
attributed to the first information received from the environment. Of course, overturning
free will means that perhaps the Blank Slate theory implies predetermination.
However, based on the previous conclusions drawn, another
question arises: how does the infant mind process that initial bit of information
of information? Though the information may be there, how does a blank mind with
zero mental capacity use it to build and augment its mental capacity? Knowledge
is useless if not processed and utilized. I myself believe that humans are born
with certain fundamental instincts, such as the instinct of self-preservation.
These instincts do not include those related to morality or more complex
feelings, but provide the initial framework to make use of knowledge gathered
form the environment to slowly build things such as morality, complex thinking,
and personality.
Hopefully, these ideas are as interesting to you as they
were to me. The Blank Slate theory holds many intriguing implications for how
we view free will and human choice. If you have any disagreements or things to
add, feel free to comment.
