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 of knowledge (inadequate)

First kind of knowledge is the only source of falsity.

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.

• 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 falsy assumptions. In other words, going by the mercy of fortune.

Knowledge of the second kind (adequate)

This is the source of truthy, rational thinking. The ability to connect things logically and making reason our of them which leads to a conclusion and/or prediction.

This is the kind of knowledge, that cannot be false and all men agree on.

For example the idea of triangle, is an adequate idea because it's not contained bias of human mind(first kind) and it's reflecting the reality as it will be, because the nature of triangle never changes.

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.

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

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.

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 neccecery continue living in the line of there initiated condition unless changed by a cause. Let's assume someone who has grew in a 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 there 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 neccecery, 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.

...

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 ignorance person always ignore the true causes of his desire and passions and call it free-will. Passions are like waves in the see, 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 pray 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 falsy 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 falsy 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 there first kind of knowledge, but execute and continue execution of idea for a long period of time by there second kind of knowledge. We see often people who stuck in there own life path, struggling everyday by there 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 there own mind and solely by the fact of wanting, ignorance to those internal and external pressers which made them to do so. Now that there life has faced challenges which they believe follow from there own decision, they have to think harder and more rational for the rest of there choices in life and go under extra presser 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.

3.Knowledge of the 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.

1. (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 exited to drive for the first time with confidence, but unaware of the rest of the "ice mountain underwater"/"rabbit hole".

2. (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 neccecery for third step.

3. (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 there most exact reaction in compaction to the last stage. You can find many other examples of learning.

[To be continued]

Sources:

• https://iep.utm.edu/spino-ep/