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 United States, have faith in this democratic system, because without faith in it, we would live in a world dominated by lawlessness and chaos.
Doctors, nurses, and surgeons are some of the most respected positions not only in America, but across the world. To gain a degree that qualifies one to hold one of these positions, sometimes up to ten years of college, medical school, residencies, and internships is required. But it is all-necessary. These are the people who are taking care of you when you are sick, determining what is causing you to be ill, and if necessary, taking sharp objects and making precise incisions into you to eventually solve these problems. If one does not have faith that they know what they are doing and are going to do everything in their power to help you become better, then people would shy away from relying on the medical system for their needs and would try to take care of themselves on their own. People have faith in their doctor’s abilities to heal them. If they didn’t, there would be no need for them to continue to get medical attention. I have faith in the medical systems of America, as I’m sure many other people do as well.
To truly understand the idea of using faith as a basis for knowledge, there are terms that one has to have a grasp or understanding of what they mean. These terms are a “basis for knowledge”, religion, world, and element. All four of these words are used directly in the prompt question for this paper and all have very important roles in truly understanding how one is able to use faith as a basis for knowledge not only in the theory of knowledge class, but in the rest of their daily life as a whole.
The first of these is a “basis for knowledge”. It is my belief that a basis for knowledge can be defined as an area or subject that can be discovered and interpreted to gain knowledge in another certain area or subject. This is important when discussing faith because it can be said by many that while faith may not be able to truly determine what is real and what isn’t, it can definitely lead you in the right direction to determine what knowledge can truly be factual.
The second of these is religion. Religion is defined by the online dictionary as “a of beliefs concerning the cause, , and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.” This definition could not be any more correct in my opinion.
The third of these is world. World is defined by the online dictionary as “the earth or globe, considered as a planet.” I like to look at the word world on a much deeper and more sentimental level. It is my belief that when discussing the term world, it encompasses all things that are living and non-living in existence. Everything is part of the world: every planet, galaxy, person, blade of grass, and everything in between.
The last but certainly not least of these is the term element. Element is defined by the online dictionary as “a component or constituent of a whole or one of the parts into a whole may be resolved by analysis.” To myself and to most people, the first thing that comes to mind when talking about elements is the periodic table that is full of them, but this is not the case in this situation. There are many elements of both knowledge and faith, but few that apply to both of them.
For every claim in life, there is a counter-claim that typically has an equal amount of believers and a close to equal amount of validity. In this came, the counter-claim is as follows: Things in the universe take their own course, making having faith unnecessary. I think that this makes a lot of sense, but I also think that faith is necessary to some extent. Without faith, you have nothing to believe in, and without faith, there is no guessing in the world. Without faith in ones life, religion would not exist. For many people, religion is the reason they are able to get through their days. Without faith, people would just assume everything would work out. That takes the struggle and challenge out of life, making everything in the world a lot different than it is now.
In conclusion, there are many strengths and weaknesses of using faith as a basis for knowledge in many different areas of knowledge. Overall, I believe that it is an acceptable thing to do.