Understanding Philosophical Knowledge: Characteristics & Methods
5. Philosophical Knowledge
Philosophy, originating in the 6th century, developed due to various historical conditions. Initially, it addressed human suffering. Secondly, it considered entertainment options, aiming to understand objects through reflection. Philosophy also created conditions for admiration, focusing on socio-political texts: relationships with other cultures, changes in social organization, and the use of money.
Characteristics of Philosophical Knowledge
1 Reasonable Knowledge
Philosophical knowledge is, in essence, reflective. It emphasizes a critical attitude and logical reasoning.
2 Rooted Knowledge
Philosophy is considered ‘errotikoak’ knowledge, indicating its focus on the roots of objective reality. It seeks to understand the fundamental nature of things, acknowledging the limitations of expressing the entirety of reality.
3 Historical Knowledge
Philosophical knowledge must always be dynamic and non-conformist. It continuously seeks to find the underlying causes of phenomena.
4 Universal Knowledge
Philosophical knowledge strives for universality, encompassing the full reality. While scientific knowledge often specializes, philosophy aims to unite the sciences.
5 Profane Knowledge
Philosophy questions the sacred to express it, but it does not seek worship.
6 Normative Knowledge
It examines the rules that a community uses to guide life, exploring the criteria that can be extracted from these rules.
Philosophical Methods
1 Traditional Methods: Experience and Reasoning
Philosophy employs empirical and rational methods. These methods are based on understandable and sensitive levels of reality. Physical experience initiates the process, followed by the construction of reality through reasoning, determining the dynamism of competing objectives.
2 Empiricism
Empiricism values experience and sensory knowledge as the origin of all understanding. It posits that all ideas originate from feelings, thus employing the inductive method.
3 Rationalism
Rationalism prioritizes reason for understanding. It acknowledges the senses but emphasizes reasoning as the ultimate source of certainty. This method utilizes both induction and deduction, exemplified by modern models like Leibniz.
4 Transcendental Methods
Developed by Immanuel Kant in the 18th century, this method indicates how objects are obtained through human knowledge. Kant argued that our knowledge shapes objects, as we have a priori knowledge. The subject is transcendental because it knows the reality of its subject. Sensitivity has a priori forms of space and time.