Empricist responses to innatism

Tabula Rasa

• When we are born our minds are a blank slate no thoughts, or concepts

• All our ideas are either derived from one of two sources:

  1. Sensation: experience through sense

  2. Reflection: the internal operations of our minds, providing ideas of perception, thinking, willing

Ockham Razor

• Ockham razor is the argument that we should adopt the simplest explaantion

• Locke uses this to support empricism against innatism

• It could be that

  a) we are born with an innate idea of each colour

• It is certainly is the case that'

  b) we see colour with our eyes

  If we know b) that i gain knowledge with my senses whats the point of borthering with b)?

Locke uses the term “idea” to cover a very broad range of things, including sensations and concepts. The sensations of yellow is very different to the concept of yellow

Hume tries to give clearer terminology

1. Impressions - much more forceful related to sensing and feeling vivid. e.g. seeing colour, feeling heat

2. Ideas - related to thinking, e.g. looking back to when I was angry, when I saw the white paper (faint copy) like last week I was angry, last week I saw the colour blue 

Simple and complex

• All our ideas come from impressioms

• Our impressiomns can be simple and complex

• Our ideas can also be simple and complex

  1. Simple impression -The smell of tea

  2. Simple Impression - The taste of tea

  3. Complex idea - The idea of tea (made of multiple simple ideas)

  4. Complex Impression - Seeing tea (made of multiple simple impressions)

Simple and Complex

• Concept empiricism is the view that all of our concepts are derived from sense impressions, either directly (like simple concepts) or by being made up of other concepts based on sense impressions (complex).

• If Hume and Locke have successfully proved that all concepts ultimately come from experience, then innatism is false.

• Theory of no innate concepts without impression e.g. you can trace dragons, friendship, God from impressions

• You cannot think of a new animal

Hume empricism

• Hume argues that anyone who has never had a certain impression cannot form the corresponding idea. Therefore, impressions are necessary for ideas.

Criticism 1: Do all simple ideas come from impressions?

• If we can think of a missing shade between a darker and a lighter colour, this is an idea which did not come from an impression

• This goes against their principle that nothing can exist in the mind that has not come through the senses first.

Response

• Hume - maybe we can fill in that blank shade showing simple ideas are not always derived from corresponding impressions. However, this example is so singular it can be ignored

• Other empiricists - We form the idea using the sensed impression of darkness and lightness and the idea blue

Problem with response

• Surely if the idea of this shade is complex, then isn’t every idea of blue a complex one. Every example of blue is a particular shade - all complex

• Can‘t be combined to complex ideas

Response to response

• Well maybe we can’t imagine the missing shade then

• Maybe we just have a general complex concept of blue formed of all the shades we have experienced

Criticism 2: Do all complex ideas relate to impressions?

• Perhaps ideas do not have to always relate to impressions,

• abstract ideas, such as JUSTICE or FREEDOM? Neither of these relates to any sense experience.

• But these ideas can still be imagined and these ideas do not fully explain concepts

Response

• That’s why abstract concepts are so vague, because it is hard to explain them in terms of sense experience.

Further criticism

• Your idea of the cat, the mat, and sitting all come from sense impressions.

• But what about the idea of on-ness?

• What sense impression is this a copy of?

Criticism 3: We need more than just a sense impression

• You now have the sense impression of “tove” – but this isn’t enough to give you the right concept.

• Could be anything these ideas do not come from impression

• e.g. If i said to a child this is yellow they could think the pencil is called yellow, or lifting is yellow

Intuition and deductive thesis

•Deductive – the conclusion is logically entailed by the premises. We can prove a conclusion based on the truth of the premises.

•Intuition – rational insight. Being able to understand something just by thinking about it (2+2=4)

•Intuition and Deduction Thesis – Descartes put the above methods together. We know a number of claims by rational intuition, and we can use these as premises in deductive arguments to gain knowledge of further claims.

3 Waves of doubt

• He can doubt his senses he has a memory or body

• Could be an evil demon

Criticism 3: We need more than just a sense impression

You now have the sense impression of “tove” – but this isn’t enough to give you the right concept.