Rationalism vs. Empiricism

What makes humans think the way they think? Where do their ideas and thoughts originate from? This have been a common philosophical debate about whether our ideas are originated from rationalism or empiricism. Rationalism is the belief that some ideas are embedded in us from birth and the rest of our ideas come from experience. Rationalist believe that humans are born with some sort of knowledge and they gain more from future experiences. On the other hand, empiricist believe different. Empiricist believe that all ideas come from experience. They thrive on the theory that knowledge and ideas take time and experience to develop.

I personally agree with the rationalism theory. I feel that some things are just embedded in our DNA and the rest of things we pick up from experience. Take for example a newborn, some might say that they are not born with any type of knowledge or idea but actually they are. When a newborn is hungry or when they need to feel comfort from a parent, they cry. They create a type of mechanism that helps their needs get met. They were never taught this before coming into the world, it was something that’s innate to them. But as they become older and they experience different things they learn how to communicate their thoughts and ideas much more clearly. They will take from experiences to better the innate qualities that they do have.

A.      Rationalism has more explanatory breadth than empiricism because rationalism gives more ideas as to why humans think the way they think. You have more reason for why humans think the way they do.

B.      Rationalism has more explanatory depth than empiricism because there is more to this theory than empiricism. We get the idea that some of our knowledge comes from experience but we also get the fact that some are just innate to us. We get more detail.

C.      Empiricism is simpler than rationalism because empiricism is only proving one point, experience, while rationalism has two parts to prove/defend, which ideas are innate and which ones comes from experience. You will be less likely to find any hidden errors in empiricism because you can argue what experience did what but with rationalism you can’t always argue what’s innate or came naturally to a person.

D.      Empiricism is more conservative than rationalism because it has more facts to support and prove this theory. For example gravity, we can drop a pencil and prove that the reason why it fell was because of gravitational pull.

 

 

1.       Rationalism and Empiricism are the most plausible explanations of the Origin of Ideas.

2.      Rationalism has much more explanatory depth and explanatory breadth, whereas Empiricism has a more simplicity.

3.       Therefore, Rationalism is the best explanation of the Origin of Ideas.