TO KNOW OR TO THINK—THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE UNDERSTANDING OF PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE IN THE LIGHT OF THE STUDIES OF MIECZYSŁAW A. KRĄPIEC
Journal Title: Studia Gilsoniana - Year 2014, Vol 3, Issue
Abstract
The article concentrates on the specificity of philosophical cognition. Referring to Mieczysław A. Krąpiec’s study, the author proves that the process of thinking is not to be necessarily identified with the process of cognition, as in fact the former is merely a secondary phase of the latter. When identified with thinking, the philosophical cognition would undermine the very sense of cognition, which means the understanding of reality. When based on thinking alone, philosophy does not grasp real things, but operates with abstracts of being and being’s representations (concepts). As for the correctness of philosophical thinking the laws of logic, with ensuring non-contradictory operations, are sufficient enough. However, any knowledge that aspires to be philosophical has to start from really existing beings. In the next phases of cognition, such beings are grasped more and more particularly and precisely—starting from their transcendental properties and principles, then their structure and categorial properties, and finally their individual characteristics and actions. The very first act of cognition is directed to real beings, which are immediately grasped in respect of their existence and real essence. The second act of cognition deals with signs. The precedence of being in human cognition makes the philosophy charged not with a task of thinking about the world, but with the task of knowing and understanding it within possible and verifiable limits. Therefore, according to Krapiec, the very first philosophical discipline is metaphysics, which has real beings as its object. Thus, philosophical cognition should preserve its objective character, as this is the only way to guarantee its realism.
Authors and Affiliations
Tomasz Duma
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP253618
- DOI -
- Views 187
- Downloads 0
GILSON Y BÁÑEZ: LUCES Y SOMBRAS DE UN ENCUENTRO TARDÍO
Gilson came across Báñez’s commentary on the Summa Theologiae in 1952, and since then he saw in Báñez the confirmation of his own understanding of the act of being against the background of deviant interpretations made b...
A Teleological Interpretation of the Applicability of Rhetoric in the Peripatetic Tradition
For Aristotle, the classification of the audience is the basis of distinguishing the main genres of rhetoric. Due to the auditor receiving political, judicial or educational content, there is a distinction into deliberat...
PODMIOTOWOŚĆ CZŁOWIEKA W ŚWIETLE PERSONALIZMU CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKIEGO
The article discusses human subjectivity from the perspective of Christian personalism. There are three complementary respects in which human subjectivity is examined: (1) its main source which is God, (2) its place of a...
THE FOUNDATIONS OF CLASSICAL THOUGHT ON THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATE
The article discusses Plato’s and Aristotle’s writings on the sovereignty of the state. It claims that the reflections of the two philosophers on the nature and role of the polis was for them only the result of a shift i...
Leader Formation in the Church
The goal of this article is to show the way in which leaders are formed in the Roman Catholic Church. The analysis starts with a short presentation of the method used by Jesus Christ in forming his disciples. Then, it at...