innate ideas

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]