A User's Guide to Reason/Introduction
- ... I'm willing to join you in examining virtue and inquiring into what it could be.
- But how will you inquire into this, Socrates, when you don't at all know what it is? For what sort of thing, from among those you don't know, will you put forward as the thing you're inquiring into? And even if you really encounter it, how will you know that this is the thing you didn't know?
- I understand the sort of thing you want to say, Meno. Do you see what an eristic argument you're introducing, that its not possible for someone to inquire either into that which he knows or into that which he doesn't know? For he wouldn't inquire into that which he knows (for he knows it, and there is no need for such a person to inquire); nor into that which he doesn't know (for he doesn't even know what he'll inquire into). (Plato, Meno 80de, translated by Gail Fine, in The possibility of inquiry, Meno's paradox from Socrates to Sextus, 2014)
Reason is about thinking and acting well, acquiring knowledge and using it wisely.
Reason dictates that knowledge must be reflective.
If we don't know that we know, then it's not rational knowledge. To be rational, we must therefore know how to observe knowledge.
To search, one must know what one is searching for. One must know how to observe whether one has found what one is searching for; otherwise, it is vain to search for it. To search for knowledge, therefore, one must know how to observe knowledge.
Epistemology is knowledge about knowledge. It provides the laws for observing all knowledge.
We can think of irrational forms of knowledge: animal knowledge, wordless knowledge, and unreflective knowledge. Epistemology in the broad sense is rational knowledge about all knowledge, whether rational or not. Epistemology in the strict sense is rational knowledge about rational knowledge. This book is devoted to epistemology in the strict sense. Throughout this text, knowledge always means rational knowledge.
Knowledge is a truth obtained through good work. To observe knowledge, therefore, one must observe truth and goodness.
We can distinguish three forms of truth: logical truth, truth about Nature, and ethical truth.
The first chapter of this book is devoted to logical truth, the next to truth about Nature and ethical truth. The third chapter is devoted to epistemology.
Logical, or mathematical, truths are the truths about everything that is logically possible. To be logically possible is to be absolutely possible. Nothing can exist without being logically possible. Logical truths are the most general.
Truths about Nature are the truths about matter, life, and mind. Ethical truths are the truths about good and evil.
We understand good and evil through ideals. An ideal prescribes good and forbids evil. An ideal is like an instrument for observing good and evil.
Epistemology (in the strict sense) is fundamentally ethical knowledge because it defines an ideal of rational knowledge. This ideal is like an instrument for observing reason.
By providing the laws for observing knowledge, epistemology gives us the ability to observe all forms of knowledge. We acquire knowledge by observing that it is knowledge. Epistemology thus provides the ability to acquire all forms of knowledge.
This short treatise is a user's guide to reason because it gives the most fundamental principles of the most fundamental sciences, from which all knowledge can be based, and because it shows how to observe and acquire all knowledge.
Preliminary: a theory of essences
[edit | edit source]An essence is a property, a quality, a concept, an attribute, and a predicate. All these terms are treated here as synonymous.
A relation between two terms, x and y, is a property of the ordered pair (x, y). For instance, love is a property of (x, y) if and only if x loves y. (x, y) must be distinguished from (y, x) because "x loves y" differs from "y loves x".
x is essential to y if and only if y cannot exist without x.
x is an essential property of y if and only if y cannot exist without possessing property x.
The essence of a being is the conjunction of its essential properties. The essence of a being is the conjunction of the essences that are essential to that being. A conjunction of properties is itself a property; therefore, the essence of a being is an essence.
It is essential for an essence to be capable of attribution. Even an essence that is attributed to nothing—such as "being a nothingness," since nothing is a nothingness—can be falsely attributed to a being.
A predicate is a statement containing free variables. For example, x and y are the free variables of the predicate "x loves y". A predicate is predicated, or attributed, when its free variables are replaced by constants. A predicate is an expression that names a concept and can be identified with the concept it names.
When we observe that a being possesses a property, we simultaneously observe the presence of that being and the presence of its property. Essences exist in our world as soon as they hold true for at least one being within that world. Our world is part of their world. Their world is the world of all possibilities, and our world is included in it.
x is an essence if and only if there exists a system of laws such that an attribution of x is true if it is a logical consequence of those laws.
The essence of an essence—the essential property of an essence—is to reveal the truth when it is attributed in accordance with its laws.
If there were no law, there would be no essence, because to be an essence, there must be laws governing its attribution. If there were no essence, there would be nothing, because to exist, one must possess properties. Therefore, if there were no law, there would be nothing. In the beginning was the law.
One must distinguish between beauty and the essence of beauty. Both are essences, yet they differ. Beauty is the property of being beautiful. The essence of beauty is the property of revealing the truth when it is attributed in accordance with the laws of beauty. These are two distinct properties.
It is beautiful to reveal the truth about beauty. This is a law of beauty. Thus, beauty possesses the property of being beautiful. Beauty itself is beautiful. It is a truly beautiful essence. It is like a goddess revealing the beauty of all that is beautiful.
A system of laws may be insufficient to determine all the true attributions of an essence. In such a case, the essence in question is not completely determined, because different essences can obey the same laws.
An essence x is completely determined by its laws if and only if (an attribution of x is true if and only if it is a logical consequence of those laws).
Completely determining an essence is not necessary for reasoning correctly about it. Such precision is not always required.
Being a property is a property. Being an essence is an essence—which may be named "the essence" just as cowardice is names the property of being a coward.
What is the essence of the essence? What is the essential property of the property of being a property?
The essence of the essence is the property of revealing the truth when it is attributed in accordance with the fundamental law of the essence. More precisely:
x is the property of being an essence if and only if for all y, (an attribution of x to y is true if and only if it is a logical consequence of the fundamental law of essence: y is an essence if and only if there exists a system of laws such that an attribution of y is true if it is a logical consequence of those laws.)
The property of being an essence is an essence completely determined by the fundamental law of essence. This suffices to completely determine the essential property of the property of being an essence—and thus the essence of the essence.
To effectively pursue the truth, one must know the laws governing the attribution of concepts; otherwise, we speak haphazardly and never know whether what we say is true. Knowledge of these laws is therefore essential for acquiring knowledge. This short treatise sets forth the most fundamental laws regarding the attribution of the most fundamental concepts. These laws are the ever-flowing source of all knowledge and truth—insofar as we can discover them through diligent inquiry. If you drink from this water, you will always know how to quench your thirst for knowledge.