(Theory of Knowledge) Epistemology is the answer to the question of how we acquire knowledge and what its limits and limitations are. Several theories have emerged in response to this question, which we will delve into below. The first view is rationalism, which claims that the knowledge we acquire comes from the innate concepts of the intellect. In other words, nature innately deposits these creative concepts into the structure of our mind, not through learning or teaching. There are many types of concepts in the human mind. Memories from the past, dreams for the future, positive and negative thoughts, sorrow, failure, success, fear, terror, and feelings of envy, all transform into personal qualities, which we refer to as thoughts and imaginations. In this diversity and colorfulness of ideas and concepts, there exists a type of concept that is clear, distinct, and holds a unique position among other concepts. This implies that you are your own proof, making it logically impossible to think otherwise.
Rationalists: These concepts are intuitive
For instance, two plus two equals four, a triangle is a surface surrounded by three straight lines, an object is what it is, and it cannot be both at once. These concepts are intuitive and do not require proof. We cannot consider either of these concepts as their opposites. Nature deposits these concepts in the human mind from the beginning, rather than through learning. We call concepts the origin and source of rationalist knowledge. Rationalists hold the belief that concepts, while limited in number, give rise to an endless stream of knowledge. We can also refer to intuitive notions of comfort as the definition of triangles. According to this definition, the three interior angles of a triangle are equal to the sum of two right angles, and if a region of an isosceles triangle is bisected, so is the region opposite it. It is an intuitive process driven by necessity or extraction. The results derived from the concept or definition would form an entire body of knowledge.
Proper Education and Training Loosen the Threads of the Mind
Geometry and all other sciences were created this way, and the process continues. From the beginning, intuitive scientific concepts are present in the mind in the form of definitions or introductions (axioms). Teachers assist students in recognizing their own truths, rather than imposing their teachings on them from the outside. Just as a circle appears in a mirror, so too do the concepts of intellect remain hidden within people. The education and training wipe this away, thus, rationalists claim that all knowledge resides within the mind, with awareness being the only problem. Proper education and training loosen the threads of the mind, and the fountain of knowledge begins to flow in the form of a river. Rationalist thinkers consider all kinds of experience to be beyond the bounds of knowledge.
Concepts Alone Are the Only Source of Knowledge
Concepts alone are the only source of knowledge. Once we negate experience, we must declare rationality as necessary. (Necessary), and universal (a priori). Therefore, these three attributes are the main characteristics of rational knowledge. Granted, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many other philosophers were rationalists, but in the modern era, Descartes, Spinoza, and Lyons are the philosophers who represent modern rationalism. Given that these three philosophers originated in continental Europe, we refer to their rationalism as continental rationalism. Also known as Continental Rationalism. The second important epistemological theory, known as empiricism, was the pioneer of this theory. Its major representatives are John Locke in the Modern Age, George Berkeley, and David Hume. This theory, known as British empiricism, gained its name because these three thinkers were British. This theory stands in stark contrast to the claims of rationalist, this implies that we do not acquire knowledge from concepts, but rather, we acquire knowledge through experience.
British Empiricism
Who is the leader of British empiricism (John Locke)? He says that the mind prior to human experience is like an unprinted tablet or a simple slate on which there are no carvings and no text or words written. Moreover, there are no creative concepts in it. At birth and before the process of experience begins, the mind is completely devoid of all human concepts. That lollipop or chocolate is sweet. If the concepts were intellectual or creative, their appearance must have preceded their experience-based acquisition. When a child is older and more mature, he becomes aware of these abstract thoughts. (Abstract thinking) gains importance.
John Locke (Internal Sense) Is another Internal Sense
Locke says that through friends, experience reaches the simple slate of the mind. The external name is provided. And (sensation) is lock. Thesis (external sense) is called reflection. John Locke (internal sense) is another internal sense. Under internal beauty are the five senses, namely hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, touching, and smelling. Information from the external world reaches the mind, which Locke calls sense (impressions). The inner sense provides the mind with information about its own body’s conditions. The inner sense informs the mind about its own body’s conditions. The mind gathers information about various physical and organ-related conditions, including happiness.
Concepts Obtained Through Abstraction and Relation
In a sense, one’s own body as an integral part of the external world, despite its close relationship to Sexual impulses create various impressions on the simple slate of the mind, which, according to Locke, have the status of concepts, but their source is not death but experience. After birth, the external and internal senses continue to function. Undoubtedly, the mind lacks concepts prior to the experience, yet it harbors the same three forces. As a certain quantity of concepts builds up in the mind, these forces become active and intensify. The mind now establishes compound concepts by synthesizing abstract concepts obtained through abstraction and relation.
The Mind’s Third Force Is Abstraction
Addition establishes a relationship between two concepts, such as up and down, right and left, father and son, teacher and disciple, etc. The mind’s third force is abstraction. By observing many similar examples, the mind forms a discrete picture. Whiteness, humanity, animals, birds, and so on, Locke regards complex concepts, no matter how strange, implausible, and absurd, as legitimate if they stem from sense perception. The horizons of knowledge are so vast because of the processes of synthesis, addition, and abstraction. It turns out that his style is not impossible to master.
Attributes have Two Types
One says that we only acquire knowledge of attributes. Attributes are of two types: primary attributes and secondary attributes. Objects contain weight, stretch, and other primary characteristics. Primary attributes such as weight, stretch, and habitability exist within objects. It’s more accurate to say that these attributes envelop the object. The home or palace of Mao holds these primordial attributes. The material realm, or that which is not an attribute itself but contains the initial attributes within itself, therefore cannot be obtained. Although it must exist because it sustains the attributes, it remains mysterious and incomprehensible.
Knowledge is not empirical but inferential
Because another can only have attributes, it is not possible to perceive a non-attributed object. As a result, everyone’s knowledge is not empirical but inferential; we logically conclude its existence. The second type of quality, secondary quality, is subjective and resides in our minds rather than within objects. Our particular system of perception conditioned sound, taste, smell, sensation of cold, heat, and other subjective conditions. Another British empiricist thinker is George Berkeley, who codified Locke’s theory that there is a mysterious and invisible material that is everywhere. Within which there are initial attributes.
George Berkeley Was a British Empiricist Thinker
Berkeley says that believing in unseen materialism contradicts Locke’s basic position that knowledge is acquired only through experience. Berkeley ends the distinction between primary and secondary attributes, saying that primary attributes are as subjective as secondary ones! Thus, a new set of essentially subjective attributes emerges. Alternatively, the mind conceptualizes a fresh reality. All objects are mental concepts. There is nothing else in the universe except the mind and its concepts. This was called Berkeley’s subjective conceptualism. Berkeley rejected Locke’s materialism by saying that it could not exist. However, he added a point that everyone must have understood: concepts require the uppermost part of the mind. Hume denied the existence of the mind, just as he denied the existence of the ego and the self. However, concepts, feelings, or states are real. But However, they do not exist in a mental essence; rather, they exist in their own right. According to Hume, the universe is a series of perceptions and sensations. This theory is called “subject-less solipsism.”is called. (without subject).
According To Hume, Fire and Heat Are Two Separate Phenomena
Hume also applied empirical reasoning to the law of causality, which necessarily produces heat. According to Hume, fire and heat are two separate phenomena. First we see fire, then we feel heat. At most, we can say that one occurs first and the other follows later. We cannot assert that one inevitably and consistently leads to the other. The elements of necessity and generality do not come into our experience. That is why Hume says that fire and heat are two separate and loose phenomena between which there is progress and delay, but not necessity and generality. In other words, while fire has consistently produced heat up to this point, we cannot confidently predict that it will continue to do so tomorrow. For centuries, we have seen the sun rise from the east. This has engendered a psychological inclination in us, leading us to believe that the sun will rise from the east again tomorrow. He says that fire will not produce heat tomorrow or that the sun will rise tomorrow not from the east but from the west, then there is no logical change in it.
Hume’s Radical Approach to Empirical Reasoning Is Crucial
If not, there must be a psychological condition. That is, psychologically, it is difficult to admit, so there is no problem in admitting it logically. The law of causality posits that the bonds of necessity and necessity bind the cause and the effect. The bond of the common and the general, which we cannot experience, not only binds the law, but also all the inductive outcomes of our actions. Accepting only Hume’s view will lead to the collapse of the entire induction edifice and the destruction of science’s predictive power. Therefore, Hume’s radical approach to empirical reasoning is crucial. By adopting the path of doubt, he created great difficulty in the field of science. After Hume, Kant proposed a solution to this problem.
Primary Qualities
Thus, we undoubtedly met Hume’s challenge, but a new challenge emerged: we gained knowledge of the world through our own subjective mental laws. That is, we see the world through our own subjective mental laws, leaving us uncertain about its true nature and actual color. The theory is also called agnosticism. The rationalists’ ideas were very appealing and acceptable to many sciences. They were particularly useful to mathematicians and physicists. Similarly, the experience differed significantly between the natural and social sciences. The empirical method proved to be very effective and useful, especially for the social sciences. But Kant’s philosophy introduced a major revolution in the field of knowledge (primary qualities).
This is continue….
Dr. Abid Husain Nawaz
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