In the following paragraphs I will present my theories and views by giving examples to persuade the reader that my thesis is valid. I will present valid arguments in order to obtain this conclusion. Can we know whether our perceptions have any connection with truth and the true nature of reality? I believe that no, we will never really know if our perceptions have any connection with truth and the true nature of reality. I will explain why I believe this is so. First of all, in my own words this is my description of empiricism. Empiricism is that we can gain knowledge and actually become closer to the truth thru experience.
What I mean is that for one person to gain knowledge about something is that they either have to interact with it solely by being there and actually touching or seeing it. Actually experiencing what’s going on around them and what you can pick up with your senses or perceptions is how we get knowledge. For example, lets say someone tells you about a rollercoaster ride, you can actually visualize and imagine by the way that person explains to you but you won’t feel the rush or feel the wind in your hair, plus how bout if that person is telling you a lie then there will be no way of getting to the truth.
But on the other hand if you experience it yourself you will know the truth and you will have experienced it with all your senses so that will make you even more knowledgeable and know the truth. Secondary, I have explained empiricism in my own words now I will proceed to explain what rationalism is. Rationalism is the belief that you can get knowledge through reason, in other words it is that you can get knowledge by not using any of your senses but by just asking questions and reasoning.
So you would have never experienced anything, but you use your mind to reason so it is more concentrated on the intellect and that is how you gain the knowledge and become closer to the truth. For example lets say someone tells you about doing a wheelie on a motorcycle that is very dangerous, he explains to you in detail how he feels and what he is doing while riding the bike. Now we reason trying to find doubts of what he is saying so we ask questions like was there any cars around or how fast were you going. In the process of reasoning you are thinking rationally trying to comprehend the truth and becoming closer to it.
Furthermore, Now that I have discussed the above in my opinion I will argue that empiricism is preferable. The reason is because rationalism is too much into asking questions and trying to rationalize what is going on for example I will give you Descartes who tries to find a foundation of thought that only has things which he believes is certain. But what happen to him is that the more you try to rationalize and ask questions the more you will give yourself a headache because the more you ask questions the more you realize not to because you will never find what is for certain or the truth.