Philosophical Concepts: Knowledge, Worldviews, and Theories

Doxa: In Plato's theory of knowledge, doxa is the lowest level of knowledge. Through the five senses, we obtain information about the Physical World in which we live. Episteme: In Plato's theory of knowledge, episteme is the highest level of knowledge. Through the faculty of reason, we gain knowledge of the Forms in the World of Forms. Allegory of the Cave: A metaphor used by Plato to explain how, through knowledge and education, we can escape the Physical World and reach the World of Forms.

Aristotle's Knowledge

Sensory knowledge (Aristotle): Through the knowledge provided by the five senses, we understand the accidental characteristics of beings: position, colour, weight, etc. These characteristics are related to matter (hyle). Rational knowledge (Aristotle): Through the knowledge provided by reason, we understand the form (morphé) of beings; morphé makes things what they are.

Worldviews and Beliefs

Worldview: A set of beliefs and practices through which we interpret reality. They serve as the foundation of all we know and what we are able to know.

Geocentric and Theocentric Views

Sublunar world: One of the two worlds in the geocentric worldview, enclosed by the sphere of the Moon and composed of the four elements. Supralunar world: One of the two worlds in the geocentric worldview, located between the sphere of the Moon and the celestial final wall. It is composed of the fifth element, ether. Theocentrism: A philosophical perspective that places God as the center of the universe; God is the origin and the reason of all things.

Descartes' Method and Doubt

Cartesian method: Four simple steps devised by Descartes to ensure scientific rigor. The steps are evidence, analysis, synthesis, and verification. Methodical doubt (Descartes): Descartes questions whether he can be certain of the things he believes; in order to find out that, he doubts them one by one until discovering something he cannot doubt: "I think, therefore I am." Evil genius (Descartes): A character invented by Descartes who makes people believe mathematics are true and reliable when they are actually not. Cogito ergo sum (Descartes): "I think, therefore I am." After a process of methodical doubt, Descartes discovers there is something he cannot doubt. That "something" is that he is thinking and, therefore, exists.

Empiricism and Kant's Concepts

Tabula rasa (Empiricism): According to David Hume and the empiricists, when we are born, we have no mental content or innate ideas. At birth, we are a blank slate. Sensibility (Kant): The ability to receive data from the external world through the senses. The two pure forms of sensibility are space and time. Understanding (Kant): The faculty of thinking based on the data provided by sensibility. The pure forms of understanding are called categories. Phenomena (Kant): Things as they appear to us. Noumena (Kant): Things as they are in themselves. According to Kant, we can never know the noumena; we can only know things as they appear to us (phenomena).

Scientific Advancements

Scientific Revolution: Scientific and technological advancements in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries that replaced the geocentric worldview with the heliocentric one. Geocentrism: A worldview in which the Earth is stationary and at the center of the cosmos, with all planets and the Sun orbiting around it. Heliocentrism: A worldview in which the Sun is at the center of the cosmos, and all planets, including Earth, orbit around it. Universe (Newton): The entirety of reality where the same laws of motion operate. Spacetime: A new way of understanding reality proposed by Einstein: things do not happen in space and time separately, things are spacetime. Theory of everything: A theory sought by modern scientists to unify all the forces operating in the universe.