Rationalism vs. Empiricism: The Argument for Empricism

There are two main schools of thought, or methods, in regards to the subject of epistemology: rationalism and empiricism. These two, very different, schools of thought attempt to answer the philosophical question of how knowledge is acquired. While rationalists believe that this process occurs solely in our minds, empiricists argue that it is, instead, through sensory experience. After reading and understanding each argument it is clear that empiricism is the most relative explanatory position in epistemology.

To begin with the question of rationalism versus empiricism, it is important to understand, first, what it is that rationalists argue. This school of thought infers that all knowledge comes from within, an innate source that arrives with us at birth. Rationalists "suggest that only the truths we arrive at through our minds alone can count as knowledge".(White & Rauhut, pg.64) They argue that the conclusions that we arrive at through our senses are not adequate enough to count as legitimate knowledge. Instead, this school of thought maintains that because the world that we experience through our sense is in a state of constant change it can, therefore, not be relied upon in deriving distinct and reliable truths, also known as absolute truths.

Rene Descartes, a seventeenth-century mathematician, was one of the most influential philosophers in rationalism. Descartes, like all rationalists, rely on the absolute truths found only in mathematics and logic, and place ultimate value in analytic statements. "An analytic statement attributes a property to something, and that property is already implicit in the definition of that object or concept". (White & Rauhut, pg.72) Descartes introduced the idea of "radical doubt", as we...

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...lank state", provide us with a logical explanatory argument against rationalism.

To ultimately understand why empiricism provides a much better understanding of how knowledge is acquired it is important to understand what knowledge, itself, truly is. As defined in the the dictionary it is: the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association. (Merriam-Webster) Knowledge is not simply innate, but instead, acquired. Therefore, empiricism is the only school of thought that provides a sound in model in regards to the conceptual question of epistemology.

Bibliographic Citation

White, T. I., & Rauhut, N. C. (n.d.). Basic Issues Philosophy (pp. 64-75). N.p.: Pearson Custom Publishing.

knowledge. 2011. In Merriam-Webster.com.

Retrieved November 28, 2011, from

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knowledge