Empiricism and rationalism are deemed to be two schools of thinking in the world of philosophy. Rationalism believes that opinions and actions should be undertaken majorly based on reason instead of religious beliefs or emotions. On the other side, empiricism is deemed to be an epistemological perception that reinstates that experience and observation should be the means one uses to acquire knowledge. The dispute rises between the two philosophies due to the ideological divergent views, as empiricism leans on experience and observation in gaining of knowledge, rationalism leans towards independent ways of knowing that rarely involves experience and observation. Throughout this article, we are going to discuss Rationalism against Empiricism. The major source of dispute is attributed to epistemology, a branch of philosophy that studies nature, source, and limits of knowledge. (Zimmerman, 2008)
Rationalism
Rationalism is a philosophical view that believes that believes opinions and actions should be based on reason rather than religion. The rationalist believes at the center of every knowledge gaining experience should be known. To be a rationalist, one must in line with three important claims that form major tenets of this philosophy. The intuition deduction thesis states that knowledge can be gained through intuition alone although others can also be deduced from events that are already intuited. Plato was one of the most influential rationalists in the world. According to his argument, he reinstated that rationalism was the view by which certain items focused on the knowledge that is known independent of experience. According to Plato, he claimed experience often failed to suffice as a way of gaining knowledge. Most of his work was however countered by one of his disciples, Aristotle who set out to a more empiricist way of acquiring knowledge than his master. In the 17th and 18th century there was rationalist who was commonly known as free thinkers. Rene Descartes was also a well-known rationalist in these ages. (Philosophical Battles: Empiricism Versus Rationalism - Dummies)
Intuition deduction thesis based its pillars on deducting knowledge from an already intuited premise. The thesis gives liberty and thus can be divided into very many subjects. It is based on free will of the mind. Rationalist also varies their sense of belief based on a warrant. Some have absolute beliefs in warranted subjects and claim that intuition and deduction attribute to this high epistemic status. A warrant is explained variedly on this thesis. Absolute belief is related to higher epistemic status. There also exist others who weigh their intuition with the truth on the ground. They weigh truth on the other hand and intuition on this other hand. Others leave space for false intuited beliefs or propositions.
The second thesis is the innate knowledge. This was largely related to Plato. Through this, some of our knowledge is not gained through experience. They are part of our nature and that in such events sense triggers a way in which they are brought to our consciousness. Innate and intuition deduction thesis is the most important in rationalism. For one to be a rationalist, they have to adopt one.
Empiricism
Empiricism banks on an epistemological point of view that knowledge is majorly based on one's experience or observation. Empiricism rejects rationalist ideas of intuition/deduction or innate knowledge. They believe knowledge is based on the sense of experience. They further put a hard stance on the reason thesis in rationalism. They claim reason alone doesn't give us knowledge leave alone the superior knowledge claimed by the rationalist. The theory was majorly entailed in the fact that knowledge is gained through what one experiences or observes over time (Rationalism Vs Empiricism - Youtube). Locke and Hume were British empiricists that were majorly feted for being influential in this field. They were majorly opposed by Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz. The theories conflicted in certain subjects but seemed to be aligned in certain aspects. For instance, Locke rejected the thesis of innate knowledge but adopted the intuition deduction thesis in terms of human gaining knowledge of the existence of a high deity. These philosophies shaped the realm of understanding epistemology in their ages. Many theories have since been developed in a bid to try to explain epistemology. (Rationalism Vs. Empiricism (Stanford Encyclopedia Of ...)
Works Cited
Philosophical Battles: Empiricism Versus Rationalism - Dummies. http://www.dummies.com/education/philosophy/philosophical-battles-empiricism-versus-rationalism/. Accessed 2018.
Rationalism Vs Empiricism - Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1g8wjsEQyw. Accessed 2018.
Rationalism Vs. Empiricism (Stanford Encyclopedia Of .... https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/. Accessed 2018.
Zimmerman, A. (2008). Self-Knowledge: Rationalism vs. Empiricism. Philosophy Compass, 3(2), pp.325-352.
