Blank slate

The original Tabula Rasa is a theory that the (human) mind is at birth a "blank slate" without data or rules for processing it, and that data is added and rules for processing it formed solely by our sensory experiences. Tabula Rasa (Latin for "clean slate" or "blank slate") was first advocated by John Locke, and is central to empiricism. It is also featured in Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. As understood by Locke, tabula rasa meant that the mind of the individual was born "blank", and it also emphasized the individual's freedom to author his own soul. Each individual was free to define the content of his character -- but his basic identity as a member of the human species cannot be so altered. It is this presumption of a free, self-authored mind combined with an immutable human nature, from which the Lockean doctrine of "natural" rights derives.

The modern definition of tabula rasa, however, is fundamentally altered from the Lockean meaning. While the idea that the individual can be changed remains, the power to effect that change is now ascribed to society, not the self -- and that power extends to the whole of human nature. Under this view, one can shape the individual with few, if any, restrictions by changing the individual's environment, and thus sensory experiences. In this form, the theory is taken up by many utopian schemes that rely on changing human nature in order to achieve their goals. As the Lockean idea of "natural rights" no longer holds any meaning under such a view (because "natural" now means whatever society chooses to define), all such schemes end up moving towards one form or another of totalitarianism.