We have abstract ideas: ‘whiteness’ etc. Where from? Sensation!
The mind is white paper when you’re born: ‘Tabula Rasa’. Where are ideas from, then? ‘To this I answer…EXPERIENCE’. Knowledge’s two ‘fountains’ ‘sensation’ (Hume: ‘impressions’), ‘reflection’ (Hume: ‘ideas’). Another image: ‘empty cabinet’ - fill it up, then arrange the objects in it.
Our mind is first filled with sensations produced by objects…
Then we develop more complex ideas by reflecting on the sensations. So ALL our ideas are derived from experience, or thinking about that experience.
Example of children: they learn everything from experience. Corollary: if you don’t have the experience, you can’t have the idea…(Example: child kept in monochrome room = no idea of colour)
How many ideas you have depends on 1. How varied your experience is; 2. How hard you think…
So this explains why children are ignorant (they don’t have the experience), and some are idiots (they don’t think about their experience.)
