Chapter 4 Question 3

In chapter 4, I found that the controversy between rationalism and empiricism was the most interesting concept. A rationalist is someone who makes his or her judgment based on solely logical reasoning and an empiricist makes his or her judgment based on sense-experience. An example of rationalism is like when you look at a straw in a cup of water and it appears bent, but you know it is not. Another example is like going to a magic show and you watch someone get sawed in half. You know they really didn't get sawed in half or else they'd be dead. This is logic being put to work. These same examples can be used as examples of empiricism because without past knowledge on the subject, you wouldn't be able to apply logic to the situation. It would appear that the straw is bent or the person got sawed in half and you would assume that was correct.