111History of Psychology... 1st one Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

111History of Psychology... 1st one - Essay Example Therefore, the strict position of empiricism states that we have no instincts and rational thinking does not, alone, allow us to reach any conclusion unless we have suitable experience to profit from. This experience can be either in one particular instance or through many different instances that have all been combined together to give that person suitable knowledge. Even small common facts such as the color of an object or the sequence of numbers are attained with experience and only with the first hand experience of these facts can these facts be justified by the individual. Notable history of empiricism includes a Renaissance philosopher Francis Bacon who emphasized that gaining knowledge of the natural world was easier and more efficient through observation than through deductive reasoning [1]. While he did not oppose the thought of prior or instinctive knowledge, he firmly believed that any knowledge that was not experienced was far less useful or important than that which was gained through experience. Experienced knowledge was so important, in fact, that without it the human species would not be able to evolve or advance. This belief helped pave the way for William Ockham, a Franciscan philosopher, to note that all knowledge of the natural world is experienced through the senses [4]. He implied that any rationalization of abstract knowledge was merely hypothetical thinking. A thought that later lead to the belief that causation is merely an observation of regularity instead of an actual conclusive connection [4]. This line of thought was taken even further by Thomas Hobbes who believed that, while all genuine knowledge was held through prior knowledge, it required deduction from definitions of experience in order to derive any conclusion [1, 4]. Perhaps the most influential philosopher on empiricism was John Locke who believed that