The famous saying of Socrates “ Wisest is he who knows what...

The famous saying of Socrates “ Wisest is he who knows what he does not know” refers to this first type of ignorance. Compound Ignorance: Is a type of ignorance where the ignorant is unaware of his ignorance and moreover assumes that he does know. Compound ignorance is the combination of two types of ignorance; firstly ignorance about the truth and secondly, ignorance of the fact that he does not know the truth. The example of compound ignorance is optical illusions such as mirage.

Tools for Acquiring Knowledge Sense experience Nature is the first human source of knowledge and our five external senses are the tools of accessing this source. From the time we are born, we hear sounds around us, we see objects and people around us, we touch and taste and smell things and through each we gain some knowledge accordingly. Human beings are similar to animals at this level, with the only difference being in the level of perception between humans and some animals.

For instance, the sense of smell in dogs and ants is stronger than in humans, as are the navigational skills of a bat stronger than a human. Dogs see are only able to see the colour gray etc. In spite of the differences in depth of sensory perception between humans and animals, it is common-sensical that for a healthy human being, external senses are the first tools of obtaining knowledge to the extend that it is said in Arabic: “One who misses a sense misses a knowledge”.

However, there are different opinions among philosophers from ancient times to the present about the validity of our sense of perception. Plato, for instance, did not accept nature as a source of knowledge; his reason being the relationship between mankind and nature is interlinked and therefore cannot bring about knowledge. Descartes and Kant also hold the view that sensory perception is good for daily life experiences yet it is not a reliable tool for obtaining knowledge.

[^1] In contrast, empiricists assert that human knowledge arises from what is provided to the mind by the senses or by introspective awareness through experience. John Locke, the English philosopher of the 18th and 19th century, was the first to give this systematic expression to empiricism followed by George Berkeley and David Hume. According to empiricism sensory and sensational experience are the only tools to feed the human mind with knowledge.

Thus, we can only understand what we can physically perceive.