Innatism, Intuition and Deduction
Assess rationalist claims that some substantive knowledge is innate or gained through intuition and deduction.
How to study A-level Philosophy
Learn each position as an argument, connect it to its strongest objection and reply, then decide what conclusion the dialectic supports.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Innatism claims that at least some concepts or knowledge are not derived from experience, illustrated by Plato and Leibniz.
Exam cue: Distinguish possessing an innate capacity from possessing innate propositional knowledge.
Concept 2
The intuition-and-deduction thesis claims that intellectual intuition can supply premises from which further substantive knowledge is deduced.
Exam cue: Identify which step depends on intellectual intuition and which depends on deduction.
Concept 3
Descartes uses clear and distinct ideas, the cogito and arguments about God to attempt knowledge of the external world.
Exam cue: Apply Locke's empiricism and Hume's Fork to the precise rationalist claim.
Targeted study blocks
Specified core
Secure the claim and its place in the debate
Study Plato's slave-boy example, Leibniz on necessary truths, Locke's empiricist challenge and Descartes's intuition-and-deduction project.
Philosophical work
Reconstruct, challenge and judge the argument
Ask whether experience supplies the content, merely prompts latent knowledge or plays no justificatory role, and test every rationalist deduction at its weakest premise.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Treating a priori knowledge and innate knowledge as synonyms.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Assuming a valid deduction creates knowledge if its starting intuition is unsupported.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Reporting the cogito without explaining what survives radical doubt.
Guardrail: Do not replace philosophical reasoning with quotation, biography, intuition or a philosopher's name.
Memory anchors
Innatism
Innatism holds that some concepts or knowledge are present independently of learning from experience.
Intuition
Intellectual intuition is an allegedly immediate rational grasp of a truth.
Deduction
Deduction transmits truth from premises to a conclusion through valid reasoning.
Cogito
The cogito claims that the occurrence of thinking guarantees the thinker's existence.
Hume's Fork
Hume's Fork divides meaningful knowledge claims into relations of ideas and matters of fact.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
What is concept innatism?
What is knowledge innatism?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
What is Pass Harbor?
Completely free exam prep for 247 UK exams.
- Practice questions
- Flashcards
- Study guides
- Mock exams
- No registration
- No paywall
- Start instantly
“No more expensive exam prep. Quality study tools should be accessible to everyone.”