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→Epistemology
[[Epistemology]] (from [[Greek]] words roughly meaning "the word stands on something") deals with what a human being knows and how he knows it. Objectivism states that perception is only the beginning. Perception is sensation extended over time, and perception becomes knowledge only through ''measurement.'' On the other hand, one forms a ''concept'' of something by developing a list of attributes ''without'' the measurements of them. Apply the measurements, and instead of a concept one has an object that fits the concept.
[[Epistemology]] (from [[Greek]] words roughly meaning "the word stands on something") deals with what a human being knows and how he knows it. Objectivism states that perception is only the beginning. Perception is sensation extended over time, and perception becomes knowledge only through ''measurement.'' On the other hand, one forms a ''concept'' of something by developing a list of attributes ''without'' the measurements of them. Apply the measurements, and instead of a concept one has an object that fits the concept.
One important result of pure Objectivism is that what one cannot perceive, one cannot know--and what no one has perceived, no one need admit the existence of. Indeed, according to [[Nathaniel Branden|Branden]], <blockquote>(A)ny form of irrationalism, supernaturalism, or mysticism, (and) any claim to a nonsensory, nonrational form of knowledge, is to be rejected.</blockquote>
One important result of pure Objectivism is that what one cannot perceive, one cannot know--and what no one has perceived, no one need admit the existence of. Indeed, [[Nathaniel Branden|Branden]] observed that Objectivism teaches that <blockquote>(A)ny form of irrationalism, supernaturalism, or mysticism, (and) any claim to a nonsensory, nonrational form of knowledge, is to be rejected.</blockquote>
This includes [[God]], a Concept that almost no Objectivist has ever accepted. This might be Objectivism's greatest weakness: that it will not admit that which one cannot perceive directly, but which has affected ''something else'' that one perceives, and that in a measurable way.
This includes [[God]], a Concept that almost no Objectivist has ever accepted. This might be Objectivism's greatest weakness: that it will not admit that which one cannot perceive directly, but which has affected ''something else'' that one perceives, and that in a measurable way.