What can we know?

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemologists

study the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge, epistemic justification,
the rationality of belief, and various related issues. Epistemology is considered one of
the four main branches of philosophy, along with ethics, logic, and metaphysics.[1]
Debates in epistemology are generally clustered around four core areas: [2][3][4]
1. The philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and the conditions required for a belief
to constitute knowledge, such as truth and justification
2. Potential sources of knowledge and justified belief, such as perception, reason, memory,
and testimony
3. The structure of a body of knowledge or justified belief, including whether all justified beliefs
must be derived from justified foundational beliefs or whether justification requires only
a coherent set of beliefs
4. Philosophical skepticism, which questions the possibility of knowledge, and related problems,
such as whether skepticism poses a threat to our ordinary knowledge claims and whether it is
possible to refute skeptical arguments

In these debates and others, epistemology aims to answer questions such as "What
do we know?", "What does it mean to say that we know something?", "What makes
justified beliefs justified?", and "How do we know that we know?".

Where do things come from?

Nothing is...not for long anyway.Everything is in a state of flux and this implies that every
object has a story behind it.However,the possible options for stories of origin are not
satisfactory: 1.We can trace the origin of an object back to some arbitrary point in the
past that we deem to be the 'beginning'-the Big Bang or God (depending on how
religious you are). 2.We can come up with a chain of causality that never ends by
questioning what happened before the aforementioned 'beginning'-What happened
before the Big Bang...Where did God come from? 3.Finally,we can come up with a
scenario where the origin of an object is incomprehensible,for example in backward time
travel.Thought experiment:Suppose I took the complete works of Shakespeare and
traveled back in time and gave them to him before he wrote them.He then duplicated the
book I gave him and many centuries later,this duplicate became recognized as the
works of Shakespeare-the book with which I traveled back in time to give to
Shakespeare. None of these explanations seem satisfactory as explanations for the
origins of objects. So,again,I ask:Where do things come from? P.S.I can't help but notice
the similarity between this trilemma and Munchhausen's trilemma.

Where does purpose come from?

As a psychiatrist, much of the work I do involves helping people with various
forms of disorders of motivation. In the absence of specific disorder, being
motivated and purpose-driven is instinctive, though the intensity of this drive
and how focused it is varies by temperament and circumstance.

Where does our natural sense of purpose come from?

In pre-scientific societies, the answer was obvious. Human purpose was

defined and instilled by a god or gods—a higher power with a higher purpose.
The scientific explanation is far more interesting, addressing the origin of life
itself, and the evolution of consciousness.

Purpose emerged with the origin of life, long before consciousness evolved

The origin of purpose (or agency) is in many ways a more fundamental

question that the origin of consciousness. A scientific understanding of
purpose might, in fact, yield many clues to an understanding of
consciousness, because consciousness can be understood as having evolved
in the service of purposiveness.

Purposiveness (the quality of being purposeful or purpose-driven) is a

characteristic of all living things, whether or not they possess a modicum of
consciousness. Purposiveness emerged with life itself. It is part of what
defines living creatures and is key to understanding how life arose in the first
place. Living things have a purpose in that they strive toward some aim. That
aim is to keep living and propagate themselves, and they “make an effort”
toward that aim. Non-living things make no such effort.

How do we choose to believe?

Sometimes people will say that it is not possible to choose something to

believe in, that our beliefs are determined by what we are and what we
know.  They say that we can’t just make ourselves believe whatever we
want to believe.  For example, if the sky is blue, we can’t make ourselves
believe it is green. We are forced to believe in the truth that it is blue. So,
we really can’t choose our beliefs.
While this makes sense, it is not entirely accurate.  Let’s say that you have
a friend who tells you a story about what happened to him on the previous
day? He begins by conveying a series of events that you find interesting
and believable. But, the more you listen, the more you realize there are
problems with his story. Pretty soon, he contradicts himself on some key
facts. What do you do then? Do you choose to continue to believe, or do
you choose not to believe the story?  Your choice would depend on what
the facts were, how the contradictions related to the story, the
trustworthiness of your friend, etc. You might weigh each of these and then
make a decision on whether not to believe his story.

What is real?
Real is something capable of being treated as fact and something that
is being or occurring in actuality and having a verified existence
and substance that coincides with reality. Real is something that is not an
illusion, not fantasy, not imaginary or a feeling of intuition. Real is
something that is no less than what is stated and worthy of a name and
reflecting the essential or genuine character of something. Real is something
that should not be taken lightly. Something fixed or immovable. Real in math is
any rational or irrational number.

What is identity?
In the first of our discussions we are going to explore what we mean
by identity and how this relates to the social groups that we all live in.
Identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make a
person (self-identity as emphasized in psychology[1]) or group (collective identity as
pre-eminent in sociology).[citation needed][2] One can regard the awareness and the
categorizing of identity as positive[3] or as destructive.[4][5][6]
A psychological identity relates to self-image (one's mental model of oneself), self-
esteem, and individuality. Consequently, Peter Weinreich gives the definition:
"A person's identity is defined as the totality of one's self-construal, in which how one
construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity between how one construes
oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as one aspires to be in
the future"; this allows for definitions of aspects of identity, such as: "One's ethnic
identity is defined as that part of the totality of one's self-construal made up of those
dimensions that express the continuity between one's construal of past ancestry and
one's future aspirations in relation to ethnicity".
What Is Value?

Value is the monetary, material, or assessed worth of an asset, good, or

service. "Value" is attached to a myriad of concepts including shareholder
value, the value of a firm, fair value, and market value. Some of the terms are
well-known business jargon, and some are formal terms for accounting and
auditing standards of reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC).

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Value is the monetary, material, or assessed worth of an asset, good, or

service.
 "Value" is attached to a myriad of concepts including shareholder value,
the value of a firm, fair value, and market value.
 Comparing the different values and valuations of a company to other
companies can help with determining investment opportunities.
Understanding Value
Value can mean a quantity or number, but in finance, it's often used to
determine the worth of an asset, a company and its financial performance.
Investors, stock analysts, and company executives estimate and forecast the
value of a company based on numerous financial metrics. Companies can be
valued based on how much profit they generate on a per-share basis,
meaning the profit divided by how many equity shares are outstanding.