Access to Reality: Categories of Human Thought & Ways of Knowing
Access to Reality: Categories of Human Thought
Our way of knowing reality is mediated by our own understandings. Access to reality is filtered through our ways of thinking. For example, color perception depends on how humans interpret light wavelengths. Similarly, our thinking is shaped by categories that help us sort, know, and name reality (ontological, epistemological, and language levels). These categories provide meaning and represent our unique way of knowing.
Categories of Thought
- Cause: The origin or reason for something.
- Substance: The essence of something, what makes it what it is.
- Accident: Circumstantial and contingent characteristics of things.
- Time: The spatial-temporal situation of things.
Realism and Idealism
The question of accessing reality has led to two main philosophical stances: realism and idealism.
Realism
Realism posits that humans can access reality. Naive realism assumes direct perception, while critical realism acknowledges that perception is influenced by physical and cultural factors. Critical realism accepts limitations but maintains a real substrate to knowledge. For instance, colors are interpretations of real wavelengths.
Idealism
Idealism asserts that reality is a product of thought, lacking a material substrate.
Scientific Knowledge
Scientific knowledge seeks not only the “what” but also the “why” of things. It strives for universality, necessity, immutability, and eternity.
Methods of Science
- Deduction: Reasoning from premises to a conclusion.
- Induction: Reasoning from specific cases to a general conclusion (complete if all cases are known, incomplete if only some are known).
Types of Truth
- Truth of Reason: Based on reasoning, verified by lack of contradiction.
- Truth in Fact: Based on phenomena, verified by experiments.
Myths vs. Logos
Myths rely on belief and imagination, attributing events to gods or fate. Logos relies on reason, providing explanations and demonstrable causes.
Knowledge vs. Opinion
Knowledge is a true opinion based on reasons, while opinion may be true or false.
Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics interprets human actions to find meaning. It is a method of social sciences, recognizing human freedom. While animal behavior is explained, human actions are understood.
Kinds of Reality
- Thought: Humans create mental images of reality and think about real things.
- Sense: Human feeling influences the experience of reality.
- Real: The external reality, independent of thought or feeling.
Ways to Be Real
- Possibility: Reality may be but is not yet.
- Contingency: Reality may be or not be.
- Necessity: The fundamental, undeniable reality.