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12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 4. Pro-Empiricism

[reasons for favouring the empirical view of knowledge]

20 ideas
When we sleep, reason closes down as the senses do [Heraclitus, by Sext.Empiricus]
All men long to understand, as shown by their delight in the senses [Aristotle]
Reason can't judge senses, as it is based on them [Epicurus, by Diog. Laertius]
The senses are much the best way to distinguish true from false [Lucretius]
If the senses are deceptive, reason, which rests on them, is even worse [Lucretius]
The absolute boundaries of our thought are the ideas we get from senses and the mind [Locke]
Geometry is originally perceived by senses, and so is not purely intellectual [Berkeley]
We can only invent a golden mountain by combining experiences [Hume]
We cannot form the idea of something we haven't experienced [Hume]
How could Adam predict he would drown in water or burn in fire? [Hume]
Only madmen dispute the authority of experience [Hume]
You couldn't reason at all if you lacked experience [Hume]
When definitions are pushed to the limit, only experience can make them precise [Hume]
Events are baffling before experience, and obvious after experience [Hume]
For Kant, our conceptual scheme is disastrous when it reaches beyond experience [Kant, by Fogelin]
Appearance gives truth, as long as it is only used within experience [Kant]
All real knowledge rests on observed facts [Comte]
Clear concepts result from good observation, extensive experience, and accurate memory [Mill]
It is further sense-experience which informs us of the mistakes that arise out of sense-experience [Ayer]
Empiricism says evidence rests on the senses, but that insight is derived from science [Quine]