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QLDPhilosophy and ReasonQuick questions
Unit 4: Moral philosophy and metaphysics
Quick questions on Rationalism and empiricism on the source of knowledge: QCE Philosophy and Reason
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is kant's synthesis?Show answer
Immanuel Kant argued, in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781), that both camps were half right. Knowledge requires both sensory input and the mind's own organising structures (the forms of space and time and the categories such as causation). His famous line: thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. Crucially he argued for synthetic a priori knowledge: substantive truths (such as that every event has a cause, or the truths of geometry) that are known independently of particular experience yet are not merely analytic.
What is q1?Show answer
Distinguish rationalism from empiricism. [3 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain Hume's claim that ideas are copies of impressions. [3 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Explain what Kant meant by synthetic a priori knowledge. [4 marks]
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