Does knowledge come from within us or from the outside world?

All knowledge comes from within us by definition, and a portion of that knowledge is innate. The outside world prompts our obtainment of knowledge, but ultimately, this obtainment is an internal activity. Aside from that, there is some knowledge pertaining to the Arts and Ethics which is innate, and therefore does not need to be acquired from the outside world. The extent of this innate knowledge and the subject that it pertains to can vary from person to person.

Knowledge is justified true belief, therefore by definition knowledge comes from within. For knowledge of something to exist, a person must justify that it is true using at least two of the theories of truth: correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic. Then, once the person believes in the given thing, they know it. These are all internal actions. Here is an example: I see a figure and I would like to know what it feels like (let us assume that I already acquired the knowledge that a figure is actually before me). I touch it with both hands, and as a result my hands feel excruciatingly hot - and they burn, leaving marks before I retract myself. Using the correspondence and pragmatic theory of truth (it will be helpful knowing that coming in direct contact with this figure will injure me), I have just justified that this figure is truly hot. And of course, I believe it after such a sensorily convincing experience. Finally I can say that I know this figure is hot. Indeed for these types of scenarios, this process takes a matter of seconds for most developed humans - and they most likely do not consciously follow this procedure through. Mathematics is an area in which people consciously perform this obtainment procedure. One cannot simply be told how to perform addition, and then know how to add. A person can be told that 2 + 1 = 3 and they can memorize this, however they do not know that this is the case -

and as a result will not be able to advance in the area. Internally, they must correctly justify that it is true and then believe in it. The incompletion of these internal actions is one of the causes of the incomprehension of math that many people have.

Some people have an innate knowledge of the arts. A clear contemporary example would be 10 year-old Autumn de Forest, who is an incredibly advanced conceptual artist. At the age of 8, without any practice or guidance, she began creating unique masterpieces that - both in technique and meaning - baffle the art world. With regards to ethics, all humans innately have knowledge of ethics. Egoism (theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality) and intuitionism (theory that primary ethical truths are known directly by intuition) - are two ethical theories that are innately believed by many humans whether they are aware of it or not. As infants we innately look out for ourselves, and do not tend to the needs or concerns of others - in effect exhibiting both theories. At the start of our lives it is natural to be concerned about our own needs, but we begin to care for others as our brains develop. Humans have innate compassion for other humans and creatures like them we are more tending to chimpanzees than insects.

In summation - as justified through my personal experiences, and the areas of math, arts, and ethics - not only by definition, but also because of innateness, knowledge comes from within us.