Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

E pistemology The way in which a knowing subject is aware of an object by experiencing it directly and immediately. Acquaintance contrasts with description , where an object is known through an intermediary process of inference . There is controversy over what are the objects of acquaintance. Among the items proposed for this role are sense-data , memories , and universals such as redness, roundness. The notion of acquaintance has been used to constrain what we can be said to experience. Russell calls the knowledge derived through acquaintance knowledge by acquaintance, which is the direct knowledge of things and is distinguished from knowledge by description, which reaches truth through inference. “Acquaintance: an animal is said to be acquainted with an object when the object, or an image of it, is part of the animal at the moment.” Russell, Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell ... log in or subscribe to read full text