Modern Philosophy: Rationalism vs. Empiricism

Posted on Dec 2, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

1-General Characteristics of Modern Philosophy: The Historical Background
(17th-18th Centuries): A time of clashes between European countries and colonial expansion. The modern state consolidated, with absolute monarchy as the dominant political system. The commercial bourgeoisie rose as the ruling class.

Cultural and Philosophical Context: The Baroque era saw the emergence and development of science as a distinct field of inquiry. Science rapidly separated from philosophy. Philosophers grappled with the rapid advancement of science compared to philosophy. The central theme of modern philosophy became the problem of knowledge: its origin, types, methods of acquisition, validity, limits, and justification. Reason was seen as the key to acquiring knowledge. All philosophers were influenced by Descartes, either supporting or criticizing his ideas. This period saw the confluence of two major philosophical currents:

4-Causality in Hume: Our knowledge of facts is limited to impressions. We cannot have knowledge of future events, yet we speak with certainty about them and affirm causal links. Hume uses the example of billiard balls to illustrate this. Three important aspects of causation are: closeness in time and place of cause and effect; priority of the cause; and constant conjunction (regular connection). However, Hume argues there’s no necessary connection between cause and effect. Previous philosophies believed in a necessary relation, but Hume questioned this. The principle of causality is only valid when applied to experience (past, not future). The idea of causality is a product of our imagination: an expectation or belief stemming from habit and experience. There is a lawfulness to things, but our way of thinking about them shapes our understanding.

2-Content of the Mind in Hume and Locke: Locke’s Ideas
Locke defined “idea” as “everything we know or perceive.” He categorized ideas as:
Simple ideas: Cannot be broken down further. The mind is passive in receiving them.
A) Ideas of sense: From external experience; impressions on our senses from external objects. These capture qualities of bodies, which can be:
– Primary qualities: Objective (size, shape).
– Secondary qualities: Subjective (smell, taste, color).
B) Ideas of reflection: From inner experience; the mind’s knowledge of its own actions (thinking, doubting, perceiving).
C) Mixed ideas: Combine sensation and reflection.
Complex ideas: Produced by the mind from simple ideas; the understanding is active. These can be:
– Modes: Combinations referring to no underlying substance.
– Relations: Formed by comparing things.
– General or universal ideas: Formed by abstraction (e.g., the idea of substance).
Hume’s Impressions and Ideas: Hume offered a different classification. He called all mental acts and contents “perceptions,” distinguishing between impressions (immediate perceptions) and ideas (representations or copies of impressions). Impressions are more vivid than ideas. Both impressions and ideas can be simple or complex. Simple ideas cannot be further divided. Complex ideas are formed by grouping simple perceptions and can be divided into parts. Simple ideas are associated according to laws of association: resemblance, contiguity in time and place, and cause and effect.

3-The Idea of Substance in Empiricism: Locke
Locke critiqued the concept of substance as a collection of simple ideas united in a single subject. We perceive associated qualities and assume an underlying support, but this substance is unknowable. It’s a psychological need, not something we can know.
Berkeley: Berkeley challenged materialism, denying the existence of a material world. Sensory experience reveals qualities, but not a material substance. The essence of things is to be perceived (“esse est percipi”). Nothing exists outside of perception; reality is mental. There is a mind or spirit that perceives. Impressions originate from God, who imposes perceptions. We can only be certain of our minds and their ideas.
Hume: Using his critique of causality and the copy principle, Hume challenged the key elements of Cartesian metaphysics (I, God, World). The concept of substance doesn’t correspond to any impression. “Substance” merely means a set of perceptions habitually found together—a collection of simple ideas unified by the imagination. This key metaphysical concept is thus meaningless.