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What is the role of habit in the creation of knowledge?

From the lens Intro To Philosophy - My Final Project!.

John Locke talks about ideas coming from sensation or reflections. He asks: "Let us then suppose the mind to be white paper void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes it to be furnished?" And Hume talks about habit creating knowledge. Consider a newborn infant, just out of the mother's womb. That person has no experience outside the womb, and has not yet had the opportunity to develop any habits. Yet he instantly turns to the breast. Does he know he needs to do that for sustenance? Does he know what the effect will be? What is instinct, and does it play a role in knowledge or the acquiring of knowledge? Or do we come to earth with knowledge, which would contradict both Locke, who suggests the mind is a blank page, and Hume, who suggests we need to develop a habit to acquire knowledge?

  • boshemia Jan 29, 2009 @ 3:02 pm | delete
    Good question, I wonder this myself quite often. I have two members of my family who were separated at birth, both were reunited with the family around the age of 50. They knew nothing about their birth parents and never had any contact but there are certain eerie similarities. The male has beautiful handwriting, almost a calligraphy just like his father. They shared the same hobbies, and many of the same mannerisms.

    The female stands next to her mother peeling potatoes, they have the same stance, neither can use a peeler, both use knives, their movements mirror each other. They often have the same hand gestures when talking.

    It could not be learned, but how can hand gestures or handwriting be genetic?
  • boshemia Jan 29, 2009 @ 3:02 pm | delete
    Good question, I wonder this myself quite often. I have two members of my family who were separated at birth, both were reunited with the family around the age of 50. They knew nothing about their birth parents and never had any contact but there are certain eerie similarities. The male has beautiful handwriting, almost a calligraphy just like his father. They shared the same hobbies, and many of the same mannerisms.

    The female stands next to her mother peeling potatoes, they have the same stance, neither can use a peeler, both use knives, their movements mirror each other. They often have the same hand gestures when talking.

    It could not be learned, but how can hand gestures or handwriting be genetic?

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