Epistemology: Reason, Senses, and Knowledge Construction

Two Positions in Modernity: Reason and Senses

1) Empiricism: Knowledge originates and concludes with experience, derived from sensory information. Two types of perceptions exist: impressions and ideas. (Hume)

2) Rationalism: The dominant philosophical tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries, emphasizing confidence in reason as the primary tool for understanding reality. Reason plays a crucial role in discovering innate ideas for true knowledge. (Descartes)

3) Kant: Sensations provide the raw material for knowledge, but human reason organizes it in a universal manner.

The Subjective Construction of Knowledge

1) Sensations: All living beings share sensitivity to external stimuli. While sensitivity varies, sense organs are the structures through which the nervous system interacts with the world.

2) Perception: Human perception is the process of organizing and interpreting information from the environment. To perceive is to assimilate sensations and give them meaning.

3) Thinking the World: Concepts represent objects mentally and symbolically, capturing shared characteristics while disregarding individual specifics.

Language: Animal vs. Human

Animal language is often mimetic, while human language is a system of symbolic linkages. Human symbolic language is fundamentally different from animal communication, being abstract and symbolic.

Characteristics of Human Language:

• The ability to produce sounds with symbolic content.
• The ability to combine words into sentences with diverse meanings.
• Communication involves understanding the meaning of words, deciphering the message, and grasping its significance.

Criteria of Truth

1) Idealism: The criterion of truth lies within the subject, not the object.

2) Realism: The external world is the sole source of knowledge and the only criterion of truth.

3) Other Theories: Truth is determined by consensus within a community, as seen in consensus and pragmatic theories.