Knowledge and Politics

I have just posted a new book review on a fascinating topic.

Among the topics I continue to read, concepts of Knowledge and Knowing fascinate me immensely. The official name for ideas of knowledge and learning is Epistemology. This is a whole branch of Philosophy and is a huge segment of modern Neurolinguistics and Neurophysiology.

Psychologists, Physiologists, Neurologists, Biochemists, Linguists, Anthropologists and Philosophers are among the specialists who study how we learn, how we know, and how we can verify and be sure of the certainty of our perceptions.

The relation between physical perception and mental understanding is a growing area in virtually every area of science today.

I have reviewed a recent book on this topic, additionally fascinating because the author looks at concepts of government and society. This book is a study of the political philosophy of Eric Voegelin's Political Theory.

Voegelin analyzes political systems and theories reflect concepts of Reality and our perceptions or assumptions about Reality. You will learn a lot about how political movements over the last 200 years relate to each other and our lives today.

Voegelin was a very practical thinker, but could see the trends and implications often overlooked in today's media madness of hype and dazzle. He analyzes concepts of knowledge, of epistemology. In short, this means he investigates the different ideas people have proposed about how we learn and know and how we can trust our sense of knowledge. How valid are our perceptions; how well can we trust what we think we know about reality?

My review links to other articles I have written on how we learn, know and conceive of Reality.

"The underlying theme all through this volume is Epistemology, the core of Voegelin's philosophy. Epistemology is the science or philosophy of knowledge, how we know, how we can substantiate, verify, and understand ourselves and the external world. Voegelin analyzes theories of worldview and consciousness, and deals with the role of religion in the problems of consciousness and government."
-- "Self and the World, Knowing Reality," my review of The Balance of Consciousness: Eric Voegelin's Political Theory (University Park/London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990. 194pp.)