Author Question: What were Locke's criticisms of the rationalists? What was his theory about human ... (Read 129 times)

altibaby · **on:** Jul 14, 2018

What were Locke's criticisms of the rationalists?

What was his theory about human knowledge?

Question 2

What is the difference between rationalism and empiricism?

Discuss two philosophers who expounded each position.

steff9894 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 14, 2018

Answer to Question 1

- For Locke and other empiricists, all human knowledge can ultimately be traced back to experiences we have had, transmitted through our five senses. The mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) on which experience writes.
- Locke objected to the rationalist ideas that knowledge is innate and that true knowledge can be achieved through rational intuition without recourse to sense experience.
- Knowledge cannot be innate if not all humans share the same knowledge, which they clearly do not.
- Locke's four independent elements in the knowing process were related to Newton's mechanistic view of the universe; these are (a) the entity or object in the world, (b) sensations emitted by the object to our senses, (c) ideasimages produced in our minds by the sensations, and (d) the person or conscious mind who perceives and reflects on the ideas.

Answer to Question 2

- Rationalists believe that genuine, universal knowledge is discovered by using our reasoning abilities, independent of sense experience. Plato and Descartes were both rationalists.
- Empiricists believe that all human knowledge can ultimately be traced back to experiences we have had, transmitted through our five senses. Locke, Berkeley, and Hume were empiricists.