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Epistemology - Rationalism - Coggle Diagram
Epistemology - Rationalism
The view that reason and logic are the primary sources of knowledge, rather than mere sensory experience. It emphasizes innate ideas and the ability to derive truths through deduction.
Innatism
We are born with some innate knowledge / ideas. We discover innate ideas via reason.
Plato: Innate ideas of geometry, mathematics and forms.
Theory of forms: We are born from the world of the Gods into an imperfect world leaving us with an abstract idea of perfect forms of different things.
E.g. I have the perfect abstract form of a human so I can recognize humans even though they all look different.
Slave Boy Argument: P1 - The slave boy has no prior knowledge of geometry. P2 - Socrates only asks questions; he does not teach the boy about squares. P3 - By the end of the questioning, the slave boy is able to grasp an eternal truth about geometry. P4 - This eternal truth was not derived from the boy's prior experience, nor from Socrates. C1 - Therefore, must have innate knowledge.
Criticism: Seems to use obsrvation?
P1 - The senses can only reveal particular instances (usually imperfect examples). P2 - The mind can grasp perfect, universal concepts (often through reasoning - such as mathematical proofs). C1 - The concepts (forms) cannot be derived from the senses. C2 - They must be contained within us to begin with (they are innate).
Descartes: Innate ideas of mathematics, cogito and God.
Intution and Deduction thesis
Intuition: The act of 'looking upon' an idea and clearly and distinctly seeing that it is true.
Deduction: The act of making an inference that one point logically follows from another point.
Clear and Distinct ideas
Clear: Bright and present to the mind - vivid.
Distinct: Cannot be confused with any other idea.
Issue 1: Criteria is not clear and distinct itself - what does it actually mean to have a clear and distinct idea?
Issue 2: Does not guarantee the truth of matters of fact - e.g. phantom limb pain
Main intuition: Cogito Ergo Sum
Issue 1: No enduring thinker - could no longer be true when you stop thinking it
Issue 2: No self, just a bunch of thoughts - can prove a bunch of perceptions and thoughts but not a clear self.
Leibniz: Innate ideas of logical principles, identity and self
"ideas and truths are innate in us ... as inclinations, dispositions, tendencies, or natural potentialities, not as actual thinkings"
"although the senses are necessary for all our actually knowledge, they aren't sufficient to prove it all."
Issues with Innatism
Issue 1: No Universal Assent - Locke - if we all had innate ideas we should all agree on them (we don't) (babies and stupid people)
Response from innatist: Your innate ideas are sort of like a book, all the ideas are already there but you discover them by reading through, this is how you bring subconscious knowledge forth via reasoning
Issue 2: Transparency of Ideas - Locke - if we have innate ideas we should be able to bring them forth and access them.
Issue 3: Cannot distinguish innate from non-innate ideas
Response from innatist: Innate ideas are simply a priori whereas contingent truths are a posteriori.
Empiricist response to innatism: Mind is tabula rasa (blank slate)
Sense impressions form your ideas in the mind.
Objection: Not all ideas relate to impressions - e.g. abstract ideas like justice.
Noam Chomsky: Must have innate conceptual framework in order to learn language.
Hume's Fork (counter to Descartes)
Relations of ideas: Mathematical truths and analytic truths.
Meaningless if neither of these things (innate ideas do not fit on the fork)
The Copy Principle: Hume argued that every simple idea is a copy of a prior simple impression. Because no idea can arise independently of sensory experience, the very notion of an "innate idea" is invalid in his framework.
Matters of fact: Empirically verifiable, observable facts.