A knowing subject develops an act of knowledge.
Knower is one who knows or can know . The knowing subject , therefore, is the one who performs the act of knowledge . This concept is developed by various branches of philosophy .
The individual's belonging to the reality he knows and its characteristics are a matter of debate for epistemology . It is often discussed whether the reality that the subject accesses is the true reality, a part of it or a reality constructed by the person .
The knowing being and reality
Some philosophical currents maintain that the knowing being does not have access to reality, but can only perceive a phenomenon or a manifestation of it. Positivism , for example, states that the knowing subject is outside reality, knowledge being an extraction of content from it. Constructivism , on the other hand, believes that the knowing individual generates his or her own reality, so it is not external.
In general, it can be said that the knowing subject interacts permanently with reality to generate some type of knowledge that allows him or her to adapt to the environment. The person's psychic apparatus is made up of different cognitive systems organized as logical structures.
The person, therefore, bases his actions on his own thoughts. Thoughts arise from the cognitive fact, which is the fruit of man's interaction with reality.
By constituting himself as a knowing subject (who has knowledge), the human being is free because he can decide what to do according to his thoughts. This does not mean, of course, that knowledge is exempt from social interactions.
Plato reflected on the knowing process in his allegory of the cave.
The allegory of the cave
Plato had an extremely interesting vision about the access that the knowing subject has to knowledge and reality ; He maintained that human beings can only know the shadows of reality, which is found in the so-called World of Ideas . In his allegory of the cave, he tells a very raw point of view about our relationship with wisdom and truth, and his words are dangerously relevant.
The narrative begins by presenting four men who were chained at the bottom of a cave from birth, with chains that hold their limbs and necks so that they cannot turn their heads and look in any direction other than towards the wall. Behind them and just before the entrance to the cave is a bonfire, which casts shadows in the prisoners' field of vision .
The shadows show the silhouettes of people passing freely carrying various objects, and the chained men have no information about them other than their monochrome, shaky representation on the back wall of the cave. They have never seen the skin of a human being, nor the materials of their utensils or the fiber of their clothing. They have never felt the light of the sun on their faces, nor have they enjoyed a full moon night. They have only seen shadows and do not believe that anything else exists.
What would happen if one of the men were freed and forced to leave the cave, to contemplate everything that until then was unknown to him? Well, Plato assured that he would discover a reality belonging to the intelligible world, which can only be reached through reason, while until then he had access to the sensible world, which can be known through the senses. As a knowing subject, he would incorporate new data that would serve to substantiate what was known until then (the shadows).
Plato concludes by stating that if the liberated man entered the cave again to tell his former companions about his experience and offered to go with him, he would be mocked and would end up being killed by them, who would prefer to stay with the shadows that cradled them .