A Perspective on Knowledge Generation in Humans

摘要

1 Iaim to present a new perspective on human understanding. The perspective is this: A method of explanation controls the kind of knowledge you generate. That's because method controls the relevance of evidence for beliefs. 2 Methods of explanation consist of relating new ideas to old ones. That is to a preformed context. 3 But there's an old problem. What was the preformed context's preformed context? And then its preformed context? And so on. How does knowledge start? 4 This paper says it does not start with some fundamental concepts. It starts with basic brain processes that are necessary to have concepts. They are abilities. 5 There are about a dozen of these, and the bulk of the paper, describes them with numerous visual illustrations from many disciplines. Knowledge from spiritual revelations is rejected. 6 The brain processes combine in an infinite number of ways like atoms in molecules. 7 Yet in the build up of knowledge upon knowledge, each brain process characterises a particular type of explanation. 8 The build up creates an underlying structure of knowledge. 9 When challenging explanations in rational argument or discussion, there is a tendency to shift from one explanatory type to another in an ordered way.