Date: 1705

"The Soul of Man, before it has received any Impression on it, is compar'd to a Rasa Tabula, by Philosophers, that is, It is as it were, a plain capable of any Impression whatever"

— Coward, William (b. 1656/7, d. in or before 1725)

Date: 1729

"The Brain of a Child, newly born, is Charte Blanche; and, as you have hinted very justly, we have no Ideas, which we are not obliged for to our Senses."

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1729

"But as the first Images are lost, so they are continually succeeded by new ones; and the Brain at first serves as a Slate to Cypher, or a Sampler to work upon."

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1748, 1749

"But as the structure of this organ is such, that when once the eye formed for vision has received the pictures of objects, the brain cannot help seeing their images and differences: in the same manner when the signs of these differences are marked or ingraved in the brain, the soul must necessar...

— Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751)