Rationalism vs. Empiricism: Reason, Experience, and Knowledge

Rationalism vs. Empiricism: Sources of Knowledge

Rationalism: The Primacy of Reason

Rationalism is a philosophical current that emerged in France in the seventeenth century, primarily championed by René Descartes. It stands in direct opposition to empiricism, emphasizing the crucial role of reason in the acquisition of knowledge, contrasting with empiricism, which highlights the role of sensory experience in perception.

Rationalism has appeared in various forms since the early stages of Western philosophy, but it is primarily identified with the tradition stemming from the French philosopher and scientist Descartes in the 17th century. Descartes believed that geometry represented the ideal for all science and philosophy. He maintained that only through reason could one discover certain universal, self-evident truths, from which the rest of the contents of philosophy and science could be deduced. He stated that these self-evident truths were innate, not derived from experience.

This form of rationalism was further developed by other European philosophers, such as:

• The Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
• The German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

It was strongly opposed by British empiricists like John Locke and David Hume, who believed that all ideas originated from the senses. Epistemological rationalism has since been applied to various other fields of philosophical inquiry.

Rationalism in Ethics and Religion

Rationalism in ethics asserts that certain elementary moral ideas are innate in humans and that such moral principles are self-evident to the rational faculty.

Rationalism in the philosophy of religion posits that the fundamental principles of religion are innate or self-evident, meaning that divine revelation is not necessary, as seen in deism. Since the late nineteenth century, rationalism has often played an anti-religious role in theology.

Empiricism: Experience as the Standard of Truth

Empiricism is a philosophical trend that views experience as the criterion or standard of truth in knowledge. As such, it concerns experience (from the Greek: Empiria) in its objective sense—not merely personal, subjective participation in repeatable situations, but the repeated experience of certain situations that provides an objective and impersonal criterion for understanding things or situations.

Empiricism is characterized by two fundamental aspects:

1. It denies the absolutism of truth, or at least denies that absolute truth is accessible to humanity.
2. It recognizes that all truth must be tested, and based on experience, it may eventually be changed, corrected, or abandoned.

Empiricism does not oppose Reason in any way, but it denies the claim to establish necessary truths—i.e., truths that are so absolutely valid that verification or control becomes unnecessary, absurd, or contradictory.

Most of the time, we act or think empirically. We expect things to happen more out of habit or custom than out of scientific reasoning. In this sense, empiricism stands opposed to rationalism.