Unicorn Challenge

Rationalists.. 

Challenge the idea of empiricists that synthetic knowledge come from experience by using 7 challenges. One of these is the unicorn challenge. They argue that no one has ever seen a real unicorn so how do we gain this idea from experience?

Empiricists..

Argue that it is a complex idea that comes from a number of impressions. This would have been from someone merging the 2 ideas together. It goes like this:





Rhino ---> Impression ---> Faint copy --->




Horse ---> Impression ---> Faint copy --->
                                                   
                                                                       
                                                                       

Rationalists' criticism:

Other complex ides like 'beauty' can't have come from simple ideas. This means they are innate.

Empiricists' response:

They have come from simple ideas but they're just harder to explain and understand. With these concepts, it is to do with emotion that we gain our idea of them from. These emotions are called 'reflections' as we experience what each idea feels like. 

Beauty ---> Pleasure/ good feeling ---> Reflection of beauty ---> Idea of beauty