3 main representatives of empiricism

In this lesson from a Teacher we are going to study the main representatives of empiricism, a philosophical doctrine that developed in Europe in the 17th-18th centuries and that was born as a current opposed to rationalism. Thus, empiricism will defend that the knowledge does not proceed from reason but from own experience and reflection or that the mind is a blank slate on which knowledge is gradually acquired. Said premises will be defended by its main representatives: Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), and David Hume (1711-1776).

If you want to know more about the main empiricist philosophers, keep reading this article by a PROFESSOR Class begins!

Index

1. Origin of empiricism
2. The father of empiricism: Francis Bacon
3. John Locke and empiricism
4. David Hume and empiricism

Before studying the main representatives of empiricism, we are going to explain what this philosophical current consists of.

In this way, to know its origin we have to travel to Ancient Greece, and more specifically, we do not have to situate in the theses of philosophers such as the

However, this doctrine of experience will not be developed and consolidated as such until the S.XVII-XVIII in England and by the hand of Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), George Berkeley (1685-1753) and David Hume (1711-1776).

All of them, through their different works, will give shape to empiricism and will oppose the theses promulgated by rationalists such as discards.

Thus, the main ideas advocated by empiricism, are:

• There can be no knowledge outside of experience.. He origin, limit and validity of knowledge, resides solely in experience.
• Knowledge and the creation of ideas do not occur through reason nor from innate ideas, but through sensory experience or through our experimentation/perception. Therefore, outside of experimentation there is no knowledge.
• All ideas come from sensitive experience and there are no innate ideas.
• Our mind is like a white canvas or tabula rasa that is defined through our lived experiences.

Finally, empiricism as a dominant current will be overcome with the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Who affirms that there are two types of knowledge:

• knowledge of sensitivity: It comes from the experience, from the experience data.
• knowledge of understanding: It comes from the data of the senses but does not depend on the experience.

Francis Bacon is one of the main representatives of empiricism. He is an English philosopher, whose work Novum Organum either Indications regarding the interpretation of nature (1620) is considered the first great work of empiricism. In this he affirms that the individual needs instruments such as experiments that collect information of experience, through the senses.

"The logic in use is more suitable to preserve and perpetuate the errors that occur in vulgar notions than to discover the truth: so that it is more harmful than useful"

On the other hand, in Novum Organum It will also define how the data should be interpreted. empirical data (inductive method). For it, Bacon will develop the three tables theory and whose objective is to find the existing correlation between the different phenomena:

1. presence table: Table in which the data of the presence of a phenomenon are recorded.
2. absence table: The cases in which the phenomenon does not occur are reflected.
3. Grade table: From the observation of nature, the information relative to the different degrees of intensity or variables is indicated.

The main works of this English philosopher are Essay on Human Understanding, Essay on Toleranceand Treatises on Civil Government. In them he will affirm that the mind is a blank slate in which knowledge is progressively stored through one's own experience.

Also, he considers that innate ideas do not exist, that it is impossible to access knowledge if you have not previously had a experience and that evidence does not imply innateness, but that human beings have similar experiences.

On the other hand, it will establish that knowledge is divided into two:

• simple ideas: Direct contact between the known object and the senses = Passive mind (mind does not intervene).
• complex ideas: Creations of the mind from simple ideas = active mind (mind intervenes).

In unProfesor we discover the John Locke's empiricism.

david hume he is another of the main representatives of empiricism. Hume's main works are the Treat of human nature(1739) and An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748). Likewise, his great contribution within empiricism is the theory of knowledgeAccording to which, the origin of knowledge is exclusively experience.

Also, within the theory of knowledge, Hume will affirm that the mental perceptions and the elements of knowledge are divided into ideas and impressions, which are directly linked because the ideas are copies of the impressions:

• Ideas: They are the result of our thinking, are linked to the past and can be simple or complex.
• Yoimpressions: They refer to the present, in how we are living/experiencing reality and they can be of two types; feeling or external experience or reflection or internal experience.

If you want to read more articles similar to Main representatives of empiricism, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

Diego Sanchez Meca. History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy. Ed Dykinson