Topics Knowledge

Question do you think that there are certain knowledge that cannot be attained thru logic, and could only be attained thru other means like that of a meditation?

Accepted:
October 20, 2011

Comments

To begin with a slightly pedantic point: logic doesn't actually give us very much knowledge at all. Logic tells us things like that, if A is true and B is true, then A & B is true. But, in order for us to be in a position to draw that conclusion, we first need to know that A is true and B is true. And, for most ordinary As and Bs, logic isn't going to tell us that. We need to turn instead to our senses. We have five external senses -- sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste -- which tell us about the qualities of objects in our environment. And, if we use these in a cautious and regimented way, and maybe start to draw logical inferences once we do first have the raw data to work from, then we can achieve an awful lot of knowledge.

But now to turn to your question: can meditation give us additional knowledge, besides that which we can get through the external senses? Yes, it surely can. Meditation can teach us what it feels like to meditate. Indeed, it might enable us to know quite a lot about our own internal psychological states. We usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to our own psychology... except when we make a deliberate effort to meditate upon it.

But can meditation operate as some kind of 'sixth sense', to give us knowledge about things outside ourselves? Frankly, I doubt it. That's an empirically testable hypothesis, after all, and I'm not aware of any studies that suggest that meditation can do this.

Question do you think that there are certain knowledge that cannot be attained thru logic, and could only be attained thru other means like that of a meditation? Accepted:October 20, 2011

Question do you think that there are certain knowledge that cannot be attained thru logic, and could only be attained thru other means like that of a meditation?

Accepted:
October 20, 2011