Rationalism Vs. Empiricism

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However, to some extent, the debate between rationalism and empiricism can be structured when these differing views and methods of research are adopted and applied to discuss or explain the same subject. To illustrate this, an example of the external world can be used. A rationalist might argue that our knowledge of the external world holds that some of the ideas that form the knowledge of the external world must be innate and that this type of knowledge is superior to any knowledge that we could ever amass. On the other hand, a true empiricist would argue and say that our knowledge of the external world is solely dependent on sense experience (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004, p. 19).

The field of metaphysics has suffered from the dispute between rationalists and empiricists. In metaphysics philosophers are primarily concerned with the basic nature of human reality which includes the relation between mind and body, the existence of God and our possession of the free will. Major rationalists such as Descartes have postulated theories in which they claim to know solely by reason that the mind and body are related and man has free will. On the other hand, Hume, one of the major empiricist of the 18th Century refuted the metaphysical theories presented by Descartes and his contemporaries arguing that those are rumors because they are not learnt through sense experience (Fearon & Wendt, 2002, p.54).

From the discussion above, it can be seen that empiricism and rationalism are two distinct points of view. These two views often conflict when applied to explain the same field of study. However, the two can be applied side by side to explain two or more different fields of study.

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References

Alexander, J. and Weinberg, J., (2007), Analytic Epistemology and Experimental Philosophy. Philosophy Compass, 2(1): 56–80.

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.

Fearon, J., & Wendt, A. (2002). Rationalism v. constructivism: a skeptical view. Handbook of international relations, 1, 52-72.

Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational researcher, 33(7), 14-26.

Pritchard, D. (2009). The value of knowledge. The Harvard Review of Philosophy, 16(1), 86-103.