Empiricism in Psychology: Locke, Berkeley, and Hume
The Origins of Psychological Empiricism
According to Miguel, good philosophical realism in modern times seeks to shape the theory of reality based on science and is based on psychologistic experience.
Scientific Origins of Psychological Empiricism
In 17th-century England, psychological research experienced a significant boost. Its purpose was to investigate the human soul. One of the results of this research was the psychological analysis of experience, which led to the conclusion that reality is made up of diverse representations that take place in consciousness.
Empiricist psychologists teach that knowledge of reality is indirect: to know what things are, we must first review the general process of knowledge.
The concept of reality is achieved through a series of sensations, perceptions, and representations that constitute psychological experience. Therefore, the philosophy of reality must be built from knowledge of experience.
John Locke (1632-1704)
John Locke is the founder of this current. The doctrine of analytical knowledge in Locke can be considered as belonging to realism.
This realism characterizes the understanding of knowledge as a blank paper where ideas are gradually written as a result of perception and where experience leaves its mark on memory.
Man has no knowledge at birth; knowledge is formed gradually in the performance of empirical life. Reason or understanding is to acquire, step by step, a series of elementary perceptions or “ideas” that tend to form, by the gradual and increasingly complex combination of science knowledge.
According to John Locke, knowledge begins in the senses.
The validity of knowledge is reduced to the agreement or disagreement of the perceptions of reality.
Metaphysical Subjectivism: George Berkeley
George Berkeley’s empiricism is based on that of Locke.
George Berkeley
Born in Ireland in 1734, his major works are: “An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision” and “A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.”
Berkeley asserts that the notion of being is dependent on knowledge. “To be is to be perceived.” The only reality we can speak of is the reality we perceive. The empirical psychologist bases this assertion on the fact that what is perceived is a psychological experience.
“Reality is only given in the experience which constitutes, through perception and representation, what we have of things.”
Skepticism: David Hume’s Metaphysics
David Hume
Born in 1711 in Edinburgh and died there in 1776. His most important work is “A Treatise of Human Nature.”
Hume reduces perceptions and knowledge to impressions and ideas. The difference between the two is the degree of force and vivacity with which thinking is present.
Impressions are called perceptions with more force and violence.
Ideas are weakened images of impressions. Ideas are derived from impressions and are divided into complex and simple. Not every idea has its corresponding impression; some are mental constructs without objective validity.