“The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance”: Lectures by Milad Nouri

Not only can human beings inquire into various subjects and obtain knowledge about them, but they can also investigate how they have been able, or could be able, to attain such knowledge. A prerequisite for both is the primordial awareness by means of which humans seek knowledge. Throughout history, humans have striven to achieve an absolute understanding of reality and all that falls within its domain; yet how often they have fallen into error and deviation. Epistemic errors and deviations have prompted humans to turn to the study of “knowledge” itself, for they have assumed that if they correctly recognize the mechanism of acquiring knowledge and succeed in understanding its aspects, they will be safe from error and mistake, so that they will no longer deem true propositions false, nor consider false propositions true. This very matter has led to the creation of the philosophical branch of “epistemology.” Nevertheless, epistemologists themselves have also been prone to error and mistake. The failure of thinkers to cognize reality, as well as the emergence of error and disagreement in explaining the existence and quiddity of knowledge itself, has caused some thinkers to doubt the possibility of attaining cognition and to step into the valley of skepticism; and some have not only questioned the possibility of knowledge, but have denied reality and the object of knowledge, turning to sophistry. Sophistry and skepticism have resulted from failure in the process of cognizing the world and the inability to explain the reason for error, mistake, and disagreements in the domain of knowledge. Hence, it is natural that discussions pertaining to them should also be a part of epistemology. The human being, who cannot deny their primordial and elementary awareness, has striven not to cease moving and to pass beyond sophistry and skepticism. This striving, whatever it may be, will be accompanied by such questions as: Where is the boundary of awareness? What are sophistry and skepticism? Is the attainment of knowledge possible? What does knowing mean? What things do we know? If we are not skeptics, are we realists or idealists? What do change and relativity in knowledge mean? How is epistemic dialogue possible? In the dialogue-oriented lecture series “The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance,” we have made such questions the subject of our investigation.

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Lecture “The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance” – Session One

Sophistry – Sophist – The Sophists

16 Mehr 97

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Lecture “The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance” – Session Two

Doubt – Skepticism – Suspension of Judgment – Skepticism – Pyrrho – Timon

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Lecture “The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance” – Session Three

Doubt – Descartes – Skepticism – Dream – Evil Demon – Deceiver

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Lecture “The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance” – Session Four

Reality – Conception and Assent – Mind-Independent – Awareness of Existence

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Lecture “The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance” – Session Five

Justified True Belief – Real Truth – Accidental Truth – False Truth – Explanation of Justification – Efficacy of Knowledge

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Lecture Series "The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance" – Session Six

Epistemological Foundations of Mathematics – The Evolution of Mathematics – Local Truth – Absolute Truth – Platonism – Formalism – Conceptualism – Intuitionism – Zermelo-Fraenkel

With the presence of Dr. Ali Sadegh Daghighi

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Lecture Series "The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance" – Session Seven

The Evolution of Physics – The Indivisible Particle (Newton's Theory) – Einstein's Relativity – Quantum Theory (String Theory)

With the presence of Dr. Ali Sadegh Daghighi

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Lecture Series "The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance" – Session Eight

Epistemological Foundations of the Humanities – The Unity of Consciousness and Body, or Soul and Body – Self-Preservation – The Rules of Causality – Psychology – Physiology – Sociology

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Lecture Series "The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance" – Session Nine

The Five Self-Evident Principles – Absolutely Certain Belief – A Critique of Relativists

3 December 2018

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Lecture Series "The Boundary of Knowledge and the Limit of Ignorance" by Milad Nouri

Held at the Cultural Think Tank of the National Library

Author: Milad Nouri

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