Cognition and Culture

THE CONCEPT OF KNOWLEGDE

We know that light travels in a straight line . We , refers to a group of individuals who have assimilated a certain property of light . There is a certain relationship between the , we , and the property hence a relationship of knowledge . Furthermore , there are three distinct kinds of challenge to acclaim of knowledge : The first is a simple challenge- `What you claim to know to be true is not true second is a challenge which questions the source of the knowledge or the method by which the alleged knowledge

has been acquired . This challenge is always expressed in words `How do you know ' When such a question is put as a challenge it is always implied that the claim to genuine knowledge is not acceptable unless a reliable source , or a reliable method , has been in the particular case . Therefore , a claim to knowledge is not respected unless the claimed knowledge a respectable origin the speaker may be required to show that he is the authority of a certain issue , as he has implicitly claimed to be . All this arguments are all explored under the philosophical study of knowledge , under the branch called epistemology

Over centuries now , philosophers have involved in a bitter argument over the acquisition of knowledge . This division among epistemologists has been whether knowledge is acquired by senses of reason as a result of our thinking ability or by way of daily experiences with our external environment , a view that is proposed by empirists . Those who are the proponents of rationalism argue that acquisition of knowledge can only occur by way of reason and that the environment can not in any way provide for its acquisition . In this discussion we are going to provide for the most part an alternative of the empirists , the rationalists point of view

RATIONALISM AND KNOWLEDGE

To develop knowledge and understanding means that assimilation of new belief into ones cognitive system has to take place . In to be accepted as knowledge beliefs often ought to be justifiable , that is knowledge is a justified true belief . It should however be noted that there are at least three ways in which truth can be ascertained , that is , by correspondence which suggests that there must be an agreement between our claim and the fact , by coherence which on its part holds that there must be an agreement two ideas and pragmatism suggesting that their ought to be an our claim and its practicability . By coherence one does not only rely on sensory experience to ascertain the truth of a claim but mainly relies on the ability to establish the logical connectedness between the ideas in question . It is hence a rational exercise . Thirdly , justification is the process of supplying adequate grounds for what one believes in necessarily a rational exercise by which we make believes credible . Their appears to be some kind of knowledge that is not necessarily based on sensory data , that is rational knowledge . Accordingly reason takes a central...