Paul Weingartner

In this essay, we defend a pluralism concerning the concept of knowledge and show that the seven types of knowledge, that we distinguish, can be unified by criteria which characterize the types of knowledge as being critical. In the first part, seven types of knowledge are distinguished: 1. knowledge as true immediate objective understanding (e.g. simple logical or mathematical truths); 2. knowledge as true immediate understanding (e.g. cogito ergo sum); 3. knowledge as true objective understanding by proof (e.g. rigorous proof in logic, mathematics, and science); 4. knowledge as verification (e.g. direct and indirect observation, or experiment); 5. knowledge as justified true belief (e.g. belief in experts); 6. knowledge as possessing epistemic entropy and information (e.g. possible states that satisfy a hypothesis h, and possible states that are forbidden by h); 7. knowledge as justified corroboration (e.g. Kepler’s second law is corroborated by severe tests). In the second part, conditions for knowledge to be critical are proposed. The general critical question (CQ) is: what would happen if p, a statement claimed to be known, is given up? This question, then, is applied to the seven types of knowledge. The first and second type of knowledge cannot be given up because this would lead to contradiction and absurdity. Applying CQ to the third type of knowledge may be a hint for finding an incorrect step or a gap in the proof. CQ applied to the fourth type of knowledge leads to the critical investigation, whether the verification is a reproducible effect, whether it is observer-invariant, and whether it has a suitable interpretation with a well-corroborated hypothesis or law. Applying CQ to the fifth type of knowledge forces to check the reliability of the experts or one’s own reliance. Moreover, it leads to uncover the hidden assumptions and preconditions. Applying CQ to the sixth type of knowledge guides us to investigate the excluded possible states and, consequently, to consider alternatives. For example, Euclidean Geometry excludes positive or negative curvature; an alternative (hyperbolic) geometry with negative curvature was discovered by Lobachevsky and Bolyai. When applying CQ to the seventh type of knowledge, we have to distinguish two cases. Very well confirmed laws of nature or the fundamental constants of nature behave similar to the first type of knowledge: Absurd consequences follow, if they would be given up. Alternatively, applying CQ to corroborated scientific hypotheses often leads to revision, sometimes to refutation.

Der Atheismus erlebte in den letzten Jahren eine Renaissance. Durch verschiedene Publikationen wurde der Atheismus in der Offentlichkeit und in den Wissenschaften wieder zum Thema. Religioser Glaube sei mit einem wissenschaftlichen Weltbild nicht vereinbar, so viele Atheisten. Diese Bewegung fasst man unter dem Namen Neuer Atheismus zusammen. Aber ist tatsachlich etwas neu am neuen Atheismus? Gibt es in den modernen Naturwissenschaften noch einen Platz fur Gott? Konnen Argumente der neuen Atheisten uberzeugend zeigen, dass es unvernunftig und unwissenschaftlich ist, an die Existenz eines Gottes zu glauben? Dies sind nur einige Beispielfragen, die die Autoren dieses Bandes versuchen werden zu beantworten. Die Autoren kommen aus unterschiedlichsten Disziplinen: Aus der Physik, der Biologie, der Mathematik, der Philosophie und der Theologie."