Assignment on 2-16
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Gaining Knowledge
from
Observation and Experience
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Empiricism
• It derives from a Greek word ‘empiric’, meaning ‘experience’
• It is an epistemology that developed in reaction to
Rationalism, that asserted that knowledge is innate or present
in our mind at birth. Many Empiricists believe that our mind
is a “tabula rasa”, or a blank slate, at birth.
• Empiricism teaches that knowledge comes from our
interactions with and sensory observations in the natural,
physical world.
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Empiricism
Ideas and
knowledge
develop in our
minds as a result
of our sensory
experiences.
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What are your senses?
You use your senses to gather
information about the outside
world. You can see, hear, taste,
smell and touch things. You can
also detect pain, pressure,
temperature, and the position and
movement of your body. All these
sensations are changed into
electrical signals and carried to
your brain which then puts all the
information together to produce
the whole picture.
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Empiricism as a
Way of Knowing
How we justify or prove knowledge claims
1. Basic sensory experience
2. More complicated life experiences
3. Scientific experiments
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"Tell me, and I will forget.
Show me, and I may remember.
Involve me, and I will understand.”
Confucius
around 450 BC
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Empirical Cycle
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Reviewing
Each Other’s Homework
1.
How would you explain the
main proposition put forward
in the video “Journey of Man”?
2.
What types of evidence were
offered to justify or support its
claims?
3.
What is your response to or
evaluation of the arguments in
the video?
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Given the statement
In general, men are better leaders than women.
Rationalism
• Let’s think clearly
about this proposition.
• (abstract reasoning)
Empiricism
• Let’s go take a look.
• (observation,
experience, science)
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Justification Methods
Rationalism
Empiricism
Any abstract
reasoning
Any
concrete
observations
Logic &
Math
Science
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Sometimes
Reason Knowledge and Experience Knowledge
Conflict
Reason &
Logic
Experience
& Science
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Oftentimes
Reason Knowledge and Experience Knowledge
Work in Tandem
Reason
and Logic
Experience
and Science
• Clear reasoning,
supplemented by lessons
from experience
• Experiential knowledge,
woven together or
extended by reason
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The Universe
Evidence
Observation & Logic
Bible:
Psalm 93:1 "the world is
firmly established, it cannot
be moved.”
Psalm 104:5 "the Lord set the
earth on its foundations; it can
never be moved.”
Ecclesiastes 1:5 "And the sun
rises and sets and returns to its
place"
Copernicus
Mathematical reasoning
Galileo
Telescopic observation
Today
Mounds of scientific data
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Superclusters Neighboring the Virgo Cluster
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Empirically speaking,
the idea of “the center” is no longer meaningful.
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Omega Centauri
Hubble snapped this view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded
core of a giant star cluster. The image reveals a small region inside the massive globular
cluster Omega Centauri, which boasts nearly 10 million stars. Globular clusters, ancient
swarms of stars united by gravity, are the homesteaders of our Milky Way Galaxy. The stars
in Omega Centauri are between 10 billion and 12 billion years old
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Empiricism and the Public
• 20% of U.S. adults believed that the sun revolves around the
earth. (2006)
• 24% of U.S. adults believed that President Obama definitely or
probably was not born in the United States. (USA Today/Gallup, 2011)
• Beliefs about human origins. (1982-2010) (XX)
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% Who Think
Climate Change is a Serious Problem
Pew Research Center, 2013
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Empirical Arguments
a. There are 13 students enrolled in HCOM 301-02 in Spring, 2014.
b. Bill Clinton was the first president of the United States.
c. God is present in all living things.
d. Acting with kindness will increase the chances that a person will receive kindness from
others.
e. Men make better leaders than women.
f. The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, and 1.05% other gases.
g. In 1531, on a hilltop outside Mexico City, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to farmer
Juan Diego.
h. The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq was good for the Iraqi people.
i. Some 150,000 to 200,000 years ago, the human species evolved into being from lower life
forms.
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