California College San Diego Rationalism and Empiricism Paper

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California College San Diego

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The Great Conversation 7th or 8th edition required

The purpose of this assignment is to assess your familiarity with the central ideas from the Age of Reason. In this comparison/contrast essay, choose ONE to the following questions to answer. Place one of the bold titles at the top of your essay. The prompts under each question are intended to guide your response. Use examples from the text readings to support your points.


Descartes & Hume

  • compare & contrast them on some of the following;
    • What is Descartes aim in the Meditations and how does this differ for Hume?
    • What does each say about the origin and types of our ideas?
      • In Descartes consider the difference between Innate, Acquired, and Produced).
      • In Hume consider the distinction between impressions & ideas.
      • What does Hume mean by the Association of Ideas ( Resemblance, Contiguity , Cause & Effect)
    • Descartes employs radical doubt, Hume claims to be using experimental method. What is the difference between these two approaches.
    • What serves as Descartes criteria for suspension of ideas, how does Hume employ the Empirical Criterion of meaning for a similar suspension?
    • Explain the theory of Representation used by both and how it impacts what we can know?
    • How do they distinguish reason from experience, and give examples showing how & why this is important for both thinkers?
    • In the second Meditation Descartes arrives at his foundational principle or the cogito, compare this to Hume's view of the Disappearing Self?
    • Consider Descartes causal proof for the existence of God in Meditation 3 or his ontological proofin Mediation 5? What kind of criticism would Hume give to the causal or ontological proof, and how would this involve Hume's distinction between a relation of ideas and matters of fact?
    • Compare Descartes and Hume concerning our knowledge of the external world.
    • Explain Hume's view of causation and his critique of necessary connection? How does this challenge Descartes whole philosophical program that relies and certain causal assumptions?
    • Compare & contrast Descartes to Hume regarding their views of human freedom
  • RATIONALISM & EMPIRICISM

    • How do the Rationalist and Empiricist approach to knowledge differ?
    • You must give clear examples from their works.
    • What are some of the key terms associated with the rationalist & empiricists tradition.
      • for rationalist consider; a priori, innate ideas, coherence, necessity
      • for empiricist consider; a posteriori, sensation, correspondence, contingency
      • Choose two of the following to discuss: The Self, the External World, and God?

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Running head: RATIONALISM AND EMPIRICISM

Rationalism and Empiricism
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RATIONALISM AND EMPIRICISM
Rationalism and Empiricism
In the study of philosophy, the understanding of the world and its concepts is done by
various approaches. This comes in the form of theories coined by multiple philosophers and

personalities who lived in the past, and that took the time to research and understand the order of
things according to their point of view. This has gone ahead to present the multiple approaches
regarding the perception of ideas within society. When it understands of knowledge, there lie
various understandings on the source and existence of knowledge for the human population. This
is found within epistemology, which is the branch of philosophy that is related to the study of
knowledge in accordance with its theories. Epistemology is presented as the study of the nature
and justification of knowledge and rationality of belief. In this field, the understanding of
knowledge is approached using various concepts. Of the many ideas for knowledge, there exists
the view of rationalism and the theory of empiricism. According to these two approaches,
knowledge is understood from various points of view. The approach divides people into groups
of rationalist and empiricist according to their understanding of the origin of knowledge.
Rationalism
This approach to the understanding of knowledge is based on the belief that knowledge is
as a result of reason which is also considered to be the ultimate test for knowledge as well. This
approach has earned the concept of recognition as a methodology through which the criteria to
determine the truth is not sensory but deductive (Levy, 2015). Rationalists are pitched on the
idea that reality has an intrinsic logical structure. According to rationalistic understanding, there
is the existence of certain concepts in various fields whose grasping is so fundamental that their
denial leads to the creation of contradiction. This belief in reason at a point led to the
development of the disregard for empirical proof and physical evidence. Rationalist in old times

RATIONALISM AND EMPIRICISM

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were comprised of free thinkers and were generally characterized as the atheist within their
society. In the present, rationalism is classified as a world outlook that has no place for the
supernatural points of view (Vaidya, 2017). The understanding is, however, placed under the title
of humanist or rather materialist.
Rationalism has been contrasted against empiricism back in history for the various points
of view that each of them holds. However, the two approaches are not mutually exclusive as ...

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