Rationalism is a theory that describes the statement that knowledge comes before experience. Rationalists believe that in some cases, the knowledge we have outstrips the information that is provided by sense experience. They claim that how one constructs their accounts of reasoning may provide additional knowledge concerning the world. According to them, sense is more important as compared to experience (Carruthers, 1992). Rationalists have three claims that can be adopted; the intuition/deduction theory, whereby one can have the knowledge about a particular thing just by intuition alone or by which one may acquire the knowledge about something through deduction from intuited propositions; the innate knowledge thesis, whereby there is knowledge of truth in a subject, and the innate concept theory, whereby one employs particular concepts in a subject. Plato’s dialogue claims that experience does not guarantee truth in whatever it is we learn.
Empiricism, on the other hand, is the belief of some philosophers that after an experience, one gains knowledge. Empiricists believe that one learns through experience. They further believe in the complete opposite of the intuition/deduction thesis, coupled with the innate knowledge thesis. They claim that any knowledge one has is as a result of prior sense of experience (.Alexander & Weinberg, 2007). They also differ with the innate concept thesis due to their claim that our only source of ideas is the sense experience. They further claim that reason alone cannot give us knowledge and therefore, reject the superiority of the reason thesis. Plato argues that knowledge can be distinguished from the truth by the person who knows the information based on accounts of events. He explains this based on his theories; theaetetus and meno.
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Skepticism is the state over which someone is in doubt of or has a questioning attitude towards a given phenomenon. Skeptics believe that at one point we lack knowledge (Russell, 1991). They believe one may accept a concept as true although they are not certain it is. Plato, in the Timaeus, explains that any of the views attained from one’s account of experience are mere opinions.
In my opinion, empiricism is the best and most accurate way to describe how we know what we know. This is because we cannot have the knowledge of something without having had sense experience. One experiences something and then learns from it.
References
Carruthers, P., 1992, Human Knowledge and Human Nature , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Alexander, J. and Weinberg, J., 2007, “Analytic Epistemology and Experimental Philosophy,” Philosophy Compass .
Russell, Bertrand (1991). History of Western Philosophy. Routledge.
