What do you make of empiricism's claim that all of our knowledge is based on the use of our senses?
Is all our knowledge just based on the use of our senses, and nothing else? I don't think so... I don't really think it's a good idea to make a claim like that - that ALL of our knowledge just comes from one source. If we didn't have our senses, then of course it would be pretty hard to even begin to know anything - but just having our senses wouldn't be enough either. Don't we have to have some sort of a sorting process? - to actually make sense out of what we get from our senses? If we don't need our intellect or our reason, if we don't use it to organize sensations and experiences into knowledge, then why do we have it? Is it just some fun ability our minds have so that we can entertain and amuse ourselves? Hmm. maybe...
At least the empiricists do acknowledge that their theory only allows for probable knowledge, and not certainty. Just relying on past experiences really can't give us any certainty about what will happen in the future. The chicken story really made that point pretty clear! If the chicken had been able to use reason, it might have thought ... why is this farmer feeding me every day? and where is the other chicken that used to live here?
I don't really think reason alone is enough to claim true knowledge either, though. In the case of mathematics or logic, maybe it is, but there are other areas where reason just can't answer all the questions. To state the obvious one - reason can't tell us whether or not there is a God. We can talk about all the reasons why we do or don't believe in God, but as for a definite answer - I don't think it's possible. I mean, even if you don't believe there is any reason at all to believe in a God, if you think there is absolutely no evidence, then you're still trying to prove a negative, and that seems impossible, even to the most rational mind. So experience can't always bring you certainty (as per the chicken), and reason can't either.
But they both bring something to the table - I am sort of surprised nobody came up with blending the two theories of empiricism and rationalism together until Kant came along.
2 comments:
This seems like a pretty well balanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of empiricism!
Thanks Professor Roger. I'm inclined to look at things from all angles, usually, so finding strengths and weaknesses in an argument isn't usually that much of a problem for me! It can make decision making quite difficult though...
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