Sources of Knowledge
Each of us
possesses a great deal of knowledge. We know about ourselves; we know about the
world around us; we know about abstract concepts and ideas. Philosophers have
often wondered where this knowledge ultimately comes from.
Of course, we learn
a lot of things from books, from the media, and from other people. To process
information from these sources, however, we must already know many things: how
to read, how to reason, who to trust. To learn these things requires yet more knowledge.
What, then, is the most fundamental way of acquiring knowledge?
There are two
competing traditions concerning the ultimate source of our knowledge: empiricism and rationalism.
Empiricism
Empiricists hold
that all of our knowledge is ultimately derived from our senses or our
experiences. They therefore deny the existence of innate knowledge, i.e.
knowledge that we possess from birth. Empiricism fits well with the scientific
world-view that places an emphasis on experimentation and observation. It
struggles, however, to account for certain types of knowledge, e.g. knowledge
of pure mathematics or ethics.
Rationalism
Rationalists hold
that at least some of our knowledge is derived from reason alone, and that
reason plays an important role in the acquisition of all of our knowledge.
There is clearly a limit to what we can learn through abstract thought, but the
rationalist’s claim is that reason play a role in observation, and so that the
mind is more fundamental than the senses in the process of
knowledge-acquisition.
No comments:
Post a Comment