There were two twins, John and Peter, who were passionate about truth and knowledge. After high school, their dad enrolled them in a philosophy class so that they gain knowledge into what knowledge is. After many days of debates on basis for truth e.g. coherence, correspondence, evidence, common sense and pragmatism, the tutor asked the twins to discuss and write an essay either supporting or discrediting the assertion that ‘Truth is always more than the idea on our mind.’
The twins went home and, past bed time, the father could hear them arguing bitterly. Worried that their arguments could degenerate into a fist fight, the father went to them to help sought their squabbles. The father inquired what the boys were arguing about instead of sleeping.
John replied that ‘It is Peter who is very naive. He insists that the ideas on our minds are true to the extent they were formed based on an experience and that only knowledge acquired through the use of our senses should count’. Peter defended himself by saying ‘I am not naive; it is you who is just being thick. How can you insist that ideas are just abstracts and that reality is not the same as ideas thus need to doubt even ideas acquired by the help of our senses?’
‘There, there boys’, the father intervened. ‘I think I understand what your problem is. Yesterday, I was at the offices of some charity organization that helps blind children. The teacher, to the blind children, asked me to describe for the children what a cow is and what a Cat is. John how would you help a blind child to know what a cow is? Peter, how would you help a blind child to know what a Cat is?’
John started and gave the following description. A blind child has never seen a cow. However, the child must have drunk milk at some point. I would tell the child that a cow is a big animal from which milk comes.
At this point, Peter interjected and retorted, ‘the child would ask you how a big animal looks like and what milk is’. John was quick to reply. He explained that a big animal is one that is huger than a human being. He explained that he would use the child to quantify the size of what a big animal is. As for milk, John explained that he would bring a jar of milk and let the child taste what milk is.
Peter was about to ask John a question but the father asked him to give his own answer. Peter narrated that to help a blind child know what a cat is, he would go fetch a Cat and bring it to the blind child so that the child familiarizes with the cat through touch, smell and hearing. At this juncture, John quickly asked how Peter would deal with the situation if there were no Cat to give to the child.
To this, Peter replied that he would tell the child that a Cat is a tiny domestic animal that purrs, meows and loves to curl around people. John asked Peter, how he would describe the tiny animal so that the child understands how tiny a typical Cat is. To this Peter explained that he would have to use an object close to the child to demonstrate how tiny a typical Cat is.
After some back and forth in argument between John and Peter, the father cleared his throat and they all sat back attentive. The father thanked them for their good answers. Then he started explaining to them the process of idea acquisition. He explained to them that reality is a given but our experience of reality is always dependent on how we look at it and interpret what we look at.
A human being has enormous capacities and one such capacity is imagination. Based on ideas in the mind, a person can by the power of the mind to imagine create new ideas. The ideas in the mind are real and one may even be tempted to imagine that such a thing represented by the idea in the mind exists in actuality.
At this juncture, John interjected wondering whether it is possible for something to exist in the mind and not in actuality. The father continued by explaining that in our brains there are two types of ideas i.e. ideas that are purely the creation of our minds and ideas that result from encounter with reality.
However, even the ideas that are purely a creation of the mind must have had some basis in other ideas formed based on experience or interaction with others. A blind person helps demonstrate very well that reliable ideas are those formed based on interaction with reality out there. However, even if we interacted with reality out there, there is need to exercise due diligence such that we do not deceive ourselves due to failings of our organs.
The father continued by explaining that cow and cat are both ideas. A blind child hearing them for the first time only gets words or symbols that register on his mind. If such a child asks those around him about the Cat or Cow, they will give him or her long descriptions. These descriptions will help the child create a picture in his or her brain in terms of what a cow looks or how a cat actually looks.
The pictures or images of cow that the child creates are based purely on the creative powers of the brain that relates the concepts already in the mind of the child that are offered in the descriptions. For instance, if you say a cow is an animal that produces milk, then the child must already understand milk or will need further explanation to understand what milk is.
In knowing, even for those that have power of sight, it does not always follow that the ideas they have on their mind is a true representation of what is real out there. However, if one has sensory organs that are functioning well, he or she must trust that what he or she experiences is truly what is.
The blind child who holds a cat and smells, touches and listens to it is more likely to have a better idea of what a Cat is than one who just receives a description of a cat. Therefore, not all ideas on our minds are representations of things as they are out there. Some ideas are creations of the mind based on other ideas already on the mind.