Empiricism and Capitalism

Empiricism is the theory that knowledge evolves from sense experience and internal mental interaction, such as emotions and self reflection. An empiricist obtains their facts based on close observation and experiment, which is ultimately a use of an inductive thought process. For empiricists, facts precede theories. Most empiricists are impartial, as well as objective observers of facts. A main belief in empiricism is that no one person could obtain knowledge of the world unless they were to experience and reason. Within empiricism, there are main philosophers who have contributed to its development and discoveries. Aristotle took experience as the result of sense perception and memory. Since experience is perceived as the main source of knowledge within this school of thought, knowledge is therefore completely dependent on the use of our main senses and what we discover throughout the use of these senses. Sometimes, Aristotle is said to be the founder of empiricist thought, as he believed that there is nothing in the intellect which is not previously in the senses. Other key philosophers throughout empiricism are: the Sophists, Epicurus, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Francis Bacon, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume and John Stuart Mill. Each of these philosophers came to the same conclusion that intellect is the created by the basis of an individual’s sense perception.

Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights, and can be commonly named ‘economic individualism’. Capitalism’s basic premise is the goal of self-interest and that the right to own private property is morally defensible and legally accurate. Ultimately, capitalism believes that state exists in order to protect individual’s rights. In a...

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...nect fully in our own economic freedom. As a result, empiricism allows for the existence of one’s economic freedom within capitalism.

In conclusion, empiricism and capitalism are two unique schools of thought that in some ways work in correlation with each other. Due to the fact that both of these schools of thought believe that knowledge is obtained from outside of self, they share the commonality of the belief in a posteriori knowledge. John Locke, one of the leading British empiricists of his time, believed in both the concepts of empiricism and capitalism, ultimately linking the two schools of thought. Due to the research and work of John Stuart Mills, it is evident that empiricism allows for the existence of economic freedom in a capitalist society. As a result, empiricism and capitalism have completely different concepts, but share several commonalities.