Understanding Theoretical and Practical Reason: A Philosophical Analysis
Theoretical and Practical Reason
Theoretical Reason: This approach contemplates the world, seeking to decipher, explain, and understand it without necessarily focusing on practical application or direct knowledge of reality.
Practical Reason: This involves using reason to guide actions, setting aside assumptions and passions to achieve a moral ideal defined by reason itself.
Rationalism vs. Empiricism
| Rationalism | Empiricism | |
|---|---|---|
| Core Belief | Trust in reason as the primary source of knowledge. | Trust in sensory experience as the primary source of knowledge. |
| Knowledge Source | Reason is fundamental. Knowledge is universal, rational, and necessarily true, derived from innate ideas. Ideas precede things. | Experience is the limit and criterion of all true knowledge. There is nothing in the understanding (tabula rasa) that has not entered through the senses. |
| Reason’s Role | Reason is reduced to thinking (drawing consequences) and understanding (relating data from experience). | |
| Innate Ideas | Affirmed. | Denied. |
| Model | Mathematical (truths of reason). | Empirical science and physics (truths of fact). |
| Metaphysical Investigation | Reality has a rational internal structure (written in mathematical characters). There is correspondence between innate ideas and reality. All assumptions should be questioned. | |
| Ethical Implications | Ethical values have a universal and a priori value. | Ethical values originate in experience (pleasure/pain) and express feelings. Ethical relativism. |
Skepticism
- Logical Skepticism: Absolutely denies any knowledge.
- Metaphysical Skepticism (Positivism): Denies knowledge of anything that cannot be proven with science.
- Axiological Skepticism (Values): Questions religious and ethical values, suggesting that moral values have no universal validity. It doesn’t deny religious objects but denies knowledge of them because they cannot be known.
- Methodical Skepticism: Questions the method (science, hypothetico-deductive method). Nothing is affirmed initially; everything should be checked, and there should be a possibility of error.
- Francis Bacon’s Theory of Idols: Prejudices that interfere with understanding (idols of the tribe, idols of the cave, idols of the theater).
- Systematic Skepticism: Doubts everything, even doubt itself.
Theories of Truth
- Correspondence Theory: The truth is only true if it corresponds with what is known. This involves:
- The object.
- The subject and its representation of the object.
- Coherence Theory: Formulated by Hegel, this theory uses the coherence of a proposition as the criterion of truth. Nothing is true or false in isolation; truth makes sense within a system. Meaning depends on the context.
- Pragmatist Theory: Accepts correspondence but interprets it in terms of the usefulness of statements in solving vital problems. Truth is adaptation: a statement is true if it is suitable for solving problems or meeting needs.
- Consensual Theory: Defended by Peirce, Apel, and Habermas, this theory stresses the need for dialogue as a framework for cooperatively discovering the truth of propositions. Truth is what people agree is true.