Russell: this then becomes a problem moving forward for every piece of 'knowledge' asserted

Wax analogy: we know that melted wax is the same as hardened wax through our clear and distinct perception

God is immutable and perfect, therefore must have originated from outside of us as we are not those things

There are three types of substance: god, body and mind/soul

The mind is like a marble slab, with knowledge which must be uncovered by sense experience

There is knowledge which we know innately, eg. law of excluded middle: things cannot both be and not be, law of identity: things which share the same properties are the same thing, principle of sufficient reason: things must have a sufficient reason to exist

Necessary: analytic a priori thought, must be true as a result of logic. Could not be otherwise.

Contingent: a posteriori, dependant on other truths/empirical experience. Could be true or false.

Sense experience is a necessary but not sufficient condition to know things

Moral knowledge is known through reason alone and can't be arrived at through sense experience

Chomsky: we have a 'linguistic faculty' which allows us to learn language/concepts

Tabula rasa: we are born a 'blank slate' and then learn things through experience

Perception: our mental cognition/understanding of our sensations

Since we only think in terms of ideas, and all ideas derive from experience, knowledge cannot antedate experience

Primary qualities: size, shape, distance, can be known objectively through sense experience

Secondary qualities: colour, smell, cannot be known objectively, don't necessarily exist outside of the observer

Ryan: how do infants gain consciousness for the first time/assimilate knowledge if they are born with none? Knowledge ex nihilo