REASON AS A SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE =
INNATISM
, Notes:
Innate knowledge = knowledge you are born with and so doesn’t require experience to be
known
A priori knowledge
- Empiricism goes against innatism
TALKS ABOUT THE PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Empiricism = argue that all knowledge comes through sense experience
Debate centred around whether some of our knowledge pre-exists within us and is innate =
is it priori?
Plato & Leibniz are rationalists
= Opposes empiricist theory of tabula rasa
Arguments for innatism:
1. Slave boy argument
a. 1. Plato argues that we are born with certain kinds of knowledge
i. Uses slave boy argument:
- Meno’s slave has never been taught geometry, so he doesn’t know any geometry
- Socrates draws a square on the ground which is 2 feet x 2 feet
- Socrates asks Meno’s slave a series of questions
- Meno’s slave correctly answers the questions
- This leads him to realise the area of the square is 4 feet, despite having no
knowledge of geometry
Plato demonstrates here that a slave boy can work out complex mathematical problems
simply by asking and answering questions; able to develop more complex ideas from a
simple on
It is impossible to learn anything because = you might already know about it, or you don’t
know about it:
INNATISM
, Notes:
Innate knowledge = knowledge you are born with and so doesn’t require experience to be
known
A priori knowledge
- Empiricism goes against innatism
TALKS ABOUT THE PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Empiricism = argue that all knowledge comes through sense experience
Debate centred around whether some of our knowledge pre-exists within us and is innate =
is it priori?
Plato & Leibniz are rationalists
= Opposes empiricist theory of tabula rasa
Arguments for innatism:
1. Slave boy argument
a. 1. Plato argues that we are born with certain kinds of knowledge
i. Uses slave boy argument:
- Meno’s slave has never been taught geometry, so he doesn’t know any geometry
- Socrates draws a square on the ground which is 2 feet x 2 feet
- Socrates asks Meno’s slave a series of questions
- Meno’s slave correctly answers the questions
- This leads him to realise the area of the square is 4 feet, despite having no
knowledge of geometry
Plato demonstrates here that a slave boy can work out complex mathematical problems
simply by asking and answering questions; able to develop more complex ideas from a
simple on
It is impossible to learn anything because = you might already know about it, or you don’t
know about it:
