METHODS OF

PHILOSOPHIZING
 Lesson 1
The Knowledge and Truth
Introduction of the Lesson
Have you experienced believing in
something you thought is true but, in
the end, you discovered that it is not?
Epistemology is a science
devoted to the discovery of the
proper method acquiring and
validating knowledge
- Ayn Rand
The Nature of Knowledge
 Two Ways on How We Can Acquire
Knowledge According to Ayn Rand

First, we can acquire knowledge by

using our sense we called it
empiricism.
 John Locke was among the
most famous philosophers
and political theorists of the
17th century.

John Locke
 He is often regarded as the
founder of a school of
thought known as British
Empiricism, and he made
foundational contributions to
modern theories of limited,
liberal government.
John Locke
 He was also influential in
the areas of theology,
religious toleration, and
educational theory.

John Locke
 He was a brilliant critic of
his predecessors,
particularly Descartes,
Malebranche, and Locke.

George Berkley
 He was a talented
metaphysician famous for
defending idealism, that is,
the view that reality consists
exclusively of minds and
their ideas.

George Berkley
 Berkeley’s system, while it
strikes many as counter-
intuitive, is strong and
flexible enough to counter
most objections.

George Berkley
 His most-studied works, the
Treatise Concerning the
Principles of Human
Knowledge (Principles, for
short) and Three Dialogues
between Hylas and Philonous
(Dialogues).

George Berkley
 Generally regarded as one of
the most important
philosophers to write in
English, David Hume (1711–
1776) was also well known in
his own time as an historian
and essayist.

DAVID HUME
 A master stylist in any genre, his
major philosophical works—A
Treatise of Human Nature (1739–
1740), the Enquiries concerning
Human Understanding (1748)
and concerning the Principles of
Morals (1751),

DAVID HUME
 as well as his posthumously
published Dialogues
concerning Natural
Religion (1779)—remain
widely and deeply
influential.

DAVID HUME
Second, we can acquire by
thinking with the use of the
minds. This what rationalist
advocates.
 Descartes was the first
significant rationalist
philosopher of the modern
classical period. He rejects sense
experience as a trustworthy
source of knowledge early in his
Meditations.
RENE
DESCARTES
 Following Descartes, a number
of other European philosophers
develop rationalist philosophical
systems.

RENE
DESCARTES
 Bento (in Hebrew, Baruch; in
Latin, Benedictus) Spinoza is
one of the most important
philosophers—and certainly
the most radical—of the early
modern period.
Baruch Spinoza
 His thought combines a
commitment to a number of
Cartesian metaphysical and
epistemological principles with
elements from ancient Stoicism,
Hobbes, and medieval Jewish
rationalism into a nonetheless
highly original system
Baruch
Spinoza
 Gottfried was one of the
greatest of the early modern
“rationalist” philosophers.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

 He is perhaps best known to
students of philosophy as an
advocate of the principle of
sufficient reason, the
preestablished harmony of mind
and body, philosophical optimism,
and the doctrine of monads.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

 Process of
Acquiring Knowledge
1. Reality
2. Perception
3. Concept
4. Proposition
5. Inference
Activity: What is your thoughts about this
quotation?
Assignment:
Research about the
theories of truth.