innatism

Analysts sometimes divide the philosophy of innatism into two areas:

Spiritualism encompasses the term innatism, which suggests that ideas cause behavior.

Nativism is a modern view rooted in innatism.

It is notable for pursuing the theme of the noble savage and, in particular, "nativism" or innatism.

Plato believed in the pre-existence of the soul, which tied in with his innatism.

Noam Chomsky has taken this problem as a philosophical framework for the scientific enquiry into innatism.

Fodor's conclusion is that an "extreme innatism" concerning concepts is necessary to explain learning.

Idea innatism does not necessarily entail knowledge innatism, although this is debatable.

In general usage the terms innatism and nativism are synonymous as they both refer to notions of preexisting ideas present in the mind.

But just as innatism gives the mind too much credit for time and space, associationism gives it too little credit for art and creativity in general.

Marcus takes an innatism stance on this debate and through his psychological evidence has given many answers to open questions such as, "If there is something built in at birth, how does it get there?"

However, more correctly, innatism refers to the philosophy of Plato and Descartes, who assumed that a God or a similar being or process placed innate ideas and principles in the human mind.

One implication of Noam Chomsky's innatism is that at least a part of human knowledge consists in cognitive predispositions, which are triggered and developed by the environment, but not determined by it.

The perception of time was a very hotly contested field in the psychology of James' day, and gave him an opportunity to explain the difficulty with innatism, which posits time as an infinite necessary continuum.

As both he and Tarcov highlight, Locke's writings are full of directives to actively seek out knowledge and reflect on received opinion; in fact, this was the essence of Locke's challenge to innatism.

The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature," i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences ("nurture," i.e. empiricism or behaviorism) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.