Rationalism and Empiricism

Rationalism is the philosophical notion that claims the most reliable path to knowledge is through reflection. Humans, the rationalist says, have a special faculty that allows them to access the truth of things through contemplation.

Empiricism, on the other hand, claims that knowledge is best attained through use of the senses. Most empiricists see evaluation of the world through systematic observation the road to meaningful and reliable beliefs.

These two ideologies have dominated many discussions concerning knowledge. Rationalists tend to have a metaphysical leaning, while empiricists lean toward the scientific. The discipline of philosophy has rigorously teased out the many and sundry nuances of these positions and the many that surround this discourse. If your interested, I suggest you wade in and get your feet wet.

But for the sake of this conversation, I would like to disentangle these two beautiful methods from the fights they so often face. Seeking the greatest good requires the engagement of both truth finding mechanisms. It goes something like this....

Experience via your senses the world around you.

Reflect on what occurred. Organize your thoughts.

Go out again. See what is the same and what has changed.

Reflect again. Start to develop a sense of what is real. Weigh this against your deeply held intuitions.

Evaluate your sensations based on this inner conclusion. Do they live up to it, or go beyond?

Reconsider, reevaluate.

Knowing what is real, start looking for what is out of place.

Check these against your conscience.

Investigate the mechanisms that cause these events.

Imagine a solution.

Identify the resources that can serve your cause.

Resolve yourself to act.

Attend to the world as you act, and react as it presents new challenges.

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Both the rationalist and empiricist approach is needed to accomplish moral action. They simply serve different roles, answering their own questions. Different kinds of truth need different kinds of proof. An empiricist who rejects rationalism can collect data, but never evaluate it, as the intellectual tools of science are ultimately rational constructions and processes. Similarly, a rationalist who rejects empiricism can imagine, but can never really comment on the world they lost contact with in their contemplation.

As a moral agent, you must attend to both your senses and your intuition. Your senses are a great indicator of what is real. Your intuition is a great indicator of what is good. Working in tandem, these two intellectual virtues complement each other beautifully.