The era of the 17th century is characterized by the first bourgeois revolutions in England and the Netherlands, as well as radical changes in various areas of society: 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 modern times was determined by manufacturing, the growth of world trade, shipping and military affairs. Then the ideal of man was seen in an enterprising merchant and an inquisitive scientist. The advanced states of Europe, striving for economic and military domination, supported science: the formation of scientific academies, societies, and circles.
Therefore, the science of the New Age developed so well - it was then that algebra, analytical geometry, the basics of integral and differential calculi appeared, etc. All scientific research was combined in a single method - experimental-mathematical. The leading direction, however, was mechanics, which studies the movements of bodies and plays simply a huge methodological significance in the emergence of the philosophical and worldview views of the 17th century.
Philosophy is tied to social soil not only through natural science, but also with the help of a religious worldview, state ideology. Scientists turned to the divine omnipotence, and to the "world mind", 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 the so-called transcendental personality. So, the concept of “two truths” (natural and divine) in modern times fell apart and a polemic began with a vengeance over what is the basis of true knowledge - experience or reason? So, in the 17th century a new philosophy appeared, based on the ideas of the importance of an experimental study of the world and the intrinsic value of reason.
Empiricism and Rationalism: Definition of Categories
Rationalism is such a philosophical concept, which implies that the basis of both being and knowledge is the mind.
Empiricism is such a philosophical concept that implies that experience is the basis of all knowledge. Proponents of this trend believe that there is no power in the mind, and power is only in knowledge, sensory experience. At the same time, they distinguish between idealistic empiricism, where experience is presented as a set of ideas and sensations, and materialistic, where the outside world is taken as the source of sensory experience.
Empiricism and Rationalism : Key Representatives
Prominent representatives among rationalists were the 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 the Philosophy of the New Time : Problems
The most difficult for both philosophical concepts was the problem of the nature and origin of the insensible components of consciousness - ideas and explanations of the fact of their indisputable presence in the composition of knowledge.
How did proponents of concepts such as rationalism and empiricism solve this problem? The first turned to 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 the human consciousness itself. It seems to exist as an independent world and can function and develop without resorting to the external world. Thus, it seems possible to have adequate knowledge of reality, and the conditions for its occurrence are the ability to extract and process with the help of logic alone all ideas and knowledge about the outside world.
The conclusions of empirical theory are directly opposite to rationalism. So, knowledge arises outside the subject, its sources are sensations, and the result is the processing of materials and information that the senses supply . Reason, empiricists believe, of course, takes part in the processing of sensations, but it does not add anything new to knowledge.