(May 2, 2013 at 7:56 am)Love Wrote: Then inevitably we're heading towards another epistemological discussion. Is the scientific method really the only way to gain true knowledge? My answer is "obviously not". There are plenty of things that I just "know" based on pure intuition. It is important to note that I view "intuition" in an unconventional manner; I do not view it is a form of a priori knowledge based on reason and independent of experience. I believe people can gain intuitive knowledge purely from an immediate subjective experience; I view it as a modified form of a posteriori knowledge that can be attained within and beyond the sensory experience (without having to rely on reason to make sense of it).
Sounds like the big difference has to do with whether you are claiming your belief counts as knowledge for you or for everyone. If you wish to classify certain of your intuition-based beliefs as knowledge for your own personal consumption, go for it. Hell, what goes on inside your own cranium is up to you. But if you wish to bring that private 'knowledge' to the interpersonal marketplace of ideas, you surely recognize the problem. Shall we make a list of what can agree that "we know" under one heading and then make another for all the knowledge claims vouchsafed by a single individual? Those items under the first heading are what we generally refer to as knowledge. Those items under the second heading are things of no general use to others. They can guide our own actions and be shared with friends but why blur the distinction?
