Reason Not The Only Source of Knowledge

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Zelalem Mekonnen’s avatar
Zelalem MekonnenOP revised 5 days ago·#1834· Collapse
5th of 5 versions leading to #1653

Ayn Rand claims that "[t]he virtue of Rationality means the recognition and acceptance of reason as one's only source of knowledge [...]." This is wrong, mainly because reason can only be used as a method of choosing between knowledge/ideas, not as the only source of knowledge.

Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis Hackethal, about 2 months ago·#1618· Collapse

What do you think is the source of knowledge if not reason?

Zelalem Mekonnen’s avatar
Zelalem MekonnenOP, about 2 months ago·#1633· Collapse

The source of knowledge is myths. Reason criticizes them and we get myths that are testable (if knowledge about the physical world), hard to vary and make some assertion about reality. Popper highlighted the myth and testable nature of scientific knowledge, and Deutsch highlights hard to vary and explanation/assertion nature of knowledge.

Criticized1oustanding criticism
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis Hackethal, about 2 months ago·#1646· Collapse

Criticism is a form of knowledge. How does reason have access to criticism if reason is not the source of knowledge?

Criticism of #1633
Zelalem Mekonnen’s avatar
Zelalem MekonnenOP, about 2 months ago·#1653· Collapse
1st of 2 versions

Fire purifies gold, but it isn't gold itself. Reason doesn't need to be the source of knowledge to criticize other sources. The main source of knowledge is myth and things that don't make sense. All of our scientific theories are testable, hard to vary myths. As Popper states in Conjecture and Refutations (171), "[w]e shall understand that, in a certain sense, science is myth-making just as religion is."

Criticized1oustanding criticism
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis Hackethal, about 2 months ago·#1655· Collapse

This is largely a duplicate of #1633. You’d want to avoid repeating ideas.

Criticism of #1653