Donald Rumsfeld's Lithosphere: Known And The Atmosphere

During the first few weeks of class we’ve gone through various texts in order to better our understanding of human knowledge. We have talked about Christianity St. Matthew “The Sermon on the Mount”, Plato and “The Allegory of the Cave”, “The Four Idols” of Sir Francis Bacon, Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”, and even Carl Jung and “The Structure of the Psyche”. All these texts may have been written in different eras and different places, but they have one thing in common, and that is their understandings of human nature and knowledge, and how they demonstrate to us epistemology (how we know) and metaphysics (what human beings know).

Knowledge is “thinking and critical reflection, rather than reliance on the way things appear to us” (Internet Encyclopedia, n.d., para.

| The study of knowledge: What constitutes knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and whether knowledge is possible

The two chapters I choose to cover in this paper are chapter two and chapter seven. In my eyes it is probably the two extremes of the Jennifer Nagel’s book Knowledge. Skepticism and contextualism seem as if they are polar opposites, in once case you know absolutely nothing and can never know anything even the fact that you know nothing is unknown, and on the other hand depending on the context you are always right and can know anything if you look at it in the right light. I find this greatly intriguing that in the same discipline of epistemology one can seemly know nothing or know everything.

Epistemology or theory of knowledge is a branch of philosophy related to the scope and nature of knowledge. The subject focuses on examining the nature of knowledge, and how it relates to beliefs, justification, and truth. Epistemology contract with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims. “Epistemology is the philosophical investigation into this question: What can we know? The question, at first, seems pretty simple: It seems pretty obvious that I know that 3+5+8, that the sun will rise tomorrow and that my chances of winning the lottery aren’t very good. I also know

To truly think about knowledge brings about some interesting thought. When asked to think about knowledge, most individuals concern themselves solely with what they know such as certain subjects, theories or facts. In the grand scheme of things, this way of thought is seemingly only minute or even superficial. As human beings, we do not always considered how we come to know what we know. We often place are acquisition of knowledge lower in a taxonomy of importance. All too often, individuals take knowledge and its power for granted. However, individuals like René Descartes and his work, The Meditations, provide a deep exploration of knowledge and all its facets. For every individual or scholar this work is very important in that it causes

Epistemology is “the study or theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity” (Merriam-Webster). This branch tends to answer questions such as: how do

Knowledge is perhaps the most underrated natural resource in our universe. Knowledge is renewable and everlasting. Every atom that surrounds us is full of information and truth. This immense amount of knowledge, however, can come with pain. The truth can be blinding and frightening.

With this lesson, we begin a new unit on epistemology, which is the philosophical study of knowledge claims. In this first lesson on epistemology, we begin by examining the question “What do we mean when we say we know something?” What exactly is knowledge? We will begin with a presentation that introduces the traditional definition of knowledge. Wood then discusses some of the basic issues raised in the study of epistemology and then presents an approach to epistemology that focuses on obtaining the intellectual virtues, a point we will elaborate on in the next lesson.

Based on the article of Epistemology for Dummies by Cary Cook on 2008, there is several complicated theory in epistemology that I have understand in such a simplest theory of understanding them. Then, based on this article I manage to relate it with the theory that I have learned in class.

Knowledge is typically of a mind-independent reality. It is expressed in a public language, it contains true propositions — these propositions are true because they accurately represent that reality — and knowledge is arrived at by applying, and is subject to, constraints of rationality and logic. The merits and demerits of theories are largely a matter of meeting or failing to meet the criteria implicit in this conception. (2)

Empiricism- knowledge is obtained through experience only. Theorist argue that we are born a blank slate and via our five senses we gain information and assessment and expanding our knowledge base.

Merriam-Webster defines epistemology as “the study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge.” As applied to intelligence, the application of epistemology becomes highly important when analysts are making judgements while assessing information that is not fully factual. Analysts work with information that can be ambiguous, deceptive, conflicting, and even absent; yet, they are required to produce intelligence products that are reliable enough for policymakers to act upon and make decisions. In these situations, the analyst must make good use of epistemology to ensure that the intelligence judgements are reliable. Regarding intelligence analysis, there are four epistemologies, or “ways of knowing”, that are used: authority, habit of thought, rationalism, and empiricism. Science is a fifth epistemology that combines attributes of rationalism and empiricism. An analyst must know which epistemology he or she used to understand the errors that may be made and the self-correcting mechanisms needed to improve reliability.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason. There two ways of gaining knowledge which are direct observation and reflection. Observation is a fundamental way of finding out about the world around us. The key elements of learning through observation are seeing and listening attentively to whatsoever one is observing. Reflection is replicating what one sees and listens while observing. It involves describing everything you can see out of your window. Reflection involves linking a current experience to previous learning’s as reflecting on experiences encourages insight and complex learning. We foster our own growth when we control our learning, so some

Between the regions of opinion and knowledge there exists a thick line of separation. On the side of the line opposite opinion is true knowledge, a knowledge that is not complete with awareness of individual objects but extends beyond the visible realm to explore the relationships between objects, the intelligible realm. Though not all people need to cross over this dividing line, it is important that some people do, especially some members of the guardian class that will be among the candidates for future positions of leadership. The pursuit of knowledge is of greatest importance for