Locke's critique of innate ideas

Abstract

From the year in which John Locke's volume, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding was published (1690), to the present time his theory of Innate Ideas has received both praise and criticism, some of which, in each case was justified and some unwarranted. It is the purpose of this thesis to defend Locke's theory of Innate Ideas against such extreme criticisms as "Locke's polemic is a straw man argument", "No man in his right mind ever claimed ideas to be innate in the sense which Locke attacks them", and "Locke destroyed innate intelligence with his polemic" [TRUNCATED]