It's Epistemology Time

Though the title sounds scary, it's really not. Today's blog post is asking about how we know what we know, and how this affects our bias toward knowledge. We're going to take a brief look at the two most modern thought processes and how they affect our knowing in the current world.

First, modern philosophy. Modern philosophy privileges ontology. There are two main schools of thought that occur in modern philosophy. Rationalism believes the mind is the source of reason, and as such the thinking mind is the most certain knowledge of our own and others' existence. (Notable rationalists include Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza). Their appeal to mind works with metaphysics to think about the transcendentals, (God, beauty, truth, etc). Rationalist philosophy seeks one specific way the world works. Everything is ordered because reason is ordered and feelings and sentiment are dismissed as processes which guide people away from transcendentals.
Empiricist philosophy is different in that it seeks to use experience as a system. However, it utilizes experience to build singular theories about the universe. Experience also has a limited definition, in that experience which is privileged does not include feelings, but mostly includes trial and error propositions. Empiricism values thought and differentiates it from feeling. A notable example of how experience is used is the problem Hume discusses about a cue hitting a pool ball which hits other pool balls. Hume says that without experimentation it is not certain that the cue ball will hit and cause the other pool balls to move. (This is in response to John Locke, who says that there is certain a priori knowledge that certain things that will always happen based on reason). These differences between rationalism and empiricism show the conversation in Enlightenment thought. Reason is differentiated from trial and error, and feelings/sentiment are eliminated from all thought so as to provide for objective reasonable analysis.

Postmodern philosophy takes this conversation seriously. It engages modern philosophy and examines metaphysics to look at being. However, postmodern philosophy questions transcendentals and the appeal to objective reason. Postmodern philosophy examines the self as interacting the world, affected by history, objects, and other people in living life. All parts of experience are examined: thinking, feeling, interacting. In examining interaction, absolutes are questioned as being conditioned by historical circumstances and people's feelings and biases which are not admitted in modern philosophy.

Why this examination matters? Our world functions in a heavily "modern" mindset. Many people believe there is one specific answer to all of life's questions, and our media outlets all have specific ideas on what they think is right. Our religions for the most part also function in this one way mentality, and use different strands of metaphysics to justify their claims. However, this also is a significant cause of conflict in our current world. Many people claim to have one answer, and when these communities come into conflict, they cause issues and harm the common good. These issues include polarization and judgment just to name a couple. The strength in the modern position is that its metaphysics is unitive. It unites all reality into a coherent whole.

Postmodern philosophy is something which challenges this notion of building community and seeks to eliminate metaphysics as something which is only a unitive thing. It dislikes metaphysics because of its tendency to focus on absolute transcendentals. The strength in the postmodern position is that it enables people to listen to the other. However, the deconstruction which occurs in postmodernism makes it unclear for some whether anything is true. Therefore, when postmodernism enters the discourse it's troubling for many because it is unclear whether anything is true. This knowledge threatens community building as we know as people who build community on ideology are questioned about their feelings and intention.

And what we need to learn from both perspectives? In the end, love is the centering force that guides all human life. Though love looks different for the different people we encounter, when we see and perceive the existence of others, we acknowledge their status as created like we are. I use these ideas to build a philosophy centered on love and compassion. Others think I would say too much to propose a postmodern ethic centered on love and charity, but that's part of the fun of discussion and discussing knowledge.

Aristocrates