Taoism View of Knowledge - Case Study Example

 «Taoism View of Knowledge» Epistemology is a theory of philosophy that gives an account of the nature and extent of human knowledge. Alongside metaphysics, logic and ethics, epistemology is the core of philosophy. The main philosopher of this theory is Plato who contributed in explaining the origin of knowledge. Also referred to as the theory of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. More specifically, it addresses the questions on definition of knowledge, how knowledge is acquired, and the extent to which a particular subject must be known. It is connected to notions of belief, truth and justification. Meanwhile, Socrates and Taoists have different views on explaining and justifying the theory (Jaakko 32-35). For Socrates, knowledge is universal and even eternal. The universals deal with being, hence, knowledge is through concept. A concept is taken to mean the idea of a group of particulars. The notion of group or class is gotten by comparing a number of particulars under the class and deducing from such comparison what is common and necessary features by doing away with accidental and unwanted characteristics of those particulars. For instance, sheepness is an essential feature in all sheep, but the size and color are accidental attributes of the sheep. Socrates makes a distinction between the universals gotten by conceptual reasoning and perceptual processes. Perception can only produce what is momentary and merely becoming while concept alone can take us to being. Socrates also held the notion of the soul’s immortality its pristine knowledge of the true knowledge of absolute equality, absolute justice, and goodness. He also held the fall of human beings into their ignorant world, cycle of rebirths and of faint recollection of absolute knowledge in their pristine glory. Equal things to us are a representation of absolute equality, since the identified particulars poorly imitate absolute equality. Persons possess knowledge of absolute equality, justice, virtue, goodness among others. But they become inactive in them because of the deception of senses. In their pristine glory, they had them and they always remain in them in inactive state, waiting to be activated by the promptings of observed equality, goodness or beauty. Hence, conceptual knowledge is more recollection. According to Socrates, every man is both self centered and in pursuit of welfare. Selfishness is indeed discouraged in the society because it is associated with hobbesian state nature. The desire for welfare is inborn for every individual and is useful in the society. Besides the two characteristics, Socrates also maintains that an ideal man is just. Though the idea of a just man is not attainable, Socrates continues to argue that an ideal person should strive to achieve justice in the society. An ideal man should be trustworthy and lead a wise life (Jaakko 32-35). Socrates’ profession of his ignorance is widely known because he does not proclaim that he knows nothing. He asserts that he knows nothing valuable. If one understands the nature of human virtues, he will know how to conduct his life. He also comes up with a principle called the priority of definition. One cannot specify what something is unless he provides its definition. Since we have all lived with knowledge buried in us, we only need to reactivate it to bring it to the surface. Knowledge involves the ability to elucidate why things are the way they are. In a nutshell, knowledge is the understanding of the subject matter rather than a guess or an opinion of what something entails. Thus, learning is a recollection (Boufoy 39-51). Taoism is one of the major religio-philosophical traditions that have shaped Chinese life for a long time. It is characterized by positive and active attitude towards the theories on the nature of reality. Taoism incorporates the ideas and attitudes of Lao-Tzu (Tao Te Ching) and his later commentators Chuang-Tzu and Lieh –Tzu who influenced the worship of Tao. On constructs of knowledge and language, Taoists holds the view that all human beings are fundamentally one. Differences only arise when people lose sight of the whole and see their ways as worthy. He compares those people with a frog at the base of the well who values the brightness he sees from the sky. All that is good and evil, true or false are relative notions; an argument means that one is failing to see (Hans 21). The Taoists view of the ideal relates to being innocent of knowledge and devoid of desire. However, the basics of food and clothing are exceptional in the free of desire. Other desires above these basics need to be overcome. Desiring food is acceptable but the desire for delicacies is what is discouraged. Knowledge of what is desirable brings excitement and satisfaction. Knowledge is unavoidable, hence, we need to use it to reduce rather than increase desire. Unfortunately, we use knowledge to increase desire because what we do not know cannot hurt us. The advertising industry and capitalists take advantage of this phenomenon to lure us. Our problem lies in the failure to pay attention to the wisdom when it comes to self control. Taoists believes the more knowledge one possesses is merely rational and the less known pertains to divine knowledge of the pure intellect. Taoists rejected intellectual excellence despite contributing to the progress of science in china. They simply did not reject the concept of intuition or practical aptitude and skill but classified them under non-action. Intellectual excellence is not important in the good conduct of moral and political life; it is secondary to moral excellence. Intellectual excellence was seen to affect the moral values and political qualities of a state. So, a public administrator needed to limit his academic expertise in his government and the number of academicians to employ. For every level of knowledge one may have acquired in one’s life, there is a high degree of uncertainty concerning its reliability. Knowledge is based on uncertain basis, on what we do not know. According to Taoists, what we do not know constitutes true wisdom, a wisdom consisting in not knowing (Hans 21). Comparison Both Socrates and Taoists agree that the conception of knowledge is the highest form of truth and beauty. The material world of senses is an illusion. The real world is the realm of ideas which goes beyond the material world. In consideration of this view, the claim is that only ideas are real. The material world or the world of appearances is in a process of change. The world of ideas is static and free of limitations of time and space; ideas therefore are a mirror of true reality, the truth which transcends the relativity of matter. The Taoists view that knowledge lies in what is not known is consistent with Plato’s view that the material world is not real. The reality is what we cannot see, what is not known according to Taoists. We must not then desire what we do not know. Socrates holds that knowledge cannot be gotten from the transitory things that make up the material world. It is inadequate to say that all thiongs are in a state of transformation and there is nothing permanent. Pure knowledge is constituted in the ideas which are beyond transition (Warren 176). Self knowledge is emphasized by both Socrates and Taoists. Wisdom enables one to avoid making mistakes in the area of ignorance. People must examine their own character, concepts, goals, methods and attitudes in order to improve themselves. Wisdom acquired through learning and investigation guides one in all actions along with good. Regarding self knowledge, it is a person himself who acts and suffers the results of his actions. If people recognize themselves as active beings, many problems will be solved. The soul has knowledge of the good and other essences. Both recognize that man’s nature is related to the spirit nature of the divine and he has the ability to learn and that wisdom and ethics are vital beyond the repercussions of a single lifetime (Williams 84). Regarding the concept of the ideal person, both agree that an ideal person is virtuous. Virtues like courage, and self control supersedes human desires and emotions. Virtues here refer to the human ability to do or to be good or to function in the best way. Virtues enable one to live a good life. Self knowledge hence enables us to avoid mistakes and remain virtuous. Justice, courage, temperament and piety are necessary conditions of virtue, and if they are different, lack of any of them will be inadequate for wisdom or virtue. An ideal man requires wisdom and virtue to lead a good life, and because everyone is in the quest of a good life, any method which is successful in pursuit of wisdom is helpful. Criticisms The Socratic View The Socratic view is criticized on the basis of two doctrines commonly known as Socratic paradoxes. First is that no one desires bad things and all who pursue evil things do so unwillingly. The other doctrine is that virtue is knowledge and all those who do injustice or wrong do so unwillingly. Sometimes we tend to think that people do harm themselves knowingly and do wrong when they know that they are not supposed to. Moral weaknesses are part and parcel of human life, yet Socrates arguments contradict this. it is impossible to live without doing mistakes. Socrates had no knowledge of moral ideals like justice, virtue, piety and beauty. To resolve the paradox of Socratic wisdom, we should not cling to our dogmatic wisdom but hold them up to philosophic scrutiny and continue examining the nature of moral properties (Morton 5). Achieving knowledge of moral properties is difficult, but we can improve our own lives by working towards our moral beliefs and engaging in philosophy. Socrates commitment to priority of definition principle is irrelevant since a person needs not know the definition of a property to possess knowledge about that property. If the principle were legitimate, it would undermine the search for knowledge because other information about the moral property must be gained before the definition of the property is known. Again, the principle is morally wrong because, it leads people to lose interest in moral issues and ignore ethical matters that should be obeyed instead. The principle is regarded by scholars as morally deleterious. Socrates’ epistemology fails and ought not be used in the serious pursuit of wisdom. In himself, Socrates appears not believe in one consistent epistemological view throughout the platonic corpus. Thus, his intellectual modesty he encourages lacks the merit he believes in (Williams 84). Taoism View In describing knowledge, Taoism contrasts with the west. The western idea of knowledge began with ancient Greeks and Plato. According to him, no physical being is perfect in his assertion of the theory of forms. The concept of truth is existent, although it may not be perfected in the physical world, and this has affected the western perception of knowledge. It is illogical to tell people to reduce desire because quests for some things are natural and automatic. It is not possible to resist admiring good things in life although we must satisfy the basic things. Advertisements on bill boards cannot reduce our desire as Taoists claim. The more knowledge we acquire, the more we are likely to desire things. In addition, limiting our knowledge in solving daily life problems is not reasonable. We pursue knowledge to help us cope with issues affecting us. Thus, the limitation of knowledge and disregarding elites in public administration is bizarre. Policies need to be established and more or less require knowledge of the elites. A government cannot be structured anyhow. Despising intellectual intelligence is also unreasonable considering the progression in science and technology. New innovations require skills and experience. Also, knowledge does not yield uncertainty. What one knows at his disposal is what constitutes wisdom. Competence is reflected by how we perform. The argument that wisdom is in what is not known sounds inadequate. Actions speak our minds, and what we do not know is termed as foolishness. Our quest for wisdom is to find out what we have not known yet. Scientists are working hard to discover what has nit been discovered,. So we can no term that which has not been discovered as wisdom (Williams 84). Works Cited Boufoy, Bastick. "Introducing 'Applicable Knowledge' As A Challenge To The Attainment Of Absolute Knowledge". Sophia Journal of Philosophy 8: 39–51, 2005. Print. Hans, Lenk. Epistemological Issues in Classical Chinese Philosophy. New York, SUNY Press. 1993. Print. Jaakko, Hintikka. Socratic Epistemology: Explorations of Knowledge –Seeking By Questioning. London, Cambridge University Press. 2007. Print. Morton, Adam. A Guide through the Theory of Knowledge (Third Edition) Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 2002. Print. Warren, Frisina .The Unity Of Knowledge And Action. New York, SUNY Press. 2002. Print. Williams, Michael. Problems of Knowledge: A Critical Introduction to Epistemology. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2001. Print. Read More