Rationalism: The Reasonable Side
In epistemology, there are two sides one could take, rationalism or empiricism. There are distinct differences between these two ideas. (Empiricism vs. Rationalism Video.) Often times, these ideas are seen as exact opposites. Empiricists, according to our textbook, tend to be described as a passive mind, while rationalists tend to be considered the active mind. Throughout this paper, I am going to debate for the rationalists. Through their active mind, rationalists not only transformed information supported by the senses, thus making it more meaningful, but also could discover and understand principles and concepts not contained in sensory information. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014.) I believe I am a rationalist because I believe in innate ideas, reason, and deduction. One of the most famous, and well known rationalist was Immanuel Kant. He wrote many books throughout his time. Even though they were difficult to understand, he argued for innate ideas of …show more content…
They strongly believe there is a reason for everything we do, not that everything is mechanically done as many empiricists think. (Unit 5 Introduction.) Even though humans believe that they are free to act and think any way they choose, in reality they cannot. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014.) The reason why we think this way, according to Baruch Spinoza, is because human ignorance makes us believe that we possess free will. (Spinoza Video.) Spinoza insisted that the best life was one lived with a knowledge of the causes of things. The closest thing we can get to freedom is understanding what causes our behavior and thoughts. Our textbook gives a good example of this by comparing a murderer to a river which recently flooded. Each situation is no more responsible for their behavior, but if the causes were understood, the next comparable events could be controlled and/or prevented. (Hergenhahn & Henley,
In epistemology, there are two sides one could take, rationalism or empiricism. There are distinct differences between these two ideas. (Empiricism vs. Rationalism Video.) Often times, these ideas are seen as exact opposites. Empiricists, according to our textbook, tend to be described as a passive mind, while rationalists tend to be considered the active mind. Throughout this paper, I am going to debate for the rationalists. Through their active mind, rationalists not only transformed information supported by the senses, thus making it more meaningful, but also could discover and understand principles and concepts not contained in sensory information. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014.) I believe I am a rationalist because I believe in innate ideas, reason, and deduction. One of the most famous, and well known rationalist was Immanuel Kant. He wrote many books throughout his time. Even though they were difficult to understand, he argued for innate ideas of …show more content…
They strongly believe there is a reason for everything we do, not that everything is mechanically done as many empiricists think. (Unit 5 Introduction.) Even though humans believe that they are free to act and think any way they choose, in reality they cannot. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014.) The reason why we think this way, according to Baruch Spinoza, is because human ignorance makes us believe that we possess free will. (Spinoza Video.) Spinoza insisted that the best life was one lived with a knowledge of the causes of things. The closest thing we can get to freedom is understanding what causes our behavior and thoughts. Our textbook gives a good example of this by comparing a murderer to a river which recently flooded. Each situation is no more responsible for their behavior, but if the causes were understood, the next comparable events could be controlled and/or prevented. (Hergenhahn & Henley,