Epiphanies Volume 2: Epistemology

“All knowledge is based on the assumption that the product of our senses is real.”

- Xenocrates

What is knowledge? How do we define what it is that we’ve come to know? How do we express what we think we believe? What makes it valid? On what grounds do we make the separation between what is faith and what is proof? The theory of knowledge underscores all of these questions. However, the unfortunate reality is that knowledge as most people understand it, is nothing more than a cultural approximation of information determined by individual perceptions. Most of what you know has very little useful purpose outside of the environment where you learned it. It is a tragic waste of brain cells, and in worst case scenarios, a potential waste of human life where that information is interpreted differently. Humanity’s hunger for knowledge both creates and decimates human existence – although I’m led to believe it’s more of the latter than the former. The following epiphanies examine the flimsy basis on which we define knowledge. As far as I know, these are all my own original thoughts: