By: Samuel T Clifford

What are the sources of our beliefs and knowledge? There are four main philosophical views on how we can know. Those four are: Authoritarianism, Subjectivism, Rationalism, and Empiricism. Each of these must be understood and evaluated in order to determine and answer the question, how can we know?

 

1. Authoritarianism

 

This view states that our source of knowledge is the testimony of others. It is true that humans begin learning by listening to their family, and then their teachers, and other resources such as books and the internet. However, while the testimony of others is useful, it cannot be the sole source of knowledge. This is because often authorities are in conflict. Some authorities may appeal to a divine power, and other authorities will claim said divine power doesn’t exist. Hence, why authoritarianism by itself cannot justify our knowledge.

 

2. Subjectivism

 

Subjectivism states that a person has some kind of direct contact with what is known. However, this contact is conceived of differently by different philosophers. Subjectivism is correct as one feels intuitively that the claim of direct access to the known is intrinsically right. However, it still cannot be the justification of our beliefs alone. Firstly, subjectivism usually causes someone to end up in his own world created by his consciousness. This leads to radically different conceptions of the world. Secondly, Subjectivism has difficulty explaining how any of our beliefs can be wrong. 

3. Rationalism

 

In western philosophy, Rationalism is the view that reason is the chief source and test of knowledge. Rationalists hold that reality has an inherently logical structure and that there are certain rational principles, especially in logic and mathematics, that are so fundamental that they cannot be denied. Infact, most rationalists adopt a methodology that is modeled after mathematics. From that starting point, rationalists apply deductive techniques as they believe they can deduce the whole of reality. Rationalism is correct in stating that reason is a negative test for the justification of any belief. No belief that is contrary to reason can be justified or true. Also, the mind, as rationalists conclude, does play an important function in the knowing process. However, it has been argued by various philosophers that an apodictic starting point, which is what rationalism requires, can never be the basis for a theory of knowledge since it must be either a tautology or incapable of elaboration by deductive techniques. A tautological statement, for example, is “1+1+2” or “A is A.” While these statements are true, they are not informative about the world. If this is so, then rationalism can never be the basis for empirical knowledge. 

4. Empiricism

 

This is the view that all concepts derive from sensory experience. This doesn’t mean that all knowledge is immediately dependent on experience, but it is ultimately derived from experience. Empiricist John Locke argued that ideas are either directly derived from sensation or through reflection on the ideas of sensation. Some Philosophers have argued against empiricism as the sole source of knowledge as not all concepts can be derived from experience. For example, universals (general terms or characteristics such as “man” and “color,” distinguished from “Socrates” or “green”) are impossible without a conceptual element. Thus, in order for empiricism to work fully, it must combine with a conceptual element. Another argument used against empiricism is that our senses aren’t reliable. Are our senses reliable? Can we rely on our vision, touch, smell, etc. to show what's real and what’s not real? To some, this question may seem absurd. However, it is true that sometimes our senses deceive us. For example, when one puts a stick in water, our vision will tell us that the stick is bent, but when it’s taken out of water, the stick is straight. Who is to say that the stick isn’t actually bent and that our vision deceives us when the stick is out of water. Why do we give priority to one perception over another perception? Another example, this time with touch, is when one puts one hand in hot water and the other in cold, if one then takes both the cold and hot hand and puts it in lukewarm water, our sense of touch will tell us that, for the cold hand, that the lukewarm water is hot, and that, for the hot hand, the lukewarm water is cold. Once again, our senses can deceive us. 

Conclusion 

 

The question, “how can we know?” can not be answered by just one method. Instead, each of these methods are sources of knowledge that can be applied to specific kinds of knowledge. The testimony of others (authoritarianism) gives us knowledge of the past. Subjectivism, or our intuition, gives the ground for our sense of beauty, or taste, as well as ethics. Reason teaches us that beliefs that are contradictory cannot possibly be justified . Reason also is the source for mathematics, logic, and universals. Finally, Empiricism, or our experience, gives us knowledge of the external world.