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All 8 Flashcards — Rationalism vs empiricism
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Question
Rationalism?
Answer
The view that reason is the main source of knowledge, and some ideas are innate (built into the mind).
Question
Empiricism?
Answer
The view that all knowledge starts from sense experience — nothing is built into the mind.
Question
Descartes on the senses?
Answer
They can deceive (bent sticks, dreams), so reason — not the senses — is the surest source of knowledge.
Question
Innate ideas?
Answer
Ideas the mind has built in rather than learned from experience — central to rationalism, denied by empiricism.
Question
Locke's 'blank slate'?
Answer
The mind at birth is an empty sheet; experience writes every idea onto it. No innate ideas.
Question
Hume's push on empiricism?
Answer
Even big ideas like 'cause' trace back to experience; if an idea can't be traced to the senses, be suspicious of it.
Question
The rationalist's best example?
Answer
7 + 5 = 12 — certain, yet you don't check it by counting the world; that looks like reason, not the senses.
Question
Kant's synthesis (Go further)?
Answer
Knowledge needs both: the senses supply raw material, the mind shapes it with built-in structures.
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Full study notes for Rationalism vs empiricism
Topic 3.1 hub
Nature of knowledge
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