Rationalism and Empiricism: Core Philosophical Concepts
Philosophical Orientations of Knowledge
Rationalism
Radical Rationalism
Radical Rationalism defends that only reason provides valid knowledge. Its proponents reject sensory knowledge, believing it to be deceptive, showing only appearances and never true reality. Radical rationalists tend to hold innatist positions, asserting that reason is the fundamental basis of knowledge and that certain components of knowledge are proven a priori (before experience).
Moderate Rationalism
Moderate Rationalists acknowledge the usefulness of sensory data. They assert that realistic data from the senses provides the material upon which reason operates. Sensory data forms the basis for applying a priori knowledge, thereby facilitating the work of abstraction and deduction by reason. While sensory data provides the “location” for reason to discover its truths and thus supports it, the true acquisition of knowledge is attributed to reason. Reason is the faculty that transforms isolated sensory data into growing, universal conceptual knowledge.
Empiricism
Core Tenets of Empiricism
Empiricism is the philosophical orientation asserting that all knowledge derives from experience, particularly sensory experience, which captures data as perceived by the senses. Empiricists argue that knowledge is gained by experimentally capturing both external reality (objects) and internal reality (mind processes and operations).
Experience is understood as both external (sensory perception) and internal (reflection). Empiricists believe that knowledge originates from feelings and perceptions that reveal the qualities of things. Therefore, they contend that all knowledge has its origin in and is justified by appealing to experience and sensory data, as the senses connect us with reality and allow us to capture its characteristics.
Despite the importance of the senses, empiricists acknowledge that reason is a very important faculty. However, they believe that reason, even if it can operate without the senses, moves in an abstract world—a world that, although logical and secure, is ultimately unreal and disconnected from reality. While reason is useful, empiricists deny its ability to provide valid knowledge independently. They reject the existence of a priori knowledge and, even more so, innatism, arguing that all knowledge is derived from a posteriori experience.
For empiricists, the mind at birth is a kind of blank slate (tabula rasa), upon which the data of the senses are written. They view the mind as a receptacle where impressions from the senses are received.
Radical Empiricism
Radical Empiricism defends the position that all knowledge, including abstract knowledge, derives solely from sensory experience. Proponents believe that all knowledge can be reduced to this feeling, asserting that every idea must have a previous empirical basis.
Moderate Empiricism
Moderate Empiricists believe that all thought originates in experience, but they contend that this experience must be organized and controlled by conceptual schemes within our minds. Knowledge, for them, is based on perceptions, which are structured sets of feelings organized by our minds. Moderate empiricists assign an auxiliary role to reason, believing that it structures these concepts, but always based on previous experience.