Philosophy 101: Four Ways of Having Experience

Over the centuries, philosophers have speculated and theorized about the ways in which human beings have, hold onto, collect, categorize, and formulate experiences. Many different theories and explanations are out there trying to account for the things which we perceive every day. The focus of this article will be to explain some of these mechanisms common to all human beings.

Before I go too in depth there have to be some types of qualifications laid out so as to whom is included as to having experiences (and who is not). First, for this purpose, we shall consider only human experiences. Whether or not animals have "experiences" in the same light as human beings depends greatly on how one decides to characterize the nature of experience in general. If we consider only sense impressions being responsible for our experiences, then it is likely that animal and human experiences are relatively similar. This line of thinking denies the role 'rationality' plays in constructing experiences at all. In contrast, rationalism holds that the rational beings (as far as we know this mostly alludes to humans) is unique in his ability to use reason to formulate experiences, even if they are non-physical (such as with the idealists). Thus, I will only be focusing on the possibility of human experiences so as to include the theory regarding rational experience. Likewise, for the sake of this consideration, we can exclude the severely mentally handicapped and small children from having complex experiences unique to fully developed human beings. While this may seem questionable to many, for the sake of this inquiry, small children and those considered severely mentally defective or damaged do not have similar experiences to children above the age of 6 through adulthood. Thus, we shall adopt the defining characteristics for a possibility of experience as fully cognitive rational beings. In this sense, rational beings employ the use of cognition to formulate means towards achieving ends, recognize and aware of their own existence, able to communicate (through various methods) ideas, concepts, feelings, experiences, and capable of acting in a rational way - meaning independence from emotion, instinct, or personal feelings of any kind.

The first possible means of experience that I noted above is through our sense impressions. This is the most fundamental means for which human beings experience an object, situation, setting, event, or even another person. Impressions through the senses (or sense impressions) come to us through the use of our five basic senses: touch, taste, smell, vision, and hearing. We experience the sensation different foods possess through our taste buds; we recognize and experience what a newborn baby looks like through our visual organs (the eyes); we recognize the sound of a car slamming on its breaks through vibrations of sound-waves in our ears, etc. These experiences dominate our overall perception of everyday life through regular sensation and stimulation of these senses. Many philosophers have adopted theories or schools of thought revolving around the significance of these types of experiences while significantly doubting the possibility of extra-sensory or those types of experiences not given to us through sense impressions (i.e. skepticism).

A second type of experience can be given to us through the use of our ability to formulate cognitive thoughts or through reason. Reason (and cognitive thinking) allows us to formulate logical experiences not found in the physical world. The experience of properly applying a formula in advanced calculus is considered an example of a rational/cognitive experience. Immanuel Kant famously wrote on the possibility of moral experiences having at their foundation a rational component. According to Kant, it was the Categorical Imperative (or Moral Law) given to us through reason that determines any and all possible moral experiences. The fact that the Categorical Imperative was given through reason alone meant that only acting in accordance with the rational moral law was the means for acting morally. However, because there was no corresponding sense impression that could imply this, it was meant to be an entirely intellectual (or rational) type of experience.

Another possible means for explaining experience is through our feelings. Feelings differ from rationality or cognitive thought in that the latter are (allegedly) objective; whereas feelings are wholly subjective. Feelings are related to other forms of experience, but can be considered another source of them altogether in that they can obfuscate or subjectively taint how we perceive things that might otherwise be considered objectively true or that simply does not exist objectively. For instance, the way you feel about a particular individual can greatly impact and influence your experience of them. If you feel uncontrollable feelings of love and compassion for one human being, then your experience of them will greatly differ than someone who holds the opposite feelings. Feelings are generated on an entirely subjective basis and thus cannot be accorded the same type of categorization or standardization as rational experiences. Since (by their nature) they are entirely subjective then, there is no end to the possibilities of how these experiences will be individually perceived.

Finally, there is intuition. Intuition in this sense refers to the experiencing of objects without ideas or deduction. For instance, intuitions are similar to sense impressions however sense impressions depend on recognition through past experiences in a sort of "cataloguing" of past experiences. Intuitive experiences don't depend on this, but rather, the mind itself makes a connection or disconnection between objects or concepts without any prior knowledge or experience. This occurs instantaneously, without any reasoning abilities whatsoever. Intuitive experiences allow us to familiarize ourselves with certain types of objects/experiences even if we've never experienced them before, and cannot even properly describe them. This is related to other experiences as well in that while it requires no formal deduction to have these experiences, nonetheless many believe this is vital in formulating deductive conclusions. Often times we may have certain intuitive judgments about things that we cannot properly or adequately justify or explain. We can attempt to rationalize these but that is a different form of experience altogether, dependent upon the initial intuitive experience.

The aforementioned means of experiences are some of the most commonly written about throughout philosophy. The question of how we (as human beings) have experiences is a fascinating and complicated question that attempts to answer some deep questions about human psychology, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and many other spheres. Experiential questions and doubts regarding how we generate experiences continues to remain one of the most discussed and controversial topics in philosophy, even after centuries of discussion and theorizing.