Question

• Define empiricism and associationism, and explain how these philosophies are reflected in the field of cognitive science

Answer 1

Empiricism: this is a theory that identifies that the knowledge that a person would be gaining would primarily b obtained from their sensory experiences, this is one of the theories of human knowledge that states rationalism as the basis of their ideas. Empirical evidences would be placed over innate ideas stating knowledge would only be based on evidences. This has also been referred to as minimal innateness. This has been explained through the manner in which people acquire different skills or general languages such as English only by practice. The more the person is exposed to the language, the more they realise the grammatical variations, thus, subsequently implementing the same.

Associationism: this is the idea that states thatmentwl processes would be operating through associations of one of the mental states from the successor states. Associationism has been the foundation of empiricism. Which states that cognition is not a mutually exclusive process, but are related to one other. This states that, as the past experiences of an individual would come into plays there would be formation of pairs of thoughts, which would lead to a cognitive architecture.