Cody:
Rationalists like Descartes and Leibniz, were philosophers who believed in the idea of Rationalism. This is the idea that one is born with innate tendencies, characteristics, and morals.
René Descartes Gottfried Leibniz
Contrary to Rationalism is Empiricism. Empiricists, include those like Locke and Hume who believe that we are born with tabula rasa, or a “blank slate.” What this means then is that through time and our life, we grow, learn, and acquire knowledge throughout life by experiences to fill that slate.
John Locke David Hume
While watching the movie I could really only find scenes that aligned with the Empiricists. As Phil lives day after day, he starts to learn more about the people around him and what going to happen. In other words, he gets his knowledge from his “past” experiences.
Nicole:
Interesting viewpoint. At first, I agreed with you, but I think if a Rationalist watched this movie, they would claim there are signs of Rationalism too.
I think they could argue that Phil did have the “building blocks” (innate characteristics) for being kind to other, but he just didn’t have the opportunity to strengthen this characteristic. However, as he experiences the repeated days, he is able to evolve from his selfishness into someone who helps others.
Cody:
Oh, now that you said that, I think I thought of another one example of when Phil shows Empiricism and also Rationalism. This is shown as he is trying to “make moves” on Rita.
He initially shows Rationalism by being his “normal” self, which is arrogant, sarcastic, and self-centered. This could be viewed as his innate self before he shows change. However, this obviously doesn’t impress Rita.
He then starts to display Empiricism as he starts to learn more about Rita through the repeated days. However this doesn’t work either because it is too fake and opposite from his personality, like we mentioned in our other blog post on reality. (Make sure to check it out!)
Nicole:
Wow, nice observation! Because you mentioned Empiricism and Rationalism, it seems only right that I mention Kant.
I think if Kant watched this movie he would say that Phil needs to find a happy medium. He should be true to his original personality, but he should learn through his experiences to be a better person and enhance his positive attributes to make him a person that someone actually wants to date.
URLS:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/wp-content/media/leibniz.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Allan_Ramsay_-_David_Hume%2C_1711_-_1776._Historian_and_philosopher_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/220px-Allan_Ramsay_-_David_Hume%2C_1711_-_1776._Historian_and_philosopher_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/JohnLocke.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Frans_Hals_-_Portret_van_Ren%C3%A9_Descartes.jpg
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