DEF.OFknow

file Def.of.know 12:45 pm October 20, 1994 4:19 pm Jan 23, 1989/10:10 am Feb 8, 1992

THE DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE

Clear definitions of objects of study are not a necessary for a science. It seems that no science has ever started out with the definition of its object of study being the same as what it is when the subject is fully understood. No science is yet fully understood. The science of epistemology is the same. There is no clear cut definition of what knowledge is. And that is the object of epistemology's study. What the science of epistemology is based on is skepticism. As discussed before there is nothing that can be known for certain but there is a great deal of variety if what we call knowledge. A science that studies knowledge is critically important because no other field can bring all the other areas of science together like epistemology. Questions that can be asked about knowledge are extremely important. For instance, how does knowledge between sciences differ and how are they the same. For the purposes of epistemology any area of study can produce knowledge so must be included in the areas that epistemology studies. So questions like how can knowledge about a story relate to knowledge about an animal can be studied. Immanuel Kant realized that the objects of our perception, which are supposed to be the basis of science are affected by mans own mental nature. The brain interprets sense perception before we have a chance to experience raw information. Raw sense perception would be very difficult to understand with out the mind making sense of it. The eye for instance, could report that the rod at position x,y was stimulated for a certain frequency for a certain period of time. This type of processing does not give use the same kind of understanding that seeing a flower does. Information processing happens before we understand what is happening to our senses. Different people, different animals, and different types of alien life forms, all process information differently. These differences in processing of the information from the senses all effect how knowledge is developed. It is possible to have more ways than one to look at the structure of knowledge.

Our brains process the sense data that we receive. It produces a reality for us. It tell us what we can and can not do. It tells us how to achieve the goals that we want. We have learned the value of learning but we have limits to learning the brain of most people can only learn so much over a certain period of time and what we learn must be in relation to how the brain functions. Different peoples brains function differently so that they can do some things better than others. The brain also is what motivates us to do things. Our motivation to do things change as we get older and change. We are directed to do things because of the way the brain processes the information that we receive through our senses. How does all this apply to solving problems? We have a limited perspective and limited abilities. Our brains have developed well to solve certain types of problems but other types we have very little ability with. We have a tendency to believe that we can solve any problem but to do so we may have to modify the processor to do it the processor being us or a computer like device. We are processors of sense data information. Our genes determine the structure and ability to function of the brain. Certain types of processing the brain can do better than others. This is based on the genes and how well the genes get to express themselves. The things that would keep the brain from fully expressing itself would be diet and disease and sensual stimulation --- the environment. If our gene expressed in the DNA were different then the body and brain could be different. With a different brain structure we would be able to do other types of things better and some worse. We could be able to visualize the different problems differently and to solve them differently. Some times these different solutions will produce better solutions. This process of the different brains producing a different mentapaths that look at the world differently lead to different epistemologies. Different mentapaths will have different theories of knowledge i.e., epistemologies. Not one theory of epistemology is correct for all situations and problems. To be a science of epistemology we have to have theories that deal with all theories of epistemology which is quite a trick considering that the epistemologists will have there own epistemology and be interpreting other mentapaths epistemology through it. What is a mentapaths epistemology? It is a mentapaths belief system. It is the reasons that a person believes what he does. For instance, If a person is religious he believes that his religion is true and in fact knowledge. Why is his belief system such? Because of the way his brain is and how it processes sense information. If a religious person is asked if he believes in god he usually will say yes but his conception of god does not need to be the same as another persons concept. What each person does is have sensual information (the question "do you believe in god?") processes it (thinks about it) and the outcome; output is the answer "yes I believe in god." Why does this person say this? First he is processing sensual information he is solving a problem. He could have any number of solutions including doing and saying nothing. He may lie about it. He may answer before he thinks about it, like a habitual response. This person's system of knowledge is related to how he processes information. An epistemology is not a simple thing. One major epistemological question is how do we come to know something. Justified true belief is what is knowledge by some definitions. This definition ties together three concepts. First, that it is true. Second, that someone believes it, and third, that person has good logical reasons to believe it. What is the point? Are the limits that we perceive in the universe really the universe's, or are there no limits to what the universe can do and the limits reside within us? If we could process the information correctly we could do anything. We already know that the more we know, and the better that we can process that information, the more that we can do. What is the limits to this process. Will there come a time that we can not keep gaining power through knowledge? This would be the time that we would know everything and not be able to do everything. If there is a god then he is supposed to be omnipotent and omniscient which he knows every thing and can do everything. Where does this power come from --- knowing everything? If you know everything you know where to apply the real power that we have. The more knowledge we have, the smaller real power that we need to do something, or at least this is what we have found so far.

Lets consider the problem of moving a mountain. First we have to be advanced enough to understand the concept of moving a mountain. The cave man was advanced enough to understand moving a mountain. The earliest cave man would have to have scraped the dirt with his fingernails and moved one hand full at a time. Latter he would have invented a back pack made of animal hides to carry the dirt, and a rock to loosen the dirt. This process would have continued with better and better loaders and better and better haulers. He would develop animals and wagons scoops and plows and hammers to break the rock. Depending on the size of the mountain it would take him years to do the job. He then might try to get others to help him. Today we have more knowledge and can blow the mountain up with a hydrogen bomb. Then we can move it many ways, like with giant earth moving machinery. Is there another step that would make it even easier, like using robots to do all the work and all we have to do is push a button to start the process? What happens if we don't even need to push the button? We can communicate through radio connected directly to the brain. Since this is a matter of increasing knowledge, what if we knew that an advanced civilization was coming by in one of there spaceships and all we would need to do for them to more the mountain in a few seconds was to communicate the right words at the right time to them. Then there is another stage where we are the advanced civilization that can move the mountain ourselves if a few seconds. There is still another stage where things are as easy to do as if we were magic with all power. We do not need to move the mountain because it was never there to begin with.