Kant's two paths of knowledge creation: a priori vs a posteriori

Abstract

The French tradition of rationalism follows Descartes (1596–1650) and his deductive method: ‘All knowledge is derived by a deductive process similar to that in axiomatic geometry from this primitive and absolutely infallible truth’ (Angeles, 1992, p. 157). Or as Russell (1961, p. 549) interprets Descartes: ‘Knowledge of external things must be by the mind, not by the senses.’ In contrast to the French rationalism is British empiricism, coined by John Locke (1632–1704), George Berkeley (1685–1753), David Hume (1711–1776) and others. According to Russell (1961, p. 589), Locke ‘may be regarded as the founder of empiricism, which is the doctrine that all our knowledge y is derived from experience.’ Angeles (1992, p. 85) defined empiricism as ‘the view that all ideas are abstractions formed by compounding y what is experienced,’ and: ‘Experience is the sole source of knowledge,’ and: ‘All that we know is ultimately dependent on sense data.’ He interprets Hume (p. 157) that ‘all knowledge comes from y impressions, the immediate, sensory, perceptual content of consciousness and y ideas, the vague copies of these impressions that linger as content in our memory and imagination.’