Always remember that epistemology is the study of knowledge, and the two major theories of knowledge are rationalism and empiricism; they are antagonistic theories. Rationalism promotes reasoning, while empiricism advertises experience. But the conflict between them is resolved by applying the Hegelian dialectics, which results into the Kantian synthesis.
One of the three traditional branches of philosophy is epistemology. The Greek word “episteme” means “knowledge”. “Logos” means “study,” “science,” or “reasoned discourse.”
Epistemology deals with the study of knowledge. It studies the extent and the nature of knowledge. Epistemologists call it “theory of knowledge.” An important aspect of epistemology is the sources of knowledge. The two theories of the sources of knowledge are: rationalism and empiricism.
What is a theory? A theory is a set of statements that purports to explain a particular phenomenon (Raymond & Kegley, 2010:29). Rationalism and empiricism are the two major “set of statements” that attempt to explain a particular “phenomenon”, which is “knowledge” in this context.
Rationalism teaches that the mind is the source of knowledge. It affirms that reasoning is the spring of knowledge. Knowledge, according to the rationalists, is a priori. That is it’s acquired before or independent of experience. That explains why rational knowledge is often called a priori knowledge.
Rationalists are historically called Idealists. Plato, a prominent Idealist philosopher and Aristotle tutor, believes that man has knowledge in his soul but this is shielded from his awareness by his own imperfect material body. That is why Idealists, or their modern name rationalists, champion the idea of innatism.
Innatism is an epistemic philosophy that humans have in-born knowledge in them. Classical Idealists who hold this idea are: Socrates and Plato. During the Enlightenment Period, rationalist thinkers like the French philosopher Rene Descartes and the German philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz, advocate innatism.
Realists oppose the Idealists’ notion of origin of knowledge. Aristotle, the originator of a school of thought in philosophy called Realism, asserts that the true genesis of knowledge is experience or observation. Observation is a fusion of sensation and perception.
According to realist epistemology, any knowledge we acquire from sense experience is called direct knowledge, while the one acquired through reflection of experience in our minds is called indirect knowledge. So, knowledge is acquired first through sensation and, second, through reflection.
Just like the Idealists and the Realists fought about the sources of knowledge during the classical era, the rationalists and the empiricists also continued the debate during the Enlightenment. Idealists are as diametrically opposed to realists as rationalists are to empiricists.
Rationalists value “reason”, while the empiricists cherish “experience” as source of knowledge. What argument did the Enlightenment empiricists advance to discredit the rationalist conception of the source of knowledge? British philosopher John Locke and the Scottish empiricist philosopher, David Hume, were the major exponents of empiricism.
The term “empiricism” is originally derived from a Greek word; it simply means “experience.” Empiricists maintain that we acquire knowledge through sense experience. They strongly oppose the idea of innate ideas, or knowledge. They argue that knowledge sprouts from our sense of sight, of hearing, of smell, of taste, and of touch. Knowledge that is acquired through or after experience is called a posteriori knowledge.
According to the empiricists, there are two types of sense: outward sense and inward sense. The outward senses are the five senses, while the inward senses are feelings and emotions.
Locke, an empiricist and medical doctor, brings the idea that the mind is, at birth, a “tabula rasa.” Tabula rasa means “blank tablet.” Therefore, the mind, according to Locke, is empty at birth. How do we acquire knowledge? Empiricists believe that experience alone furnishes our mind with simple ideas, which are the basic elements of knowledge. Empiricists contend that ideas in the mind can be either simple or complex. Sensory impressions in the mind are the foundations of knowledge.
Hume explains the idea of impression clearly. In his book “Introduction to Philosophy: Epistemology,” K. S. Sangeetha quoted Hume clarifying ideas “as the ‘copies’ of ‘impressions.’ Impressions are ‘vivid’ and ‘lively’ as received directly from sense experience. Hume also allows inward impressions, including jealousy, indignation, and so on. Ideas are mental copies of inward or outward impressions… .” Knowledge is acquired through a series of chains: experiences, impressions, and ideas.
Hume claims that where there are no impressions, there can be no ideas. How do we resolve this epistemological warfare between rationalists and empiricists? “This takes us to a stage where we need to figure out the indispensable third alternative, which can facilitate a more complete knowledge of the world.” Sangeetha wrote. “This necessitates a crossover between the a priori and the a posteriori , or a reconciliation of the two.” And for that we need the help of two greatest German thinkers: Friedrich Hegel and Immanuel Kant.
Hegel, the philosophical dictator of Germany, expounds that an idea (thesis) working against or opposing another idea (antithesis) will result into a new idea (synthesis). This is what is called “Hegelian Dialectics.” The world operates on two opposing forces: positive force and negative force. The antagonism, for instance, between capitalism (thesis) and socialism (antithesis) gives birth to the idea of mixed economy (synthesis).
Since Hegel has given a template on how to resolve this dilemma, let’s appeal to another German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, to help us find resolution between rationalism and empiricism antagonism. Rationalism (thesis) and its opposing force empiricism (antithesis) will result into what he called transcendental idealism (synthesis). That explains why transcendental idealism is often called “The Kantian Synthesis.”
“So far, we have seen through various stages that rationalism and empiricism are incomplete.” Sangeetha added. “Kant’s transcendental idealism [as his view is called] strikes a balance, reconciling the two accounts. He combines sensory input and inborn concepts into a unified account of how we understand the world.”
Always remember that epistemology is the study of knowledge, and the two major theories of knowledge are rationalism and empiricism; they are antagonistic theories. Rationalism promotes reasoning, while empiricism advertises experience. But the conflict between them is resolved by applying the Hegelian dialectics, which results into the Kantian synthesis.
Hegel posits: “Truth is found neither in the thesis nor in the antithesis, but in emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.”