Early Epistemology

The classical Greeks invented reason. This means thought isolated from emotions, desires, fantasies, hormonal drives, and biological instincts. Thought by itself is pure and uncorrupted. Its power to understand the universe is immense.

Of course, individuals thinkers are limited in intelligence and education, and capable of considerable error. But reason itself, as a tool to understand the world, is vastly reliable and trustworthy. When reason is kept clean – when logic is unadulterated by emotions, desires, fantasies, drives, and instincts – it tends to see the universe with few illusions and great acuity. What the Greeks discovered and invented in the 500s B.C. is important and great almost beyond description.

Rather than just reason and logic, it also could be said that the sixth century Greeks invented epistemology. This means the systematic and meticulous study of comprehension, knowledge, and truth. Early on the Greeks used pure reason to attempt to ascertain the true nature of Nature and the universe. The strength, depth, universality, and certainty of any intellectual conclusion and possible truth was tested and weighed by reason alone.

Reason applied to the study of the physical world was eventually called science. Reason applied to the study of the intellectual world was eventually called the humanities or social sciences. Reason employed to understand nature can be called hard science. Reason employed to understand humanity can be called soft science.

The soft sciences include such subjects as psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, economics, and the massive subject of philosophy. Philosophy includes such subjects as epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, aesthetics, and spirituality. Philosophy is so important to man that some people just say: “The Greeks of the sixth century B.C. invented two main things: science and philosophy.”

Scrupulously and insightfully using reason to determine the nature of the natural world and humanity can result in speculations, claims, and statements which are the absolute and certain truth. Truth is naturally clear and definite – not hazy and vague. Real truth is also a positive and exact thing – not a matter of probability. Truth which is truth is absolute and certain. If it isn’t, then the speculation, claim, or statement put forth can’t accurately be called truth; it isn’t an established, definite, and known truth.

Alas, many classical Greeks rejected reason and science. It reminded them too much of their own mortality. So they invented a “god” to save them. They studied reality and mankind still using a relatively high level of reason, but also mixed with significant amounts of emotion, desire, fantasy, drive, and instinct. But willing something, or believing something, to be true doesn’t make it so. The result of this intellectual and cognitive mixture was an inferior epistemology or method of determining truth.

The first reasonist failures were the nihilists. They solidly emerged within a century. They claimed that existence didn’t exist and that reality wasn’t real. Naturally, they also said that the truth wasn’t true. Even when challenged in their irrationality and condemned for this nonsense, the nihilists nevertheless said that existence, reality, and truth were unknowable to the human mind.

These nihilists believed in relativism and subjectivism. Relativists said that absolute and certain knowledge of reality was impossible; only “truths” which were relative to each other could sometimes be ascertained. Perhaps it could be determined that elephants were bigger than mice – but not what their positive, definitive sizes were. Subjectivists, in turn, also said that absolute and certain knowledge of reality was impossible; they claimed that “truth” varied from person to person and situation to situation. The truth of one character and circumstance was different from the truth of another.

The second reasonist failures were the religiosos. They also emerged within a century. They admitted that existence existed, reality was real, and the truth was true. They knew all this absolutely and certainly because some deity guaranteed it to them. But they also said that the ultimate existent, reality, and truth was this self-same “god”. Religionists offered no serious evidence for these fraudulent and outrageous claims.

The religionists believed in dogma and faith. Dogma said that something was true just because another person said so, especially some religious authority figure. Faith said that some speculations, claims, or statements should simply be accepted as truth without reason or evidence. The faithful want everyone to believe and accept their “truths” as a matter of principle – even if it means flying in the face of reason, science, evidence, and known facts.

Reason tells us that truth is absolute, certain, objective, rational, logical, and scientific. Reason also tells us that a fully rational and logical thought-system reveals the best path towards meaning, purpose, pleasure, greatness, and happiness.