tabula rasa

Meanings

1. 1nounsingulartechnical

   The idea that a human mind is empty at birth and is filled only by what a person experiences and learns.

   Grammar: Used without a plural in this sense: the mind as a tabula rasa.

   Patterns

   • the mind as a tabula rasa
   • be a tabula rasa

   Locke described the infant mind as a tabula rasa waiting for experience to write on it.

   Modern psychologists reject the claim that a child is a tabula rasa at birth.

   The philosopher's tabula rasa theory shaped debates about education for centuries.

2. 2nounsingularfigurative

   A situation or place that is completely fresh, with no earlier plans, rules or mistakes to deal with.

   Grammar: Often follows an or the: start with a tabula rasa.

   Patterns

   • start with a tabula rasa
   • a tabula rasa for something

   The empty plot gave the architect a tabula rasa for her design.

   The new manager did not arrive to a tabula rasa; the team had a long history.

   After the reset, the company treated the project as a tabula rasa.

Common combinations

tabula rasa theory

The tabula rasa theory suggests that all knowledge comes from experience.

start from a tabula rasa

We can't start from a tabula rasa; the old system still exists.

mind as a tabula rasa

He viewed the newborn mind as a tabula rasa.

a tabula rasa for

The abandoned lot became a tabula rasa for the city's planners.

Synonyms and how they differ

blank slate

Blank slate is the everyday English equivalent and sounds less learned, while tabula rasa has a formal, philosophical tone.

clean slate

Clean slate emphasizes forgiveness or wiping out past mistakes, whereas tabula rasa stresses emptiness and absence of prior content.

fresh start

Fresh start is plain and positive, describing a chance to begin again, and does not suggest the philosophy of an empty mind.

Word family

tabulae rasae noun

the rare Latin plural form

empiricism noun

the view that knowledge comes from experience

blank slate noun

the plain English equivalent

Practice

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