Empiricism And Rationalism kuliah umum.pptx

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1. Empiricism And Rationalism

2. Empiricism Empiricism is a philosophical theory which argues that human knowledge is derived entirely from sensory experience. As a branch of epistemology, empiricism disregards the concept of instinctive ideas and focuses entirely on experience and evidence as it relates to sensory perception. Empiricism is a philosophical school holding that knowledge can only be (or is primarily) gained from sensory experience. Accordingly, it rejects any (or much) use of a priori reasoning in the gathering and analysis of knowledge. It rivals rationalism according to which reason is the ultimate source of knowledge. The philosophy of empiricism was first put forth in John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Locke argued that the only way by which human acquire knowledge is through experience. Locke firmly argued that humans are incapable of formulating or possessing inherent ideas. The aim of this paper is to explain that the traditional empiricist standpoint in the fields of epistemology and then try to show that it is not adequate for explaining some things relevant to these fields. For that the traditional empiricist methods needs to be supplemented by extra-logical principles that are not strictly empirical. A Critical Analysis of Empiricism F. M. Anayet Hossain

3. Empiricism is the theory that the origin of all knowledge is sense experience. It emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, and argues that the only knowledge humans can have is a posteriori (i.e. based on experience). Most empiricists also discount the notion of innate ideas or innatism (the idea that the mind is born with ideas or knowledge and is not a "blank slate" at birth). .

4. There are so many sorts of experience, but here experience means “sense experience” that is perceptions derived from five senses : sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.

5. The English term  empirical  derives from the  Ancient Greek  word ἐμ πειρία,  empeiria , which is cognate with and translates to the Latin  experientia , from which the words  experience  and  experiment  are derived. The term was used by the Empiric school of ancient Greek medical practitioners, who rejected the three doctrines of the Dogmatic school, preferring to rely on the observation of “phenomena”. Etymology The term "empiricism" has a dual etymology, stemming both from the Greek word for "experience" and from the more specific classical Greek and Roman usage of "empiric", referring to a physician whose skill derives from practical experience as opposed to instruction in theory (this was its first usage).

6. The term “empirical” (rather than “empiricism”) also refers to the method of observation and experiment used in the natural and social sciences. It is a fundamental requirement of the scientific method that all hypotheses and theories must be tested against observations of the natural world, rather than resting solely on a priori reasoning, intuition or revelation. H ence, science is considered to be methodologically empirical in nature.

7. Historyof Empiricism The concept of a "tabula rasa" (or "clean slate") had been developed as early as the 11th Century by the Persian philosopher  Avicenna , who further argued that knowledge is attained through empirical familiarity with objects in this world, from which one abstracts universal concepts, which can then be further developed through a syllogistic method of reasoning. The 12th Century Arabic philosopher  Abubacer  (or Ibn Tufail: 1105 - 1185) demonstrated the theory of tabula rasa as a thought experiment in which the mind of a feral child develops from a clean slate to that of an adult, in complete isolation from society on a desert island, through experience alone.

8. Absolute empiricisms Substantive empiricisms Partial empiricisms Types On this basis, these three forms can be distinguished

9. A bsolute empiricist hold that there are no a priori concepts, either formal or categorical, and no a priori beliefs or propositions. A bsolute empiricism about the former is more common than that about the latter, however. A lthough nearly all Western philosophers admit that obvious tautologies (e.g., “all red things are red”) and definitional truisms (e.g., “all triangles have three sides”) are a priori, many of them would add that these represent a degenerate case. Absolute Empiricism

10. A more moderate form of empiricism is that is that of the substantive empiricists, who are unconvinced by attempts that have been made to interpret formal concepts empirically and who therefore concede that formal concepts are a priori, though they deny that status to categorical concepts and to the theoretical concepts of physics, which they hold are a posteriori. According to this view, allegedly a priori categorical and theoretical concepts are either defective, reducible to empirical concepts, or merely useful “fictions“ for the prediction and organization of experience. Substantive Empiricism

11. The least throughgoing type of empiricism here distinguished, ranking third in degree, can be termed partial empiricism. According to this view, the realm of the a priori includes some concepts that are substantially informative about the world. The these of the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant (1720-1804), the general scientific conservation laws, the basic principles of morality and theology, and the causal laws of nature have all been held by partial empiricists to be both “synthetic“ and a priori. At any rate, in all versions of partial empiricism there remain a great many straight forwardly a posteriori concepts and propositions: ordinary singular propositions about matters of fact and the concepts that figure in them are held to fall in this domain. Partial Empiricism

12. Development of Empiricism John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume were the primary exponents of empiricism in the 18 th century Enlightenment, with Locke being normally known as the founder of empiricism as such. Development of Empiricism

13. The doctrine of Empiricism was first explicitly formulated by the British philosopher John Locke in the late 17 th century. Locke argued in his “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” of 1690 that the mind is a tabula rasa on which experiences leave their marks, and therefore denied that humans have innate ideas or that anything is knowable without references to experiences. However, he also held that some knowledge ( e.g.knowledge of God’s existence) could be arrived at through intuition and reasoning alone.

14. John Locke John Locke (1632-1704) was an English philosopher, often classified as an ‘empiricist’, because he believed that knowledge was founded in empirical observation and experience. … In that all our knowledge is founded: and from that it ultimately derives itself. John Locke is one of the most well-known empiricists; he claimed the mind is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, at birth. Locke asserts that experience of the world provides us with knowledge.

15. Bishop George Berkeley The Irish philosopher  Bishop George Berkeley , concerned that  Locke 's view opened a door that could lead to eventual  Atheism , put forth in his  "Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge"  of 1710 a different, very extreme form of Empiricism in which things only exist either as a result of their being perceived, or by virtue of the fact that they are an entity doing the perceiving. He argued that the continued existence of things results from the perception of God, regardless of whether there are humans around or not, and any order humans may see in nature is effectively just the handwriting of God.  Berkeley 's approach to Empiricism would later come to be called  Subjective Idealism .

16. David Hume The Scottish philosopher David Hume brought to the Empiricist viewpoint an extreme Skepticism. He argued that all of human knowledge can be divided into two categories : relations of ideas (e.g. propositions involving some contingent observation of the world, such as “the sun rises in the East”) and matters of fact (e.g. mathematical and logical propositions), And that ideas are derived from our “impressions” or sensations. In the face of this, he argued that even the most basic beliefs about the natural world, or even in the existence of the self, cannot be conclusively established by reason, but we accept them anyway because of their basis in instinct and custom.

17. Empiricism (experience-based thinking ) Rationalism (concept-based thinking)

18. Empiricism is the philosophical stance according to which  the senses  are the ultimate source of human knowledge. It stands in contrast to  rationalism , according to which reason is the ultimate source of knowledge. In a form or another, empiricism is a chapter of most philosophical tradition. In  Western philosophy , empiricism boasts a long and distinguished list of followers in all ages; it became particularly popular during the 1600's and 1700's. Some of the most important  British empiricists  of that time included John Locke and David Hume. Conclusion

19. In  philosophy ,  rationalism  is the  epistemological  view that "regards  reason  as the chief source and test of knowledge" or “the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge”, often in contrast to other possible sources of knowledge such as  faith , tradition, or  sensory experience . More formally, rationalism is defined as a  methodology  or a  theory  "in which the criterion of  truth  is not sensory but intellectual and  deductive ". Rationalism

20. Rationalism is an epistemological position in which reason is said to be the primary source of all knowledge, superior to the sense. Rationalism I n general, rationalists believe that abstract reasoning can produce undeniable, absolutely certain truths about nature, existence, and the whole of reality.

21. These truths are called a priori, or innate, ideas-because they are discovered independently of experience, without empirical observation or experimentation. Descartes stands not only as the “father of modern philosophy,” but as the original archetype of the modern rationalist. Cont …………..

22. Father of Rationalism René Descartes French philosopher René Descartes , who wrote “I think therefore I am,” is considered the father of rationalism. He believed that eternal truths can only be discovered and tested through reason.

23. Latin word ratio, meaning reason-point of view that states that reason plays the main role in understanding the world and obtaining knowledge. What is Philosophy of Rationalism ? Encompasses several strands of thought all of which usually share the conviction that REALITY is actually rationate in nature and that making the proper deductions is essential in achieving knowledge.

24. Is “any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification.” in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive. What is Philosophy of Rationalism ? The philosophical view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. Holding the reality itself has an inherent logical structure.

25. Rationalism = Reason Idea Source of knowledge Justification of our knowledge Source of conceptual apparatus

26. Empiricism Rationalism All knowledge of the world comes from experience Some knowledge of the world is independent of experience-that is, some knowledge is inborn (innate) Rationalism and Empiricism

27. Concept Rationalism There are innate concepts Leibniz : “….can it be denied that there is much that is innate in our mind, since we are, so to speak, innate to ourselves, and since in ourselves there are being, unity, substance, duration, change, activity, perception, pleasure, and a thousand other objects of our intellectual ideas? Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (b. 1646, d. 1716) was a German philosopher, mathematician, and logician

28. Three Main Claims Rationalists adopt at least one of three main claims : Intuition/Deduction: : Innate Knowledge : We have knowledge of some truths as part of our innate rational nature. : Experiences may trigger a process by which we bring knowledge to consciousness, but the experiences do not provide us with the knowedge itself

29. Some rationalists also claim, in addition to the claims above, that the knowledge we gain by intuition and deduction, as well as the ideas and instances of knowledge that are innate to us, are indispensable and could not have been gained through sense experience, and/or tat reason is superior to experience as a source of knowledge.

30. Judgment Rationalism Judgment Rationalism : There are synthetic a priori truths We can learn something about the world independently of experience-from reason alone

31. Descartes proposed that only those things we can accept as “clear and distinct” should be accepted as true. “Clear” he defined as “that which is present and apparent to an attentive mind.” “Distinct” he defined as “that which is so precise and different from all other objects that it contains within itself nothing but what is clear.” Standard of Truth

32. Innate Ideas “Some ideas are present from birth.” Ideas that do not require the proof or suggestion of sense experience, are concept which are present from birth. It could be theoretically be discovered or brought out from within the mind of each individual. Example is Descartes arguments for the existence of God

33. Objections to Rationalism 1. How can we have knowledge in our minds if we are not aware of it? 2. Isn’t to know something to believe it? 3. How can we believe something without being aware of it?

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