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  • Essay / Empiricism: the key principles

    Topic: We can be more confident in the knowledge we obtain through our senses and reasoning than in the knowledge we obtain through language and our emotions.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayI agree that we can be more certain of the knowledge we obtain through our senses and reasoning than that which we we obtain through language and our emotions. Acquiring knowledge through our senses and reasoning is known as empiricism, while acquiring knowledge through language and emotions is known as rationalization. Empiricists, people who believe in empiricism, assert that sensory experience is “the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge.” On the other hand, rationalists, those who prefer to believe in rationalization, assert that "there are meaningful ways in which our concepts and knowledge are acquired independently of sensory experience." While these two concepts are not wrong, they boil down to how normal people perceive how they learn and experience knowledge. Some people choose empiricism as their way of knowing things while others may prefer rationalization as their way of knowing things. Empiricism can be considered simpler than rationalism, because rationalism has an additional entity that exists, that which is innate knowledge. . Many empiricists believe that innate knowledge is unobservable and ineffective. The knowledge that has been acquired is located entirely in the brain, but it can remain there intact, never used by the person. Empiricism has been used to explain many things in our daily lives. The first example would be color identification. It would be impossible to understand what colors such as red, blue, yellow, black or white would look like if we are not able to experience and remember them. We would need prior experience and memory to understand and know color. Another example of empiricism used would be that of imagination and experience. Perfect triangularity would be almost impossible to comprehend and understand if we had no experience with twisted and sensible triangles. If we instead had the experience of a twisted triangle making sense, then using our imagination we could then straighten out what a twisted triangle is and understand the concept of perfect triangularity. Another example would be that of the progress of science. Much scientific knowledge is based and grounded in empiricist principles, and not only would science not progress without empiricism, but it is unlikely that there would be any science in the first place. Empiricism plays an important role in science because it allows us to modify our theories based on what we have experienced or learned, then improves the theories and allows us to see what went wrong. On the other hand, rationalism has its own advantages and benefits. The first example relating to rationalism would be that of mathematics and logic. Mathematical and logical truths are not based on the five senses of being human, but rather on our ability to reason and connect ideas together to understand the concept of mathematics and logic. Rationalism also serves to help us have an idea of ​​what is morally right and wrong. It is impossible to understand morally good and bad things such as..