John Locke’s Middle Eastern Influence

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Participants •Citizens •Theory •Human Nature •
Posted by Rezwan • Apr 23, 2009 • (0) Comments •
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The concept of "Tabula Rasa", or "Blank Slate" holds that individuals are born without pre-conceived mental content and that their knowledge comes from their perceptions, senses and experiences. Aristotle wrote a bit about it, and the Ibn Sina developed the concept some more.

In the 12th century, the Andalusian-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 philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, in which he depicted 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.

John Locke, as you know, was a major influence on the American Declaration of Independence.

John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher. Locke is considered the first of the British empiricists, but is equally important to social contract theory. His ideas had enormous influence on the development of epistemology and political philosophy, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers, classical republicans, and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

There you have it, folks. American governmental concepts are part of our Middle Eastern heritage and shouldn't be treated as alien. : )

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