por What is sensitive knowledge?
Sensible knowledge is that which is acquired through the senses. It is sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch and other internal senses that perceive the objects that are around the individual. Later, the brain interprets what is perceived and incorporates it into intellectual knowledge.
The origin of this concept dates back to Ancient Greece, specifically to the work of Plato. This philosopher divided the world into two branches: the sensible and the intelligible. After him, many other philosophers have elaborated different definitions of the term «knowledge» and have elaborated theories about the existing types.
This type of knowledge is not only related to physical objects, but also serves to capture those that are in the social or psychic environment. The human being, in this way, not only observes the color of an apple, but also if someone is eating it and if the taste seems pleasant or not.
However, sensitive knowledge is considered unreliable by many philosophical schools. To begin with, the senses have a limited scope and, furthermore, perceptions do not reach everyone in the same way. The red of the aforementioned apple can be considered dark by some and lighter by others.
Characteristics of sensitive knowledge
Human beings acquire sensitive knowledge through their senses. First they obtain the information when the objects are perceived and, later, the brain interprets what is captured. Memory also plays an important role in this process, since it recovers previous knowledge to conveniently identify what has been perceived.
Thanks to the senses, human beings can relate directly to the reality that surrounds them. The set of objects perceived is called experience, which, in turn, offers tools to interpret what is captured by the senses.
It comes through the senses
It is the senses that allow the human being to grasp the empirical reality, that is, the world that surrounds him. These senses are created by various external organs that are responsible for capturing reality, such as the eyes, and that send the information to the brain for interpretation.
Sensitive knowledge is considered to be fully apprehensive. This term, according to the RAE, means «of the mental faculty to apprehend» and «capable of apprehending or grasping something».
Sensations and perceptions
Sensations and perceptions are two terms related to the way the senses collect external information.
The sensations are only the reactions to the stimuli that those senses receive. It is a subjective reaction and it is not elaborated or interpreted by the organ that captures that stimulus.
Each kind of stimulus gives rise to a different sensation. Each object captured, in the same way, can cause different sensations.
On the other hand, the sensations are not always the same before the same object. Thus, biological differences with other animal species cause these sensations to be different. There may even be differences between human beings, usually due to diseases that affect some organ or, simply, due to its deterioration due to old age.
Perceptions, for their part, appear when sensations are interpreted, also subjectively.
There are general laws about how human beings interpret these sensations to convert them into perceptions. This, however, does not prevent individual factors from causing differences between what each individual perceives.
limited and varied
Sensible knowledge is characterized by its limitations. The main factor that favors this limitation is that it can only be acquired through the senses, which implies closeness to the subject.
In addition, our own sensory organs are limited and many phenomena are not apprehended by them. An example is ultrasound, which humans cannot pick up.
However, it stands out for its variety, especially taking into account the different sensory organs present in animals.
phases
Experts divide sensitive knowledge into three different phases. The first is physics, which includes the object itself. Then there is the physiological, in which the information collected by the senses reaches the central nervous system.
Finally, there is the psychological phase. In this, the information becomes conscious for the individual.
unreliable and qualitative
Sensitive knowledge is also characterized by its lack of trust. What is perceived by the senses cannot be verified by science and, furthermore, each person perceives external reality differently.
On the other hand, it is a type of qualitative knowledge. This means that the information that is received only covers the physical characteristics of the perceived object.
Finally, the philosophical current of rationalism has always shown its rejection that knowledge can be captured through the senses. For these thinkers, what the senses receive are only perceptions and it is easy for them to deceive us. Rationalists claim that only reason can lead to knowledge.
perceptual illusions
Among the possible deceptions that can come from the human senses, the so-called perceptual illusions stand out. To begin with, those perceptions are different from person to person and their interpretation is affected by various factors.
The first of these factors is the individual’s own tastes and interests. In addition, the previous knowledge that one has also influences. Finally, the habits of each person determine part of that interpretation. The sense that is most often affected by these perceptive illusions is that of sight.
For all these reasons, the interpretation of what is captured by our senses can be easily wrong.
Types of sensitive knowledge
The first type of sensible knowledge is external. In this case, the sensory organs capture the forms that exist around the person.
Internal sensitive knowledge, for its part, depends on the way in which the person captures the physical reality that surrounds him. To do this, it brings into play elements such as memory, common sense or imagination.
Within this last type, other senses that have to do with the person’s body also appear. Among them is the kinesthetic sense, which informs about movement, and the sense of balance.
examples
1- The senses of sight and taste tell us that lemon is yellow and has an acid taste.
2- The sense of taste warns that the food is too salty.
3- Smell allows us to smell the flowers.
4- The sense of touch distinguishes the roughness of some leaves of the trees.
5- The ear allows us to listen to music. .
6- The view distinguishes excessive lighting in a room and sends information to make us feel annoyed.
References
Philosophy and Education. sensitive knowledge. Retrieved from filosofiayeducacion.es
Aragonese e-educational platform. Knowledge: definition and types. Retrieved from e-ducativa.catedu.es
Philosophy classroom. Sensitive and intellectual knowledge. Retrieved from sites.google.com
New Catholic Encyclopedia. Sense Knowledge. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
Borghini, Andrea. Philosophical Empiricism. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
Vedanthu. Sensory Perception. Retrieved from vedantu.com