John Locke was born in 1632. He received his bachelor's degree in 1656 and his master's degree in 1658. In 1690 Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding appeared. This is where the Tabula rasa comes from. This then laid the foundation for environmentalism. Locke was an English philosopher considered one of the “most influential Enlightenment thinkers” and “important to the social contract” (Wikipedia). Locke died in 1704 without ever marrying or having children. His theories are part of what we practice today. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a set of four books and within it is "an extremely long and detailed theory of knowledge that starts from the basics and develops." (SparkNotes Editors, n.d.) In these four books Locke sets out his blank tablet visualizations. The blank tablet is the belief that when we are born our minds are empty and as we grow, environment and experience create our minds. Locke said that some knowledge is in the mind from an early age, but begins in the womb..."for example, differences between colors or tastes. If we have a universal understanding of a concept like sweetness, it is not because it is of an innate idea, but because we are all exposed to sweet tastes at an early age” (SparkNotes Editors, n.d.) Through this writing and other equally insightful John Locke became one of the most influential thinkers and a great political theorist In Locke's writings is present the term Tabula Rasa is a theory that we are born without knowledge and that knowledge comes from experience and the environment “free to define the content of one's character” (Wikipedia). Our thoughts are...... at the center of the paper ...... of his theory on education” (Early Childhood Education Today). he was a great philosopher who wrote An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in which Tabula Rasa appeared and this later laid the foundation for environmentalism. Which I think is something that affects all of us. Works Cited Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 53, No. 4 (October - December 1992), pp. 647-668 (the article consists of 22 pages) (Morrison. Early Childhood Education Today, 11th Edition. Pearson Custom Publishing 13.5.3).SparkNotes Editors. (n.d.). SparkNote on Human Understanding Essay. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/lockeessay/Tabula rasa. (2010, March 4). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved 9.54pm, March 15, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tabula_rasa&oldid=347737376