For philosophy empiricist, In other words, nothing exists in the mind before sensations, which are the basis for knowledge.

The term empiricism was first conceptualized by the thinker John Locke, saying that the mind is like a "blank slate. feelings experienced over the years of life.

In short, for the empiricist theory, human knowledge is acquired as sensations are experienced. In this way, there is no such thing as innate knowledge, but rather knowledge acquired in the course of sensations, thus developing the learning process.

Table of Contents

• What is empiricism?
• What is empiricist?
• Foundations for the definition of empiricist
• Difference between empiricism and rationalism
• Define empiricism and its main characteristics
• Empiricist philosophy
  • John Locke
  • Thomas Hobbes
  • David Hume

What is empiricism?

Empiricism is the philosophical current of the theory of knowledge, which holds that knowledge is acquired from the practical experiences of life. learning only occurs if the past has experienced it .

Philosophy empiricist also has its origins in Aristotle, who argued that knowledge comes from experiences, going against Platonic theories, which claimed innate knowledge.

In this sense, empiricism shows that the cognitive structure of people is formed gradually, in the face of their practical experiences. Sensations brought about by the most intense and wide-ranging facts that occur throughout life.

What is empiricist?

Empiricist, in the meaning of the word, is one who follows or defends empiricism, which is the theory that recognizes only lived experiences as the basis for human knowledge.

The term empiricism comes from the Greek empeiria and French empirisme Origin of the term empiricism, which can be summarized as the body of knowledge only in practice.

Foundations for the definition of empiricist

To explain how human knowledge is acquired, the theory empiricist is based on:

• Inductive reasoning: people come to conclusions about reality from the observation, intuitively, of events in their lives. In other words, from the number of particular cases that have led them to knowledge about reality;
• Experimental method: Through systematic observation of events, the individual is able to reach a scientific conclusion. This method reaches conclusions based on experiments, and there is no mere speculation;
• Empirical Evidence: refer to sensory experiences, the main foundation of the empiricist philosophy's theory of knowledge, where it is explained, in short, that the observation of reality is performed through the senses, and, from there, that facts are proved and human knowledge is attained;
• Tabula Rasa: as said before, this term establishes that learning is based on the experiences of the being, at the moment of birth, everything is still unknown.

Difference between empiricism and rationalism

Many times we understand a concept by the difference or even opposition with other concepts. So, it is important to differentiate these that are perhaps two philosophical schools or schools of thought that have marked human history:

• Rationalism : a idea The rationalist will think that the concept is worth more than the examples, just as the idea is worth more than its manifestations in the concrete world. The definition of a triangle is more perfect than any drawing of a triangle, for example. For many rationalists, reason is innate (born with the human being). Rationalist thought originated with Plato, and many philosophers inOver the centuries they are called rationalists: (St.) Augustine, René Descartes, Piaget, etc.
• Empiricism : a experience as essential. The empiricist will value the material and its manifestations as more important things than the ideal. For many empiricists, human reason is the result of learning and experience, that is, what we incorporate through the five senses. Only after experience could concepts be elaborated. For an empiricist, the idea of a triangle is most effective with the materialization orThe empiricist thought originates with Aristotle, unfolding in medieval, modern and contemporary thinkers, such as (St.) Thomas Aquinas, David Hume, Vygotsky and Karl Marx.

Empiricism, then, is the opposite of rationalism: the latter believes that knowledge is obtained through reason alone, while the rationalists were innate, defending that knowledge is innate to the being.

In other words, while empiricism holds that knowledge comes from sensory experiences (from the five senses) Rationalism believes that intellect is innate to being, that is, knowledge is intrinsic to human existence.

Some key words help differentiate these two schools. Use the terms with care, because they are polysemic (have several meanings). We will list some of these differences for didactic purposes:

• Rationalism : idealism, platonism, conceptualism, metaphysics, abstractness, inatism, lineage of Plato's philosophy.
• Empiricism experience, sensorialism, materiality, historicity, concrete, learning, lineage of Aristotle's philosophy.

It is important to remember that the empiricist is not an irrationalist, since reasoning is not a privilege of rationalism. There are authors such as Immanuel Kant and Martin Heidegger who are difficult to classify as either empiricists or rationalists, because they do not have a tendency clearly oriented towards only one of these sides.

Sigmund Freud's work goes beyond psychoanalysis and influences other areas of knowledge, so that Freud is seen as a philosopher. We understand that Freud should be placed closer to empiricism, because he thinks from the human experience (the phases of sexuality, the Oedipus Complex, the fact that soul and body form a unity, the historicity of traumas, etc.) and from case studies, tothen elaborate more abstract concepts pertinent to personality.

But, despite a prevalence of empiricism, there is in Freud the defense that the psychic apparatus is in some way innate (with its drives) and there is the conceptualization of Freudian universals that are a little more abstract, which pulls a little towards the rationalist side.

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Define empiricism and its main characteristics

As the very definition of the term suggests, empiricism holds that people develop knowledge from sensory experiences, that is, according to their perceptions and feelings.

In this sense, the greater the experiences in life, the greater the knowledge acquired, the greater the formation of the subject's cognitive structure.

Driven, first of all, by the empiricist John Locke, who created the concept of the "tabula rasa", in Modernity. For the philosopher, the human being is like a blank slate, born without any knowledge. And, it is only filled in, from practical experiences .

Empiricist philosophy

In Modernity, the basis of knowledge has as its central focus the cognitive experiences. Thus, this empiricist current propelled, mainly, by the philosophers John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and David Hume, which we will refer to its main concepts:

John Locke

Philosopher who initiated the concept of empiricism, in his "Essay on the Human Understanding" (1690). Considered as one of the main empiricist philosophers of Modernity, he brings the concept of "tabula rasa", which is a metaphor that shows the life as a whiteboard It is a process that begins at birth, and is filled up as you live.

Furthermore, for Locke, the human being is the oneness between soul and body It is the soul that drives the body, and there is no type of knowledge innate to the being.

Thomas Hobbes

However, he argues that human knowledge is acquired by degrees, which are sensation, perception, imagination, and memory, that is, according to each person's personal experiences.

Hobbes' theory is based on the Aristotelian theory of knowledge, in which sensation is the awakening for knowledge, followed by perception, which then activates imagination, which can only be acquired through practice. As a result, memory is activated, closing the set of knowledge of the individual.

David Hume

For this empiricist philosopher, empirical knowledge comes from a range of experience In this way, they function as a kind of beacon, determining how individuals understand the world.

Meanwhile, for Hume, ideas are not innate to a being, but rather originate from sensations and perceptions acquired through experiences.

Furthermore, Hume was the philosopher who contributed, significantly, to the "Principle of Causality". Moreover, in "Inquiry into Human Understanding" (1748), he shows the study of the human mind, according to sensations and perceptions about reality.

Besides them, there are others empiricist philosophers who have left their mark on history about this theory of knowledge, which are:

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• Aristotle;
• Alhazen;
• Avicenna;
• Francis Bacon;
• William of Ockham;
• George Berkeley;
• Hermann von Helmholtz;
• IbnTufail;
• John Stuart Mill;
• Vygostsky;
• Leopold von Ranke;
• Robert Grossetest;
• Robert Boyle.

Therefore, the empiricist definition has sensorial experiences as the basis for people's knowledge, contrary to rationalism, which describes knowledge as innate to the being. In other words, knowledge comes from the practices lived in everyday life, forming the being's cognitive structures and its perceptions about the senses.

So, knowing about the human mind and the theories that explain its development is certainly essential for self-knowledge and relationships between individuals. If you are interested in the subject and want to know more about the secrets of the mind, get to know our Training Course in Psychoanalysis. With this study you will be able to, among the teachings, improve your self-knowledge, because the experience ofpsychoanalysis, is able to provide the student and the patient/client with insights into themselves that would be practically impossible to obtain on their own.