'Innate ideas' definitions:

Definition of 'Innate ideas'

From: GCIDE
  • Innate \In"nate\ ([i^]n"n[asl]t or [i^]n*n[=a]t"; 277), a. [L. innatus; pref. in- in + natus born, p. p. of nasci to be born. See Native.]
  • 1. Inborn; native; natural; as, innate vigor; innate eloquence. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Metaph.) Originating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience; as, innate ideas. See A priori, Intuitive. [1913 Webster]
  • There is an innate light in every man, discovering to him the first lines of duty in the common notions of good and evil. --South. [1913 Webster]
  • Men would not be guilty if they did not carry in their mind common notions of morality, innate and written in divine letters. --Fleming (Origen). [1913 Webster]
  • If I could only show, as I hope I shall . . . how men, barely by the use of their natural faculties, may attain to all the knowledge they have, without the help of any innate impressions; and may arrive at certainty without any such original notions or principles. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Bot.) Joined by the base to the very tip of a filament; as, an innate anther. --Gray. [1913 Webster]
  • Innate ideas (Metaph.), ideas, as of God, immortality, right and wrong, supposed by some to be inherent in the mind, as a priori principles of knowledge. [1913 Webster]