REASON, INTUITION AND INSTINCTS

The concepts of "a priori" and " a posteriori" can easily be replaced by theories of reason, intuition, physical instincts and the fact that our ideas of the truth come from our sense-impressions of experiences of objective physical reality as well as the fact that our DNA has information contained in it also. The truth as in knowledge corresponding to known facts of reality are mostly objective truths with a minor amount being subjective truths. When I mention that truth is mostly objective I mean to suggest that it exists irrespective of the influence of human beings, but human beings interpret the truth subjectively and then call it either subjective or objective truth. All of our ideas concerning the truth which are not subjective come from our sense-impressions which we have received from the objective physical world around us. Truths are not self-made realizations already formed within us because our ideas of the truth in the sense of "a priori ideas" are a combination of the ideas from our sense-impressions, or sense-data and the information that exists in our DNA combined with reason. The information in our DNA appears to be able to process the information from our sense-impressions or sense-data with the aid of our faculty of reason. It is a common misconception that a priori ideas are the same as innate ideas, or inner truths, because human beings do not have innate ideas, or ideas of the truth from an inner place, our ideas of the truth come from our sense-impressions of the objective physical reality around us. This ability to process, and store information within us from the objective physical reality around us occurs because of reason and the information in our DNA, and this process, and ability is called the faculty of "understanding".
It is obvious that without the cognitive, and retention abilities of our minds, and our brain to retain knowledge from our sense-data then our faculty of understanding would not have any real use and would be a superfluous faculty. A posteriori ideas are simply the ideas of the truth that we have from our experiences of the objective physical reality around us that we have received through our sense-impressions as sense-data, and it is the knowledge of the objective truth of physical events, and processes, and facts without any subjective influence on our part. Any truths, or ideas of truth which are purely subjective within us are only minor experiences which occur within the temporary truth of our experiences, and include things like original thinking, or ideas, etc. Our instincts, and our logical intuition are part of our physical form and DNA make-up and are partly responsible for our a priori ideas. Many philosophers in the past have tried to apply mystical, or hidden meanings to basic truths, or processes within matter, and reality, and are for example, that we have innate ideas, that we have a spirit, or soul, or that our souls transmigrate from body, to body, or that a priori ideas are due to some inner knowledge due to previous lives etc. Modern philosophers have to make a stand and accept that the truth is simpler, and more obvious than many of the philosophers in the past thought it was. There should be no room in modern philosophy for delusion, and fantasy. Modern philosophy should be a rigorous exercise of attaining to the truth of reality by the verification of simple, clear, logical, certain, and straightforward propositions, and statements. Statements that are verifiable should be "self-evidently true" in the sense of being logical, and rational, and statements should also be "empirically provable, and reproducible", or a combination of both empirically provable, and self-evidently true. Our physical form, and energy, or matter aswell as its processes within space, and time generally gives us all the answers to our questions, and the answers we seek do not need to be found in fantasy, or the mystical. Imagination is only useful in thought experiments based on reality, otherwise our imagination becomes fantasy, and delusion and leads us astray away from the truth, and this is never a good thing except in literature, or film. Metaphysical concepts, or ideas which are not verifiable are usually erroneous, and are useless as ideas in philosophy. Only metaphysical concepts, or ideas which stand the test of verification can be regarded as useful as working concepts, and ideas within philosophy, but this usually occurs if these concepts, or ideas can be adapted, and explained in such a way as to become useful to philosophers. Concepts, and ideas in philosophy are not static things but should be adaptable, and progressive to suit the times. A priori ideas, and knowledge consists of conclusions of things that exist in the cosmos that we have, and have not experienced directly through our senses, and is not limited to only our senses, and memory. A priori ideas, and knowledge is based on our senses, intuition, instinct, rational tendencies, understanding, memory, and will, etc. Einstein knew the speed of light is more constant than different frames of reference and never changes whereas frames of reference do vary. Einstein knew the speed of light is constant whereas frames of reference do vary because it is an a priori idea which has nothing to do with the experiences of our senses, einstein had to intuit this conclusion by using logic, and his instincts as well as using mathematics. Immanuel kant wanted to know how human beings could have synthetic a priori knowledge such as the kind that you find in geometry, and in logical ideas, for example, it is true that synthetic a priori truths and knowledge are not necessarily empirical but yet we can have them due to a combination of our instincts, intuition, logic, reason, and also because certain empirical a posteriori ideas contribute to these synthetic a priori modes of knowledge also. Instinct, intuition, logic, and reason are faculties and abilities that we already have in our DNA make-up due to millions of years of evolution and so it is our natural inclination, and ability to know these synthetic a priori modes of knowledge as being part of the truth of reality. Some people have opposed Locke's denial and refutation of the innate ideas concept by claiming that he was wrong because in nature we see some things that contradict his theory of a blank sheet of paper (or tabula rasa), for example, some people claim that pigeons have innate knowledge and ideas of some kind. Pigeons we all know when blindfolded and taken to a new location and relaeased know how to fly back home. The problem with the example of a pigeon having innate knowledge is that it is a flawed proposition to begin with; this is because a pigeon cannot be given knowledge of specific routes from certain locations to other locations as knowledge before they were born. Pigeons know where to go to fly home through sheer instinct and intuition; this instinct and intuition exists and comes from all the millions of years of evolutionary information that is stored up within their DNA make-up. Any knowledge or ideas that a pigeon may have of where to go to fly home springs from its instincts and intuitions and not the other way around.

OBJECTS AND SENSE-DATA

The true nature of a physical object is partly different from the associated sense-data that we receive from it as impressions, but also our understanding of the object in question can be said to be partly the same as our impressions of it also, and this is because our sense-data depends on our perspective in relation to the object, and also in the relative amount of the total composition of the object that our senses can make out at any given point in time, and also by the amount of impressions we receive and undertstand about the object as sense-data. It takes a lot of rigour, and extensive comprehension to undertsand objects fully, For instance, how many people know the true composition, and nature of the following objects in their entirety; televisions, compact disc players, aeroplanes, or the biology of an elephant. To know, and understand any object completely would require knowing it from every conceivable angle both outwardly, and inwardly, and also in regard to its situation, and purpose amongst processes generally. Also how much does the average person know about the molecular, and elemental make-up of a lot of the objects they come across on a daily basis, and do they understand its purpose, and situation amongst processes, because nearly everything that occurs in nature, and also the things that are made by humans has a purpose. Philosophers for a long time now have debated on how much we can actually know with our senses, and they have attempted to understand, and have also inquired into whether there might be aspects of reality as well as objects which may possibly be beyond our understanding, and knowledge. The vibration, and activities in energy, or matter as well as the forces, rules, and laws in nature will continue to have a mystery for a long time to come and are the main reason why we cannot know and understand any objects in nature fully, and the processes involved in them, but hopefully knowledge will bridge the gap as much as possible even if it is not in an absolute, or complete sense. If you know everything that an object is, and everything that an object is not as well as understand its causes in the sense of how it came about, and also how it is part of a process then you can know the object as a totality. Only particular, and isolated objects can be known in their totality and can be understood almost fully whereas how objects relate to their surroundings becomes more complex if long chains of causes are sought after in the relation between objects and their surroundings, and also other objects. To try to understand objects, or things as part of a continuum of processes, and to try to understand these processes also and how they operate as knowledge is more difficult to ascertain than trying to understand objects in an isolated sense. Human beings do not have innate ideas, or ideas of the truth from an inner place within us at birth, but get our ideas of the truth from the sense-impressions we receive by the use of our senses, we do have information in our DNA in the form of instincts, logic, intuition, progressive rationality, will-power, etc. which helps us process sense-data through the faculty of understanding which then become knowledge in our minds. The most difficult thing to figure out in matter, or objects is the perpetual, and ceaseless vibration that exists in energy and how its activities produce forces, and forms as well as laws, and rules, and so these are important things to think about in an attempt to understand matter, and objects.

DETERMINISM AND CAUSALITY

The concept of determinism is a very significant, important and useful concept in which to describe the highly inevitable course of events, and situations one finds when one is examining the processes that occur in the universe generally, but in particular events it can easily be found that in the causality of processes that chance, accident, and intentional causes play a minor role in the sense of being altering causes which effect the grand sweep of determinism into particular directions which are slightly different from the original deterministic course of events, but they always remain as minor alterations. Reality it can be said is mostly deterministic, but with a relatively minor element of chance effecting events, these chance occurences which alter the course of events need to be examined further, and they need to be described in more depth. The concepts of chance, and causality and how they alter the course of events are partly described in the many chaos theories that have been developed recently by a lot of thinkers in the field. One cannot deny that certain forces, laws, and rules exist within nature and its processes to such an extent that this fact makes the course of events in nature largely deterministic, and predictable. The causes, or incidents which alter the course of events in a slightly underministic manner are usually unforseen accidents of all kinds, and also the wilful behaviour of certain people and their conduct, as well as all the other causes from biological life in general, but these types of causes are usually minor. Events on the grand scale in nature such as the formation of solar systems and so on remain largely deterministic, and inevitable. The existence of human beings, as well as other forms of biological life is mostly inevitable in general and is due to prior processes and so therefore cannot be viewed as accidental, but certain avenues as well as aspects of progress within biological life maybe partly accidental, and due to unforseen events of a minor kind that occured and made things develop in a certain way. But the existence of biological life is largely inevitable, and deterministic, and even if humans did not exist it is clearly self-evident that there would still be plenty of other forms of biological life around, which there is.