Comparing the Approaches of Rationalism and Empiricism Towards a Theory of Knowledge Rationalism ----------- Rene Descartes was the main rationalist. He said he believed he had to doubt everything known to him to really understand knowledge. Rationalism first began in Ancient Greece with two extreme rationalists - Parmenides and Zeno. Rationalists believed in innate ideas - ones that are present at birth, in the mind. When Descartes started his thoughts, it was in the 17th century, during the rise of science. Descartes decided to set up a new system of knowledge to replace the knowledge of the church. This is where Descartes introduced his 'Method of Doubt'. In his 'Method of Doubt', he couldn't question every single object, so concentrated on three main things: § The Senses § Physical Bodies § Maths and The Sciences He said he could doubt all by the following explanations § The Senses - can be deceived - e.g. Optical Illusions, you think you can see something when it's not there § Physical Bodies - dreaming - e.g. do you know you are awake now? Or are you dreaming? § Maths and The Sciences - Descartes couldn't think of a valid reason, so blamed an Evil Demon. All Descartes knew, was his thoughts. He felt he could doubt everything about everything, but all he thought that was real was his thoughts. This is where he came up with his famous quote, "I Think Therefore I Am" ======================== Spinoza was another rationalist. He was Jewish, and fled from persecution from his home in Spain. His beliefs upset the Jewish faith and his family disowned him. He was a ve... ... middle of paper ... ... from the mind and those who see it come from the senses. Although they both have very different views, John Locke - one of the early empiricists - had ideas very similar to those of rationalists. We see that in his description of the three types of knowledge, he states that the knowledge he says the knowledge in which we rely on own senses, is actually less reliable than that of when we use our thoughts - which is a very rationalist thought. Although, further into the future of empiricism, these works of the earliest, have now been seen as the most certain type rather than uncertain as John Locke stated. Empiricists and rationalists, is it absolutely certain, have very different views, but what we really want to know is, which is true to us now? Where does our knowledge come from - our thoughts, or through our senses?
...heory, reverse learning theory, and activation synthesis model, others focus on the mental exercise and simulations that dreams bring to us in the evolutionary theory of sleep. While many of the theories agree that dreams are a representation of ideas and thoughts from the unconscious mind, no single theory has been formed as the single primary authority on the matter of dreams despite more support for some of the theories. The fact of the matter is that despite the rampant research and discourse on the concept behind dreaming, these theories are merely speculations. But these speculations feed the curiosity on dreams and will hopefully lead to the expansion of dream analysis to not only better develop the current understanding of dreams, but also to help people around the world by possibly expanding dream analysis to become an early identifier of mental illness.
Epistemology can be defined as the study of knowledge. It asks questions like, “What is knowledge?”, “Why is knowledge important?”, and “How do people gain knowledge?”. Through a lot of determination in searching for answers to these questions, epistemologists discovered that there is a lot of disagreement on such questions. Therefore, epistemologists categorized these answers in groups based on beliefs that they have about where knowledge comes from and what the limit of knowledge is. The main groups epistemologists formed are: rationalism, empiricism, and constructivism. In my opinion, the Kantian constructivism has the strongest view.
of consciousness. Daydreaming is when, due to boredom or mental fatigue, a person enters a dream-like state while awake. While not necessarily ba...
"Scientific Study of Dreams: Sample Chapter." The Scientific Study of Dreams: Sample Chapter. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
Dreams (Chapter 3 Page 82-98) - A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.
‘Don’t give me any more facts! I need to make a decision right now!’ Although one can question knowledge endlessly, one cannot forever suspend judgment while researching and reflecting. What would it mean to act responsibly in a situation where one cannot possess certainty? How would one justify the decision?
Philosophy uses a term for empirical knowledge, “posteriori”, meaning that knowledge is “dependent upon sense experience”. (Markie, 2008, section 1.2) Yet, philosophical empiricism is defined in such an absolute way; which causes philosophical empiricism to be an inaccurate philosophical position from which to address all aspects of human life. Philosophical empiricism is defined as “the belief that all human knowledge arises from sense experience.” (Nash, 1999, page 254) Yet, medical empiricism is so far to the other extreme as to be insulting, while this empiricism is still said to be based on all sensory experience; only the scientific sensory experience is valued and counted. This form of empiricism excludes the experience of non-scientific persons. This is just one manner in which empiricism has “proved inadequate to explain many important human ideas”. (Nash, 1999, page 254) I believe that human truth is in a combination of empiricism and rationalism. Although, sensory data can inform us of the external world; yet, reason gives humanity access to equally important intangibles.
Despite the fact that lucid dreamers are in their dreams, they are not altogether of it. This allows one to confront face-on otherwise fearful nightmares and anxieties, allowi...
Rationalism and empiricism have always been on opposite sides of the philosophic spectrum, Rene Descartes and David Hume are the best representative of each school of thought. Descartes’ rationalism posits that deduction, reason and thus innate ideas are the only way to get to true knowledge. Empiricism on the other hand, posits that by induction, and sense perception, we may find that there are in fact no innate ideas, but that truths must be carefully observed to be true.
thoughts from people’s deep sub conscious through the use of dreams, this is the act they call
1. It is believed that dreams are attempts of the soul to live the body. If this
We acquire and use knowledge every day and yet we rarely stop and think about the process through which we acquire knowledge. Epistemology is an area of philosophy that deals with the questions and theories concerning knowledge (Lawhead). There are multiple theories in epistemology with the main ones being rationalism, empiricism, and constructivism. Each theory seeks to answer the important epistemological questions in their own way with some being more convincing than others. I believe constructivism provides the strongest theory of knowledge by combining elements of both rationalism and empiricism in a manner that fixes some of the flaws in each theory.
Because, even in the laboratory, there is no direct access to the dream experience, the authors are explicit about their dependence on the recall and report of the dream for our knowledge of it.
Lucid dreaming is a phenomenon that has plagued the world since the beginning of time. The idea of Lucidity in dreams has been shunned until the recently in the 21st century, but what is it? With the help of Gavin Lane and Matthew Gatton, we will delve into the mystery that is Lucid Dreaming: the subconscious effect on our conscious minds.
Socrates once said “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.”(Citation ) The study of knowledge is something philosophers have been conducting from the creation of philosophy. In fact knowledge is one of the perennial topics of philosophy, just as nature of matter in the physical sciences. The discipline of knowledge is known as epistemology(Greek meaning of knowledge and reason). Epistemology is literally defined as means to reason about knowledge, to think about knowledge and to examine knowledge so that we may better ourselves. Philosophers who study knowledge attempt to study what makes up knowledge, the kinds of things one can know, what the limits of knowledge and above all, the age long question