Since antiquity, mankind has been interested in questions of knowledge. Philosophical thought developed as the individual cognized the world and himself in it. Even in ancient times, such fundamental sciences as mathematics, physics, history, and philosophy were born. Then the question arose of what is the way of knowing the truth and on what it should be based. It was at this time that such trends as dogmatism, pragmatism, empiricism arose.
Empiricism as a philosophy
Empirical is something based on direct practical activity. That is, what is obtained through human experience. This concept underlies the philosophical direction of the same name. Sense experience is absolute for the empiricist. This is its essence and source of knowledge. Knowledge arises as a result of human processing of sensory impulses.
Francis Bacon - founder of empiricism
The founder of the current is F. Bacon, thanks to whom empiricism was formalized into a mature philosophical concept. Later, a number of currents arose within it - first of all, positive and logical empiricism. Bacon insisted that for knowledge it is necessary to clear the perception and the mind of empty idols and gain experience through experiment and observation of nature. The main idols according to Bacon: tribe, cave, market, theater. Empiricism opposes itself to rationalistic currents and religious scholasticism.
Truth in empiricism
Rationalists and empiricists differ in their understanding of the sources of knowledge of the truth. The former see it in reliable conclusions and urge not to take anything for granted, absolutizing logic and the deductive method. Whereas empiricism is a trend based on induction. Its adherents see the sensory experience of a person (empiricism), his sensations as the main source of truth. The main task is to realize the feeling, process it and convey the truth extracted from it to the person in its original, undistorted form. The main source of knowledge for the empiricist is, first of all, nature, observation of it and action in it, which generates sensation. This teaching is close to such sciences as biology, medicine, physics, astronomy.
Truth in empiricism is the result of living contemplation, which is expressed in the following forms:
• sensation (mirroring in the mind of an individual of the properties and aspects of something, the impact on the senses);
• perception (creation of a holistic image of a cognizable object as a result of the synthesis of sensations);
•representation (a meaningful result of the generalization of visual-sensory empiricism, not perceived now, but influencing in the past).
In the process of cognizing the truth, a person uses visual, gustatory, tactile, auditory sensations, which are formed into representations with the help of memory and imagination. Empiricism explains this by the presence in the human body of exteroceptive (sense organs) and interoreceptive (signals about the internal state) systems. Thus, the sensory-emotional and sensory-sensitive components are the basis on which the empiricists build the criteria of truth and objective knowledge.
