Philosophy - Essay Example

The knowledge already exists but the extraction of that innate knowledge is possible through thinking and reason alone. The rationalists say that one should not trust senses to achieve knowledge of reality because senses can deceive. The knowledge obtained through senses is inferior as it is subject to change. The true knowledge is ‘a priori’ which means that knowledge does not depend on sensory experience. Mathematical propositions (e.g., 7+3=10) are examples of real knowledge as these are a priori.

‘A priori’ knowledge is necessary and universal which means it is true everywhere. The rationalists emphasized that necessary and universal truths are independent of experience. “A priori knowledge is universal and necessary, and nothing universal and necessary can be known first-hand on the basis of sense-experience” (Aune 31). The rationalists have two main theses. The first thesis is that true knowledge is based on reason only. It says that “the knowledge we gain in subject area, S, by intuition and deduction, as well as the ideas and instances of knowledge in S that are innate to us, could not have been gained by us through sense experience” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

The second thesis is that knowledge obtained through reason is superior as it is not changeable. “The knowledge we gain in subject area S by intuition and deduction or have innately is superior to any knowledge gained by sense experience” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Empiricists (Aristotle, Thomas Hobbs, John Locke, David Hume) say that all our knowledge comes from experience that we gain through senses. Empiricists do not believe that knowledge is innate in human beings but claim that all human beings come in to this world without any knowledge.

Empiricists say that mind is like ‘blank slate’ at the time of birth and it gains impressions through senses only. All