Assess The Difference Between Rationalism And Epistemological Analysis

One of the major conflicts in the history of philosophy has been regarding the foundations of our knowledge. Epistemology is a philosophical term in reference to the nature, sources and limitations of knowledge; rationalism and empiricism are two approaches that seek to provide answers to the questions which have been posed by epistemology, including what is knowledge and where does it come from? Prominent rationalists, such as Descartes, Leibniz and Plato believed that all knowledge is “innate” and derived from reason and from within the mind; they differ in that they choose different objects of innate knowledge. In contrast, empiricists, including Hume, Locke and Berkeley believed that all knowledge comes from direct sense experience and

Rationalists believe that we cannot be sure the world exists. How would we know if, for example, we are really all wired into the matrix? Or an evil demon is deceiving us? Or, more plausibly, that what I see as blue is what you see as blue? Truth, for a rationalist, is based on what we can be sure about because of the rules of logic. Descartes used skepticism to doubt everything he knew and famously argued that the only thing we can be sure about is our own existence (“Cogito ergo sum”). Philosophers such as Descartes and Leibniz emphasised the power of reason over the senses. Descartes argued that our senses were fallible and that we could not rule out the possibility of the demon deception hypothesis on the basis of sensory evidence

For example, Descartes’ argument for the existence of God triggers much skepticism and falls short of being a concrete proof. Furthermore, one issue that separates rationalists is the answer to the question where a priori knowledge originates. The more radical rationalists, Plato and Descartes, argue that a priori knowledge is innate, i.e. it is in some manner latent within the mind or even built into the mind. Plato argues that all genuine knowledge is innate and education is a mere recollection or remembrance, while Descartes claims that certain crucial concepts, e.g. God, material substance and mental substance, are innate. Given these three innate ideas and reason, Descartes argues that other a priori knowledge is derivable. The obvious problem that these radical rationalist strategies need to face is the need to explain where the mind acquires these innate ideas. Plato argues that the solution is an immortal soul-mind that lives through countless lives (i.e. reincarnations), whereas Descartes argues that God places these ideas in human