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extended (I exist) on which he builds the entire system of knowledge
that is accessible to man. These truths were given to man from the
moment of birth as innate ideas and they can be found in the nature
of mind by intellectual intuition.
Intellectual intuition, according to R. Descartes, is a solid and
distinct idea, born in a healthy mind through the view of the mind
itself, so simple and clear that it does not cause any doubt.
Secondly, the mind must deduce all the necessary
consequences from these intuitive views on the basis of deduction.
Deduction is such an action of the mind, by means of which we
draw certain conclusions from certain premises, obtain certain
consequences.
German classical philosophy was of great importance for the
development of epistemology.
I. Kant raises the question of the prerequisites of knowledge,
that is, the sphere of the transcendental, and denies the possibility of
a complete knowledge of the world.
I. Kant proceeds from the distinction between pure and
empirical knowledge. All knowledge, according to I. Kant, begins
with experience. External objects only affect our senses and brings
life to the cognitive abilities of a person. The mind connects,
compares, synthesizes or analyzes the received representations,
processes the sensual impressions into cognition.
But not everything is so simple. Sensory perception alone is
not enough.
Let us remind you of the definitions of the main terms that are
used by I. Kant and, in fact, were first introduced by him.
Aposteriori knowledge is a set of judgments, each of which
depends on experience. The content of a posteriori judgments is
based on sensory material. The truth of such judgments depends on
the degree of their correspondence to reality, which is reflected with
the help of human senses with all the ensuing consequences.
Apriori knowledge is a set of judgments that, unlike
aposteriori, does not depend on experience. Only such knowledge
has the signs of necessity, universality and evidence. Apriori
judgments are valid.
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Knowledge, according to I. Kant, only begins with experience
but does not completely proceed from it. This position significantly
distinguishes his theory of knowledge from the theory of empiricism.
The empirical material coming from the sense organs (from our five
senses: touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell) gives only the initial push
to the process of cognition.
This empirical material is transformed into knowledge under
the influence of "pure" reason (reasonable mechanism) which
possesses initial, innate forms of knowledge (so called, a priori forms
of knowledge) constituted in three cognitive faculties of the mind:
Sense Perception, Understanding and Reason. They organize the
simplest impressions into a whole picture of the world.
There are such forms of a priori knowledge:
1. A priori forms of sense perception — space and time.
2. A priori forms of understanding are twelve categories or
twelve concepts of judgments which are divided into groups of three
which fall under four headings:
(1) quantity (unity — plurality — totality);
(2) quality (reality — negation — limitation);
(3) relation (substance — causality — community or
reciprocity);
(4) modality (possibility-impossibility — existence-non-
existence — necessity-contigency).
3. A priori ideas of reason are Self, the Cosmos, God: the idea
of the world (the world outside of us), the idea of the soul (the world
in us), the idea of God (is there anything beyond the universe). In
logic, reason is employed to order and unify the products of the
understanding. However, pure reason also produces its own concepts,
which (unlike the concepts of the understanding) refer to what
transcends any possible experience.
I. Kant is pessimistic about the ability of the human mind to
acquire theoretical knowledge of any reality lying beyond the
boundaries of human experience.
All our knowledge about the world is limited to what can be
perceived in space and time and known through the categories of the
understanding.
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For I. Kant, the only world that can ever make any sense to us
is the world of objects that appear within experience.
He refers to these things-as-they-appear-to-us as the
phenomena. In a practical sense, the phenomenal world is the real
world and the notion corresponding to anything "outside" of it is
unintelligible. However, we cannot help talking about what is on the
other side of the boundaries of sense and intelligibility. These thingsin-themselves that are not structured by the mind’s categories are
what Kant calls the noumena.
According to I. Kant, a person in cognition is limited by his
own mind faculties and cannot go beyond the limits established by
them. Therefore, a person can cognize the world as a phenomenal
reality but is deprived of access to the world as a noumenon.
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel put forward the Conception
as the main form of cognition. Thinking in concepts, according to
Hegel, is quite capable of comprehending the truth but for this it
must rely on contradictions. Thus, Hegel presents the mind as the
ability to comprehend and resolve contradictions, for this he had to
substantiate a new look at the very essence of contradictions.
Traditional logic saw contradiction as a synonym of delusion, and
Hegel argued the opposite. For him, contradiction becomes an
instrument of truth, and the absence of contradictions becomes
a symptom of delusion.
Thus, the highest cognitive ability of a person, according to
Hegel, is reason, and the tool of rational knowledge is dialectics.
Modern epistemology continues the logic set by the German
philosophers and develops within the framework of two models.
1. Irrationalism continues I. Kant's line, speaking of the need to
supplement experimental knowledge with intuition and other nonrational aspects of understanding.
2. Theories of scientific knowledge, continuing the line of
Hegel, set as their task of the development of a universal language of
science, a clear structure of knowledge (expressed by the concept),
the development of criteria for true knowledge. The greatest
influence on epistemology in this area was provided by sociology,
the methods of case studies.
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3. Do we know the world?
By following the historical logic of the development of
epistemology we can identify the main positions regarding the
cognizability of the world developed by scientists.
There are two main approaches to the problem of knowledge.
1. Epistemological optimism whose supporters admit that the
world is cognizable, regardless of whether we can currently explain
some phenomena or not.
All materialists and some of the consistent idealists adhere to
this position although their methods of cognition are different.
The basis of cognition, according to epistemological optimists,
is the ability of consciousness to reproduce (reflect) to a certain
degree of completeness and accuracy an object that exists outside the
subject of cognition.
The main provisions of this theory are as follows:
1) the source of our knowledge is outside of us, it is objective
in relation to us;
2) there is no fundamental difference between the "appearance"
and the "thing in itself", but there is a difference between what is
known and what is not yet known;
3) knowledge is a continuous process of deepening and even
changing our knowledge based on the transformation of reality.
2. Epistemological pessimism. The essence of this approach is
to doubt about the possibility of knowing the world.
Varieties of epistemological pessimism:
1) skepticism — a direction that questions the possibility of
knowing objective reality (Diogenes, Sextus Empiricus).
Philosophical skepticism turns doubt into a principle of knowledge
(David Hume);
2) agnosticism — a trend that denies the possibility of reliable
knowledge of the essence of the world (I. Kant). The source of
knowledge is the external world the essence of which is unknowable.
Any object is a «thing in itself”. We cognize only phenomena with
the help of innate a priori forms (space, time, categories of reason),
and we organize our experience of sensation.
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At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a variety of
agnosticism, conventionalism was formed. This is the concept that
scientific theories and concepts are not a reflection of the objective
world but the product of an agreement between scientists.
4. What are the methods of cognition?
Tracing the logic of the development of ideas about the
knowledge of the world, one can determine the folding of two main
methodological lines of scientific knowledge. These are empiricism
and rationalism.
Empiricism (from other Greek ἐμπειρία — experience) is
a direction in the theory of knowledge, recognizing sensory
sensations as a source of true knowledge. The more experience
humanity has accumulated, the closer it is to true knowledge. The
rational knowledge is only a superstructure on the data of sensory
experience and is created by combinations of experimental data in
the human mind which means that it does not add anything to the
content of knowledge.
Empiricism is characterized by the absolutization of
experience, sensory knowledge. As an integral epistemological
concept was formed in the 17th–18th centuries. Representatives:
Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley,
David Hume.
Rationalism (from Latin, "ratio" — reason) — recognizes the
reason as the basis of knowledge. It recognizes the independence of
rational knowledge from experience. The reason is able to
independently make discoveries that were not originally based on
experience and only subsequently confirmed by experience.
Rationalists claimed that only the reason is able to comprehend the
universal and necessary knowledge while sensory experience gets
stuck on the particular and accidental facts.
The main representatives of philosophical rationalism were
Benedict Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, Rene Descartes, Georg Hegel.
Starting from the 17th–18th centuries, rationalism was associated with
the introduction of mathematical methods into philosophy
(Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza).
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5. What is the structure of the cognitive attitude to the
world?
Cognition means the process of obtaining knowledge. But
knowledge is not a product of passive contemplation of reality. It
arises, functions and improves in the process of human activity.
Therefore, for the theory of knowledge the important issues
are: What is knowledge? What is its structure? How does it arise?
Most philosophical systems, as we have already understood,
singled out two main stages: sensory and rational cognition. Their
role and significance in the process of cognition were determined
depending on the position of this or that philosopher.
Advocates of empiricism recognized sensory perception as the
main and even the only source of our knowledge. There is nothing in
the intellect, T. Hobbes argued, which would not be in sensory
perception.
Rationalists, such as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant and
Hegel, were inclined to attribute decisive importance to rational
knowledge, without denying the importance of sensory knowledge as
a mechanism for connecting the mind with the material world.
Obviously, it is impossible to oppose the sensual and the
rational in cognition. The two stages of cognition appear as a single
process. The difference between them is not temporary but
qualitative: the first stage is the lowest, the second is the highest.
Knowledge is the unity of sensual and rational knowledge of
reality. Outside of sensory representation man has no real
knowledge. For example, many concepts of modern science are very
abstract, and yet they are not free from sensory content. Not only
because these concepts ultimately owe their origin to the experience
of people, but also because they exist in the form of a system of
sensually perceived signs — language. On the other hand, knowledge
cannot manage without the rational data of experience and their
inclusion in the results and course of the intellectual development of
mankind.
Sensory knowledge is knowledge that is carried out by the
human senses.
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The main mechanisms of sensory cognition: sight, hearing,
smell, touch, taste.
Forms of sensory cognition:
1. Sensation — a reflection of the individual properties of an
object, phenomenon, process resulting from their direct impact on the
senses. With the help of these organs, a person feels the individual
properties of an object — shape, color, smell, etc. Sensation is an
elementary mental process, which consists in capturing the individual
properties of objects and phenomena of the material world at the
moment of their direct impact on our senses.
2. Perception is a sensual image of a holistic picture of an
object, process, phenomenon that directly affects the senses.
Perception is a holistic reflection in the mind of objects and
phenomena with their direct impact on the senses. The most
important features of perception are: objectivity (reference to objects
of the external world), integrity and structure (a generalized structure
actually abstracted from individual sensations is perceived — not
individual notes, but a melody, for example). Perception also serves
as the main form of representation form.
3. Representation is a sensually visual, generalized image of an
object, process, phenomenon, stored and reproduced in the memory
and without direct influence of the sensual perception.
Representation is the images of objects preserved by memory that
once acted on our senses. Unlike sensations and perceptions,
representation does not require direct contact of the sense organs
with the object. Here the psychic phenomenon for the first time
breaks away from its material source and begins to function as an
independent phenomenon. In other words, what is preserved in the
memory of a person after getting to know the subject.
Sensory cognition is always subjective, but it is this level of
cognition that connects a person with the outside world.
Rational knowledge is knowledge carried out by the mind
(from the Latin Ratio — mind, reason).
Rational knowledge, inherent only to man, is a more complex
way of reflecting reality which is carried out through thinking. Basic
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mechanisms (mental operations) of rational cognition: comparison,
assimilation, generalization, abstraction.
Rational knowledge basically comes down to conceptual
abstract thinking (although there is non-conceptual thinking).
Abstract thinking is a purposeful and generalized reproduction in an
ideal form of essential and regular properties, connections and
relations of things. The main forms of rational knowledge: concepts,
judgments, inference (conclusion), hypotheses and theories.
A concept is a mental formation in which objects of a certain
class are generalized according to a certain set of features.
Generalization is carried out at the expense of abstraction, i.e.
distractions from non-essential, specific features of objects. At the
same time, concepts not only generalize things, but also dismember
them, group them into certain classes, thereby distinguishing them
from each other. Unlike sensations and perceptions, concepts are
devoid of sensual, visual originality.
Judgment is a form of thought in which, through the
connection of concepts, something is affirmed or denied.
Inference (conclusion) is a reasoning in the course of which
a new judgment is deduced from one or more judgments, logically
following from the first ones. Inference (conclusion) is the mental
connection of several judgments and the derivation of a new
judgment from them.
An example of a logical conclusion: if a > b, and b > c, then
a > c.
Types of inferences:
1. Inductive reasoning — from the particular to the general.
2. Deductive reasoning — from the general to the particular.
3. Obtained by analogy.
A hypothesis is an assumption, expressed in terms of concepts,
with the aim of giving a preliminary explanation of some fact or
group of facts. A hypothesis confirmed by experience is transformed
into a theory.
Theory is the highest form of organization of scientific
knowledge, which gives a holistic view of the patterns and essential
connections of a certain area of reality.
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6. What is knowledge?
Knowledge is the result of cognition of reality, the content of
consciousness obtained by a person in the course of active reflection,
ideal reproduction of objective regular connections and relations of
the real world.
Types of knowledge:
1. Routine — is empirical in nature. Based on common sense
and ordinary consciousness. It is the most important indicative basis
of everyday behavior of people, their relationship with each other
and with nature. It boils down to stating facts and describing them.
2. Scientific — understanding of reality in its past, present and
future, reliable generalization of facts. Provides foresight of various
phenomena. Reality is clothed in the form of abstract concepts and
categories, general principles and laws, which often take on
extremely abstract forms (formulas, graphs, diagrams, etc.).
3. Practical — mastering things, transforming the world.
4. Artistic — a holistic display of the world and the person in
it. It is built on the image, not on the concept.
5. Rational — a reflection of reality in logical concepts and
categories. Associated with rational thinking.
6. Irrational — is not connected with rational thinking and even
contradicts it. The subject is emotions, passions, experiences,
intuition, will, as well as some phenomena, for example, anomalous,
characterized by paradox and not subject to the laws of logic and
science.
Forms of knowledge allocated in relation to scientific
knowledge:
1. Pre-scientific — proto-knowledge, prerequisites for
scientific knowledge (elements of science before the 17
th
century).
2. Unscientific — disparate, non-systematic knowledge that is
not formalized and not described by laws.
3. Parascientific — outwardly similar to scientific but
incompatible with existing scientific knowledge.
4. Pseudo-scientific (anti-scientific) — deliberately using
conjectures and prejudices and distorting the idea of reality.
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7. How do subject and object interact in the process of
cognition?
Another important problem of epistemology is the question of
the interaction between man and the cognized world, or, speaking in
the language of philosophy, the problem of the relationship between
the subject and the object of knowledge. Already in antiquity, some
philosophers expressed some guesses about the nature of this
relationship. Thus, in the works of Empedocles, Democritus and
others, there is so-called "outflow theory". According to it, as if thin
films (images) are constantly separated from the surface of objects,
repeating the external characteristics of the thing, they enter the pores
of our sense organs and cause corresponding sensations.
However, the modern interpretation of this problem is
indicated in the works of Bacon and Descartes, the method of which
we have already mentioned. In modern times, the process of
cognition began to be considered an inseparable unity of subject and
object.
The object of cognition is usually understood in a broad sense
to mean what cognition is directed to — the material world (natural
and social) that surrounds a person and is included in the sphere of
human activity and their relationships.
In a large array of objects of knowledge, primary, secondary
and tertiary can be distinguished. The primary object of cognition
(and, accordingly, the final source of knowledge) is always a certain
part, a fragment of the material world. However, since consciousness
is formed in the process of reflection of primary objects, its images
appear, in so far as secondary objects of cognition (and, accordingly,
a secondary source of knowledge) arise. Consciousness and its
images act as such, and more broadly — all spiritual processes, the
spiritual world of people. Finally, we can talk about tertiary objects
of cognition — objects that are specially created and studied by
a person in the process of scientific and theoretical activity. These
include the concepts of "point", "ideal gas", "plane", etc.
Society is a special object of knowledge. Due to this, social
cognition, in particular, differs much less, in comparison with natural
science, in the standardization of the research language, in the
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