Aaron J. Powner, M.Ed.
High School Science Teacher
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təˈmɒlədʒi/etymology - circa 1856, "theory of knowledge," coined by Scottish philosopher James F. Ferrier (1808-1864) from Greek episteme "knowledge" + -ology "branch of knowledge, science." The branch of philosophy concerned with the origin, acquisition, scope, and validity of knowledge. -- Online Etymology Dictionary © Douglas Harper and Dictionary.com
Sources of Knowledge or Truth
- Authority - statement of ideas by recognized experts or by those having direct experience
- Physical Senses - direct personal experience. The traditional five senses include: vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch. In biology, the number and extent of senses is debated - see appendix for more details.
- Reason - logical cognitive processes used to manipulate ideas
Deductive Reasoning - using a generally accepted ideas to form specific observations ("top down thinking")
Inductive Reasoning - using specific observations to form a generally accepted idea ("bottom up thinking")
Abductive Reasoning - testing a "best guess" to form more substantial hypotheses ("trial and error")
- Intuition - gaining knowledge without any apparent use of the physical senses
Rational Intuition - subconscious mental processes involving memories and unattended sensory information to solve problems (often while daydreaming, sleeping, or busy with an unrelated task)
Irrational Intuition - receiving information that cannot have come from rational intuition. This is viewed with skepticism yet is studied profusely due to its profound impact on individuals and communities (e.g., spiritual experiences or ESP)
Truth Theory
1. Truth-Related Philosophies - approaches to truth
- Idealism - Reality is a product of the mind, no external reality exists, objects of perception are actually ideas in the mind
- Realism - Reality is independent of the mind. Because reality is external to one's self: (1) there is only one version of truth, no separate truths exist for scientific and non-scientific ways of knowing; (2) we can perceive or discover part of the whole truth, but we cannot know by scientific means whether our knowledge is correct or complete in the ultimate sense; and (3) truth does not have to be perceived, understood, believed, or justified to still be true. Realism-related ideas:
- Materialism - nothing beyond matter and energy can be proven to exist. This proposition clearly defines the limits of science, though some further chose to deny any separate existence of mind, spirit, deity, or other transcendent (supernatural) entities or realities.
- Empiricism - knowledge must be supported experimentally with evidence based on the physical senses (experimental science)
- Rationalism - knowledge may be derived from reason independently of the senses (theoretical science)
- Phenominalism - there is no way to prove external reality exists (ignore idealism vs realism debate), so the focus should be on interpretation of sensory perceptions
- Relativism - an individual or society's world view is influenced by culture, personal experience, emotions, values, ethics, and memories -- "your understanding of reality is different from my understanding of reality"
2. Truth Theories - how to tell if an idea might be true
The following list of truth theories assist in determining whether any particular idea or schema is likely to be true. This list has been evolving in formal philosophy studies for thousands of years.
- Correspondence Theory - true ideas match (correspond) to external reality (accuracy)
- Coherence Theory - true ideas must be consistently true in all situations (precision)
- Perspective Theory - ideas are true from a certain point of view (relativism)
- Consensus Theory - ideas are more likely to be true when they are believed by the majority of experts
- Construction Theory - perception of true ideas is shaped (or even limited) by culture and social conditions (world view)
- Tradition Theory - ideas are more likely to be true when they have been accepted for many generations
- Pragmatism Theory - true ideas are verified by successful practical application, and they will eventually be accepted by the majority via rational and scientific inquiry (the "test of time" or "time will tell" approach)
- Pluralism Theory - as more of the above truth conditions are met by an idea, the higher is the degree of certainty that the idea is true