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Students Zone / Questions / Chapter 8: Perception: Rationalism and Empiricism

1. Outline the arguments for and against the thesis that some of our knowledge is innate.

2. Do you agree with the empiricists that mathematical truths are no different from other truths in that they are just very well confirmed empirical generalizations?

3. Describe Plato’s story of the prisoners in the cave and assess the significance of it as an answer to how we are to distinguish between appearance and reality.

4. Explain and discuss the three central tenets if Descartes’ rationalism.

5. Outline Descartes’ discussion of the reliability of sense experience and mathematical reasoning. How successfully does he reconcile his conclusion with the conception of God?

6. In what ways do you think Locke’s ideas have influenced the development of science?