Innatism Flashcards
Where do Rationalism claim that knowledge comes from?
Reason - some believe in innate knowledge (Plato, Descartes, and Leibniz)
Where do Empiricists claim that our knowledge comes from?
Experience - no innate knowledge (Locke, Hume, Berkley)
What is propositional knowledge?
Knowledge that something is the case; knowledge of true statements (e.g. the capital of the UK is London)
Rationalism (argument for recollection - Plato):
- the slave boy is uneducated in geometry.
- Socrates asks Q’s to the boy without explaining/ teaching Geometry.
- after the discussion, it is seen that the boy has some geometrical understanding.
- therefore, the boys knowledge of geometry did not come from experience.
- therefore, the boy has some innate understanding of geometry.
- therefore, there is innate knowledge and learning is the process of recollection.
what are the issues with this argument?
- could be a fabricated conversation and might not work like this in real life.
- they are closed (yes/no) questions so S might have been guiding the boy.
- through experience the boy has already learned deductive skills
- might have basic knowledge of geometry
what is the realm of forms?
Plato’s Theory of Forms asserts that the physical realm is only a shadow, or image, of the true reality of the Realm of Forms.
what is The Cave analogy?
In the allegory “The Cave”, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality, but are not accurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent the fragment of reality that we can normally perceive through our senses, while the objects under the sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason.
Empiricism; argument against innate ideas (Locke):
- if a concept or item of knowledge is innate, then it must be universally known.
- for something to be universally assented to.
-children and idiots are not able to assent to even the most basic principles such as laws of identity and non-contradiction.
Therefore, there are no concepts or items of knowledge that are innate.
Knowledge acquisition according to empiricism (Locke):
- blank slates (tabula rasa), no innate knowledge - we learn through experience.
Rationalism; arguments from necessary truths (Leibniz):
- We have knowledge of some necessary truths.
- sense experience only provides us information about particular instances.
- necessary truths ‘go beyond’ particular instances.
- therefore, necessary truths cannot be known through sense experience.
therefore, necessary truths must be in some sense present in the mind (innate).
Leibniz veined block of marble analogy:
the mind is like a veined block of marble, the veins represent innate knowledge. the veins will guide the sculptor in the way that they sculpt the marble. similarly, there are innate necessary truths which shape how we experience the world. the sculptor chisels away at the marble just like experience does to create our knowledge. in this way, some room is left for experience to be a source of knowledge but it is not the source of ALL our knowledge.
Locke v Leibniz on the nature of the mind
Locke: transparent, no universal assent, cannot distingush between IK and KFE.
Leibniz: not transparent, is universal assent, can distinguish, KFE is contingent.
Empiricism; The Copy Principle (Hume):
Hume thinks that each of our ideas is either copied from a simple impression (per the Copy Principle), or is built up entirely from simple ideas that are so copied. If our minds could not reproduce our simple impressions, by forming simple ideas copied from them, then we could not form any ideas at all.
what are ideas?
our memories/ reflections of impressions
what are impressions?
impressions is the direct experience of something.
