Solender

2/13/12

Thoery of Knowledge

Faith: Basis for Knowledge, Foundation for Religion, and The All-Encompassing Element of the World

Over the course of this essay, the strengths and weaknesses of using faith as a basis of knowledge in religion and in human sciences.  

Faith is a strange concept.  It can be defined as a belief in something without any complete conclusive or absolutely adequate evidence.  This definition relates faith right back to another area of knowledge; reason.  This is so because if there were to be complete evidence behind something in life, one would not be using faith to understand it, they would be using reason.  An example of this from everyday life is when one goes to sleep at night.  There is no one hundred percent proof that one is going to wake up when they go to sleep.  This means that, while small, there is always a chance that when you go to sleep, you won’t wake up.  Ever.  But because there is an element of faith in every one of us (in this case, faith in the human body), we are able to peacefully go to sleep every night without any worry of not waking up the next day.

By comparing faith to reason, we are able to determine that by using faith as a basis for knowledge, we, as a society, are able to decide or determine what we believe in the world without having a truly sufficient amount of evidence to provide what the scientific community considers to be definite proof.  Every single area of knowledge and way of knowing eventually leads itself back to faith.  From mathematics, to arts, to the sciences, and everything in between, faith provides the true basis for belief and understanding of all knowledge.  There are people in the world that are given the title of “expert” in their respective fields, but no one can truly explain what determines how they have been given this prestigious title.  Without faith in society as a whole, the education system, and the general judgment of others, no one can be sure of how society as a whole will function.  Two prime examples of this can be seen in the judicial and the medical fields.

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The legal system in the United States of America is based upon and legendary and well respected system of checks and balances.  Those who commit crimes are given rights and are fully recommended to use them.  They are considered to be “innocent until proven guilty.”  Decisions that affect the country and its general population as a whole have to be decided upon by the House of Representatives, Congress, and the President of the country.  This is all part of the democratic system that we have had for hundreds of years.  I, just like the majority of the people in the ...

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