“Cogito Ergo Sum” I think and therefore I am (Descartes)
Empiricism as a direct sense of experience, literal evidence of existence, leads to a constant chase after the proof.
John Locke, known as a father of Empiricism, and also as Dr Locke (as he qualified as a medical practitioner) once said “Don’t blindly follow conventions or authority, look at the effects and think for yourself.”
When he left school, he became involved in both, politics and medical research. He worked on his philosophical master peace during the Glorious Revolution in 1688, called “An essay concerning human understanding”.
Rationalism is exactly opposite idea, it’s about figuring the man and A priori (meaning at the beginning) is based on rationalism. It uses logic and is quite independent from sensory experiences. Materialists would argue that matter comes first and ideas arise from that matter, however idealists would say that a matter comes after ideas.
Empiricism leads to a “scientific method and highly effective technological advance” in society.
Empiricism drives technological development. Technology is changing our lives, it is a root to everything. we are living in the era of Digital Revolution which has evolved thanks to the technological developments, it can be quite surprising how highly demanding people can be in this rapidly the changing environment. A priori thought would definitely be not enough for modern society. In modern society, empirical approach to reality seams a lot more reasonable and reliable to base a thought or idea on.
References and inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5jwktbnrZY&feature=related
Winchester University Journalism Course People and Politics, Lecture week 2 and research for the essay.
