Philosophical Knowledge: Characteristics and Significance

3. Characteristics of Philosophical Knowledge. It is knowledge about the totality of human experience, rational, radical, autonomous, and critical. It integrates knowledge, aiming to understand all human experiences (perceivable and sensed) and their roles within the whole. It searches for the underlying foundation or integrity of this totality.

Totalizing Knowledge

Encompasses everything. It provides a sense or meaning for all human experiences. We understand all human experiences—perceiving, feeling, thinking, imagining, etc.—and the role each plays within the whole.

Radical Knowing

Gets to the root of things, seeking ultimate principles to make sense of everything else. Nothing is taken for granted.

These share the idea that all human experiences are something (ontology) and are knowable (epistemology). They also share a focus on the entirety of human experience within the individual. This involves plans and projects intended to shape experience. It has a dual dimension: theoretical (analyzing reality and self-knowledge) and practical (determining how we act).

Autonomous Knowledge

Concerns the overall character of philosophy. Its task is to determine philosophy's role within knowledge and human experience. We can conclude that:

1. Philosophical knowledge is meaningful.
2. Only philosophical knowledge can justify itself (autonomy).

This justification cannot come from outside, and no other discipline encompasses philosophy.

Wise Knowing

Seeks to make sense of things using human reason. Unlike myths, which formerly explained natural and social phenomena, rational thinking shows that:

• Phenomena are subject to a meaningful order.
• Humans can discover that order.

Critical Knowing

Analyzes and criticizes everything, supporting only what is argued or reasoned (from the Greek *krinein*: rational analysis). Nothing is taken for granted. It opposes dogma. Philosophy is critical knowledge because:

1. It is rational and supports only what is argued.
2. It transcends the given.