o The field of epistemology questions what knowledge is, how it is acquired, and to what extent it is possible for a given

entity to be known. It includes both subjects and objects. o The field of ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences. The second standpoint is that of "how" does one know what one knows. o Thus Kant defines idealism as "the assertion that we can never be certain whether all of our putative outer experience is not mere imagining" o Immanuel Kant (German: [manuel kant]; 22 April 1724 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher. He is a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that human perception structures natural laws, and that reason is the source of morality. o Empirical evidence (also empirical data, sense experience, empirical knowledge, or the a posteriori) is a source of knowledge acquired by means of observation or experimentation.[1] Empirical evidence is information that justifies a belief in the truth or falsity of an empirical claim. In the empiricist view, one can only claim to have knowledge when one has a true belief based on empirical evidence. The senses are the primary source of empirical evidence. Although other sources of evidence, such as memory, and the testimony of others ultimately trace back to some sensory experience, they are considered to be secondary, or indirect.[ o In epistemology, rationalism is the view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge"[1] or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification."[2] More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive."[3] Rationalists believe reality has an intrinsically logical structure. Because of this, rationalists argue that certain truths exist and that the intellect can directly grasp these truths. That is to say, rationalists assert that certain rational principles exist in logic, mathematics, ethics, and metaphysics that are so fundamentally true that denying them causes one to fall into contradiction. Rationalists have such a high confidence in reason that proof and physical evidence are unnecessary to ascertain truth in other words, "there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience."[4] Because of this belief, empiricism is one of rationalism's greatest rivals. o A Constructivist or "discovery" model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction o