Monday, September 16, 2019
Acquiring Knowledge Essay
           Knowledge means power; the whole world craves for knowledge, to know things, to understand, to make accurate calculations and to make wise decisions. But philosophers since ancient times struggle with the question regarding how knowledge is acquired. Is it through the physical senses – of touch, smell, hearing, seeing, and taste? Is it through reason alone? Three great philosophers tackled this question, they are Descartes, Locke, and Kant and all three of them presented three different methodologies when it comes to acquiring knowledge. The pursuit is serious and intense that a whole body of knowledge is dedicated to finding out the answers. It is called epistemology and these three philosophers will serve as guides in the quest to know the truth about knowledge. Descartes            Rene Descartes is said to be the father of modern philosophy. He attempted to break with the philosophical traditions of his day by rejecting the Aristotelian philosophy of the schools which is the authority of tradition and the authority of the senses (Craig, 1998). He developed a methodology on how to investigate nature by reducing complex problems to simpler ones and then analyzed further using direct intuition (Craig, 1998). Therefore, his main argument is that by mere thinking one can discover solutions to problems.            Interestingly Descartes had to die to his old beliefs and everything that he considered truth in order for him to determine once and for all that indeed there is a way to discover truth by mere use of intuition and not the reliance of the senses and traditions handed down from one generation to the next. His first guinea pig was himself, he had to doubt his existence to know the truth, and not simply believe that he exist because society tells him that he does exist. He had what inventors and scientists called a â€Å"eureka†moment or a moment of great insight, when he finally blurted out â€Å"Ego cogito, ergo sum†a statement in Latin famously translated as: I think, therefore I am (Broughton, 2008).  This was the breakthrough that he was looking for and he used it as a foundation from where he would build upon his theory of knowledge acquisition.            Descartes’ idea is cutting edge at that time. He was one of the first to establish the principle of gaining knowledge and studying things that are beyond the capabilities of the five senses. There are many aspects of mathematics that can be ascertained not by using the five senses but by the mere act of intuition. Intuitively man has the ability to know the truth; this is the main argument of Descartes. This is strengthened by the concept of prior knowledge. A good example is the ability of a baby to suck from the mother’s breast the much needed nutrients for survival. A baby is almost blind from birth and yet able to perform such actions. Locke The capability to use the sense of sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste is one major path in gaining knowledge (Hartnack, 2001). It is in fact the ancient way of knowing the environment and the complexities of human interaction such as language and relationships. John Locke is one of the major proponents for this method of knowledge acquisition – that man has the capability of understanding the world around him by observing and utilizing the power of the five senses to harness information. Thus, it can be argued that man can only observe the world through his senses. In this model knowledge is true when it can be measured and observed through the senses. This is also known as empiricism. The significance of this method can be seen in scientific applications of the use of observation and careful measurements. Scientists, sociologists, and even philosophers from all over the world use this technique and it can even be argued that most people use empiricism without even thinking about it. It is just natural for man to use his senses to understand his environment and the stimulus that he receives every waking moment. Immanuel Kant            Kant is a central figure in modern philosophy because he was able to synthesize early modern rationalism and empiricism (Rholf, 2010). But this does not mean that Kant was completely successful in reconciling Descartes and Locke’s views concerning the acquisition of knowledge. Kant’s critics even asserted that he had made it more complicated and therefore making it harder to determine the perfect methodology that can help humans master the ability to acquire knowledge.            Nevertheless, Kant’s major contribution can be summed up in two statements: 1) human beings experience only appearances, not things in themselves; and 2) space and time are noting other than the subjective forms of human sensible intuition (Rohlf, 2010). This is an important conclusion because there are things that empiricism and rationalism cannot cover but can only be ascertain if there is complete understanding of everything – this is knowledge gained after using other people’s insights and breakthroughs.  For example ancient people see the sun orbiting around the earth, rationalism and empiricism will not refute that claim until there is already a capability to improve on that knowledge and modify it because now people know more about the movement of heavenly objects. Comparison            Descartes did not agree that there can only be one method when it comes to knowledge acquisition. The use of the five senses is not enough to know the truth. There are things in this world that can only be understood by accepting the existence of prior knowledge and the use of intuition. There are mathematical equations that proved useful in improving man’s existence but the steps in developing these mathematical equations was not derived by simply observing the world trough the fives senses. These came forth as a result of institution, simply because mathematical truths belong to an abstract world inaccessible by sense of smell, hearing, taste, touch, and sight. In the privacy of thought, a person can apply these mathematical equations and gain knowledge.            Another weakness of using the five senses is that it is very subjective. Kant already pointed this out by stating that the five senses cannot be reliable all the time. For example the refraction of light creates optical illusions. The eye communicates to the self and says that the spoon appears to be bent. But the spoon was only perceived to be deformed because of the effect of the action of light when it passes through water. Another problematic aspect of relying on the five senses is its unreliability when human beings are subjected to harsh conditions. For example, a hiker lost in a desert will succumb to the effects of dehydration and begins to see mirage and other images that seem to be real but are not. Even with the obvious weaknesses of the empirical method of acquiring knowledge, it must also be pointed out that the five senses are indispensable tools when it comes to knowledge acquisition. No matter how subjective the five senses may seem to be it must be acknowledge that human beings can live within a community because people understand each other’s languages and respect the rules laid down by the leaders or the elders. This would have been impossible without the use of the five senses. Moreover, the aforementioned weakness of the empirical method can be easily corrected using a third-party that will help verify the information. For example a person hallucinating in the middle of a desert can be rescued by paramedics. And the perfectly healthy rescuers can help the disorientated person to gain his or her bearing. If two people disagree with regards to the exact height of the Statue of Liberty, they need not quarrel, they only need to ask an unbiased participant to measure the statue for them and settle their dispute. Thus, empiricism has only one valid weakness and it is the inability of man to know more than he should and therefore making conclusions without first knowing the big picture or having a complete understanding of the scientific law that governs a particular phenomenon. In this regard Kant’s ideas will be of great help. Conclusion            Descartes’ view that there is indeed prior knowledge is an important first step in knowledge acquisition. The world is so complex and at the same time working like a well-oiled machine. However, it is not enough to simply say that knowledge can be gained by mere intuition. One has to agree with Locke that the five senses are indispensable tools when it comes to understanding the world. There is a need to observe and to measure in order to know the truth. But even so there are limitations so that it is important to take into consideration what Kant said regarding the inability of the mind to make sense of everything. For example the movement of the earth and sun could never be completely understood by mere intuition or observation alone. There is no perfect methodology in epistemology; there is a need to use each method to know the truth. References Broughton, J. (2008). â€Å"Self-Knowledge.†A Companion to Descartes. MA: Blackwell            Publishing. Craig, E. (1998). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: Routledge. Cicovacki, P. (2002). Between Truth and Illusion: Kant at the Crossroads of Modernity. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Hartnack, J. (2001). Kant’s Theory of Knowledge: Introduction to Critique of Pure Reason. IN: Hacket Publishing, 2001. Rohlf, M. (2010). â€Å"Immanuel Kant.†Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accesed 27 July 2010. Avaiable from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/#TraIde           Â
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