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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'fragments/reports' and 'The Logic of Decision'

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2 ideas

12. Knowledge Sources / C. Rationalism / 1. Rationalism
All evidence comes from senses, so they are indispensable to the mind [Democritus]
     Full Idea: Mind must never reject the senses, because that is where it gets its evidence, and it would be the mind's downfall.
     From: Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE], B125), quoted by Galen - On Medical Experience 15.8
Obscure knowledge belongs to the five senses, and genuine knowledge is the other type [Democritus]
     Full Idea: There are two forms of knowledge [gnomé], the one genuine, the other obscure. And to the obscure one belongs all of these: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. The other is genuine, and is separated from this one.
     From: Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE], B011), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Logicians (two books) 7.139
     A reaction: [Sextus goes on to make it clear that the 'genuine' one is knowledge acquired by thought]. I take Parmenides to be the first rationalist. It is interesting that Democritus, who devoted his life to finding causal explanations, seems to be a rationalist.