Philosophical questions can be divided into three broad categories: 1) those that deal with the nature of reality; 2) those that deal with the nature of knowledge; and 3) those that deal with the nature of value. These categories correspond to the three major branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology and axiology (Schick & Vaughn, 1999. Of these three branches it is epistemology û the study of the nature of knowledge û that is of concern herein.
Generally, epistemology seeks to identify how man "knows" that he exists, that God exists, that the world is real and not an illusion, and that the evidence of the five senses is valid (Warburton, 1995). Thus, philosophers who deal with such issues are in pursuit of, among other things, enhanced understanding of human beings, of the world and of the interaction between mind and body.
Many philosophers have developed a theory of knowledge that underpins their general concept of nature and ethical behavior. Among the epistemologists whose contributions are of special significance are G.W.F. Hegel, Rene Descartes, and David Hume. This brief report will examine these philosophers' views on knowledge and then compare and contrast those views. The report will conclude with a personal assessment of their attempts to explain knowledge.
G.W.F. Hegel is said to have greatly admired and even emulated Kant while developing his own unique approach to epistemology (Solomon & Higgins, 1996). Hegel argued that our contributions to knowledge and the truth can never be definitive but will always be partial, mediated and one-sided. What Hegel sought was an all-encompassing vision inclusive of theories about the nature of knowledge as well as material from religion, ethics, art and history.
Hegel asserted that beyond reason, there is nothing. He declared that "Being is thought," and that "The knowing of reason is not the mere subjective servitude, but also truth (in Ferm, ...