WEEK 3 Empiricism

What do you make of empiricism's claim that all of our knowledge is based on the use of our senses? What areas of knowledge do you think support this theory? Are there any types of knowledge (mathematical knowledge, for example?) that you think are a problem for this theory?

The empiricist's theory of knowledge is a very interesting one because understanding the biological function of the human mind and body, our senses are extremely helpful. If we did not have any senses, we would not be able to do anything. Areas of knowledge that support this theory are ideas should be tested by tracing it back to an original experience. Also, they believe that the rationalist's universal truths are simply highly probable generalizations from experience (ex: every shape has a size). Also, unified objects such as a pear are made up of three activities of the mind; compounding, relating and abstracting.  

However, our minds also help us gain knowledge about the world. For instance, all animals have senses such as the wolf, or a worm in the soil. They rely on their senses to gain knowledge about their environment and uses it to survive. The only thing is, they are not capable of reaching the level of knowledge that human beings do because their intellectual capacity isn't as strong. Senses are very important, but the mind of a human is the strongest in this world. 
There are a few types of knowledge that creates a problem for the empiricist, for example, triangles can only have three sides is a universal truth that cannot be changed, unless one debates that with experience we can come to know what a triangle is. Another example is that humans need food to live, no amount of experience can say that we can live without it. Also, we are born with feelings of hunger that must be taken care of. 

Personally, I am more on the side of Kant, we need both the rationalist's and empiricist's ideas to understand knowledge and how it comes about. It is the same thing for nature vs nurture, some people believe we are born a certain way, giving us our personalities at birth, and some believe our environment influences who we become. People are very different and nature and nurture both play a role in the life of a person, therefore, you need both reason and experience to acquire knowledge. Watching my younger brother grow up, I observed his knowledge and I have seen that it comes from reason and experience. 

For instance, when we would take him outside in the stroller, we would wait for the train, and once the train was stopping the wheels made noise as it was slowing down (it always makes the same sound). And I noticed my brother began dancing in the stroller to the sound of the train moving. He couldn't have learned that from experience because he or I have never seen someone dance from the sound of a train in NYC. The strange reaction to the moving train was something that came from him, and I assume he already had some knowledge about hearing a rhythm and moving along to it, no matter what the object was. But with experience, he learned other things such as properly brushing his teeth, putting on his clothes and preparing his own breakfast as he got older. Therefore, I agree with Kant that we need both reason and experience to acquire knowledge.