Interpreting Rationalism and Empiricism - The Origin of Ideas

Empiricism

Rene Descartes used an example in which he described how a piece of wax in its solid state can go through incredible change, but still be the same thing although it is changed from solid to melted wax after being warmed. In opposition of this theory of empiricism, David Hume presents the theory of Rationalism, in which he states that some ideas are innate, meaning that you are born with the knowledge of them.

                I believe that this is a very practical example and it is simple to understand how this scenario can be learned through experience as opposed to through other people. In life we as humans are presented with many different scenarios in which we learn just through the simplicity of being there when something is happening. In this example brought forth by Descartes, we can understand that if a person had been using a candle, or mistakenly placed it onto some type of hot implement, they would then see before their eyes a complete change in state as the candle transforms from a solid into a liquid melted wax.

A.)   Empiricism, through explanatory breadth, does explain the origin of more ideas than the theory of rationalism. Since we, as humans, are constantly experiencing things, whether we are fully aware of the events or not, we are always learning and taking in new experiences. Rationalism fails to express how further experiences/education is, or are taken in.

B.)    Even though Empiricism does cover a significant amount of information on its own, Rationalism does show more explanatory depth, which provides an understandable view of where/how information is learned. Since Rationalism states that you are born with the knowledge of some innate ideas, you can see how young children and even infants have the ability to process and understand to a minor degree the things you are trying to relay to them. E.X: Gestures, movements, etc.

C.)    Rationalism definitely provides more simplicity than Empiricism. Through Rationalism we can see that as a newborn, you already have some innate ideas in your memory banks.  If we utilize this we can see how it is a simple gesture to process this theory. On the other hand, Empiricism states that we learn everything based off of experience, and nothing is already known as a newborn. It can be easily seen how Empiricism is more in depth/complex because, just by nature of the theory, it is more of a process to learn through experience since you don’t already have any prior knowledge and experiences can all be interpreted in several ways.

D.)   Rationalism provides more conservatism, as it fits with the current beliefs of the general population. The beliefs that Rationalism best represent are that everyone does have some knowledge already at their birth, this is represented by many infant studies, and another example is that people believe that there is no way for infants to learn without some sort of prior knowledge already in their memory banks which will help for processing and interpreting incoming information.

                Empiricism and Rationalism are the most plausible explanations of the origin of ideas. Empiricism has a lot more explanatory breadth, while Rationalism has more explanatory depth, simplicity, and conservatism. Therefore, through this evidence Rationalism provides a better representation of the origin of ideas.