If some Ideas(call them 1st order ideas) arise in the mind to refer to physical objects existing external to the mind, are there 2nd order ideas (or concepts) that refer, not to external objects(& events), but to the 1st order ideas about those external objects? Would you call the 1st order kind "a posteriori empirical ideas" and the 2nd order kind "a priori transcendent (=non-empirical) ideas." 1st order ideas are verifiable by empirical means and are tested for correspndence, while 2nd order ideas are not. 2nd order ideas are tested for coherence and logical consistency and other explanatory attibutes like simplicity and comprehensiveness ,etc.
2007-10-15 06:36:49 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
This Q addresses the issue of the origin and nature of ideas, something that rationalists and empiricsts or nominalists and realists have argued over endlessly. I think the word ideas is equivocal in meaning & I am trying to disambiguate them before moving on to other epistemic distinctions.
2007-10-15 08:08:57 · update #1
Thanks for the reference,I am reading the book and some things are in line with my separation of ideas based on what they refer to. However I feel the meaning of the word-concept of "idea" or "concept" are used carelessly and result in much confusion and erroneous conclusions. Rand & Pleikoff appreciate this.
2007-10-16 03:36:00 · update #2
I will not attempt to answer your very valuable and philosophical question. An excellent book for you, given your understanding of the concepts involved in the question, would be "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology" by Ayn Rand. I'm not asking you to agree with the author's overall philosophy; but her answers to your questions are the purpose of her book.
2007-10-15 09:00:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
That such representational distinctions are so easily forgotten in a gestalt directs us back into nature where there is no verification, testing, and consistency. Coherence, sense, follows the mind's adaptation to the terrifying surface features of reality, which include accident. This "making sense" business must be reverentially undertaken in the manner of the mariner who understands he may perish despite his best effort to stay afloat.
2007-10-15 16:11:02 · answer #2 · answered by Baron VonHiggins 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Seldom affirm, never deny, always distinguish.
Ideas and concepts usually are different based upon what the refer to.
2007-10-15 07:15:43 · answer #3 · answered by ustoev 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋