What is epistemology and its purpose
Rand (1990) it is the science devoted to the discovery of the proper method of acquiring and validating knowledge
Purpose
1. To show how we can acquire knowledge
2. To give us a method of demonstrating whether the knowledge we acquired is really knowledge
Nature of Knowledge
- According Ayn Rand :it is a mental grasp of reality reached either by perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on perceptual observation
1.1 Knowledge is acquire by senses and it is called empiricism (adherents : John Lockem George Berkley , David Hume
2.2 Acquired by the use of our minds (Rational Faculty) : (rationalist : Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Gotfried Wilhelm Leibniz) - According to Binswanger (2014) : it is a retained form of awareness
- You can’t think of nothing
Acquiring Knowledge
- From Indian Point of View it is Vidya that involve facts about reality as well as cognitive changes
2.From Oxford Dictionary :
2.1 as known in paticular field ,
2.2 Awareness gained by fact or situation
2.2 Theoretical and practical understanding of a subject
- Religous Interpretation
3.1 Hindu Scriptures :
3.1.1 Parokah Gyan : obtained from books, hearing lectures
3.1.2 Aproksha Gyan : obatined by direct experiences
3.2 Quran (Islam) : comes from God and various habit encourage acquisition of knowledge
3.3 Christianity : one of the seven gifts of Holy Spirit
Methods of knowledge acquisition
- Appeal to authority
1.1 Comes from authority or in particular field of knowledge
1.2 e.g teachers , doctors and alikes - Appeal to Tradition
2.1 Inherit and live knowledge by community
2.2 must be evaluated before accepting it - Appeal to Senses
3.1 Based from five senses as more senses invloved the more comprehensive the knowledge acquired - Inductive and deductive methods
4.1 Inductive : from particular examples thus forming a certain conclusion/ generalization
4.2 Deductive : from generalization or rule then comes to particular examples - Appeal to experiences
5.1 Gathered knowledge from today-to-day experienced - Intuition
6.1 Senses and mind not involved because it spontaneous and sudden - Concentration and meditation
7.1 People make inferences and link of facts of knowledge to something meaningful - observation and related process
8.1 Observation : internat or external
8.2 explanation : elaboration of facts of knowledge in logical manner
8.3 Prediction : cause and effect
8.4 Control : filtered out by exercising control on certain factors - Problem solving
9.1 problem solved became part of knowledge
9.2effective tool in acquiring knowledge
Nature of truth
Validating one’s knowledge
1. (Binswanger, 2014) Reverse engineer/ retrace the steps
2. (Peikoff, 1990) Perception-concept-proposition-interference
3.Heraclitus : way up (knowledge acquisition) is the way down (knowledge acquisition)
