Single Idea 23309

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique]

Full Idea

It is a certain notion of understanding and, correspondingly, explanation which makes Aristotle think that knowledge, properly speaking, could not be a matter of mere experience.

Gist of Idea

Aristotle's concepts of understanding and explanation mean he is not a pure empiricist

Source

report of Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE]) by Michael Frede - Aristotle's Rationalism p.160

Book Reference

'Rationality in Greek Thought', ed/tr. Frede,M /Striker,G [OUP 1999], p.160


A Reaction

Frede says this means that Aristotle is a rationalist, though few empiricists think understanding is 'merely' a matter of experience. My own epistemology is Explanatory Empiricism, which I see as more empiricist than rationalist.