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Aristotle, Locke , Buddha and many other philosophers said that all true knowledge comes from sense perception or experience .
Descartes said that knowledge comes from deduction .
Plato said that knowledge is not perception .
Kant believed that knowledge is a -priori as well as a posteriori . Kant wrongly said that the knowledge of space is a priori . The sense of space is created by the inverse square law .
Kant said that feeling and perceiving are different and a priori .knowledge comes without pure reasoning .Kant believed in the supremacy of reason .
Hume said that all knowledge comes from experimental reasoning and observations .
Unfortunately Hume rejected a belief in the causal laws of nature .
Hegel and other…show more content… Before accepting a belief we must know the sure facts .He asked people to believe only in those things which are understood clearly and distinctly . He seated before a fire in his Dutch home and abstained from an active life . He wanted his mind to become free from mistakes .He said that truth must be based on the principles of reason . Buddha and Descartes used the process of doubt and their findings are contradictory .Buddha asked people not accept any view blindly without making a rational inquiry .Truth can be known by the method of clarity .The spirit of inquiry gave birth to renaissance .An open mind is better than a closed mind . Descartes asked people to accept only those beliefs which can be trusted by them. Buddha also asked people to accept the beliefs and dogmas only after getting certitude and clarity .Meditations and prayers are ruined by doubts . Buddha and Descartes started with the same method of doubt . However , the findings of both of them are totally different . From his meditations Descartes accepted a belief in the existence of a permanent self . Descartes said , “ I think , I feel therefore I am.” From his meditation Buddha came to a conclusion that a belief in the existence of a permanent and eternal self is…show more content… Buddha did meditation under a bodhi tree with an aim to increase his shamatha ( peacefulness or tranquility) .Buddha was seeking an intuitive knowledge of sufferings , impermanence and unselfishness .
Spinoza and Sankara also believed in the method of intuitive knowledge . A belief in intuitive knowledge is not a reliable method of getting knowledge .
The process of impermanence can be best understood from a knowledge of physics and chemistry .
Buddha believed that a man can get the perfect wisdom ( Prajnaparamita ) by deep meditation . We can feel the Perfect Wisdom only leading a moral life and from a study of books of biology and other branches of science .
Sufferings can be best understood by scientific methods .
The true nature of Ultimate Reality can not be known by reciting holy books .
Buddhism claims that sufferings can be eliminated by attaining Nirvana .and nirvana could be realized in meditational trances . Physical dukkha can not be overcome by meditation . Buddhism claims that Nirvana is the total antithesis to dukkha
