NATURE OF

KNOWLEDGE
Who watches Kdramas?
What do you think is the impact of
watching Kdramas to most teenagers
nowadays?
In your own words, WHAT IS
KNOWLEDGE?
Standard definition of KNOWLEDGE:
A person knows a fact if:
the person believes the statement to be
true;
the statement is in fact true; and
the person is justified in believing the
statement to be true.
TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
1. Formal Knowledge
-it corresponds to knowledge in the formal
sciences whose main concern is the validation of
their knowledge claims within the formal
system in their respective discipline
-they are not dependent on the accumulation of
empirical data
-more concerned with the structure or validity of
their sciences within the formal system that
governs them
2. Empirical Knowledge
-it uses the faculty of
experience and sense
perception in order to
establish their knowledge
claims
SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
1. Senses or faculty of experience (sense
perception)
-it is the use of the five senses, including
sensory extending devices for purposes of
verifying our empirical claims, and thus
leading to empirical knowledge
Can we really trust what our
senses seem to tell us?
2. Authority
-other people are continual sources of
information
-such information, however, is always second-
hand knowledge
-knowledge (claims) can still be double-checked
-an awareness of which sources are more or less
reliable is a good way to ensure that the
knowledge we receive from authority is as
good as it can be
3. Reason
-it is an analytic faculty that is able to determine
the truth of analytic statements
(the truth of knowledge claims made in the formal
sciences use the faculty of reason following the
framework of coherence within the given system)
- it is also the process of using known facts to
arrive at new facts
-considered as the ability of a man to perform his
rational functions like thinking and analyzing
Apply analytic philosophy:
• A triangle is a closed plane figure bounded by three
sides

• A spinster has no mother-in-law

Note: You will be able to determine whether the statement

is true or false, using reason as an analytic faculty.
3 Forms of Reason:

Deduction
-it involves drawing out’ valid conclusions from
previously known facts
Induction
-it involves jumping from some things you have
observed to making universal statements about all
things
Abduction
-it starts with an observation or set of observations
then seeks to find the simplest and most likely
explanation for the observations
4. Intuition

-it deals with the immediate or direct recognition of

self evident truths
-Accdg to GEORGE EDWARD MOORE, the
proponent of intuitionism in Ethics, a person is
directly acquainted with his object of knowledge (the
process of knowing the idea of Good)
-philosophers and scientists do not use this faculty
as a source of knowledge because there has been no
established method of validating or verifying
knowledge claims
Stages in the Apprehension of
Concepts Before Knowledge
Becomes Possible
1. Perception
-it is the first stage
-it is an activity that does not make us different
from animals

2 types of perception:
External
– it happens when we perceive things using our
five senses; once any of the senses were used to
perceive the world, you will have PERCEPTS
Internal
- it happens when we use our imagination and memory
2. Abstraction
-the 2nd stage
-it is the process described by Charles Coppens as
a simple apprehension or conception: “Simple
apprehension is the act of perceiving the object
intellectually, without affirming or denying
anything concerning it”.
“You would be able to abstract what is universal or
essential for something to be called a chair. Upon
perceiving different kinds of chair in the world,
you would be able to grasps through the process of
simple apprehension, the concept of a chair. FROM
PERCEPTS AND IMAGES, YOU WERE ABLE TO
ARRIVE AT THE CONCEPTS USING YOUR
INTELLECT”.
3. Judgment
- it is the 2nd stage to complete the act of
the mind
- making a knowledge claim of at least two
concepts and putting them together to
form a statement or proposition that could
either be true or false
“The result of the process of judgment is a
statement or proposition. If concepts are
considered as the building blocks of
knowledge, you need the statements to
construct an argument. This reflects the
process of reasoning”.
-KMCS-
SENTENCES AND STATEMENTS
SENTENCES
-have no truth value
-it is merely uttered as the
verbal means of communicating
or expressing commands,
questions, and emotions
ex:

What time is it?

Ouch!
STATEMENT/S