Are we born with innate ideas?

Rationalists (R)

These philosophers claim that the mind contains innate knowledge (including synthetic) from birth and can be gained through a priori understanding. Crude rationalists (CR) claim that we are aware of these ideas from birth. However, sophisticated rationalists (SR) say we aren't aware of them. This is clever because it avoids the empiricists questioning how we are aware of them. R argue that ideas sit in our minds without us being aware of them and an experience triggers our awareness of them. For example, seeing the colour red triggers our innate idea of red. 

Key philosophers: Descartes, Plato

Criticism

Innate ideas as a possibility is not strong enough to prove that it is true.

Empiricists (E)

They claim that synthetic knowledge is not innate and can only come from sense experience or a posteriori understanding. The mind is a 'tabula rasa' or blank slate at birth. Locke challenges R by stating that is we are all born with the same innate ideas, there would be a truth that everyone in the world knows, but there isn't. For example, not everyone is born with the idea of 'goodness' as there are criminals. 

Hume says all ideas are 'faint copies' of impressions. For example, seeing a cat gives us an impression of a cat which then gives us a faint copy of a cat. This stays in our minds after we've experienced one.

Criticism

Everything coming from experience is not strong enough to prove it is true.

Similarities 

Both SR and E claim that babies aren't concious of ideas. 

Differences

R claim that we are born with ideas that need to be triggered.

E claim that we are born with no ideas and most knowledge comes from experience.