Advances during the Enlightenment period had a very different influence on British philosophy from that of continental Europe. In reaction against the rationalism of Cartesianism, Spinozism, and Leibnizianism, British philosophers rejected the idea that reason is the only reliable source of knowledge. Empiricism became a philosophical school of thought and was championed by British philosopher Thomas Hobbes. Although he did not invent the term “empiricist”, Hobbes was perhaps the first to put forward an explicit theory of empirical knowledge centered upon sensory experience. He also proposed that all knowledge must be derived from sense impressions. However, there was another strand of British empiricism that followed Hobbes’ account of knowledge in terms of matter and motion. This included Berkeley’s idealism, Locke’s limits of the knowable, and Hume’s skepticism. Both saw human beings as passive receptors of sensations and ideas. There were also many other thinkers who contributed to the development of British empiricism. Although the roots of empiricism could be traced back to Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes’ materialistic and mechanistic views became the dominant philosophy of the 17th-century British world.
Introduction
How do we really define Philosophy? The Greek word φιλοσοφία – Philosophia. Or as the term has been coined by modern Western language – Philosophy. The literal meaning of this word is relatively static. Derived from its Greek origin it comprises two separate words...
