Q0335
“Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white…” — John Locke (Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1.2)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1.2. Theme: experience.
English
Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1.2 and files it under British Empiricism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About John Locke
John Locke (1632–1704) was the English philosopher of empiricism and liberal politics whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government defined a century’s agenda. Associated with Shaftesbury and the Glorious Revolution settlement, he wrote on toleration, education, and money.
Interpretation
Locke's tabula rasa is the opening move of his attack on innate ideas. His claim is that the mind has no contents prior to experience, and that what looks innate is either early and universal experience or a principle we have not noticed ourselves acquiring. The argument matters because it relocates the source of human difference: if knowledge comes from experience, then differences in understanding are differences in what has been encountered and attended to.
Why it matters
It makes education and environment the primary explanations of what a person knows, which is a demanding conclusion — it removes the option of attributing the gap to nature.
Concepts in this quote
- Experience
- Experience is the lived encounter with world and self—foundation or limit for knowledge, art, and ethics.
- Mind
- Philosophy of mind asks what consciousness, thought, and mental life are—and how they relate to body and world.
- Knowledge
- Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.
How to cite this quotation
APA: John Locke. (n.d.). Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0335
MLA: John Locke. “Let us then suppose the mind to be,….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0335.
Chicago: John Locke. “Let us then suppose the mind to be,….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0335.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Let us then suppose the mind to be,…”?
The passage is attributed to John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1.2. The archive attributes this English wording to Essay Concerning Human Understanding II.1.2 and files it under British Empiricism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does John Locke mean by experience?
Empiricists treat experience as the source of ideas; phenomenologists describe its structure; pragmatists treat it as experimental and revisable. This passage enters that discussion through experience, mind, knowledge.