Empiricism is the notion that human knowledge comes from observation and the use of the five human senses. Without observation one could not be able to learn at all. When observing something for the first time, the act of gaining knowledge comes along with it. An example of this is someone learning how to play a sport such as basketball. A person would not learn how to play basketball unless they had the opportunity to observe. They would not be able to shoot or dribble without observing someone doing it first. If humans did not care to observe their surroundings or certain events there would be no learning. The five senses play apart in what Empiricists call the impression and the idea. The impression is the experience of something happening to you, while the idea is the concrete definition from that experience. This concept comes from philosopher David Hume. What Hume believed was that our general ideas come from our impressions that we observe. In his published work An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume explains his reasoning. In one example Hume states, “When we think of a golden mountain, we only join two consistent ideas, gold, and mountain, with which we were formerly acquainted” (3). What Hume is trying to explain is that we understand what a golden mountain is because we have observed a mountain and the color gold …show more content…
His objection is that one does not need to observe something in order to obtain knowledge. The example he brings up is one about musician Ray Charles. Tyree states, “Ray Charles has been blind for the majority of his life, but he still manages to progress without the idea of observation” (Scott). He uses Ray Charles to prove his point that observation is not needed in order to learn. Not being able to use one of the human senses does not mean that gaining knowledge is impossible. He also objects Hume’s claim by saying that the idea of an impression does not require the