FTI: Critical Thinking Workshop: On Knowledge

What is the purpose of all these critical thinking skills? Its to see the truth more clearly so we can make better decisions. On this day we will talk about acquisition of two types of knowledge:

1. Objective truths - Truths about the universe we operate in - since objective reality doesn’t change for anyone, its better to understand it clearly. Seeing the world more clearly is the acquisition of objective knowledge. For example, earth is an oblate spheroid.
2. Subjective truths - These are truths other sentient beings have decided are true for them, which don’t conflict with objective reality. For example, I like chocolate cake.

Once we have a solid foundation of understanding both objective and subjective truths clearly, we can use this clear understanding (right understanding in Buddhism) to understand what are the right actions to take in any given scenario, which is what we’ll talk about in the next session.

Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of knowledge, the processes through which we acquire knowledge, and the extent to which a subject or entity can know something. It seeks to answer questions like: What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? What do people know? How do we know what we know?
Key topics in epistemology include:

• Justification: Epistemology studies the justification of beliefs, propositions, and statements. It explores what makes justified beliefs justified.
• Skepticism: This involves questioning whether knowledge can be said to exist at all and challenges the assumptions about the certainty of knowledge.
• Rationalism and Empiricism: These are two broad approaches in epistemology. Rationalism asserts that knowledge is gained primarily through reason and logical thought, whereas empiricism asserts that knowledge is gained primarily through sensory experience or observation.
• Belief and Truth: Epistemologists often debate the relationship between belief and truth. Traditional epistemology often defines knowledge as justified true belief, but there are many debates and discussions about whether and how truth and belief relate to each other.
• The Limits of Knowledge: Epistemology also explores questions about the limits of our knowledge: Are there things we cannot know? If so, what are they?

Epistemology is a foundational area of philosophy and has important implications for many other areas, including science, religion, ethics, and political theory, among others.

Format: Lecture and discussion
Note: social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.
Host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (PlateRate.com is his company). His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.
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