If you ask me what ‘Knowledge’ I would reply ‘I do not know’. For each it implies something drastically different. Having studied PHILOSOPHY at the St Stephen’s College New Delhi under the tutelage great philosopher teachers like Prof. R.K Gupta, Prof. Ashok Vohra, Prof. Vijay Thanka, I can at most venture to state what the greatest minds of the world have stated about ‘Knowledge’.
Socrates:
Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy believed that true knowledge begins with the admittance of ignorance. He said, “I know that I know nothing.” Through dialogue and questions, he believed that one could get closer to the truth.
Plato:
Plato, born Aristocles (427 – 348 BC), was an ancient Greek philosopher considered as the foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. Plato, pupil of Socrates, believed that knowledge comes from the world of ideas and ideals. In his greatest treatise ‘The Republic’, he used the allegory of the cave to explain how the physical world is merely a shadow of the real world that can be accessed by philosophical reasoning.
Aristotle:
Aristotle (384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. Aristotle, student of Plato, believed that knowledge came from sensory experience and observation. He believed the human mind could comprehend the world by compiling and analysing data.
Rene Descartes:
René Descartes. René Descartes (31st March,1596 – 11th February,1650) the famous French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Descartes, said the famous phrase in his book ‘Meditations’: “I think, then I exist.” He believed that thought and doubt are the basis of true knowledge. For him, reason is the basic tool for attaining knowledge.
Immanuel Kant:
Immanuel Kant (22nd April,1724 – 12th February,1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Kant tried to balance reason and experience. He believed that knowledge arises from the mind’s interaction with the physical world and that we have limits to what we can know. He said there are things the human mind cannot fully comprehend, which he described as “the thing itself.”
John Locke:
John Locke (29th August,1632 – 28th October,1704) was an English philosopher and physician, regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and known as the “father of liberalism” He believed that the human mind is like a blank slate (tabula rasa). Tabula rasa is the idea of individuals being born empty of any built-in mental content, so that all knowledge comes from later perceptions or sensory experiences.
David Hume:
David Hume (7th May,1711 – 25th August,1776) was a Scottish philosopher and economist best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Hume doubted the possibility of achieving absolute and true knowledge. He believed that our knowledge is based on experience and habit, and that the mind cannot attain any knowledge with absolute certainty.
What is Knowledge?
I state the same answer that I gave above…I am at a loss to define what knowledge is! The 20th century philosophers went a step ahead to state that knowledge is what is useful for you. I believe that knowledge comes from reason, experience, understanding, science and much more. But the above view points of the all-time greats expanded the horizons of my thinking.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
