Kinds of knowledge, reflection, mind-reality gap
What are Spinoza’s kinds of knowledge, and how can you use it as a tool to understand what kind of idea is valid, and what kind is not? and also to turn a light to the maximum extent of freedom that oneself can reach, however, it’s been declaimed from self by self because of the mind-reality gap and Neuroses formation.
Bias
The first thing we should understand is the emotional quality or mental energy of a thing in mind, and how it happens, so we can make sense of how different people are affected differently by the same things, at all times.
Ethics 3P51: Different men may be differently affected by the same object, and the same man may be differently affected at different times by the same object.
The way it happens:
Ethics 3P14: If the mind has once been affected by two emotions at the same time, it will, whenever it is afterwards affected by one of these two, be also affected by the other.
This is the very beginning line of aversion and inclination, or in one word: bias.
Inclination
Pleasure accompanied by the idea of something which is accidentally a cause of pleasure.
Aversion
Pain accompanied by the idea of something which is accidentally the cause of pain.
Once I was talking to a lady who was telling me of how she disliked green eyes because it reminds her of sputum, which is also green. This indicates how emotion can transform itself through a complex network of collective memories conditioned to initial conditions and experience, in which the origin is barely conscious. All the person knows is the experience of an emotion toward the thing.
So as a result
Ethics 3P14 corollary: Simply from the fact that we have regarded a thing with the emotion of pleasure or pain, though that thing be not the efficient cause of the emotion, we can either love or hate it.
This is the reason we see people have different opinions about things, it’s always related to something in the mind because the thing itself doesn’t possess qualities of emotion. It’s just a thing that our mind is reflecting its value onto. A thing like sputum or green eyes exists in reality because of its causes, but at the time that mind reflects its value on, it becomes good or bad.
Reflection
A quality that is relative does not possess those qualities unless the perception of the mind.
From the very fact that man makes meaning of good and bad of everything to consist in its form (continuing existence), it’s affected by those emotions of good and bad, love or hate.
The problem happens at times when the mind confuses its own affection with the quality of the thing in reality and believes that the quality is from the nature of the thing then: it reflects its own value on reality.
For example, someone who believes alcohol is bad would reflect their opinion as the bare truth for everyone. Meanwhile both the existence of alcohol and the opinion have happened by their own causes accompanied by infinite accuracy.
What I’m trying to say here is that: good and bad products of relative meaning that do not have quality in reality, but it’s a thinking mode that can lead to prejudice by its reflection on reality.
Judgment
Judgment happens at times when we reflect the value of mind on something that we conceive to be free, in such a manner that it could have happened differently aligned with the reflected values.
From here it’s insightful to watch our own judgments to find the origin of values.
In the reality that everything has causes for existence in a fixed manner, and cannot happen any differently, conceiving something to be free, is the error of mind for the value to reflect itself.
The practice is to instead of judgment, think of the causes that made the thing happen, and also to think that made the self reflect which value for self-insight, because neither of them, the self or reality, is free; they are both caused. So hence it follows that also the value of self that is being reflected is unjudgeable.
Ethics 3P51: Different men may be differently affected by the same object, and the same man may be differently affected at different times by the same object.
Ethics 3P51.Note: Lastly, from this inconstancy in the nature of human judgment, inasmuch as a man often judges things solely by his emotions, and inasmuch as the things which he believes cause pleasure or pain, and therefore endeavours to promote or prevent, are often purely imaginary.
We must be aware at all times that judgment is for something that has acted higher than the necessity of its own.
Kinds of knowledge
Spinoza has 3 kinds of knowledge which used to make a clearcut between what's part of reality and adequate, and what's solely exist in mind and doesn't exist in reality.
He sees the obtaining of true knowledge to be the sole avenue for liberating oneself from the limits and fallibility of an average human existence.
Reality has no obligation to act upon what we think of, it does do it's own thing based on necessity, the result of mismatching our knowledge and mis validate what we know results in mind distancing from reality, thinking and believing things that doesn't exist.
Also these kinds of knowledge are his path to freedom in his predetermined system.
First kind (invalid/error)
First kind of knowledge is the only source of falsity.
Ethics 2P41: Knowledge of the first kind is the only source of falsity, knowledge of the second and third kinds is necessarily true.
From symbols, e.g., from the fact of having read or heard certain words we remember things and form certain ideas concerning them, similar to those through which we imagine things (II. xviii. note). I shall call both these ways of regarding things knowledge of the first kind, opinion, or imagination.
- Opinions
- Remembering things and forming ideas concerning them
- Imaginations (something that is not part of reality, but we imagine it)
- Assumptions or beliefs
- Experiment without proof
- Senses or feelings
- Memory
- Prejudice
- Superstition
- Miracles
- Prophecy
- Revelation
These all are first kind of knowledge that need to validate with the second kind of knowledge which in case of falsity, they will be ignored.
Considering these types of knowledge as true and relying on them, will result the mind to distance from reality and form false assumptions. In other words, going by the mercy of fortune.
Second kind (valid)
The second kind of knowledge or Rational thinking is the gateway to truth. The ability to connect things logically and make reason out of them leading to a conclusion or rational prediction.
This is the kind of knowledge, that cannot be false and all men agree on.
Think of a triangle as truth, the idea of the triangle in mind is a bare reflection of reality, free of bias. The reason that it’s free of bias is that it cannot have a different shape that can go around its natural laws, which is common to everyone with no exception.
Notions common to all men, and adequate ideas of the properties of things.
Ethics 2P42: Knowledge of the second and third kinds, not knowledge of the first kind, teaches us to distinguish the true from the false.
Ethics 2P43: He, who has a true idea, simultaneously knows that he has a true idea, and cannot doubt of the truth of the thing perceived.
Ethics 2P44: It is not in the nature of reason to regard things as contingent, but as necessary.
Ethics 2P44.Corollary: Hence it follows, that it is only through our imagination that we consider things, whether in respect to the future or the past, as contingent.
Also, a triangle cannot be contingent. I define contingent in this context as assuming/imagining a triangle can have a sum of angles that is not 180°. Everything else is governed by the same strict logic as a triangle. But due to the lack of understanding, the mind assumes things to be contingent in reality and can happen differently. This knowledge can be gained by measuring and understanding phenomena.
Contingent: Not conditioned
We know that everything is conditioned to act in a particular manner by the rational order of nature, so regarding things as contingent is not a reason, but assumption which arise from first kind of knowledge.
Examples of second kind of knowledge:
- Common notion
- Something that everyone agree on with no doubt
- Intellection
- Reason
Reason
We use reason at times when we deal with an opinion-based matter. For example which building is the best, meanwhile no such thing as the best of anything exists. At this time we use reason to find our way relatively through opinionated matter using intellect. The second kind of knowledge is the gate to will or understanding.
Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd
If you have an idea which is contrary to nature, this come from the lack of knowledge. If reason has a practical reproducible contrary in nature, then it's proved that the reason is absurd. For example if we have a reason which cannot reproduce, and the contrary of it shows in nature.
Will and understanding
Ethics 2P49.Corollary: Will and understanding are one and the same.
At the very first level, our will is limited to the knowledge and understanding of action, how can a man have the option without knowing of the existence of the option? So, will or understanding.
So far we know from mind page that nothing such as free-will exist in nature, but will exists! The will, that is not free, but conditioned by reason of understanding. I want to show what it means by an example:
A person will necessarily continue living in the line of their initiated condition unless changed by a cause. Let's assume someone who has grown in an aggressive environment and culture, we might assume this person has a choice to do otherwise than what has been determined on them by necessity of their own nature and prior causes, but that's not the cause since the decision has been determined on them to make by all prior causes.
We clearly see how this person doesn't have a free-will to change self, but by enough understanding and morality, the person can be able to have the will to change the path of his life, by the way it's determined. Don't get me wrong, all wills and understandings are also determined and necessary, this is exactly what we see in people, there is a cause for them, which makes them understand and have the will to change things, just like how all complex organisms do. The key is to think and understand, and under reason choose our path. For example the cause can be Ethics and things we learn from it to understand and know, Ethics is the cause, not free but by necessity, our will is also not free and determined. Hope I have stressed enough how much this is important, it's the only flaw in the system that we can use in advantage to our freedom of choice, in the system that nothing is free.
We must know that this decision is not free, but by a cause which led to understanding.
The very same goes for you and me, we born with specific initial condition and ignorant, the life path will continue in a deterministic manner based on those initial conditions like religion and culture, unless, we by the cause of understanding equip ourselves to the power of will and change the predictable path.
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Now lets talk about a person who doesn't have the ability of understanding and rational willing. The contrary of understanding is ignorance, so the ignorant person always ignore the true causes of his desire and passions and call it free-will. Passions are like waves in the sea, it takes the person from a side to another without him even understanding them, in this case, we shall say that the person in question is by the mercy of fortune and not in control of self.
Rationality in service to passion
In this section I want to talk about the relationship between first and second kind of knowledge, and how we are the prey to our passions.
Ethics 4PREF for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune: so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.
We assume ourselves logical rational things (unlike animals) which walk around and act reasonably by the subject of rationality.
But that's really not the case, it's our passions and emotions which are driving us to do as we should, this is how it works.
- An external or internal cause happens.
- An emotion/passion arise in consciousness, by unconsciousness or consciousness causes.
- We start forming assumptions of the cause of our own emotion, which will be false because of lack of knowledge
- I want to note that the person who doesn't have the knowledge of distinguishing assumption from reality will have no choice but to assume assumptions as fact. Or in other words he doesn't know that he doesn't know.
- Second kind of knowledge or rational thinking provide a plan to execute the desire arose from passion which might be mixed with assumption and false knowledge.
Men uses second kind of knowledge, but in service to the first kind, and not a tool to make actual decisions with.
Consider the person who's addicted to gambling, the person is conscious of his desire for gambling, but unaware of all the causes that pushed him to become addicted and assume he did it with the free decision of his mind. He might describe the reason of his gambling desire or need for wealth, but in reality, that desire has specific causes which made the person's mind to do so. This person can change the outcome of his initial conditions (which he was victim of) by will or understanding.
Also, many times people lead to certain directions by external causes and make decision by their first kind of knowledge, but execute and continue execution of idea for a long period of time by their second kind of knowledge. We see often people who stuck in their own life path, struggling everyday by their power of thinking and striving, with total ignorance of the initial causes that put them in such a path.
For example, the desire of reproduction, no parents has a rational and convincing reason of why having multiple kids more than what they can handle. They do think that they made a decision by the free-will of their own mind and solely by the fact of wanting, ignorance to those internal and external pressures which made them to do so. Now that their life has faced challenges which they believe follow from their own decision, they have to think harder and more rational for the rest of their choices in life and go under extra pressure of life challenges, but will still not use that rationality for a second to think how they come up where they are. I think I have shown enough how our rationality is in service to our first kind of knowledge, and how we are in illusion of making decision by our reasons, which are in service to our passions.
Rationality and assumption overlap
Rational assumption means reason in service to passion.
In a way that the assumptions connected to each other by something that looks like reason. The truth might or might not be in the conclusion, error of mind arise as the time that this data considered truthy, meanwhile we know that assumptions are the source of falsity and opposite of second kind of knowledge. That's how they reason and assumption merge, the produced error will be considering false idea as truth which result in distancing from reality.
Third kind (intuition)
I will hereafter show, a third kind of knowledge, which we will call intuition. This kind of knowledge proceeds from an adequate idea of the absolute essence of certain attributes of God to the adequate knowledge of the essence of things.
I want to explain this one with an example:
Imagine someone who knows nothing of driving wants to learn how to drive.
- (first kind of knowledge)
For the first time when he sit next to the driver and observe how things work, he start to form assumptions of how things work. After an hour observation with no explanation, he tries driving and at the first attempt normally something goes wrong. In this stage the person might have been excited to drive for the first time with confidence, but unaware of the rest of the "ice mountain underwater"/"rabbit hole".
- (second kind of knowledge)
They go to a class and learn all about cars and driving. They practice and experiment in long term. They must closely pay attention to all the movements of self and others in the street. In this stage they can drive for routine distances mostly till obtaining adequate skill necessary for third step.
- (third kind of knowledge)
The person has drove enough for automatically driving usual paths as with the same difficulty without paying attention to all existing parameters. In other words, mind compose all ideas from second step and grasp in one single idea for consciousness. The person do not have to constantly think of all conditions, they will have their most exact reaction in compaction to the last stage. You can find many other examples of learning.
Mind-reality gap
The gap between what we think and what it is distinguished by how close the idea is to reality.
This gap is filled by the first kind of knowledge, which makes the reality to be cloudy and confused. As much as a person is more biased, they are more distanced from reality, and therefore experience a limited living, limited by their own personal inclinations and aversions. The bias that they start to reflect on the world, in such a way that it’s the bare truth, unable to see the causes. If the subjective thing said is free, they will also start to pass judgment based on their own personal relative emotions.
Necessity of the first kind of knowledge in action
With all that has been said bad of opinion, I should mention here why opinion exists and how deeply it is integrated within our social/morality system.
Although it’s been said that opinion has no value in reality, it has to be understood and distinguished what’s real for us and what’s real in reality. The opinion exists for us, just the same as the reason, to satisfy a need, which is caused by evolution. Now every man on the planet has an opinion, which is caused by necessity, just like how reason is connected to logic, opinion is connected to value [which is each associated with thinking and feeling]. As humans, we have developed the cognitive function of feeling through evolution and it has a high impact on social life it has to be adjusted correctly to what kind of opinion has what kind of value and origin. The goal here is:
- Distinguishing what’s real for us as a value and how it doesn’t have a quality in reality so it’s never common for all because it’s the perception of mind.
- Understand What is real in reality for oneself and others as an opinion weighted by value and acknowledging the existence of it as a necessity.
- Having resonated values aligned in harmony with our own nature and developing feelings therefrom.
- Assume everything has a form of value, it’s your job to find it.
Neuroses and self-realization
If the mind-reality gap develops wide enough through imaginations and opinions (first kind of knowledge) it will lead to neuroses and a neurotic personality in such a way that the person drives their life in reliance on the first kind of knowledge.
This eventually will lead to a loss of touch with reality which will get a certain pattern of emotional dysfunction being part of personality, called a neurotic personality. In this state, the person is not “grounded in reality” anymore, but instead guided by irrational emotional patterns rooted in the unconscious. This will lead to a false reflection of those dysfunctional emotional values which changes the lens that a person perceives reality through, resulting in a complete point of view far away from the truth.
In short: the person affected by neuroses endeavours as much as he can to bend reality over aligned with imaginary values through imaginations and opinions for the sake of manifested self-image.
If you are more interested, I suggest taking a look into Karen Horney’sNeurosis and Human Growth
Sources: - https://iep.utm.edu/spino-ep/