William of Ockham · Philosophy
Ockham’s theory of knowledge: all knowing begins with <em>intuitive cognition</em>, a direct acquaintance with the individual thing that lets us judge whether it exists. From this contact with singulars, <em>abstractive cognition</em> and general concepts are drawn. It is a medieval root of modern empiricism.
You learned that Ockham grounded knowledge in intuitive cognition - a direct, evident awareness of an existing individual that lets us judge that it exists - and distinguished it from abstractive cognition , which prescinds from existence and underlies memory, concepts, and general knowledge. Explain the distinction,…
Leads to John Locke.
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