The Answer is in the Question
Knowledge Philosophy
Empirical and Rational Logic
Does knowledge originate from experience or from reason or from both? The answer is both in that there are two distinct forms of logic: Empirical logic, or logic rooted in experience, and rational logic, or logic rooted in existing knowledge.
Empirical logic is the foundation of science while rational logic is the foundation of technology and art. Science is empirical knowledge and technology is rational knowledge and industry is the application of rational knowledge. Empirical logic is associated with discovery, while rational logic is associated with invention and creativity. Empirical logic is associated with convergent thinking, while rational logic is associated with divergent thinking. The raw material for empirical logic is scientific data while the raw material for rational logic is existing knowledge. Empirical logic gathers masses of data and this data is converged into a logical structure. Rational logic builds upon knowledge that exists to invent or create expansive new knowledge.
The scientific method associated with empirical logic would seem to be a distinct from rational logic; but in actuality both work by the same process. The primary difference between the two is that empirical knowledge structure is converging while rational knowledge structure is expanding. Empirical logic is rooted in observation of reality and therefore involves testing of hypotheses, but both empirical and rational logic operate by the same mental process, a process that encapsulates scientific method. This process is as follows:
- 1. Definition, Solution, Structure (knowledge context)
- 2. Question, Problem (realizing the lack of structure)
- 3. Logical Operation (test, connect, structure, define)
- 4. Result: Advanced Definition, Solution, Structure
- 5. Return to Step 2
Below is a more accurate view of how philosophy is organized relative to knowledge working. Scientific knowledge draws from reality and rational knowledge draws from itself. Both rely on collective questions, or anti-knowledge, to advance.
Now let's look into the details behind this model. At it's core, knowledge advances from meaning to questions and back to questions.
Definition / Meaning / Knowledge
Definitions are the foundation of all scientific and technological knowledge. Knowledge is definition which is meaning. If definitions are taken away, meaning is taken away. If definitions are taken away, knowledge is taken away. If meaning is taken away, there is nothing to define and nothing to know. Words have meaning and words have definition which is knowledge. These three terms are synonymous though people try to separate them into distinct concepts. Definitions do not have meaning, they are meaning. Knowledge does not have definition and meaning, it is definition and meaning.
Webster’s definitions are little summaries of meaning, but all knowledge is meaning and is definition. Knowledge is one, massive, interconnected, relational definition—one massive, interconnected, relational meaning. The dictionary or encyclopedia is simply a summary of this definition and meaning.
Any discovery or invention is in essence new definition/meaning. For example, cloning is a scientific advance/discovery that is a detailed definition / meaning / knowledge that was assigned the term. Likewise, nanotechnology is a technological advance that is a detailed definition / meaning / knowledge that was assigned the term.
A solution, be it scientific or technological, is simply arriving at definition / meaning / knowledge while a problem is simply the recognition of the lack thereof.
And all knowledge is structure. The structure / definition / meaning represented by the symbols and semantics that are chosen by a society. Logic is structure and the process of logical structuring results in definition / meaning / solution / structure.
The fundamental premise here is that we are using many terms (including many others that we will not cover in this article) to describe facets of a singular concept of logic—a concept that has been elusive because it exists in both converging and diverging structures—but nevertheless, a single concept and not many.
Questions and Anti-Knowledge
Just as definition is the foundation of knowledge, questions are the foundation of new knowledge. Analyzing raw data is the empirical version of questioning. In the world of rational logic, the question is asked around a particular existing knowledge context.
Both empirical and rational logic structures are advancing. Empirical structures advance as they absorb more and more analyses of reality. Rational knowledge structures are advancing as invention drives disciplines to expand outward like a tree.
The point where knowledge structure meets the question is the cutting edge. No one can advance scientific or technological knowledge without knowledge context. This context allows an individual to operate on the cutting edge where knowledge is created.
Questions or problems are the perceived lack of knowledge structure. Data is not structured, but when we perceive the lack of structure we question it. Any question about any topic is recognition of absent logical structure.
When an individual knows and understands a knowledge context completely enough to reach the cutting edge, they are able to ask knowledge creation questions or questions about knowledge that does not yet exist.
Up to that point that a person reaches the cutting edge they need to ask learning questions or questions about knowledge that exists. Learning is incorporating social knowledge structure into the structure of the personal intellect. Individuals question until they learn, but when they have incorporated a knowledge context into their personal intellect, they can then ask knowledge creation questions and have an opportunity to advance that knowledge context.
The sum of knowledge creation questions is anti-knowledge. Anti-knowledge sits as an antithetical domain against knowledge. The known, comprised of knowledge/definition/meaning/structure has a yin and yang relationship with the unknown, which is perceived through questions.
All new scientific and technological knowledge must pass through the question to exist. In fact, by structuring knowledge creation questions we create new knowledge. By structuring learning questions, or incorporating social logical structures we learn, but by structuring knowledge creation questions we add to the knowledge structure that exists and new knowledge is created.
The cycle of question/definition is as predictable and reliable as scientific method, because it is the basis of scientific method. Every scientific or technological advance follows these steps:
- 1. Definition, Solution, Structure (knowledge context)
- 2. Question, Problem (realizing the lack of structure)
- 3. Logical Operation (test, connect, structure, define)
- 4. Result: Advanced Definition, Solution, Structure
- 5. Return to Step 2
Every scientific or technological advance is achieved by structuring the unstructured, by structuring questions. Every creative method in existence operates by assisting this process in some way. Brainstorming reaches out to find new areas of possibility/new areas of questions. Directional or morphological methods move the individual to a parallel knowledge context. Question related methods obviously look for questions.
This five step process is literally the process for everything we know or will ever achieve. Confusion of terms has hidden it from view for centuries, but we constantly leverage this process, albeit with partial understanding.
Mechanized Knowledge Advance
There is great intellectual power in realizing the fundamental process that enables all of those sub processes that we use successfully, like scientific method and brainstorming. As we better understand precisely what operation under girds these sub processes, the door is also opened to mechanize social advance. The search engine is a mechanized learning question, but we have not yet created a mechanized knowledge creation question system.
The mechanization of the five step knowledge creation cycle is true artificial intelligence, or more accurately, true artificial knowledge creation. Individual intelligence is individual knowledge structure stored. The human brain is the storage capacity. Social intelligence is social knowledge structure stored. The global brain is the storage capacity. Intelligence is not equal to knowledge creation. These are two very much distinct capacities. Artificial intelligence already exists in any computer system, but artificial knowledge creation is emerging and will bring a quantum leap.
By teaching the machine to perceive questions and structure them, the machine creates knowledge—a perpetual knowledge machine, its only limits being scientific data input and storage capacity.
