Rationalism vs. Empiricism: 17th and 18th Century Philosophy

Posted on Dec 19, 2024 in Philosophy and ethics

General Characteristics of the Modern Era (17th-18th Centuries)

The 17th and 18th centuries were a time of clashes between European countries and colonial expansion. The modern state was consolidated, and the dominant political system was the absolute monarchy. The commercial bourgeoisie became the ruling class, experiencing significant development.

Cultural and Philosophical Context

This was the century of the Baroque, witnessing the emergence and rapid development of science as self-knowledge. Science definitively separated from philosophy and developed quickly. Philosophers began to question why science was advancing so rapidly while philosophy was not.

The central theme of modern philosophy is the problem of knowledge. Philosophers asked how we know things: the origin of knowledge, kinds of knowledge, methods to obtain true knowledge, the validity of knowledge, its limits, and justification. Knowledge could be acquired through reason. There was confidence in reason to explain all questions.

All philosophers of this period were influenced by Descartes, some supporting him and others criticizing him. This period saw the confluence of two major currents of philosophical thought:

Hume’s Theory of Causality

Our knowledge of facts is reduced to impressions. However, we cannot have knowledge of future events, yet in our normal life, we speak with certainty of events that will occur in the future. We also affirm the causal link. To illustrate this, Hume uses the example of billiard balls.

In discussing causation, Hume discovers three important circumstances:

• Closeness in time and place of the cause and effect.
• Priority of the cause; it occurs before the effect.
• Constant conjunction; the connection between them is given regularly.

However, Hume argues that there is no necessary connection between cause and effect. Previous philosophy believed that the principle of causality implies a real and necessary relation between cause and effect, and this is precisely what Hume questioned. There is a relationship between ideas, which can be appreciated a priori. There is also a matter of fact, as experience proves that there is a succession, but there is no necessary sequence. We cannot find the impression that corresponds to that necessary connection.

The principle of causality is valid only when applied to experience, and therefore, applied to the past and not the future, of which we have no impression. We anticipate the production of future events because we apply causal inference. The principle of causality has no value in objects of which we have no experience. Reason can never go beyond experience, leading to a critique of metaphysical concepts, knowledge based on the unlawful application of the principle of causality.

The idea of causality is a figment of our imagination: a mere expectation or belief. That belief comes from habit, from experience. We are used to seeing a regular connection between two phenomena, and that makes us affirm with certainty the inclination of our imagination because of habit. It is not a law of things but our way of thinking about things.

Leibniz’s Metaphysics: Monads and Harmony

Leibniz defends a pluralistic and dynamic conception of reality. Reality is constituted by an infinity of monads, which are indivisible and unextended elementary units. They are like atoms of energy or metaphysical points, simple and without parts. What defines reality is energy, an external force or capacity for action that encourages each monad. They are ingenerable and indestructible; they are born by divine creation and can disappear only by God’s annihilation. Every real being is an aggregate of monads.

• Inorganic beings are formed by the juxtaposition of monads.
• Organic beings have an external governing monad that groups the others; this would be the “soul”.

Monads have two characteristics: perception and appetition.

• Perception is the ability to represent something exterior.
• Appetition is the internal force or tendency to change from one state to another.

Each monad is a microcosm; it contains all of reality inside and is a reflection of the entire universe. In humans, perception becomes conscious in the “understanding,” and appetition is free, becoming the “will”.

Monads are closed units, isolated from the rest. However, apparently, there are influences between them, especially in the interaction between soul and body. Leibniz explains this interaction using the idea of pre-established harmony. The activities of the soul and body have been arranged by God to be perfectly synchronized.

Leibniz defends cosmic optimism; we are in the best of all possible worlds that God could have created. God is guided by the principle of perfection, and this is a sufficient reason for the creation of the world. Evil is considered a necessary condition for the system to work.