Philosophy.

EPISTEMOLOGY

Epistemology is the study of the valid forms of knowledge. It comes from the Greek "episteme" which means knowledge. It is sometimes called "theory of knowledge". It must be noted that epistemology as a distinct branch of philosophy is of recent origin. Usually Descartes is considered the first philosopher to seriously work in epistemology. The validity of knowledge was more or less taken for granted by previous philosophers. It was only when Descartes began to systematically doubt the veracity of knowledge that problems of knowledge became apparent.

The problems considered in epistemology are:

• Is genuine knowledge attainable at all? Is the skeptic right?
• What are the limits of knowledge?
• From what faculties of the mind does knowledge originate?
• Which method should be used to obtain valid knowledge?
• How do you justify a priori statements?
• Where is the boundary between the subjective and objective factors?
• What is the nature of truth?

SKEPTICISM
This is the view that questions whether valid or reliable knowledge is ever attainable by a human being. Some skeptics stated that nothing can be known. Other skeptics stated that they did not know whether knowledge was possible; they suspended judgment on the issue. Some of the common examples used by skeptics are the illusions and deceptions of our senses. Others point to the complexity of any experience and ask how you can know what is the essence or real nature of the things you are experiencing.

 RATIONALISM
This is the view that valid knowledge comes only through the mind. Rationalists hold that the mind knows truths that were not placed there by sensory experience. There are innate ideas which you can know independent of your sensory experience. Mathematics and geometry are examples of abstract truths which are known with certainty, even though the physical illustrations of these truths may vary. An early example was the Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 B.C.), who stated that ideas have an existence independent of human minds. These independently-existing ideas are the only reality in the universe since they are absolute and unchanging. Valid knowledge comes then when the mind grasps these ideas. Another famous philosopher was the Frenchman Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who went through a period of skepticism in his life and then came to the conclusion that only ideas which were clear and distinct to the mind represented valid knowledge. Other well-known rationalist philosophers of this era were Spinoza (1632-1677) a Dutchman, whose philosophical writings were arranged like a geometry book, with axioms and postulates used to prove every part of his philosophy, and Leibniz (1646-1716), a German philosopher who proposed a system of symbolic calculations along with his view that the world was rationally ordered with a "pre-established harmony."
 EMPIRICISM
This is the view that valid knowledge comes only through the five senses. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) held the view that whatever was in the mind was first in the senses. It was a group of philosophers who came after the rationalist Descartes who made the greatest contributions to empiricism. John Locke (1632-1714) was an English philosopher who compared the mind to a blank tablet. When a person is born they know nothing. As they go through life, the experiences they have with their five senses write information on the tablet of their mind. Locke held a representational view of knowledge. Ideas in our mind are representatives of the things in the real world. If they accurately represent these things we can say we have valid knowledge. However only some of the qualities or characteristics in objects were objective: these were size, shape and weight. Other qualities of objects were subjective, that is, they are created by our individual mind: these subjective or secondary qualities are smell, taste, texture, color and sound. The empiricist philosopher after Locke was George Berkeley (1685-1753) an Irishman, who carried Locke's empiricism even further by stating that the qualities of objects which Locke said were objective were really subjective. This meant that all perceptions were subjective and led to Berkeley's view that "esse est percipi" which means "to be is to be perceived". Something can exist only if it is being perceived by someone. The last famous empiricist is David Hume (1711-1776) a Scottish philosopher. Hume applied empiricism to many favorite ideas, with devastating results. For example, he denied causality. He stated that while we perceive a physical happening such as a ball being thrown and then another physical happening such as that ball striking another ball we never at any time perceive the "cause" of the event. For Hume the term "cause" was an empty word which we use only out of habit.
 KANT
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German philosopher who attempted to combine rationalism and empiricism. It is called the "form and matter" epistemology. A statue can have a form such as Abraham Lincoln and a matter such as marble; you need both a form and a matter to have a statue. So in knowledge you need a form, which are categories of the mind, and matter which are the data of sensations. You need both of these to have knowledge. It is similar to wearing rose-colored glasses. You have visual sensations and they are colored by the glasses. Of course with the mind you cannot take of your glasses.

 W.V.O. QUINE
Quine is a contemporary philosopher who argued that the sharp distinction between analytic truths (true because of the meaning of the concepts) and synthetic truths (true because of facts) cannot be maintained. 

From http://www.philosophyclass.com/epistemology.htm


I have recently been researching philosophy and shall explain why soon enough, my ideas and what I am thinking about for a dissertation, basically what influences ideas is the theme.