Reducing Knowledge by Acquisition to Presential Knowledge and Treatment of Question of Truth

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor and a faculty member of Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute.

Abstract

Given knowledge is in fact the presence of the known in itself before the knower, it must be said that every sort of knowledge is in fact presential and thus all branches of the knowledge by acquisition are reduced to knowledge by presence. This becomes further clear after considering the theory of union of the intellect with the intelligible. Thus instead of defining acquired and presential knowledge as knowledge with or without intermediary, we can define knowledge by presence as knowledge that forms the sole criterion for its being known by its knower and knowledge by acquisition as knowledge that in addition to having been the criterion of being known by its knower constitutes something else for its knower. Thus when a knower encounters an object, he learns about it in the beginning without any intermediary and then finds in himself a state similar to that of a mirror through which he acquires knowledge by acquisition. The said state is the result of the knower’s undergoing a substantial movement and his attaining perfection. Given this account, one can reduce basic concepts to knowledge by presence. Primary assents such as the principle of non-contradiction can also be obtained from knowledge by presence. Thus we can, in this way, solve the problem of truth which is the most basic problem in epistemology and find a sure way for gaining true knowledge.

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History

  • Receive Date: 23 February 2016
  • Revise Date: 07 May 2016
  • Accept Date: 11 May 2016

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