Final answer:
Jean Piaget believed that children are born with inherent capabilities and that their cognitive abilities develop through specific stages, emphasizing the importance of innate cognitive structures in the learning process.
Step-by-step explanation:
The individual who believed that every child is born with innate and unique capabilities and is inherently moving toward the future, not determined by the past, was Jean Piaget. Piaget, known for his Cognitive Theory of Development, proposed that children's cognitive abilities develop through specific stages, suggesting that as they grow, they build upon a continuous accumulation of knowledge, not constrained by their past experiences.
He emphasized that children are naturally inquisitive and think differently from adults. Not only do they possess innate reflexes and motor skills, but they also engage in mental processing that evolves as they move from infancy to adulthood. This stands in contrast to figures like John Locke and Ibn Sina, who saw the mind as a blank slate filled through sensory experience and reflection. Piaget's theories underscore the importance of innate cognitive structures that children use to explore and understand the world around them.