Metaphysics Vs Epistemology

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Metaphysics and Epistemology deal with theories of reality and knowledge. Those two domains of philosophy exhibit a close relationship since our understanding of reality affects our perception of knowledge. Philosophy explores an unlimited array of ideas, including religion. In the field of religion, the nature and existence of a higher power (God) are explored as well as the immortality of the soul, miracles, and the comprehensibility of religious language as factual statements (Alexander, 2010, p. 97). Wŏnhyo’s Theory of “One Mind” presents itself in two different aspects: “true thusness” and “arising-and-ceasing” (Cho, 2017, 1). The theory of One Mind, or “the mind of sentient beings”, depicts reality and knowledge theories as well as religious …show more content…
65). Epistemology centers on finding the ultimate source of knowledge and its underlying foundation. Descartes’s theory of knowledge hinges on certainty, and the central question is the following: “Do we ever know anything with certainty?” In his quest to discover the world, he realized that every culture has its own customs and most of our knowledge is based on such customs; therefore, it leads the question, are our customs valid? Descartes also deducted that our beliefs are related to our taste, which changes over time. When all this information is put together, finding a universal, objective truth, seems unreachable. Thomas Hobbes created empiricism, a theory of knowledge. In accounting for knowledge, Hobbes attributed all thinking to perception and perception derives from matter in motion (Alexander, 2010, p. 78). This theory maintains that “motion without, produces motion within” (Alexander, 2010, p.78). Ultimately those motion translate to the brain starting off our sensory capacities which account for the understanding of all things in the world. Even reason and complex thinking are reduced to perception, and could be traced back to the sensory perception. In contrast, Cho (2017) exhibits a different theory of knowledge. The mind has control over everything, and it is ultimately conformed by all dharmas (phenomena or element of existence). The objective world only exists as an object of cognition; hence, knowledge is nothing but a reflection of the mind. According to the author, “dharma is an object of observation” revealed in the mind, and the world is reflected in the mind; therefore, the mind is dharma (Cho, 2017, p. 3). So, if the mind has control over everything, and knowledge is an object of observation residing in it. And the world is reflected in the mind, then, would not mind, be knowledge? Moreover, the One

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