Knowledge and the Experiential Context: Towards a Critical Perspective,

  • Perception and cognition have been strongly affected by the knowledge explosion which has led to: (1) >fragmentation and disintegration of knowledge,< and (2) the restriction of perceptual focus and comprehension to >narrow and peripheral areas of study and research.< This condition is caused by the disappearance of authentic and meaningful human experience from the context of knowledge, ie, scientific knowledge has cut off real human experience by over-abstraction. An example from sociology is the reification of categories, eg, role and system. The problem is one of overcoming the perceptual limitations which seriously distort the understanding of reality. The social definition of reality, which may conflict with authentic experience, must be transcended beyond its stereotypes through >critical skepticism and radical doubt.< Some implications of this viewpoint--with respect to depersonalized technocratic society, the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, and unchecked economic growth--are explored. Knowledge, in addition to being rooted in authentic experience, should enlarge the scope of human freedom by overcoming the constrictions of psychology and the sociology of knowledge. The contributions of a wide range of writers from E. FROMM to T. Roszak to the above perspective are noted.

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Metadaten
Author:A. R. Momin
Parent Title (English):Sociological Bulletin, Bombay (India) Vol. 24 (No. 2, Sept. 1975), pp. 193-204.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:1975
Release Date:2014/01/28
Format:PDF-scan to download
IdNo:Momin_A_R_1975
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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