Three ways of knowing.

We have three ways to know. First is by experience. Second is by reason. And, third is by testimony.

Let’s have a demonstration on this. How can we know if a bucket is filled with water or not when we are blindfolded?

By experience.
We can touch it. We can know that the bucket has water or not by using our sensory knowledge.

Most of our knowledge came from experience. We know that there is a tree in our backyard all because we see a tree in our backyard. We know that a certain teacher of yours is a boy all because you see with your bare eyes that he is a boy.

By reason.
We can throw a stone in it. If it makes the most noise, it means it is empty. If it’s the otherwise, it means it has water. Through reason we acquire knowledge.

We know that the sun rises from the east and sets in the west because we reason out it from the rotation of the Earth to its own axis. 

By testimony.
We ask. We can know that the bucket has water or not by asking the person whom we trust. We know things from the testimony.

How do we know that Jose Rizal, the Philippine national hero, was born on June 19, 1861? We didn’t have any experience with Jose Rizal. And, knowing his birthdate is not out of reason. We know it by testimony. Our history teacher taught us about Rizal’s birthday. Or, we got that information from the testimony given by the book.