The notion of innate ideas, as we have already seen, presupposes that certain knowledge is present from birth. This is different to saying that some types of knowledge are a priori (or true by definition). Empiricists would not want to deny, for example, that "All bachelors are unmarried" is a truth independent of experience. They would, however, deny that such a truth could be innate.

For the Empiricists, the mind is a Tabula Rasa (which is Latin for "blank slate"). When we learn or experience things, it is as if the mind is being written on. For the Rationalists, however, the mind is like a computer: the hardware already has some functions (innate ideas) before the software (experiences, specific knowledge) is loaded.

Question

If innate ideas don't exist, is it possible to learn everything?