In epistemology, what core tenet divides classical rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza) from British empiricism (Locke, Hume)?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. innate ideas versus sensory experience
- Step 1: Rationalists maintain that reason alone can grasp foundational innate truths prior to and independent of sensory experience. Empiricists argue that the human mind begins as a blank slate (tabula rasa) and all knowledge originates in empirical sensory observation. Answer: innate ideas versus sensory experience. Why not the others: "dogmatic theological belief versus secular atheism" confuses secular epistemology with theological debates regarding divine intervention; "linguistic syntax versus biology" relates to modern cognitive linguistics rather than 17th-century foundational epistemology; "theological dogma versus mysticism" conflates philosophical theories of knowledge with religious and ecclesiastical disputes.
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