Sensations and memory

[OhReally]

I am interested in this topic. 

 

 

I am interested in this topic as well because the truth or falsehood of the claims below is vitally important to me.

 

C:  All knowledge is revealed by God.

 

C:  All knowledge is whatever I or others want it to be.

 

C:  All knowledge is reached either by perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on perceptual observation.

 

I am curious about why you are interested in the topic of sensation, perception and memory.  Would you care to answer?

[Harrison Danneskjold]

C:  All knowledge is revealed by God.

If that were true, one wonders how God could ever have come to know anything.  "It's true because I say so- I say so because I say so"?

Aside from that, "revealed by God" how?  If it's revealed through the scriptures or the clergy then knowledge is gained by learning it from other people (which still leaves the question of how they gained it).

Intrinsicism would be plausible in a world where everybody agreed about everything.  But the fact is that some people see things differently- that is, one person may draw completely different conclusions than another would, from the same information.  Which leads us to. . .

C:  All knowledge is whatever I or others want it to be.

There is only one truth; that's central to the entire concept.

If there could be multiple, even mutually-exclusive and contradictory truths, then no knowledge of any sort would be possible to anyone.  Not "knowledge" which would resemble any part of the human mind.

So the fact that multiple people can hold multiple, mutually-exclusive desires, while there can only be one truth, refutes subjectivism.  It's that simple.

 

C:  All knowledge is reached either by perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on perceptual observation.

This describes the methodology of every great scientist, mathematician, inventor, et cetera, whenever they have made any sort of significant breakthrough.

 

The only real question is whether you would categorize Einstein or Galileo as essentially the same as, or different from, Emperor Constantine or Martin Luther.  If different then it logically follows that the latter (mystical revelation, as well as every variety of subjectivist gibberish) is not actually knowledge.

If the same then you've got yourself a problem to solve.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Harrison Danneskjold