THE THEORY OF COGNITION
PLAN 1. Cognition as the Object of Philosophical Analysis. 2. The Process of Cognition: the essence, levels and forms. 3. The Problem of Truth. Absolute and Relative Truth. 4. Practice as the Basis and Purpose of Cognition. 5. Methods and Forms of Scientific Cognition
LITERATURE Basic: Alexander Spirkin. Fundamentals of Philosophy / Alexander Spirkin. — M. : Progress Publishers, 1990. — 423 p. Philosophy. Logic. Religion Studies. Ethics. Aesthetics: Textbook/ edited by L. Kadnikova. -K. : NAU, 2012. - 580 p. The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy / Edward Craig. — New York : Routledge, 2005. — 1077 p. Unified Theories of Cognition / Allen Newell. — Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1990. — 549 p. Supplementary: A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action / Esther Thelen and Linda B. Smith. — Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1994. — 376 p. Mind as Motion: Explorations in the Dynamics of Cognition / Robert F. Port and Timothy van Gelder. — Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1995. — 590 p. Primary sources: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Phenomenology of Spirit / G. W. F. Hegel : [ transl. by A. V. Miller]. — Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1977. — 595 p. Immanuel Kant. Critique of Pure Reason / Immanuel Kant : [transl. by Werner S. Pluhar]. – Indianapolis, Ind. : Hackett Pub. , 1999. — 229 p. Karl R. Popper. Objective knowledge: an Evolutionary Approach / Karl R. Popper. — New York : Oxford University Press, 1979. — 395 p. Paul Feyerabend. Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge / Paul Feyerabend. — New York : Verso, 2010. — 296 p.
MASTERING THE WORLD Mastering is an aspiration for truth in all its manifestations, a transition from insufficient and imperfect knowledge to more thorough and integral one being the property (indication) of human existence. Objective(Nature, Society) Man Subjective (spirit, soul, consciousness, thinking) Subjective-objective (culture) “Mastering” comprises a spiritual-theoretical (objective and subjective relation), spiritualpractical (subjective and subjective-objective relation) and object-practical activity, so it has broader meaning than the notion ‘cognition’
Gnosiology or theory of cognition is a philosophical study about the process of man’s gaining knowledge, of its sources, motive forces and regularities; the necessity of its deepening and substitution of insufficient and imperfect knowledge by more thorough and integral one.
is the process of selective and active functioning, refutation and continuity of progressive forms of information accumulation historically succeeding one another. Cognition § § Knowledge is the result of the process of cognition of the reality tested by sociohistorical practice and verified by logic; This result is: an adequate reflection of the reality in man's consciousness in the form of notions, concepts, judgments and theories (i. e. in the form of subjective images), a mastery of all these and a capacity for acting on their basis.
FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE • Everyday knowledge • Scientific knowledge • Artistic knowledge
POTENTIAL OF KNOWLEDGE – the philosophical position asserting that the world is in principle knowable. Optimism – the philosophical position that does not reject outright the knowability of the world, but questions the validity of knowledge. Skepticism – the philosophical position that rejects the possibility of the knowledge of the world Agnosticism
Historical forms of agnosticism Agnosticism of some modern trends of philosophy (conventionalism, critical rationalism) Empiriocriticism – refuses the objective character of knowledge Hume’s agnosticism – doubt in understanding reality as the object of scientific research Kant’s agnosticism – unknowability of “things-inthemselves Ancient skepticism – doubt in man’s cognitive abilities
SUBJECT AND OBJECT OF COGNITION subject of cognition is someone who cognizes. It is a complex hierarchy, of which the foundation is the entire social whole. A person, a group of researchers and finally a society can appear as the subject of cognition. The subject and his cognitive activity can only be adequately understood in their concrete historical aspect. The object of cognition is a certain fragment of the reality, at which the process of cognition is directed. The
The process of cognition Synthesizing (experiment, experience, practice) Process of Cognition II Abstract thinking (concepts, judgments, inferences) Intellectual-Sensuous contemplation (sensations, perceptions, representations, imagination)
FORMS OF INTELLECTUAL-SENSUOUS CONTEMPLATION) Sensation – is a reflection of separate properties and qualities of objects which directly affect the sense organs; it is an elementary and psychologically indivisible cognitive phenomenon. Perception – is an integral image reflecting objects affecting the sense organs and their properties and relations directly. Perception is thinking, living contemplation. Representation - is the highest form of sensuous reflection, it is imagined knowledge about objects that are not directly perceived. Imagination - is a specific form of the subject's activity in cognition and creativity which is connected with reproduction of past experiences (reproductive imagination) and constructive creative shaping of a new visual-conceptual image of the desired future (productive imagination).
Forms of Abstract thinking Concept - is a form of thought which reflects the essential properties, connections and relations between objects and phenomena in their contradictions and development; Concepts are objective in their content and universal in logical form, as they pertain to the general rather than the individual. Judgment - is a form of thought in which something is asserted or refuted through establishing links between concepts. Inference - is a process of reasoning in the course of which one or several judgments called premises yield a new judgment (conclusion or consequence) which follows logically from the premises.
THE PROBLEM OF TRUTH Truth is adequate information about an object obtained through its sensuous or intellectual perception or report about it and characterized in terms of its reliability. § an adequate reflection of an object by the knowing subject, which reproduces reality such as it is by itself, outside and independent of consciousness. Error is the content of consciousness that does not correspond to reality, but is taken for the truth. Lies are a distortion of the actual state of affairs of which the goal is deceiving someone. §
TRUTH Concrete Objective According to the essence Absolute According to the conditions of using Truth According to the level of penetrating into the essence of an object Subjective According to the Form Relative
Coincidence of absolute and relative truth Relative truth S 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Absolute truth ∞O Concrete truth According its essence both absolute and relative truth are objective; There is no impassable boundary between absolute and relative truth; There is a seed of absolute truth in any relative truth; Absolute truth is composed of the sum of relative truths; Truth is always concrete.
The role of practice in cognition The purpose of cognition The mode of application of knowledge Practice The criterion of true knowledge Practice is the motive force of the development of cognition The Source and Basis of cognition Material-production activity Social-transforming activity
Logical quality of thought Logic as a science studies the structure of thought with the aim of achieving true knowledge. Formal logic deals with structures of thought in terms of their form and in abstraction from the concrete content of thought Dialectical logic studies principles and laws of the formation, modification and development of knowledge
DIALECTICAL LOGIC Fundamental principles : Demands to examine all facets of an object, its connections and “mediacies”. Requires that an object should be taken in development, in change, in “self-movement”. A full “definition” of an object must include the whole of human experience, both as a criterion of truth and a practical indicator of its connection with human wants. Holds that a truth is always concrete, never abstract.
CREATIVE POWER OF HUMAN REASON. Creativity is a practical activity of the mind whose result is the creation of original and unique cultural and socially significant values, the establishment of new facts, the discovery of new properties and laws, as well as of methods for the study and transformation of the world. Imagination Reproductive Intuition Productive Sensuous Intellectual.
Scientific knowledge: levels and forms Proof Goals Hypothesis S Scientific fact Practice O Fact of reality Empirical level Problem Theoretical level Theory Scientific base
Theory: elements and functions Elements Substantial Principles Laws Categories Ideas Formal Theory Signs Symbols Rules Functions Synthesizing Explanatory Prognostic
Formation of the scientific method Causes O Causes Theory Forms S Ideas, principles Method MM Rules , means Practice Forms
Classification of methods on the degree of generalization Universal Philosophical method The aggregate of general principles regulating man’s cognitive and practical activity as a whole Particular methods Means and operations that help to solve specific tasks of some concrete science Universal Scientific methods Methods of scientific cognition Means and operations that help to solve some generalscientific tasks
Classification of methods according to their place in the cognitive process General-logical Empirical Observation Experiment Measurement Examination etc. Analysis Synthesis Induction and deduction Formalization Generalization Modeling Analogy Theoretical Descending from abstract to concrete Historical and logical etc.
Questions for express-control 1. The theory of knowledge can be defined as…? 2. Philosophical study denying the possibility of cognition is called…? 3. What are the necessary elements in the process of cognition? 4. What principle characterizes independence of truth from the subject of cognition? 5. What is the criterion of truth?