{"id":29650,"date":"2021-03-19T08:15:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T12:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=29650"},"modified":"2021-04-01T21:24:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T01:24:46","slug":"a-priori-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/a-priori-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"A Priori Knowledge: Some Things, We Just Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is a priori knowledge? What does Robert Pirsig<\/a> say about it in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/a><\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Pirsig explores many concepts in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>. One of these is a priori knowledge, which is not dependent on the senses to learn because there are things we innately know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to find out more about a priori knowledge according to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A Priori Knowledge and What It Means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, Robert Pirsig explains how a priori knowledge works<\/a> and how it can apply to life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chautauqua: The High Country of the Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Phaedrus turned to philosophy, he did so because he was at pains to answer the most fundamental questions of human existence: What is truth? What is knowledge? Why are we here? These questions lie at the very top of the hierarchy of knowledge\u2014in the high country of the mind and a priori knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer these questions, Phaedrus read widely, including in his studies lesser known thinkers alongside people like Aristotle and Einstein. By academic standards he was doing subpar work, but he was making original discoveries, even if he didn\u2019t know it yet. The problem, however, was his approach: He read each thinker he encountered brutally, trying to find the flaws and inconsistencies in their thought.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pirsig recalls Phaedrus\u2019s study of Immanuel Kant\u2019s Critique of Pure Reason<\/em>. Although Phaedrus didn\u2019t agree with Kant, he respected the care with which Kant formulated his arguments, and his thought was integral to Phaedrus\u2019s later resolution of the classical\/romantic divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand Kant, however, one must begin with the 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume. Hume is an empiricist<\/em>\u2014that is, one who believes knowledge depends on the senses. Imagine a human being born without any of the five senses and nourished intravenously for the first ten<\/a> years of its life: Does this person think<\/em>? Has this person ever had <\/em>a thought? Hume would say no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empiricism is not very different from what we think of as \u201ccommon sense.\u201d For our entire lives, the sun has risen every morning, so it\u2019s common sense<\/a> to expect it to rise tomorrow as well. We base this assumption on our empirical\u2014sensory\u2014knowledge of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are problems with empiricism, however, that show its shortcomings as a philosophical approach: * The question of \u201csubstance<\/em>.\u201d If all knowledge is derived from sensory data, how can we know what is producing (or \u201cgiving off\u201d) that data? Consider a motorcycle. If we\u2019re asked what it\u2019s made of, we can answer steel (among other metals and materials). But what\u2019s steel? Using our senses, we can tell that steel is hard, cold, and a host of other things, but all we\u2019ve done is describe the data our senses are giving to us\u2014we haven\u2019t actually said what steel is<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question of causation. <\/em>Sensory knowledge also doesn\u2019t explain causality. For example, when the sun rises, nothing in our senses tells us why <\/em>or how <\/em>it rises. Because of this fact, based purely on our sensory knowledge, we can never be absolutely certain <\/em>the sun will indeed rise tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consequence of empiricism is that it yields a world whose existence is entirely in the mind<\/strong>: Since we can\u2019t know anything beyond what we sense, it\u2019s always possible that our senses are being tricked. This result wouldn\u2019t do for Kant, but he also couldn\u2019t dismiss Hume altogether\u2014empirical knowledge was too valuable. The Critique of Pure Reason <\/em>was his attempt to reconcile Hume\u2019s empiricism with the certainty that a world outside the mind existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kant\u2019s solution was to suggest that there is knowledge of reality not dependent on the senses<\/em>. He called this a priori knowledge<\/em><\/strong>. An example is our sense of time: How do we know what time is<\/em> if we can\u2019t feel or see it (much less taste or smell it)? Kant believed the mind itself<\/em> provides our sense of time as we encounter other sense data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider a motorcycle again. If we accept Hume\u2019s position\u2014that our knowledge of the motorcycle is entirely dependent on sense data\u2014we would have to accept a number of clear absurdities, including, for example, that any time we changed our physical position in relation to the motorcycle, the motorcycle would also<\/em> change. Kant solves this problem by saying we have an a priori motorcycle in our minds<\/em>, one constructed from sense data accumulated over a life of experience. This motorcycle is consistent no matter what our sense data tells us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Phaedrus was initially thrilled by this revolution in philosophical thought, he later became disenchanted with it. One reason was his experience in Korea, which had shown him a mode of understanding different from the classical. To Phaedrus, Kant\u2019s philosophy\u2014in fact, all<\/em> of Western philosophy\u2014was too staid and technical. He found it ugly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cooke City, the riders stop for lunch, and Pirsig discovers that the Sutherlands are as happy as he\u2019s seen them. He acknowledges that he must seem distant to them, given the Chautauquas<\/a> he\u2019s been conducting while they all ride together. Chris, naturally, understands Pirsig\u2019s introversion better, but even he worries sometimes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sutherlands ask Pirsig how he met the family they\u2019ll be staying with in Bozeman, the DeWeeses. Pirsig has to admit that he doesn\u2019t remember. The DeWeeses are friends of Phaedrus\u2019s friends\u2014the husband, Bob, whom Pirsig refers to as DeWeese, is an abstract painter who teaches at the college in Bozeman\u2014and Pirsig tells us that he hasn\u2019t seen them since Phaedrus was erased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pirsig\u2019s memories of Phaedrus\u2019s relationship with DeWeese are fragmentary, but he knows that Phaedrus was fond of DeWeese. His fondness stemmed from the fact that DeWeese continuously surprised Phaedrus: When Phaedrus expected one reaction from DeWeese, DeWeese would often produce the exact opposite <\/em>reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeWeese\u2019s curious responses led Phaedrus to believe DeWeese possessed some deep knowledge that could help Phaedrus. And DeWeese, Phaedrus later discovered, felt a similar curiosity about him<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This take on a priori knowledge applies to life as well as philosophy and is an important way to think about the world around us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is a priori knowledge? What does Robert Pirsig say about it in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? Robert Pirsig explores many concepts in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. One of these is a priori knowledge, which is not dependent on the senses to learn because there are things we innately know. Keep reading to find out more about a priori knowledge according to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":29652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,7],"tags":[242],"class_list":["post-29650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-lifestyle","tag-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nA Priori Knowledge: Some Things, We Just Know - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is a priori knowledge? In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig explains how there are some things we just know. 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