Consciousness is a conscious being or a person’s attitude to his own being. Knowledge is an objective reality that exists in the minds of people, reflecting or reproducing in their activities the regular and objective connections of the world. Cognition is the process of a person studying the world or himself. With it, we gain knowledge that helps to develop and create something new. The science of knowledge is called epistemology.
Rational cognition is nothing but a cognitive process carried out through various forms of mental activity. Its opposite is sensory cognition, in which a person gains knowledge about objects, as well as the phenomena of the world through his senses.
Rational knowledge and its forms
All its forms have some common characteristics. First of all, we note that they all have an inherent focus on reflecting precisely the general properties of objects of knowledge. Also, they are characterized by abstracting from single properties. Attitude to cognizable reality is indirect. It is also worth noting their connection with the language.
Rational knowledge in philosophy has three forms: the first is a concept, the second is judgment, and the third is inference. The concept contains all the basic properties of an object, a judgment denies or affirms something about a given object or phenomenon, and the conclusion allows one to obtain new judgments from one or several old ones.
Rational knowledge also has search forms:
- a problem;
- hypothesis;
- a question;
- an idea.
forms of systemic expression of knowledge about objects:
- the law;
- scientific fact;
- scientific picture of the world;
- theory;
- principle.
There are also forms of regulatory knowledge:
- method;
- method;
- program;
- reception;
- algorithm;
- cognitive tradition and so on.
There is a definite connection between the forms of sensory and rational knowledge . Her character can be complex and dynamic. The main point is that data obtained in a sensual way are immediately subjected to mental processing. Rational knowledge is formed on the basis of the information that comes directly from the senses. Intuition can be cited as a striking example of the unity of rational and sensory knowledge.
Rational knowledge is governed by the laws of logic: the law of non-contradiction, identity, sufficient reason, excluded the third. It is also governed by the rules by which the consequences are deduced from the premises upon inferences.
Rational knowledge (its process) is always controlled and produced consciously. On the way to a specific result, the subject of knowledge justifies and realizes each step very clearly. For this reason, it is called cognition in a logical form (a process of logical cognition).
By itself, rational knowledge is not limited to processes alone. It also includes comprehension of the sought. Such a result can be achieved unknowingly and uncontrollably. This is called intuition. Intuition itself is a kind of insight that comes unexpectedly. In other words, this is knowledge that is obtained without reasoning.
For a long time, the essence of intuition was not disclosed. Scientific methods for its study are not applicable. It is also worth noting that it is not subject to logical analysis. Over time, scientists came to the conclusion that it is a special form of knowledge. It was possible to identify its main varieties:
- sensual intuition;
- intellectual intuition.
In the first case, the knower gains any knowledge instantly, based only on identity, in the second - through synthesis and evaluation.