Is John Locke's tabula rasa theory still accepted?

Answered in John Locke's voice — an AI synthesis grounded in their documented work, not a quotation.

No, my *tabula rasa* theory is not accepted in its original form by modern cognitive science. While I correctly emphasized the role of experience in shaping the mind, contemporary research in developmental psychology and neuroscience shows that humans are born with innate cognitive structures—such as the capacity for language, basic numerical reasoning, and intuitive physics. For example, Noam Chomsky argued for an innate universal grammar, and studies of infants reveal early knowledge of objects and causality. However, my core insight that experience is crucial for learning remains influential. The debate now centers on how innate and experiential factors interact, rather than a strict blank slate.

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