ABSTRACT
Empiricists hold to a system of philosophy that takes the ultimate basis for knowledge to be experience rather than logical reasoning. Whereas Rationalism asserts the primacy of reason in respect to knowing about, Empiricism asserts the primacy of the sensory experience. In J. Locke’s perspective on the man in the inner room, the man must confront the issue of whether his perceptions are true. Given his seclusion, Locke’s man in the inner room has no direct contact with the outer world and, therefore, no way to assess the fit between idea and fact. Patently, the adoption of the coherence criterion by Locke’s man in the inner room rests on his natural faculties and innate abilities to think and reason. The criterion of workability implies action, either in the sense of performance or exploration conducted in, and relative to, the world outside the house.
