Summary
Summary Rationalism vs Empiricism notes
- Course
- Institution
A summary of concise and easy to read notes to expand on understanding and learning.
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
maryonanna
Content preview
Rationalism Vs Empiricism Acquiring knowledge and early psychology (1600s)
o Renaissance and enlightenment was a period in the last millennium
o Are we born as a blank slate that the environmental experience provides
information about the world (empiricism), or are we born with morals
and information about the world (rationalism)? – this is yet to be
discovered
Epistemology
o Kant tried to unite nationalism and empiricism
o Descriptive and prescriptive knowledge
a priori comes from before experience
a posteriori comes after experience
o Plato – innate ideas (rationalist)
o Aristotle – empiricist
Descartes (rationalist)
o He was first modern rationalist
o “Cogito ergo sum” (1647) – “I think therefore I am”
o Things may not be real (everything else might be false, e.g. dreams) but it
is for sure that we are thinking about these things
o The idea that God exists, is what sparked his theory of innate ideas within
us
o Thinking and cognition is the only thing you can be sure of everything else
is ambiguous
o The fact that I am thinking means that I exist
Locke (empiricism)
o He set out the case for modern empiricism
o Machinery (like a computer) for appetites, memory and imagination
Hume (empiricism)
Rationalism vs Empiricism (Leibniz)
o Leibniz criticised the tabular rasa, saying we have innate ideas instead
o The mind is immaterial, there cant be a thinking physical substance
o You cannot create a physical machine that could perceive
o Did not believe animals had sensations, feelings and souls and they were
purely there for our pleasure
Rationalism vs Empiricism (Kant)
o Disturbed by Hume’s radical scepticism (empiricist) but also critical of
pure reason (rationalist)
o He realises that all knowledge coming from experience is not enough –
experience assumes certain knowledge, like space time, cause and effect.
o We don’t perceive space or time, we assume it
o Noumena – the real universe behind our perception
o Phenomena – the experience of things
o Science must be only about phenomena as we cannot experience the
noumenal world as it really is
Kant’s analytic & synthetic statements
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller maryonanna. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.19. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
75632 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now