Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Argument - Essay Example I believe that in our judgments about reality we cannot abstract ourselves from the sensual reactions and subjective judgments; as a result, empiricism is the philosophy that is closer to the reality and reflects the true way of judging and evaluating the surrounding reality. Rationalism is an important trend in philosophy. Plato is fairly regarded as one of the basic proponents of rationalism in philosophy. Rationalism in general and Plato, in particular, assert that knowledge never comes from senses but is innate (Anonymous 335). As such, there is nothing sensual in nature and individuals who seek to objectivity in their judgments should rely on their innate knowledge and avoid using personal experience and observations. It should be noted, that where Plato opposes to the relevance of the senses as a potential source of reliable knowledge, his opposition is justified by the fact that the senses are bodily and thus morally tainted (Anonymous 335). Actually, everything associated with body, in Plato’s opinion, is morally tainted and cannot be considered as a good source of knowledge. Such rejection of the senses is the definitive feature of rationalism (Anonymous 335). To some extent, Plato’s arguments about the senses his opposition to using the senses as the source of knowledge are justified. He is confident that absolute truth and absolute good do exist (Anonymous 335). However, never in life was he able to perceive and grasp the meaning of these absolute beauties and absolute good with his senses; rather, a rational person in search for objective knowledge will do everything possible to develop an intellectual vision of reality which has nothing to do with the senses but applies to reason (Anonymous 335). Surprisingly or not, but in his defense of rationalism, Plato does not only exclude the senses as potential sources of knowledge but also implies that other emotions, including love, lust, fear, and