Published on August 11, 2024 8:55 AM GMT
What is knowledge? How can an idea in a mind/brain represent something outside that mind/brain? How do images on a retina create the idea of a tree? When I see a tree, how do I recognize it as a “tree”? What is the abstract concept “tree”? How does this abstract concept relate to actual trees, and to my ideas of specific trees?
Those are all questions that a theory of knowledge should answer. This essay considers various theories of knowledge, and whether they can answer those questions.
In ordinary life, people take knowledge for granted. When they see a tree, they do not ponder how they know that the tree exists, or what the concept “tree” is. They just walk around the tree, or duck under its branches, and carry on with their lives. They leave those questions “to the philosophers” (and to the psychologists).
But if we want to understand ourselves, then we cannot take those questions for granted. (see the rest of the post in the link)
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