The Battle for Lenses
by Oleg Sovetnik
The question of where a priori forms of knowledge reside remains one of the central issues in epistemology. If they are neither in the world itself nor in the mind of the knowing subject, then where? This question has led to several influential arguments, each trying to explain how we come to possess knowledge that precedes experience and shapes our perception of reality. These arguments reflect different attempts to resolve the dilemma posed by Kant and to understand how we truly perceive and conceptualize the surrounding world.
Anthropological, psychological, and social arguments each offer different answers to the question of where a priori forms of knowledge are found. Each of these approaches explains, in its own way, how our “lenses” — the structures through which we view the world — are formed. The anthropological argument defends apriorism by linking it to the unchanging nature of humanity, the psychological argument reduces it to mental processes, while the social argument emphasizes the collective origin of our knowledge. Therefore, we turn to sociology to answer how new lenses can be created.
epistemology knowledge lenses
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Anthropological
The argument asserts that the a priori forms of knowledge, or the 'lenses' through which we perceive the world, are embedded in human nature.
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Social
The social argument asserts that a priori forms of knowledge are located not in the individual mind but in social relationships and structures.