Hume - No innate knowledge?

David Hume thought that there was no innate knowledge. He thought that all knowledge was gained via experience. I agree that a very high percentage of our knowledge is gained via experience but definitely not all of our knowledge.

Why you ask? Well simply because I know without a shadow of a doubt that everything we “know” does not just come from what we experience after birth. Here are only a few examples/proof that their is innate knowledge after all. First His Holiness The Dalai Lama is the 14th Dalai Lama and each is viewed as reincarnations of past buddhist ancestors.

Savants are also a great example of their are things we are simply born with both knowledge and ability. Kim Peek, the real Rain Man was the person that the character Dustin Hoffman played was based off of. Mr. Peek is severely disabled, can’t walk, and can’t even button his own shirt. But, what he can do is amazing. He has read over 12,000 books and remembers everything about them. He remembers everything about music after only hearing it once. He reads two pages of a book at one time. His left eye reads the left page and his right eye reads the right page. How else could this be possible if he was not born with the ability?

Leslie Lemke, a severely disabled young man who at birth lost his eyes in order to safe his life was adopted by the Lemke family, had amazing gifts. He could not talk, walk, dress himself, etc. But, at the age of 16 he woke his parents up playing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 flawlessly, after only hearing it once earlier that day on the television.

By the examples above I hope you can see that we, I hope all of us, have innate knowledge that we are born with.

Please check out the following website for great videos and more detailed examples of savants: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/05/10-most-fascinating-savants-in-the-world/