Locke#
Summary#
Nietzsche criticizes Locke’s empiricist theory of the origin of ideas as superficial. Against Locke’s view that ideas arise from sensory experience, Nietzsche argues that philosophical thinking is shaped by innate grammatical structures and physiological conditions, making it more of a “remembering” than a discovery. Different language families predispose thinkers to certain philosophical systems, undermining Locke’s notion of a blank slate.