Sibbs, well, certainly the Epicureans would have made this sort of argument in favor of what we now call empiricism over rationalism, though of course there was no such terminology at the time. But the problem with strict empiricism is that it leads to pretty untenable positions, like the Epicurean notion that the Sun really is exactly of the size it appears to be. Nowadays we recognize that the best epistemology strikes a balance between empiricism and rationalism.
Combining information from various disciplines brings us closer to understanding what we're studying.
Indeed!
Two things:
1. Can the quote above be viewed as a justification for choosing Empiricism over Rationalism?
2. The lines of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura relevant to this episode are in book iv, lines 379-521
Sibbs, well, certainly the Epicureans would have made this sort of argument in favor of what we now call empiricism over rationalism, though of course there was no such terminology at the time. But the problem with strict empiricism is that it leads to pretty untenable positions, like the Epicurean notion that the Sun really is exactly of the size it appears to be. Nowadays we recognize that the best epistemology strikes a balance between empiricism and rationalism.
No sense having perception if you don't use it (them), eh?
Precisely!