Our
knowledge comes primarily from experience.
But is experience really what it seems? Is
it reliable? Empiricist philosophers accept
a “commonsense” view of the phenomena
we observe and yet conclude that all we can
ever know are “ideas”. Physical
reality may not exist at all!
The
experimental breakthroughs of Kepler, Galileo
and Newton – a radical new outlook in
17th-century science – informed this
great British tradition in philosophy. Introducing
Empiricism outlines the arguments of Locke,
Berkeley, Hume, J.S. Mill, Bertrand Russell,
and the last British empiricist, A.J. Ayer.
It also looks at criticisms of empiricism
in the work of Kant, Wittgenstein, Karl Popper
and others.
Introducing
Empiricism is the ideal guide to this crucial
philosophical movement, for student and general
reader alike.
***
Dave
Robinson has taught philosophy for many years
and is the author of many Introducing titles
including the bestsellers Philosophy and Ethics.
He is now a part-time lecturer in Critical
Studies and lives in Devon.
Bill
Mayblin is a senior partner in the London-based
design group Information Design Workshop,
and has also illustrated Introducing books
on Derrida and Linguistics.
