What is the difference between rationalism and empiricism?

Rationalism claims, that the information we gain is independent from our external experience (i.e. the senses). they use deduction as a scientific method. Deduction means, that we form a complex ideas by assembling several small ideas, which are truthful. These small ideas are called premises. The deductive reasoning works like this: premise A : all men are mortalpremise B: John is a manconclusion: John is mortal. this is a very simple example of the way deduction works.Empiricism on the other hand, relies on information gained by experience, and that experience is the most reliable source of information. They use intuition as a scientific method. Unlike deduction, which is focused of general claims, intuition works from small specific facts, towards large general theories.

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Answered by Zuzana G. Philosophy tutor

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