The 17th century is characterized by the first bourgeoisrevolution in England and the Netherlands, as well as radical changes in various spheres of the society's life: in politics, economics, social relations and consciousness. And, of course, all this could not but be reflected in philosophical thinking.
Empiricism and rationalism: prerequisites for development
The development of science in the New Age was determinedmanufactory production, the growth of world trade, navigation and military affairs. Then the ideal of a man was seen in an enterprising merchant and inquisitive scientist. The advanced states of Europe, striving for economic and military domination, supported science: the formation of scientific academies, societies, circles.
Therefore, the science of modern times is so good andit developed - it was then that algebra, analytical geometry, the foundations of integral and differential calculus, etc. appeared. All scientific research united in a single method - the experimental-mathematical one. The leading direction was mechanics, which studies the movements of bodies and played simply enormous methodological significance in the origin of philosophical and ideological views of the 17th century.
Philosophy is tied to social grounds not onlythrough natural science, but also with the help of a religious worldview, state ideology. Scientists turned to the divine omnipotence, and to the "world intelligence", and to the "first impulse". And the correlation of idealism and materialism, atheism and theism is not a tough alternative - “either this or that ...” Philosophers coordinate the natural-science vision of the world with the existence of a so-called transcendent personality. Thus, the concept of the “two truths” (natural and divine) in New Time collapsed and a controversy began with a double force over what is the basis of true knowledge - experience or reason? So, in the 17th century, a new philosophy emerged, based on the ideas of the importance of an experimental study of the world and the intrinsic value of the mind.
Empiricism and rationalism: category definition
Rationalism is such a philosophical concept, by which it is meant that the basis of both being and knowledge is reason.
Empiricism is such a philosophical concept,which implies that the foundation of all knowledge is experience. Proponents of this trend believe that there is no power in the mind, and power - only in knowledge, sensory experience. At the same time, empiricism is idealistic, where experience is presented as a combination of ideas and sensations, and materialistic, where the external world is taken as the source of sensory experience.
Empiricism and rationalism: key representatives
Prominent representatives among the rationalists werethe following: Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, Democritus, Kant, Descartes, Spinoza, Baruch, Leibniz. The empirical worldview was supported by Francis Bacon, John Dewey, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke.
Empiricism and rationalism in modern philosophy: issues
The most difficult for both philosophical concepts was the problem of the nature and origin of the insensitive components of consciousness - the ideas and explanations of the fact that they are indisputable in the composition of knowledge.
How did the proponents of this problem solve this problem?concepts like rationalism and empiricism? The former addressed the doctrine of what innate properties of our consciousness we possess. Most of its insensible elements arise, according to their opinion, and arise from the properties of human consciousness itself. It seems to exist as an independent world and can function and develop without recourse to the external world. Thus, it is possible to have adequate knowledge of reality, and the conditions for its emergence are the ability to extract and process all ideas and knowledge about the external world using logic alone.
The conclusions of the empirical theory rightopposed to rationalism. Thus, knowledge arises outside the subject, its sources are sensations, and the result is the processing of materials and information that the senses supply. Mind, empiricists say, of course, takes part in the processing of sensations, but does not add anything new to knowledge.
