MODULE A: REALITY AND KNOWLEDGE
What is Reality? 4. Common Sense Knowledge
• Everything that appears to our five senses. Everything we • Knowledge that arises from less structured process and
can see, smell, touch, etc. more often originates from the day-to-day experiences
• A well-known science fiction writer, Philip K. Dick said of people.
that “reality, if you stop believing in it, does not go
away.”
How is knowledge generated?
• Knowledge generation is based on assumptions about
Reality is all of the experiences and things I perceive that how the world is perceived and how we can best come to
determine my knowledge of the world. understand it.
Reality - The real world as I observe and experience. Two conventional philosophical approaches to knowledge
generation are:
Theory - The theoretical world where theories, ideas, and
a. SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
concepts exist.
- Objective
The gap between reality and theory is knowledge.
- Not dependent on the observer
b. INTERPRETIVE APPROACH (Non-Scientific
KNOWLEDGE Approach)
• These are facts, feelings, or experiences that are part of - Subjective
a person’s reality. - Dependent on the experience of the observer
• It is the state of knowing (from experiences or learning).
• Awareness, consciousness, or familiarity about an
object/subject gained by experience or learning. It is ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL GROUNDS
basically the state of knowing.
• by which a person would base his/her perception of
• It is organized information in your head. the world and what he/she can know about it.
• Information that you get from different sources.
• Knowledge Statements - body of knowledge that ONTOLOGY
someone has acquired from their studies or
• study of what exists, the nature of being, and the
experiences.
structure of reality
• about understanding what is real and the categories or
KNOWLEDGE STATEMENTS kinds of things that make up the universe.
1. Personal Knowledge Statement • What is reality?
• It is different from others because it is a knowledge that ➢ Example. Physical Existence, Biological
came for you. Classifications, Conceptual Existence
• When we form this, we present or “publicize” this to our
own community for acceptance.
• We do not only present our positions passively, we also EPISTEMOLOGY
present it actively – to the point of persuading others to
• study of knowledge and how we come to know things
accept our position - in this case our knowledge
• concerned with understanding how we know what we
statement - as truth.
know.
• It examines the nature and scope of knowledge,
including its limits and validity
2. Community/Disciple Knowledge Statement
• How do we know about reality?
• Majority of the members of the community agree with ➢ Example. Knowledge Acquisition, Verification and
you. Validation, Understanding Context
• Before something is officially considered as part of the
shared body of knowledge, it must go through a review
process to ensure it meets the established standards
and criteria.
3. Mainstream Knowledge
• It is normalized.
• A prior knowledge or normal knowledge of people that
are already accepted.
