Monday, October 13, 2014

Rationalism and Empiricism


     There are two different theories of where our ideas take place. One theory is Rationalism. Rationalism is that some of our knowledge is innate and we have had them since we were born. The second theory is Empiricism, which states that all our ideas come from experiences and no ideas are innate. The theory i believe in is that we all our ideas come from experiences. I picked this side of the debate because i believe that when your born most of the things you know are instincts and as time goes on and your learning and experiences new things some of things from when your born disappear somewhere in your mind. Most of the things we know come from experiences. For example, our knowledge of the communication. We learn that from experience. Communication was our way for everyone to understand one another and really get people get there point across for when it comes to someone in need or just to not feel alone.
       Descartes has his own example, the piece of wax. The piece of wax is hard, cold, and can be handled easily. As the place the wax next to a fire it begins to melt. it begins to change. the shape, the size, its not hard and its not cold. yet its still the same wax. Descartes states that if our ideas were innate, we wouldn't know that the wax after it melts is the same was. you would learn from experiences. Placing the wax in the fire and watching the change is showing you that the two are the same.

Explanatory breadth – Empiricism explain the origin of more ideas than Rationalism. Empiricism is all our ideas come from experiences which covers almost all the knowledge we know, while Rationalism is some of the knowledge that innate which couldn't be very much knowledge due to the fact after your born most of the knowledge you innate are instincts and emotions.
Explanatory depth – Empiricism has to do with things you learn from experiences and it expands over time and all our knowledge has to do with things to experiences. Empiricism also has more evidences when it comes to it knowledge unlike rationalism which can only be explained as they are innate.
 Simplicity – Rationalism has fewer parts than Empiricism. Rationalism explains only some ideas compared to Empiricism which has way more parts including experiences, thoughts, impressions, etc.
Conservatism  both rationalism and empiricism are both very relevant theories. Some people believe in rationalism and others believe in empiricism.

1. Empiricism and Rationalism are the most plausible explanations of origin of knowledge .
2. Empiricism has much more explanatory depth, explanatory breadth whereas Rationalism has a more simplicity and both are conservatism
3. Therefore, Empiricism is the best explanation of origin of knowledge.



1 comment:

  1. I think you can argue your statement on when you're born you're born with instincts and as time goes on you learn from them, everyone may not be born with the same instincts and though your argument may be true for some people it may not be true for others, I do agree with the reasons as to why you agreed with empiricism, and you made good points throughout your blog

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