Quote Originally Posted by thir View Post
That is not even true for animals, who can learn and remember.
Learn and remember what? How? Is knowledge poured into us from some vast, invisible reservoir? Can we know that fire is hot without actually feeling it at least once? Can we know what salt tastes like without actually tasting it? I would love to hear some examples of something we, or animals, can know without first having some initial sensual contact.

ALL of our knowledge is ultimately based on our five senses. We observe our surroundings through them and must base our understanding of those surroundings upon them. Yes, we can speculate about some things which we cannot actually sense, and we can draw conclusions based upon those speculations. But until we actually see evidence for, or against, those speculations and conclusions we cannot know whether they are true or false.