Philosophy Junior Cycle Short Course - Rationalism

1. Rationalism and experience

2. ▪ In your small group, brainstorm everything to do with the term “Future”
▪ Now come up with 3 slides representing your idea of the “Future”.
▪ Sell your future to the class

3. EPISTEMOLOGY
(A BIG WORD)
➢The branch of Philosophy that studies
knowledge and whether we can know
anything iscalled Epistemology.

4. What do you know?
Write down 5 things you know.
Where do you get your knowledge from?
For each of your 5 items of knowledge, write down the source.
For example:
Knowledge: “I know that
leaves change to browns and
oranges in the autumn.”
Source of knowledge: “My
senses (eyes) – I have seen
the change in colours with
my own eyes.”
Another source might be:
Innate (born knowing it).

5. Certain Knowledge?
Of these 5 things, is there any one that you are absolutely, 100%
certain of?
If there isn’t, then many Philosophers would say you don’t know
anything –you just have lots of different beliefs, but not any
knowledge.
Knowledge = a belief that is 100% certain and true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXr2kF0zEgI&safe=active

6. ▪ When we think about the future most
of us worry about things like
homework, who will win the next
game, getting money for the
weekend etc.We don’t worry about
we need water to stay alive, that there
will be daylight tomorrow or even
that there will be a tomorrow.We are
all pretty confident that the future will
resemble the past but philosophers
wonder where that confidence comes
from.
▪ Do you know anyone who claim to
have experience of the future? What
do you think of their claims?
https://youtu.be/G02rYAXtJHY

7. ▪ How we have knowledge of the future
is solved by Rationalism.We can use
reason to gain scientific knowledge
of the future.
▪ Leibniz thought that human beings
are made in the image of God.
Predicting the future is a matter of
learning God’s plan. God has chosen
the most perfect natural laws and we
can figure out which laws are best to
predict the future.
▪ He uses reason and observation but
sometimes we will have rival
explanations for the same
phenomenon. He says we should
pick the “best”one. But how do we
KNOW what is perfect or best?

8. Traditional storiesfromChina and
India suggest that the Earth is held
up by several elephantsthat stand
on the back of a turtle.The turtle is
balanced on top of a cobra.When
any of these animals move,the Earth
trembles and shakes.

9. ▪ In ancient times earthquakes were thought to be caused by
restless gods or giant creatures slumbering beneath the Earth.
▪ In Greek mythology, Poseidon is the god of the sea and is usually
depicted carrying a trident. One of Poseidon's 'nicknames' is
Earthshaker. Stories are told of Poseidon striking the ground with
this trident, which triggered earthquakes.
▪ In contrast, the early Greek philosophers developed a theory that
earthquakes were caused by movements of gases trying to
escape from underground.
▪ Up until the 18th century western scientists, including Isaac
Newton, thought they were caused by explosions of flammable
material deep underground.
▪ In 1760,the Reverend John Mitchell proposed that earthquakes
were caused by rock movements and related the shaking to the
propagation of elastic waves within the earth.
▪ Earthquakes occur when the ground is subjected to so much force
that it fractures or breaks. Scientists today can explain how most
earthquakes are caused using simplified theories of the Earth's
structure.
Can we predict
earthquakes? for
some earthquake
zones it is possible
to see a pattern,
which allows us to
predict either
when an
earthquake is
likely to happen or
how big it is likely
to be,but it is not
possible to predict
likely timing and
size.

10. ▪ David Hume rejected rationalism and explained knowledge through Empiricism.
▪ Empiricism is the view that sense experience is our one and only source of
information about the world.
▪ He explained it using the Thought Experiment : Instant Adam pg 77
▪ He said that when we form beliefs about the future based on past experience they
are based in custom or habit – not reason. In the past whenever we we have
touched snow we get cold and after a number of times we get into the habit of
expecting snow to be cold. He called this these habits of expectation which we
regard as knowledge as no different in kind from the habits of eg a dog.
▪ RESEARCH : Pavlov’s dogs

11. The Big Debate - Rationalism versus Empiricism:
Philosophers like John Locke and
David Hume think that we learn
everything through experience – the
mind is blank at birth.
In other words, there are no innate
ideas.
This view is Empiricism – that all
knowledge, certainly all important
knowledge, comes from experience.
(The sciences are Empirical-based.)
How do you suppose Hume would account
for creativity if all our ideas come
from previous sense experience?
Ask musicians and artists where they
get their inspiration from.

12. Can we trust our senses?
Have you ever been deceived by your senses?
For example:
•Have you ever heard something that wasn’t
there?
•Have you seemed to see something, but when
turned to look, there was nothing.
•Have you ever seen something in the
distance, but when you get up close you
discover it’s very different to what you first
imagined?
Write down some personal example.
EXTENSION: What does this tell us about
our senses?

13. What Do Humans, If Anything, Know Innately?
What do human beings learn from experience (from our
environment), and what do know naturally (or by just using our
intelligence)?
Discuss in pairs and write down your conclusions.
What would you be like if you were
brought up in isolation, or by
animals....?
Watch and decide
Do cases like these help us to decide who
is right in the Rationalism and Empiricism
debate?
https://youtu.be/1XSxjnxgdFY

14. What ideas do
you think we
are born with?
Barack ObamaVerified account @BarackObama
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or
his background or his religion..."

15. ▪ Do you believe that we can have knowledge of the future? Discuss both sides of the
debate making reference to Leibniz and Hume.
▪ Then resolve the debate from your own point of view, presenting an argument in
your conclusion.
▪ Use pictures to go alongside your essay/poster to represent some of your ideas.
▪ You can use any digital or paper tool you wish.