12
epistemology
Mike Spinoza (Bur, ON)
------------------------------
I am #Proud2BRationalist because I doubt that the true source of all knowledge is strictly experiences and senses. There are many different sources of knowledge that must be taken into account! Firstly, The Intuition Thesis proposes that knowledge can derive from subjects areas that are known by everyone strictly from intuition; other propositions like senses and experience are being inferred from intuited proposals. Secondly, The Innate Knowledge Thesis proposes that everyone has hereditary knowledge of some truths in specific subject areas, due to the rational nature we are born with. In other words, I am proud to be a rationalist because I don’t limit my understanding of knowledge to senses and experiences; additional sources obviously include hereditary instincts and general common sense.
Edward Hume (Oak, ON)
-------------------------------
Empiricism is the only way, and that is why I am #Proud2BEmpiricist! The world clearly functions off a system where all our knowledge is collected from experiences and senses. As Locke details in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, the mind is just a blank slate waiting for experiences and senses to fill the page. It is simply childish to not believe that senses and experiences are the ultimate sources of knowledge. Unlike rationalism, we endorse a simple doctrine called the Empiricism Thesis. Essentially, all you need to know is that we have no source of knowledge in X or for anything related to X other than sense experience. If you didn’t experience something, it is not a legitimate source of knowledge.
The dispute between rationalism and empiricism in the field of epistemology (the branch of philosophy searching for the nature, sources, and limits of truth and knowledge) is legendary. Rationalists claim there are significant ways concepts and knowledge get gained separately from sense experience, while empiricists claim that sense experience is the source of all concepts and knowledge. Tell us, why you are #Proud2BEmpircist or #Proud2BRationalist!