Lecture Notes: Rationalism vs Empiricism

Overview

• Rationalism vs Empiricism: Debate about sources of knowledge - experience vs the mind.
  • Empiricism: All knowledge from experience (a posteriori).
  • Rationalism: Knowledge can also come from mental capacities (a priori).
• Key Concepts: A priori (knowledge prior to experience) vs A posteriori (knowledge after experience).

Definitions

• A Priori Knowledge: Gained without experience, e.g., mathematical truths.
• A Posteriori Knowledge: Gained through experience, e.g., water boiling at 100°C.

Empiricism

• John Locke: Mind at birth as a 'tabula rasa' (blank slate).
  • Sensation and reflection as sources of knowledge.
  • Knowledge built from simple ideas (e.g., color) to complex ideas (e.g., unicorn).

Rationalism

• Innate Knowledge: Knowledge you're born with.
  • Plato: All knowledge is remembered from a pre-birth state.
  • Leibniz: Knowledge of necessary truths is innate.
  • Necessary vs Contingent Truths: Necessary truths are universally and timelessly true.

Intuition and Deduction

• Rational Intuition: Seeing truths through reasoning (e.g., Descartes' "I think, therefore I am").
• Logical Deduction: Deriving truth through logical reasoning.
  • Descartes' Arguments:
    • Existence of self (Cogito argument)
    • Existence of God (Trademark argument)
    • Existence of the external world

Critiques and Counterarguments

• Empiricist Critiques:
  • Hume's Fork: Distinguishes between relations of ideas (knowable a priori) and matters of fact (knowable a posteriori).
  • Challenges to Descartes' use of a priori reasoning to prove synthetic truths.

Philosophical Implications

• Debate impacts understanding of how we justify knowledge and the certainty of what we know.

Recommended Readings

• John Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding"
• David Hume's "Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding"
• Leibniz's "New Essays on Human Understanding"
• Plato's "Meno"
• Descartes' "Meditations"

Conclusion

• Rationalism vs Empiricism is a complex debate with evolving definitions over time.
• Important for understanding the source and justification of knowledge.