Leobelo Jofel Delicana Epistemology

AB Philosophy IV September 6, 2013

Conscious and Capable of Knowing
(An Epistemological Reflection about the movie The Island)
The human mind is something both beautiful and mysterious. The human thinking,
according to scientists, is made up of electrical impulses and signals. Yes they could say what it
is. However, it does not suffice for the chain of questions regarding hows and whys. Still,
there is beauty in that complex and mysterious essence of the human mind. The very fact that I, a
human person, is now consciously reflecting about my consciousness and knowing, proves that
somewhere within the laws of science lies the fact that the human person and human mind, are
true and real entities of this vast universe.
After watching the science-fiction movie entitled The Island I was able to ponder more
deeply into epistemological questions regarding the human person. What is it that makes the
human person human? I was able to ask this question because the theme of the movie is about
genetic engineering particularly human cloning. How is it that beings with such predetermined
essences, beings who are made for a purpose were able to question their existence? How was the
character of Lincoln Six Echo, who is a clone, able to wonder and understand certain experiences
after being in contact with it? My answer was that the human person is conscious and capable of
knowing.
There was a line delivered by the character named Lincoln which caught my attention, he
said: I wish there were more [answers]. This I believe has some truth in it especially to the
nature of the human mind- inquisitive. The movie became an eye-opener for me to really
appreciate the human persons capabilities of consciousness, awareness and rationality. In the
movie, the character may not be a human person in the strict sense of the word. However, they
were fashioned and taught in a way that humans also learn. But how is it that the human person
learns? Why are we conscious of the fact that we are learning? Again, we are confronted by a
barrage of chain epistemological questions.
What the human person experiences, most if not all of the time, becomes his notion of
what is real. In short, the things s/he experiences is what is real. In the movie, the Clones within
the vicinity of the institution, not being able to see the outside world thought that theirs was the
true one. They have been brainwashed that the world outside was in the state of contamination
and they were the ones who survived. However, the truth (only in the movie) is that they were
clones who were raised for the purpose of organ replacements and other biological processes
such as bearing a child. However, because of curiosity and wonder (and I would say
philosophizing) the character of Lincoln Six Echo was able to find evidences that there is another
truth, that there is a world outside the vicinity of the institution.
The experiences and the evidences they provided became the basis for Lincoln to give a
judgment that there is really an outside world. In reality of the human experience, I believe it is
similar. Yes, the human mind plays a role in the processing of concepts from experiences into
judging. However, one cannot deny that the object of experiences which possess their own
intrinsic qualities, are also necessary in the process of knowing as a conscious act. One cannot
simply say that the world is what we perceive it (such that of subjectivism and nave realism).
Also, it is not that: it is only the object that presents itself and its qualities to the senses and
consciousness (such as that of critical virtual realism), or that qualities belong only to the
physical object making the concepts in consciousness (such that of critical formal realism). I
would agree to the claim of Vincent Potter that the best epistemological explanation is that of
moderate realism.
Moderate realism has its roots on the philosophy of Aristotle and was further developed
by other philosophers. One who is prominent is Thomas Aquinas. The belief claims that the
objects appear to us through the sense experiences but are subject to the processes of the mind.
By this, we mean that the human mind also gives its recognition to the concept given by the
object. This process, then, is what we call judging. Therefore, it is by sensing objective
experiences and by putting it under the cognitive process of the human mind that a judgement is
made, from which we are able to know and acquire knowledge.