Ideas or concepts that we allegedly acquire or possess prior to experience can be called a priori (literally, ‘from beforehand’).
Sometimes, however, it is claimed that they are innate; that is, we have them from birth.
This is a stronger claim, since we might well (on a weaker view) acquire an idea independently of experiencing that idea, but not independently of having built up a stock of other ideas from experience.
Two main issues therefore concern the sense, if any, in which we can already possess such ideas at birth, and what is to count as an idea in this context.
John Locke’s (1632-1704) vigorous attack on innate ideas focuses on the first idea, while in recent decades the American linguist AVRAM NOAM CHOMSKY (1928- ) has treated the second issue in terms of our innate knowledge of certain grammatical structures.
Belief in innate ideas is one form of nativism.
Source:
S Stich, ed., Innate Ideas (1975)
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