The rivalry between rationalism and empiricism lies within Epistemology, the branch of philosophy devoted to studying the nature, sources and limits of knowledge. Epistemology deals with questions such as; how can we gain knowledge? What are the limits of our knowledge? Etc� Rene Descartes and John Locke are two key figures in the dispute between rationalism and empiricism. This essay will aim to highlight the differences as well as similarities between the two schools of thought, concentrating on the question of how we attain knowledge and using Descartes� and Locke�s philosophies as examples. First, I shall discuss the school of rationalism. Rationalism contends that all knowledge starts with the mind. Rationalists are those who claim that the basis of knowledge is the set of ideas we have � the mental element that sorts out and interprets our experiences. The mind is primary, and the actual data of experience are secondary. There exist three essential claims to rationalism; 1) The Intuition/Deduction Thesis � which combines Intuition which is our understanding of self-evident pri......

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