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Table of Contents
Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - The Means of Knowledge
>>> A BIBLICAL EPISTEMOLOGY
Part 3 - The Sources of Knowledge
Part 4 - The Limits of Knowledge
Part 5 - The Reliability of Knowledge
Part 6 - Summary of the Nature of Knowledge

Part 7 - Quotations
Part 8 - Select References
Part 1 - INTRODUCTION
What does it mean To Know?
How do we know anything?
What is necessary and sufficient for an ignorant person to acquire knowledge?

How much knowledge can we acquire?

How reliable is that knowledge?

The investigation into The Nature of Knowledge or the Nature of Knowing, is one of the fundamental disciplines in philosophy, and its technical name is Epistemology.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE HOW CAN YOU BE SURE THAT YOU KNOW ANYTHING?
****************
There are Four things we can know about knowing.
1- MEANS: How do we acquire knowledge?
2- SOURCES: Whence comes knowledge?
3- LIMITS: The quantity of our knowledge
4- RELIABILITY: The quality of our knowledge
Part 2 - THE MEANS OF KNOWLEDGE
ALL KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED THRU FAITH.
(It cannot be shouted loud enough!)
That is, if we want to add information to that which we already have, we must exercise FAITH. There are no exceptions to this rule. If we want to know, we must first believe.
It does not matter how intelligent or educated one is, the only path to knowing is BELIEVING. The Theist and the atheist, the genius and the dull, the wise and the fool, the young or the old, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, MUST FIRST BELIEVE, if he wants to know.
A BIBLICAL EPISTEMOLOGY

According to John 3:16, a sinner receives Everlasting Life when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ…

SinnerChristEvL

But John 17:3 defines Everlasting Life as Knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ…

EvL=KoG

Which means that when we believe in Christ, we are receiving Knowledge…

SinnerChristKoG
BUT every act of faith needs an Object of Faith.

IgnorantObjectKnow

That is, when we believe, we must believe in something or someone.
When we believe, we are placing our trust
in something or someone.
Part 3 - THE SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
We can classify all Objects of Faith or the Sources of knowledge into Three groups:
FAITH IN THINGS- All objects, living and non-living, other than people or God, we will call Things. Faith in Things helps us to learn about objects around us so that we can deal with difficulties that we encounter and to live more productive and comfortable lives. A small portion of this type of information is collected and classified as SCIENCE. It is the result of experiences, particularly experiences repeatable at will, which are called controlled experiments. The controlled experiments that scientists really desire are unobtainable ideals, but we will humor them and pretend that there are such things.
Since SCIENCE has become the god of this age, we must deal with it as a separate category. In the past, Science had a much wider meaning, and simply meant Knowledge. But since the scientific revolution and the advances in modern technology, its meaning has narrowed. Many people have come to believe that knowledge acquired outside of the experimental method is unreliable information, when in fact just the opposite is the case. We have been blinded by man-made tools that have made our lives so comfortable and productive and filled our lives with terror.

FAITH IN PEOPLE- Other people, whether living or dead, whether we know them personally or not, are our objects of faith when we want to learn about experiences of other people. A small portion of this type of information that has been recorded in reliable records is called HISTORY. This group of information includes records and reports of Unique, Unrepeatable events such as births, wars, deaths, etc.


FAITH IN GOD-If we believe that God is able to communicate with people, then the knowledge we acquire thru faith in God is called REVELATION.
Part 4 - THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE
The Limit of each source of knowledge is as follows:-
SCIENCE - The information that we can “obtain” from material objects is very limited. The substances with which we interact are very few and even in a long lifetime, our experiences are extremely limited. Out of all the possible information that is potentially available, Science is the most limited.

HISTORY- This method of obtaining information is much wider and can give us information about events and objects that we could never experience on our own.

REVELATION- This path to knowledge is potentially the most compelling, because the Creator can give us knowledge about things and events and Himself, that we could never experience.
LimitCircles
Part 5 - THE RELIABILITY OF KNOWLEDGE
Each source of knowledge has varying degrees of Reliability
SCIENCE- The task of a scientist is to make careful observations of his natural surroundings, and then to try and organize those experiences into manageable patterns. After what may be years of repeated experiences or experiments, scientists try to devise “laws” which are usually mathematical representations of their measurements. These “laws” are likely to be revised as their experiences widen.
Scientists have no choice but to form conclusions based upon Inductions, or generalizations from a necessarily LIMITED number of experiences. “Laws” of science can never be considered true because scientists cannot have the infinite number of experiences necessary to know for sure. Furthermore, their Object of Faith is a universe that is subject to decay, constant change and is extremely complex. In fact, Science is impotent to arrive at any Truth whatsoever. It is a useful method to deal with objects around us, but we do not need final Truth about the world to deal with our problems. Just as a hammer or a knife does not have to be perfect to be useful, the Science of the scientist is never perfect but can be very useful in organizing experiences.
Information that is acquired using our fallible senses and  by placing our faith on a universe condemned to destruction, can Never lead to infallible knowledge.

HISTORY- Historical information is more reliable, because after many years of observation and testing, we can eliminate errors that at first we believed to be valid information. Knowledge that has been accumulated over many lifetimes can help us to discard information that has not withstood “the test of time”. 

REVELATION- Revelation is the most reliable source of knowledge, because the Object of Faith is God Himself. He is the sole source of Truth, omniscient and completely trustworthy. We are at His mercy for revealed knowledge, and must admit that we are utterly incapable of probing into His acts or His thoughts.
**************************************

There are many incorrect epistemologies. They are too numerous to mention.
They have misled people for centuries and continue to do so.
Part 6 - SUMMARY OF THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE
MEANS- ALL KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED THRU FAITH
SCIENCE - FAITH IN THINGS
HISTORY - FAITH IN PEOPLE
REVELATION - FAITH IN GOD
SOURCES- WHENCE COMES KNOWLEDGE
SCIENCE - EXPERIENCES WHICH ARE REPEATABLE AT WILL
HISTORY - EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS
REVELATION - KNOWLEDGE GIVEN BY GOD
LIMITS- THE QUANTITY OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
SCIENCE - EVENTS WHICH ARE REPEATABLE AT WILL
HISTORY - EVENTS WITNESSED & RECORDED BY OTHER PEOPLE
REVELATION - EVERY EVENT THAT HAS EVER TAKEN PLACE AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GOD HIMSELF
RELIABILITY- THE QUALITY OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
SCIENCE - LEAST RELIABLE
HISTORY - MORE RELIABLE
REVELATION - MOST RELIABLE- THE ONLY SOURCE OF TRUTH
SpectrumOfFaith
If anyone claims that they know mathematical and geometrical truths without having to exercise faith, we must remind them that numbers and geometric shapes are purely imaginary ideas about non-existent impossibilities, and thus cannot be considered knowledge.
Part 7 - Quotations
All men live by beliefs. Travelers believe that they will go back home; patients believe that their physician will heal them; the philosophers who think that all is water believe that Thales was right; others believe what has been said by Plato, Aristotle, Chrysippus, Zeno or Epicurus. Even those who think that man knows nothing, believe Carneades on this point. You believe in Plato, Arnobius says, or in Numenius, or in somebody else; we believe in Christ.
Etienne Gilson; History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages; p48

[…] in the doctrine of Augustine, sense cognition is not perfectly safe.

First, its proper function is to warn the soul of some changes that take place in the body rather than to represent to it the nature of things.
Secondly, this nature of material things is itself a changeable one.
For these two reasons, no pure truth can be expected from sensations.
Etienne Gilson; History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages; p75
Part 8 - Select References
Brennan, Joseph Gerard > A Handbook of Logic
O’Connor, D. J.; Carr, Brian > Introduction to The Theory of Knowledge
Packer, James I. > Knowing God
Vaihinger, Hans > The Philosophy of “As If”

Alston, William P. > Does God Have Beliefs?
Armstrong, D. M. > Does Knowledge Entail Belief?
Audi, Robert > Epistemology
Augustine, Aurelius > The Teacher
Ayer, Alfred Jules > The A Priori
Balfour, James Arthur > The Foundations of Belief
Bayle, Pierre > Historical and Critical Dictionary: Selections
Berkeley, George > Are Things Different From Ideas?
Berkeley, George > Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous
Bremmer, Michael > Faith and Salvation
Chisholm, Roderick M. > The Foundations of Knowing
Clark, Gordon H. > Knowledge
Clark, Gordon H. > The Axiom of Revelation
Collingwood, R. G. > The Limits of Historical Knowledge
Dretske, Fred I. > Knowledge & the Flow of Information
Feigl, Herbert > The Logical Character of the Principle of Induction
Ganeri, Jonardon > Traditions Of Truth - Changing Beliefs And The Nature Of Inquiry
Gettier, Edmund L. > Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Hardwig, John > Epistemic Dependence
Houde, R.; Mullally, J.; eds. > Philosophy of Knowledge
Hume, David > Empiricism and the Limits of Knowledge
Kattsoff, Louis O. > Elements of Philosophy
Kenyon, W. E. > The Two Kinds of Knowledge
Laudan, Larry > Epistemic Crises and Justification Rules
Lewis, C. I. > A Pragmatic Conception of The A Priori
Morris, John D. > Does Nature Reveal Truth as Clearly as Does the Bible?
Ogden, C. K. > Bentham’s Theory of Fictions
Peirce, Charles Sanders > The Ways of Justifying Belief
Polanyi, Michael > Scientific Beliefs
Popper, Karl R. > Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach
Popper, Karl R. > The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Quine, Willard V. O. > Two Dogmas of Empiricism
Reed, John K. > The Fallacy of Historical Science
Russell, Bertrand > Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits
Russell, Bertrand > On Propositions: What They are and How They Mean
Springer, Otto > “Re-thinking” the Meaning of Belief
Von Balthasar, Hans Urs > Man Creates Meaning In Encounter
Wells, Wesley Raymond > The Biological Foundations of Belief
Wilder-Smith, A. E. > He Who Thinks Has to Believe
Williams, John N. > Belief-In and Belief in God
Wolfe, David L. > Epistemology: The Justification of Belief
Woodbridge, Frederick J. E. > The Belief in Sensations
… all that is not of faith is sin.
Romans 14:23
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