People Need To Believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events

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Usman Omid        Candidate Number:        IB 2A        

“People need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events” (adapted from John Gray, Heresies, 2004). In what ways and to what extent would you say this claim is relevant in at least two areas of knowledge?

The quotation “people need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events” (adapted from John gray, Heresies, 2004) is a knowledge claim that at a first glance most people would blindly agree with. What most people do not pay the deserved amount of attention to is the word “need”. This essay will try to discuss order and chaos in the two areas of knowledge of natural sciences and history. With the help of this I will then try to answer in what ways and to what extent we need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events.

To start this evaluation and discussion I will shortly introduce you to my definitions of order and chaos. Something is in order when it is normal; it is expected to be that way. Expectations vary from culture to culture and time to time but this does not change the definitional truth of the word “order”. On the other hand, if something is not expected, sorted or normal it is in chaos. The thing in chaos is confusing and one cannot make sense of the chaos.

The word “need” is, in this and most other cases, a very strong word. If the need for belief in something exists it means that the non-existence of this something would bring a total catastrophe to the person or society.

To evaluate the truth of the knowledge claim in the natural sciences and history it would be wise to focus on one of the areas of knowledge to begin with. Natural scientists seek to find answers and explain questions regarding biology, physics and chemistry.1 This urge to find the answers and finding further knowledge in the sciences implies, not in a too vague way, that not knowing and understanding would make us uncomfortable and unrest which would in this case represent chaos in us. So finding answers seem to be a need for us- some may even suggest that it is what drives us forward in life. In a life where we are surrounded with biological, physical and chemical events we need to find the answers behind them for us to feel at rest.

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This need for order has even surpassed the need for answers. Even if something cannot be explained by natural science we find our order by assuming someone else will find it when science has developed. An example could be that it is known to scientist that a neutron in the atom can turn into a proton and an electron, although they do not know how this happens as they are aware of that the reverse is impossible since a neutron is not made up of a proton and an electron. This has simply been explained by stating something as unscientific ...

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