SLUH Junior Theology Course '07-'08
Faith and Morality...
By Kevin Casey
Web Assign 4: Three Kinds of Knowledge
Image Source
Experience
Humans posses a knowledge that is more basic than "reasoned knowledge." This knowledge is referred to as experiential knowledge and comes from our personal experiences, which we receive through the five senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste). In other words, we are perceiving (using our senses to collect) data from the world around us, which is also the first step in the process of knowing.
The philosopher Aristotle referred to the human mind as an empty slate (tabula rasa) at birth that lacks knowledge of any kind. As we grow we gain knowledge through our experiences, and in this way, as St. Thomas Aquinas explained, all the knowledge in our minds depends on experiential knowledge.
Empirical knowledge is an example of experiential knowledge. This kind of knowledge is knowledge we obtain from (personally) measuring something.
For example, I can say for sure that oceans exist because I've swam in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. I know French is really a language because I hear and speak it everyday at school. My friend has been to Boston, so he has experiential knowledge of it, but I have not even been to Massachusetts, so I must put my trust in him (and the many other sources that show and tell me Boston exists) that the city does indeed exist.
Authority
Because I have never been to Boston and therefore do not have experiential knowledge of it, my basic knowledge of it is from my friend that has been there. In this way my knowledge of Boston is knowledge from authority, with my friend being the authority. An authority is simply a person who claims to possess knowledge that I do not. Authorities can be anything from our parents to a school newspaper to ancient books.
We certainly cannot believe everything we are told, though, so we must consider several questions when it comes to deciding whether or not we should believe something:
- Is the authority trustworthy?
- Could the person have an ulterior motive for telling me this?
- Are they misled or deceived?
- Where did they get their facts?
- Can their claim be verified?
The greatest obstacle to knowledge from authority, or any knowledge, is fear of the cost. By having an open mind we make ourselves vulnerable to the truth, and exposing ourselves to a new idea can be unsettling and even scary. It is all the more harder when the issue touches close to our own beliefs. Fear of the cost is perhaps why many are turned away from religion.
Reason
All humans possess reason , the power to think in such a way that we proceed from what we know to what we don't know yet. For example, if I know my parents are supposed to be going out to dinner sometime during the week (prior knowledge) and don't know when but come home to find that both of their cars are not in the garage like they usually are (attained knowledge), I can come to the conclusion that they went out to dinner that night (gained knowledge).
1. Deduction, one process in which reason works, is the power to draw a conclusion (new information) from two premises, or statements we already believe to be true. A conclusion is a new fact derived from at least two premises. For example:
Premise #1: Granny Smith apples are green.
Premise #2: Red Delicious apples are red.
Conclusion: Apples can be different colors.
2. Induction, the second process in which reason works, is the power to make universal statements based on limited experience, with the word universal referring to something which is true always and everywhere and in every instance. Often an inductive statement contains the words "all," "no," "always," or "never." Saying that all snow is white naturally white is an example of an inductive statement. I have not seen snow in every part of the world, but from my personal experiences I can say that it is always white.
Back to My Junior Theology Homepage
Quotes Concerning Knowledge
Philosophy of Knowledge
Have some questions or suggestions? Email me at irishbooscoop@charter.net