Editing Tabula rasa (section)

=== Ibn Tufail (12th century) ===
In the 12th century, the [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]]-[[Early Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosopher]] and novelist, [[Ibn Tufail]] (known as '''Abubacer''' or '''Ebn Tophail''' in the West) demonstrated the theory of ''tabula rasa'' as a [[thought experiment]] through his [[Arabic literature|Arabic philosophical novel]], ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan]]'', in which he depicts the development of the mind of a [[feral child]] "from a tabula rasa to that of an adult, in complete isolation from society" on a [[desert island]], through [[experience]] alone.

The [[Latin]] translation of his [[philosophical novel]], entitled ''Philosophus Autodidactus'', published by [[Edward Pococke]] the Younger in 1671, had an influence on [[John Locke]]'s formulation of ''tabula rasa'' in ''[[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]]''.<ref name="Russell">Russell, G. A. 1994. "The Impact of the Philosophus autodidactus: Pocockes, John Locke and the Society of Friends." Pp. 224–62 in ''The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England'', edited by G. A. Russell. Leiden: [[Brill Publishers]], {{ISBN|90-04-09459-8}}.</ref>