Date: 1675, 1746

"Were it so with the Soul (as some of the Philosophers have vainly imagined) to come into the World as an Ab rasa Tabula, a mere Blank or piece of white Paper, on which neither any Thing, written, nor any Blots; it would then be equally receptive of Good and Evil, and no more averse to the...

— Westminster Assembly (1643-1652)

Date: 1676, 1703

"This is also abundantly proved by the Experience of all such, as being secretly touched with the Call of God's Grace unto them, do apply themselves to false Teachers, where the Remedy proves worse than the Disease; because, instead of knowing God, or the things relating to their Salvation aright...

— Barclay, Robert (1648-1690)

Date: 1681

The Law of Nature has often been "described and discoursed in metaphorical and allusive Expressions, such as Engravings, and Inscriptions, and the Tables of the Heart."

— Parker, Samuel (1640-1688)

Date: w. 1628, published in 1684, 1701

"Again, the pen as a whole does not move in exactly the same way as its lower end; on the contrary, the upper part of the pen seems to have a quite different and opposite movement. This enables us to understand how all the movements of other animals can come about, even though we refuse to allow ...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: w. 1628, published in 1684, 1701

"Secondly, when an external sense organ is stimulated by an object, the figure which it receives is conveyed at one and the same moment to another part of the body known as the 'common' sense, without any entity really passing from the one to the other. In exactly the same way I understand that w...

— Descartes, René (1596-1650)

Date: 1689

"And Cain was so fully convinced, that every one had a Right to destroy such a Criminal, that after the Murther of his Brother, he cries out, 'every one that findeth me, shall slay me', so plain was it writ in the Hearts of all Mankind."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"It is an established Opinion amongst some Men, That there are in the Understanding certain innate principles; some primary Notions, [koinai ennoiai], Characters, as it were stamped upon the Mind of Man; which the Soul receives in its very first Being; and brings into the World with...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"We may as well think the use of Reason necessary to make our Eyes discover visible Objects, as that there should be need of Reason, of the Exercise thereof, to make the Understanding see, what is Originally engraven in it"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"This would be, to make Nature take Pains to no Purpose; Or, at least, to write very ill; since its Characters could not be read by those Eyes, which saw other things very well: and those are very ill supposed the clearest parts of Truth, and the Foundations of all our Knowledge."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"But there is this farther Argument in it against their being innate: That these Characters, if they were native and original Impressions, should appear fairest and clearest in those Persons, in whom yet we find no Footsteps of them."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)