Realism, idealism and logicism. An analysis from Leonardo Polo’s theory of knowledge

Abstract

The precise distinction of cognitive acts is a way to acquire a deeper comprehension of the history of human thought. Based on Leonardo Polo’s theory of knowledge, four typical periods of the occidental culture are characterized according to the corresponding dominant cognitive act: abstraction in pre-Socratic period, rational explicitation in medieval realism, generalization in modern idealism and unifying operations in contemporary logicism. The plurality of cognitive acts involved in knowing imposes methodological implications: the levels of objectification should not be absolutized.