Epistemology, the theory of knowledge, was brought under Kant's magnifying glass in the late 1700's with his critique to the scientific revolution of the 17th century. He had a revolutionary approach to questions of knowledge, and his heritage cannot be neglected.
But what questions and conclusions did Kant (and before him, Plato) bring me?
1. As an (at least semi) cultivated person, I have realized that my perception of the world is not an established truth to anyone but myself. My way of approaching others and objects around me is coloured by my perceptions and subjective sense-making of the world.
2. By studying Kant I have come to the conclusion that perhaps a life will be easier to lead if one does not constantly question his or her own sensory-, empirical- and metaphysical perceptions.
3. Yet, by studying and reflecting on Kant I have also come to the conclusion that mankind has to question its perceptions of truth in order to evolve. If I were to loose myself to the world as I (and those around me) have accepted and organized it, I might close my mind to divergent thoughts or new perspectives.
4. But yet again, how can I ever happily live my own life if I, by criticizing or reflecting on it too much, contribute to the breakdown of the organization it constitutes of?
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In the seminar, I brought the above questions into the discussion of both my small group and to the classroom presentation of it. I connected my thoughts on happiness/sanity vs mental instability to what other groups brought up from their discussions (e.g. media images) and widened my own understanding of the phenomena.
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In the lecture, I further understood the functions of our faculties of knowledge and how we cannot understand anything beyond them. Kant's saying that "perception without conception is blind, conception without perception is empty" awoke a thought in my mind concerning societal norms, self-perception and the increased influence of media.
If my senses of sight and hearing experience something as normative, my mind may accept it as a truth. Hence, my self-perception is coloured by a conception that was not created by my own independent mind, but brought to me by society ( and media in particular) pushing it on me. Examples of this could be "truths" about what a perfect body looks like.
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By reading Kant and Plato, I developed an interest in epistemology and investigated my own understanding of truth. Slightly impractical, I have (just like Kant) come to the conclusion that everything in the world most likely is perception, and thus that nothing will ever be able to be considered a true fact or a definite, universally correct answer. Because, how can anything be objectively established when we are all subjective beings? Even with evolved methods and rules of conduct to attain objectivity, exceeding our human limitations seems hard.
I am looking forward to future study themes and acknowledge the fact that I may need to revise the above mentioned conclusion to reach academic success. It is easier to pass exams if you accept that there are correct answers!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteLooks like philosophy provoked quite a serious questions, especially
2 and 4, it took some time for me to think about them as well even though we study in different groups. IMHO, as a human beings, we do not need to question our abilities to perceive the world but rather to be aware of such a "weakness" as "judgemental thinking" and, therefore, try to eliminate it's impact on our lives. How? On the one hand, being open to new ideas even if they clash with our own concrete "picture", on the other hand - always bear in mind that our opinion is not the ultimate truth. Of course, it's easier said than done but there is always a room for improvements :)
Hej,
ReplyDeleteThis has been very interesting to read, you created your own opinion over the different courses.
While I agree on most of the point you are presenting here, there are a few different point of view here and there.
Your question number 4 seems a bit pessimistic. Being aware of the wrong doing is the first step to put things in order. If we ever need a goal in our lives, may the search of the pure knowledge, truth be the one. Moreover, once you notice what you are subjective to, what you are not objective about, it will open a new perception, a new way of thinking... And Who knows... Might even make you happily ever after !
The truth is true until proven otherwise !
Hi! I enjoyed reading your reflection because you used the insights we have gained from Plato's and Kant’s theories in an interesting way, drawing some interesting conclusions as well as stating relevant questions. You did not put focus on what we have learned but rather how these theories have affected you and our contemporary society. A thought that crossed my mind when reading your number 3 reflection in your list was if the great influential power that big technology and media companies like Google and Facebook have today put boundaries on our perceptions of truth. I think there is a risk that we end up in a “filter bubble”, where all the information we get is provided to us through algorithms that is based on the things we like and that corresponds to our political, cultural and social interests. Maybe it would restrict our perceptions of truth since it would restrict our sources of information?
ReplyDeleteYour conclusions of Kant are very interesting to read, as they quite clearly reflect 'your truth'. And I have to agree with your view on the already pre-coloured media input. With the high pace of social media more and more untrue statements are being spread and accepted even if there is an enormous number of even scientific statements contradicting the untrue statement. See for example the whole discussion about Vaccines causing autism.
ReplyDeleteWith that example though I think one has to constantly criticise and reflect on any "knowledge" that is brought before us. Otherwise we, as a society, will stere into a web of lies and deception.
First of all thank you for a great text! I really admire how you connected texts to your own world and experiences. I believe it would have been easier for me to understand it if I would have thought of real life examples rather than sticking up with the text so much. Secondly, like you, only after lecture I deeper understood the function of Kant's faculties of knowledge and that our self perception is gained through conceptions implied by society or media. Lastly, I want to comment your question number four and in contrast say that I believe it is inevitable to contemplate about such things, as it might not bring happiness to life, but clarity and understanding.
ReplyDeleteYou are having a great talent in expressing yourself. The thoughts that you are beginning your post with, the applying of the perception of knowledge to yourself, are really interesting. I didn't think about that until now. It's a good perspective on life that it's not necessary to question our own perceptions and our own world picture all the time, but sometimes we have to do that and challenge ourselves to give us the opportunity to develop and grow mentally. Somehow I think that our view on the world as we know it can be changed we quickly nowadays, because we are exposed to much information through digital media. The question is if this exposure makes us question our own perception even more of if we get immune to it?
ReplyDeleteI like how you structure your reasoning by clearly dividing your different approaches. It makes your reasoning easy to follow and in some sense reminded me of the teleological arguing for god’s existence, even though your arguments clearly raise standpoints that contrast each other. In your text, you reflect whether happiness is the ultimate goal. If I contribute to the breakdown of the organization my life constitutes of, do you think it possible that something even better might arise from the ashes? What if we change our perspective into something else rather than happiness being the ultimate goal, such as transcending the world to a better place? Is it even possible to find out what a better place is, since we perceive the world subjectively?
ReplyDeleteYour initial reasoning also made me think about how we value different kinds of knowledge in different social settings. For examples it is considered more valuable as a master’s student to have strong reasoning and analytical skills, and the ability to apply the theories as you have done in your text, rather than just memorizing facts.
I think you’ve come to very correct conclusions (my subjective opinion;). When I read your paragraph about the “truths” society and the media are shoving down our throats (right before I came to the last sentence), I too thought about the concept of the “perfect” body.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago a friend of mine worked in an advertising agency here in Stockholm. They were supposed to make an ad for some fashion brand and the model hired for the photo shoot was Naomi Campbell. However, the photo editor only liked 1/3 of Naomi’s body, so 2 other models had to be photographed for the advert – each replaced an undesirable 1/3 of Campbell’s body. Of course, the end result was so well Photoshopped that nobody could tell only 1/3 of the person on the advert was Naomi Campbell. I think this is a great example of how the media create and force on society a fake reality that we have to conform to in order to be happy. But it is also a great reminder that we should not give in to these media manipulations. Even Naomi Campbell has her flaws :)
Thank you for well-structured and thorough posts on this theme! Both of them gave an excellent insight on your understanding of the theme and even provoked some follow-up questions. As it turned out, knowledge is not a simple concept to define and it is closely tied to concepts such as objectivity, generalizations, influences of society, media, culture etc. One could say it is not even important to reach a two-sentence definition for the word, but just accept the extend of it and be prepared to question it – just like you did.
ReplyDeleteDespite of the rather complex terms of Kant and Plato you managed to relate the subject to yourself and consider it from your perspective. There were even a few important connections found between the industry and ancient philosophers, even though they had no clue of what we perceive as media industry today. Kant's and Plato's production is timeless, understandable and relevant even after all this time – maybe this tells something about the history of a man kind, as well? Ways of interpreting Kant and Plato has changed over years as well as the value given to their thoughts, but they are anyway still worth of discussing today.