In epistemology, Sensualism is a doctrine whereby sensations and perception are the basic and most important form of true

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

. It may oppose abstract ideas. This ideogenetic question was long ago put forward in Greek philosophy (

Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century Common Era, BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asser ...

Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism. Few writings by Epi ...

) and further developed to the full by the British Sensualists (

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...

, David Hume) and the British Associationists ( Thomas Brown, David Hartley, Joseph Priestley). In the 19th century it was very much taken up by the Positivists (

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

, Herbert Spencer, Hippolyte Taine, Émile Littré)

Footnotes

Epistemological theories Empiricism {{epistemology-stub

See also

Footnotes