I am asking what another name or term that is used for mental slate. Could you please also explain what it is and how it works. Thank You.

-- Ryne homes (holmesr@mnsfld.edu), October 21, 2003

Answers

Are you thinking of "tabula rasa" or "blank slate"? It means a blank to be written upon (in early years that might literally have been slate or rock). In the field of psychology the blank slate is a way of thinking about environmental influences, or the "nurture" part of nature vs nurture--the mind is blank, and it is written upon by experience. The notion is most typically associated with the writings of John Locke.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), October 22, 2003.