Locke Vs Descartes

378 Words2 Pages
Rene Decartes and John Locke are thought to be two of the great modern thinkers in philosophy. Rene Decartes took a rationalist view on knowledge, while John Locke was focused on an empiricist view. John Locke made a point throughout his career to discredit rationalist ideas, and prove that his empiricist point of view was more accurate. Both Descartes and Locke attempt to find answers to the same question: What is knowledge? In this paper I will consider the similarities and differences between the philosophies of Descartes and Locke. I will discuss a few important differences in their theories of knowledge (namely the distinction between rationalism and empiricism and the question of the existence of innate ideas) Rene Decartes was considered