Official Syllabus Focus
- Rationalism: Plato, Descartes, Spinoza
- Empiricism: Locke, Berkeley, Hume
- Transcendentalism: Kant
- Intuitionism: Bergson
Introduction and Scope
What this topic covers: Epistemology asks what knowledge is, where it comes from and what justifies belief.
What this topic covers: Rationalists emphasize reason and, in different ways, knowledge not reducible to sense experience. Empiricists emphasize experience. Kant argues that experience supplies content while the mind contributes organizing forms/categories. Bergson gives intuition a special role in grasping duration/lived reality.
Knowledge, justification and skepticism
Epistemology examines knowledge, belief, justification and rational doubt. A traditional starting point treats knowledge as involving truth, belief and justification, but twentieth-century Gettier cases showed that these conditions may not be sufficient. This led to further theories of knowledge and justification.
Skepticism asks whether our ordinary claims to knowledge can survive doubts about perception, memory, induction or other minds. The purpose is methodological: by confronting skeptical challenges, philosophers clarify what counts as good justification.
Rationalism and empiricism
Rationalists such as Descartes and Spinoza assign an important role to reason and, in different ways, to a priori knowledge or principles not derived merely from sensory experience. Empiricists such as Locke and Hume emphasize experience as the source and test of many ideas and claims. The opposition is not “thinking versus using the senses”; both traditions use reasoning, but they disagree about its independent epistemic reach.
Berkeley is an empiricist who rejects material substance as Locke conceived it, showing why philosophical labels do not make thinkers identical.
Kant and transcendental inquiry
Kant argues that experience depends not only on sensory input but also on forms and concepts supplied by the knowing mind. His “transcendental” question asks what conditions must be in place for experience and knowledge of objects to be possible.
This approach is often presented as an attempt to move beyond a simple rationalism-versus-empiricism opposition: knowledge begins with experience but is not wholly derived from experience.
Intuition and Bergson
Bergson distinguishes the analytical habits of intellect from intuition as a mode of grasping duration and lived process. His use of “intuition” does not mean an unsupported hunch; it is part of a broader critique of treating time and life as if they were merely spatial, divisible objects.
For examination purposes, explain the philosophical problem—how we know continuous lived reality—before using the label intuitionism.
Concept Flow
Experience/reason → Belief → Justification → Truth → Challenge from skepticism → Refined theory of knowledge
Core Concepts Explained
- Rationalists emphasize the role of reason in knowledge, while empiricists emphasize experience. The debate is about source and justification of knowledge, not whether either side literally ignores the other faculty.
- Descartes uses methodic doubt to search for certainty and gives reason a foundational role. Locke treats the mind as receiving ideas through experience. Berkeley challenges material substance while keeping experience central. Hume pushes empiricism toward skepticism about causation, necessary connection and the self.
- Kant attempts a synthesis: knowledge begins with experience, but the mind contributes forms and categories that structure possible experience. This explains why experience is not a passive copy of reality.
- Bergson gives intuition a special role in grasping lived duration and reality that analytic intellect may divide into static concepts.
| Common confusion to avoid: Do not write that rationalism equals “reason only” and empiricism equals “senses only.” The theories are subtler and should be presented through their central claims about knowledge. |
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Preparation and Answer Use
- Make rationalism vs empiricism table.
- Prepare Descartes’ methodic doubt, Locke’s experience, Hume’s skepticism about necessary connection, Kant’s synthesis.
Key Takeaways
Key takeaway: Reason and experience are the central tension.
Key takeaway: Hume pushes empiricism toward skepticism about causation and self.
Key takeaway: Kant tries to explain how objective experience is possible.