# The Tabula Rasa



## cih1355 (May 21, 2007)

Do the empiricists who say that the mind is a tabula rasa also deny that we have original sin?


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## Semper Fidelis (May 21, 2007)

cih1355 said:


> Do the empiricists who say that the mind is a tabula rasa also deny that we have original sin?



I don't think all of them would. Locke is the man who coined the phrase and he was an avowed (albeit confused) Christian. Berkeley was an Anglican Bishop who was trying to preserve faith and science.


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## Puritanhead (May 21, 2007)

cih1355 said:


> Do the empiricists who say that the mind is a tabula rasa also deny that we have original sin?


 John Locke was an empiricist in large degree, and he used the _tabula rasa_ analogy to describe the human mind, but I think he affirmed orthodox tenets of Christian faith. 

Locke also said, "Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided."

Empirical observations can be helpful for us finite humans; the mistake would be letting experience define our approach to epistomology while denying the preeminence of divine revelation.


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## Brian Bosse (May 21, 2007)

Hello Gentlemen,



> Do the empiricists who say that the mind is a tabula rasa also deny that we have original sin?



I think a more interesting question than this would be: Is the doctrine of original sin consistent with the idea that the mind is a _tabula rasa_?

Brian


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