METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING Part 1

Lesson 5:
Knowledge and Truth
Mr. Edward B. Noda Jr.
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✖People are already relying on knowledge for their

survival.
✖Without knowledge on how to create a fire, how to
cook one’s food, how to build a shelter, how to build
dams to control flooding, how to create laws to
preserve order in society and yes even how to think
properly, we would still be in a prehistoric cave.
✖Knowledge literally enabled mankind to survive and
reach the present level of our civilization.
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What is Epistemology?
✖“Epistemology is a science devoted to the discovery of
the proper method of acquiring and validating
knowledge” (Rand 1990)
The purpose of epistemology therefore is two-fold:
1. To show how we can acquire knowledge.
2. To give us a method of demonstrating whether the
knowledge we acquired is really knowledge (i.e., true).
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The Nature of Knowledge

Knowledge is the clear awareness and understanding of
something.
* it is provided by facts
* It is based on reality
* It is observable and evident on the real world
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HOW Do WE Acquire Knowledge?

1. We can acquire knowledge using our senses (Empiricism)

Empiricists:
1. John Locke
2. George Berkley
3. David Hume
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HOW Do WE Acquire Knowledge?

2. We can acquire knowledge by thinking with the use of our minds
(what philosophers call the rational faculty) (Rationalism); knowledge
comes from intellectual reasoning.
Rationalists: Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
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PROCESS OF Acquiring Knowledge

1. Reality
To know is to know something. This “something” is what
philosophers call reality, existence, being.
Existence is everything there is (another name for it is the
Universe). It includes everything we perceive (animals, plants,
human beings, inanimate objects) and everything inside our
heads (e.g., our thoughts and emotions) which represents our
inner world.
Existence is really all there is to know. If nothing exists
knowledge is impossible.
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Process Of Acquiring Knowledge

2. Perception
Our first and only contact with reality is through our
senses.
Knowledge begins with perceptual knowledge.
3. Concept
“an abstract or generic idea generalized from
particular instances” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)”
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PROCESS OF Acquiring Knowledge

4. Proposition
Statements about the world or reality are called propositions
Propositions may or may not carry the truth.
Facts-propositions or statements observed to be real and
truthful
Claim-proposition that requires further examination; can
be contested
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PROCESS OF Acquiring Knowledge

5. Argument
series of statements that provide reasons to convince the
reader/ listener that a claim/ opinion is truthful. Group of
statements that serve to support a conclusion.
“There is no hope in the Philippine government”
(opinion)
“There is no hope in the Philippine government because
many officials are corrupt, and Filipino voters continue to elect
them.” (argument)
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DOMAINS OF TRUTH
Objective domain: related to scientific
truths; pertains to the natural world that
maintains a relative independence from the
perspective and attitude of human beings
that perceived them.
EG: TYPHOON SEASON, WATER’S
BOILING POINT (100 DEGREES CELSIUS)
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DOMAINS OF TRUTH
Social Domain: Truth is related to a general
agreement or consensus on what is right as opposed
to what is wrong. Based on norms (standard of
acceptable behavior in society)
EG: maintaining silence inside the chapel;
cheering loudly in a basketball game; being silent in
the library
Remember!!! Consensus has certain limitations. It is
helpful but not always reliable
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DOMAINS OF TRUTH
Personal Domain: Truth is related to
“SINCERITY”; consistent to inner thoughts
and intentions
needs to establish “trust”
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Truth and Justification

✖TRUTH (according to Richard Rorty)-
has passed the “procedures of
justification”
✖JUSTIFICATION is the process of proving
the truth or validity of a statement. This
process is made up of ways of critically
testing a claim against certain criteria.
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Each domain of truth has a corresponding justification or

has a different criteria for truth:
SCIENTIFIC/ OBJECTIVE DOMAIN- Truths are tested
against empirical evidence
SOCIAL DOMAIN- Truths are tested against their
acceptability to a particular group in a particular time in
history
PERSONAL DOMAIN- Truths are tested against the
consistency and authenticity of the person who claims it
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To which domain of truth does each of the

following statements fall?
1. “In sickness and in health, “till death do us
part.”- Personal Domain
2. Reptiles are cold-blooded. Scientific Domain
3. “Don’t talk when your mouth is full!”- Social Domain
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How do we Know if Something is True?

1. A belief is true if it can be justified or proven through the
use of one’s senses.
2. A belief or statement is true if it is based on facts
3. Getting a consensus or having people agree on a
common belief
4. Truth requires to prove an action
5. Subject to test to determine the truth
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TRUTH VS. OPINION

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✖Truth is knowledge validated

based on the facts of reality.
facts of reality are independent of your
thoughts, feelings or preferences
For example the statement “Jose Rizal died
in 1896” is true.
There are many sources that can validate
the truth of that statement if one cared to
look.
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✖When one say that “Jose Rizal is the

greatest man who ever lived” you are
stating your preference and not facts.
This is an opinion.
That statement represents not facts but an
interpretation of facts which may reveal
biases.
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✖OPINION- A statement of judgment of a

person about something in the world.
Opinions are bases for making arguments
and convincing people that a certain claim
is a fact.
Example: Case of Extra Judicial killings, war
on drugs, Issue on defending West Philippine
Sea from China, Government response on
COVID 19
OPINIONS are statement of judgment
that are in need of further justification.
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✖CONCLUSION- Judgment based on

certain facts; could still be contested or
questioned.
✖BELIEFS- Statements that express
convictions that are not easily and clearly
explained by facts.
✖EXPLANATIONS- statements that
assume the claim to be true and provide
reasons why statement is true.
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✖An opinion has the following characteristics:

1. Cannot be confirmed
2. Open to interpretation
3. Based on emotions
4. Inherently biased

✖While truth is:

1. Can be confirmed with other sources
2. Independent of one’s interpretation, preferences
and biases
3. Based on the facts of reality
 SYNTHESIS
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Nature of Epistemology and

Knowledge

Acquire and Validate Knowledge

Distinguish Truth from Opinion

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