Empiricism

1. Empiricism

2. All knowledge comes from experience, not reason. • All ideas can be traced back to sense data. • Founding philosophers: John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume (British empiricists).

3. John Locke (1632-1704) • Troubled by uncertainty of philosophy, esp. Medieval philosophy and theology. • Educated as a physician; trained to rely on own perceptions. • Knowledge (ideas) originate in sensation and reflection; we can think about things only after we experience them.

4. Tabula rasa: Latin for “clean slate.” The mind at birth is a completely blank tablet. • Ideas are less intense copies of sensations. • Correspondence theory of truth (“copy theory” or “representation theory”): an idea is true if whatever it refers to actually exists (can be verified or confirmed by sense data).

5. Primary Qualities: qualities that exist independently of any perceiver; Objective. • Secondary Qualities: qualities whose existence depends on a perceiver; Subjective. • Epistemological dualism: knowing contains two distinct aspects, the knower and the known.

6. Egocentric predicament: we can only know a world of our own mental construction; cannot verify the existence of anything external to the sensations that constitute sense data. • Locke’s solution = Common Sense. • We “somehow know” that an objective external reality exists.

7. George Berkeley (1685-1753) • Anglican Bishop. • Posed famous question: “Does a tree falling in the forest make a sound if no one is there to hear it?” • His answer: No. • The material world does not exist (immaterialism); only ideas exist and ideas are mental states, not objects.

8. Esse est percipi: To be is to be perceived. • Nothing can exist unless someone perceives it. • Skeptical conclusion avoided by idea that a continual self and material world are guaranteed by God.

9. David Hume (1711-1776) • Born in Edinburgh, Scotland; wrote successful historical volumes. • Argues that there is no external material world, no spiritual or supernatural reality, and no “fixed self.”

10. Modification of Locke’s Theory of Ideas • Perceptions of the mind can be divided into “ideas” and “impressions.” • Impressions are more lively perceptions: when we hear, see, feel, love, hate, desire or will. • Ideas (or thoughts) are less forcible and lively; reflections on impressions.

11. Empirical criterion of meaning: meaningful ideas can be traced back to sense experience; beliefs that cannot be reduced to sense experience are not ideas; they are meaningless utterances. • Ex. The idea of God: As humans, we cannot provide the idea of an all-perfect, eternal, all-powerful God because nothing in our experience resembles perfection, eternity, or infinite power; therefore, the idea of God is meaningless.

12. Hume’s Idea of Self • Bundle theory of the self: there is no “fixed self; “self” is merely a bundle of perceptions. • A “self” is a habitual way of discussing certain perceptions. • “Identity” is a mental act, not a property of things; personal immortality is a meaningless concept.

13. Imagination • Imagination accounts for our belief in an independent, external world; imagination fills in the gaps between perceptions; Coherence: the pattern or regularity with which our experiences occur.