Editing Tabula rasa (section)

{{short description|Philosophical theory that individuals are born without innate knowledge}}
{{Redirect|Blank slate}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
[[File:Wachstafel.jpg|thumb|Roman ''tabula'', or [[wax tablet]], with [[stylus]]]]

'''''Tabula rasa''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|æ|b|j|ə|l|ə|_|ˈ|r|ɑː|s|ə|,_|-|z|ə|,_|ˈ|r|eɪ|-}}; [[Latin]] for "blank slate") is the idea of individuals being born empty of any built-in [[mental content]], so that all knowledge comes from later [[perception]]s or sensory [[experience]]s. Proponents typically form the extreme "nurture" side of the [[nature versus nurture debate]], arguing that humans are born without any "natural" psychological traits and that all aspects of one's personality, social and emotional behaviour, knowledge, or [[Wisdom#Sapience|sapience]] are later imprinted by one's environment onto the mind as one would onto a [[wax tablet]]. This idea is the central view posited in the [[theory of knowledge]] known as [[empiricism]]. Empiricists disagree with the doctrines of [[innatism]] or [[rationalism]], which hold that the mind is born already in possession of specific knowledge or rational capacity.