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Does reason play a primary role in knowledge?

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What is appealing about giving reason a primary role in knowledge? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

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Solution Summary

Empiricism claims that the source of knowledge is experience while rationalism claims it is the intellect. Rationalism is examined here with special reference to Plato and Descartes. The weaknesses of rationalism are also discussed. This solution is 382 words.

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What is appealing about giving reason a primary role in knowledge? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Philosophers from the earliest times have asked the question about what knowledge is and how knowledge is possible. They have also answered it in different ways, depending on their concepts. Empiricism answers the question about the source of knowledge, or how knowledge is possible, by saying it is through sense experience alone. The source of knowledge in rationalism is not sensory but rather intellectual and deductive. As in Descartes, it ...

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