Empiricism and Rationalism
What Empiricism and Rationalism means in History A-Level, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definition of Empiricism and Rationalism
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Empiricism and Rationalism in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
The changing approach to human understanding and knowledge, in which Bacon pioneered the empirical approach and Hobbes championed deductive reasoning.
Topics that use Empiricism and Rationalism
- Paper 3, Option 33: The witch craze in Britain, Europe and North America, c1580–c1750 - 2 The wider intellectual context: the coming of the age of science and reason (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Changing attitudes to the supernatural
- Coexistence of new and older ideas
- Institutionalisation of Science
- Materialism vs Supernaturalism
- Reason and natural law
- Universal gravitation
Using Empiricism and Rationalism in the exam
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