philosophychapter6.ppt

PHILOSOPHY 1001 – PPT6

SEGMENT 3

EPISTEMOLOGY

MIDDLE AGES (400AD – 1300AD)

RATIONALISM AND EMPIRICSM

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SEGMENT 3 – TIME FRAME

MIDDLE AGES 400AD- 1300 AD

Begins with “fall of Rome”
Christianity dominates
St. Augustine (at beginning of era – Plato)
St. Thomas Aquinas (at end of era- Aristotle)
Mohammad – Islam begins
Ends with Renaissance / Scientific Revolution

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TERMS TO KNOW
Epistemology
Rationalism / Rationalist
Innate ideas – a priori- inside out – reason
Empiricism / Empiricist
Experience- a posteriori – outside in- senses
Universals (i.e. Tree)
Particulars (i.e. Pine tree)
“I think therefore I am.” – Descartes

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EPISTEMOLOGY
Metaphysics – study of reality- what is real?
Epistemology- study of knowledge- how do you know?
The epistemological question; How do you know rationally and with certainty that something is real?

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EPISTEMOLOGY

Epistemology – Two Basic Approaches
(framed by Plato/Aristotle)
Rationalism
People are born with innate knowledge discovered through reason.
Empiricism
People born as “blank slate” discovering knowledge through experience.

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PROBLEMS
The problem of universals- (how is it that everyone seems to know what a tree is?)
What are they and where do they come from?
The challenge of rationalism
Where do innate ideas come from?
The challenge of empiricism
The senses can deceive so how can you trust what you perceive through them?

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RATIONALISM
Inside out- we come to comprehend the reality of the world starting from within- innate ideas

knowledge in mind from birth from which organize our view of world
reason is chief faculty allowing us to organize reality in our minds.
we do observe things and learn -but couldn’t understand without reason and innate concepts
universal ideas (universals) seem to exist in people’s thinking. Where do they come from if not in mind already?

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PLATO / RATIONALISM
Plato
Soul pre-existed in being world, people spend life recollecting (innate) truth.

Truth is suppressed in becoming world (world of experience)

Forms are the vehicle through which truth is transmitted to people not experience

So, Plato- Rationalist

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DESCARTES 1546 -1649

(DESCARTES’ EPISTEMOLOGY)
Descartes set out to prove the reality of things (God) using a reason alone approach (rationalist) He rejected empiricism.
Descartes’ method: Since senses can deceive, (causing doubt) look for anything that can not be doubted.
Descartes’ method led to three metaphysical conclusions.

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DESCARTES

3 METAPHYSICAL CONCLUSIONS

1. He first concluded he could not doubt the reality of his own thoughts. So; Conclusion #1- there is mind

2. Then, in his thoughts he found the idea of perfection, an idea not found in the ever-changing imperfect world. So, he concluded that the idea of perfection (God) must have been implanted by God in his thoughts. So; Conclusion #2 – God must exist

3. Believing God would not deceive about the existence of matter, Descartes believed matter must be real. So;
Conclusion #3 – matter is real

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3 CONCLUSIONS CONT’D

Descartes’ famous quote:
“Cogito Ergo Sum” – “I think therefore I am.”
1. Mind 2. God 3.Matter

Nearly all modern philosophies can be traced back to Descartes. His ideas provided a foundation for knowing not based on the uncertainty of the senses. His method also undercut the notion of knowing by faith.

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DESCARTES / RATIONALISM
Descartes
“Cogito ergo Sum” – “I think therefore I am”
The idea of perfection is in our minds
Where did the idea come from (innate) if not from God?
This knowledge comes from reason, not experience
So; Descartes- Rationalist
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CHOMSKY/RATIONALISM
Noam Chomsky- (1928 – present) MIT Linguist
Rationalist conception of the nature of language
Ability to learn language is “innate”

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EMPIRICISM
Knowledge comes through experience
“Experience” to the Empiricist means perceptions about reality derived from 5 senses.
Empiricism; all knowledge of reality derived from sense experience.
Where do the universals come from? (challenge for both Rationalism and Empiricism.)
Human beings start with a blank slate

– knowledge comes outside- in
– the senses and experience are required
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CLASSICAL EMPIRICISM
Aristotle
Rejected Plato’s theory of the forms
Form is in the thing
Knowledge of the form comes from experience
Plato – forms- the universal- help us understand particular things
Aristotle- particular things lead us to understand universal ideas
We draw the universal idea out from our experience with the particulars – “Induction”

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CLASSICAL EMPIRICISM CONT’D
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225- 1274 AD)
(Christian Theologian/Philosopher who used Aristotle’s ideas to express Christian theology. )
“Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses”
Essences of things locked inside the particulars, intellect liberates them and universals are seen.
“Abstraction” – process by which the universal is separated out from the particulars (like Aristotle’s “Induction”)

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MODERN EMPIRICISM
John Locke 1632-1704
Essay Concerning Human Understanding 1690
Reacts against Descartes type rationalism
Agreed with Descartes’ mind and matter
Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke – despite challenge of senses being deceptive- we can find knowledge that is certain and universal.

3 British Empiricists- Locke, Berkely, Hume
Radical Empiricism- Hume/Berkeley
Locke; we can know mind and matter though can’t know what matter is in itself
Berkely; we can’t know matter, only mind (ideas)
Hume; can only know perceptions (no certainty)
Phenomenalism- all we can know (for sure) is the appearance of things

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IMPLICATIONS OF RADICAL EMPIRICISM?
How would critique the idea that you can’t know anything for sure?
A. How would this conclusion affect ideas about morality or meaning or purpose?
Nurture or Nature?- Plato and Aristotle set argument in motion
Rationalism- you know innately that it is wrong to take a life- but, if nature is set, who is responsible?
Empiricism- you learn what is right and wrong- but what if raised in poor environment? Who is responsible?
What is a jail called now?-

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Which approach- Nature/Rationalism or Nature/Empiricism does “Corrections” imply?

IMPASSE
What comes next in the journey of thought?
Can the rationalism/empiricism impasse be resolved?
Immanuel Kant brings a new perspective

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TERMS TO KNOW
Epistemology
Rationalism / Rationalist
Innate ideas – a priori- inside out – reason
Empiricism / Empiricist
Experience- a posteriori – outside in- senses
Universals
Particulars
“I think therefore I am.”

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THINGS TO KNOW
What are the two basic approaches to answering the Epistemological question discussed in this ppt.? Can you describe the difference between them?
What basic approach is represented by Plato, Aristotle?
Can you describe Descartes’ epistemology? What is his famous saying and what does it mean related to his epistemology?
On a piece of paper make a column each for rationalists and empiricists. Can you place the thinkers listed in this ppt in the correct column?
How do the terms Nature and Nurture relate to the discussion of Rationalism and Empiricism?
What does the term “Correction Center” related to rationalism/empiricism?

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