It is the issue of evidence that creates the chasm between science and religion. In Natural Sciences and Mathematics, emotion takes a backseat while perception and reason join hands to justify assertions. I tend to agree with the claim of Tim Crane who wrote in Mystery and Evidence “Religion and science are very different kinds of attempt to understand the world.” Religion teaches to believe implicitly while science urges a knower to become a doubter and enquirer. As a student of Physics I read of the gravitational pull and also perceive it everywhere, and therefore Newton’s theory is corroborated by evidence that I can personally evaluate. However, there are examples where a knower accepts assertions without first hand evidence. We know, for instance, that H2O is water but how many of us have tried electrolysis to justify this? We read it in books and it has been proved by a body of scientific evidence. We know that if we choose to find the evidence ourselves, it is well within reach and we accept it. The knowledge claim that naturally follows is that assertions that are proved by the collective wisdom of others are obviously just as valuable to us.
Mathematics is another area of knowledge where Hitchens’ claim would be valued. This too is a area where evidence is sought, formulae applied, and theorems proved. The facts, figures and formulae of today may undergo modification but do not lose their validity. Whether a math problem is solved by my predecessors or my successors, the formula and the answer shall essentially remain the same- even though the methods may differ somewhat. And this is simply because they are not baseless assumptions but claims that can be asserted with evidence. Mathematical proofs follow a sequence of deductions which is considered as convincing evidence. But if an error crops up in the calculation of proofs, then the evidence is fallacious. The knowledge issue here is that even if valid evidence accompanies assertions, who is to say that the evidence is accurate? Also as a knower, I understand that Mathematics is not always evidential but conceptual also. In fact, Alexander Bogomolny stresses the fact that drills and proofs make Math tedious. “…if it's possible at all for a layman to acquire an appreciation of math, it's only possible through a consistent exposure to the beauty of math which, if anywhere, lies in the abstractedness and universality of mathematical concepts.”
Moving towards a highly personal area of knowledge, one would tend to presume that since Ethics is a highly subjective area of knowledge, evidence of beliefs would be more or less redundant. But that’s not quite true. If we are told to follow a particular code of conduct, we are provided with the justification and evidence. When my mother told me never to lie she justified it with the literary evidence of the “boy who cried wolf” story; when she told me not to cheat in exams, she gave me academic evidence that if I keep ‘borrowing’ facts, my mind will never assimilate knowledge. Similarly, in religious books parables are used to illustrate and prove the conduct the preacher wants the congregation to follow. Ethical axioms are asserted with evidence because they are given by people who value what they are telling us, and who want us to value it because of those justifications.
But it is not as if evidence is always needed or followed. In attaining knowledge of any kind, perception, reason and language go hand in hand but emotions often tend to act as a blanket. British history records Salem witch hunt of the 17th century, where women were labeled as witches and burnt alive. The evidence provided at the ‘trials’ could be considered comic had they not resulted in gruesome tragedies. Accepted testimonies included ‘spectral evidence’ and ‘touch test’. It simply meant that a ‘victim’ had to claim that the ‘witches’ changed shape or that if they touched the victims this would lead to severe fits. This were flimsy, illogical, and almost laughable evidence but was valued immensely by the people back then. No one dismissed these claims basically because it suited them. One might then raise the knowledge issue whether a knower dismisses or accepts assertions because of the evidence or because of convenience.
As far as the Human Sciences are concerned, evidence is not always to be found. Capitalism has hitherto been considered the tried and tested system but now we see it crumbling under its own weight in these times of recession. Let us take the case of Capitalism and the free market. An exponent from the business world would argue for it and give all justification of how market forces should decide our world. He believes in enterprise, entrepreneurship and freedom. But what happens when his system collapses under its own weight. Can he really justify it any more? If he’s passionate enough he goes on and finds reason to explain the collapse. The communist in the meanwhile justifies his stands towards the free market and advocates his philosophy. There really is not any right and wrong here. Just different perceptions ably justified with adequate reason. Nearly all subjective areas of knowledge are full of examples like this.
This brings us to a corollary of the topic under discussion. Possibly, the truth of Christopher Hitchens’ claim cuts both ways. Mostly we accept what we can assert with evidence but often we try to create evidence for assertions we accept innately. When my mother lists all the plus points of a fruit-veggie diet, my younger brother justifies his chocolate consumption with the fact as a teen he needs stress-busting foods like chocolate and cheese. He justifies with the scientific output that chocolate contains eight times more antioxidants than strawberries.
Therefore we as knowers can conclude that evidence can be a yardstick of acceptance and dismissal in some cases where reason outweighs emotions but there are an equal number of occasions when the knowledge we accept and value is quite independent of evidence or the lack of it.
Bibliography:
Print sources:
Dombrowski, Eileen. IB Theory of Knowledge Course Companion Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (August 20, 2007)
Lagemaat,
Paulos, J. A. , Vintage Books, 1992
Web sources:
TOK topics
1. In what ways may disagreement aid the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human science.
2. " only seeing general patterns can give us knowledge. only seeing particular examples can give us understanding." to what extent do you agree with these assertions?
3. the possession of knowledge carries an ethical responsibility. evaluate the claim.
4. the traditional TOK diagral indicates four ways of knowing. propose the inclusion ofa fifth way of knowing selected from intuition, memory or imagination, and explore the knowledge issues it may raise in two areas of knowledge.
5. can we know when to trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge? consider history and one other area of knowledge.
6. that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. do you agree
REQUIREMENT for TOK
1 word limit 1200 to 1500
2 usage of quotes from IB subject books, newspaper clippings. we DONOT have to throw quotations written by others like williams shakesperare and all... the quotes should be new .
1 PARA
what does the topic means in own words , not stating the defenitions of emotions or persuit of knowledge from the ditionary itself .(150-250 words).
quotes from the IB books
a personal example stated in around 2-3 lines.
at the end of para a MAIN THESIS will be wrote.
2 PARA
example- illustrate with PEEE- C- PEEE, means , what is the point , than EXAMPLE, than EXPLANATION, ELABORATE with personnal responses (in my opinion........., i feel that............, in my view....., my understandinmg tells me ........ means TOK reminology , tha i m mailing it to u .. we need to use tok terminology )
COUNTER aruguement after every example (however, nonetheless......., if i reflect.,)?
5 examples are the requirement of the same format(PEEE-C), 3 examples relating to histroy that how emotions helped or distroyed the persuit of knowledge eg GANDHI ji his emotions were non- violance, peace to achieve freedom , but its counter would be that it took soo many years to deal with it , took lives of soo many people, despite than to partion occures ,3 example , related to histroy OR other areas of knowledge like HEN HARM , histroy, emotion , natural science, human science , arts, religion and maths.
like EXAMPLE 1
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thesis
THAN its Counter
EXAMPLE 2
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thesis
THAN ITS COUNTER
EXAMPLE 3
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its counter
PERSONAL example 1 (100 words)
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thesis
than its counter
PERSONAL example 2 (100 words)
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thesis
than its counter
CONCLUSION
A personal response and largely agree or dissagree on the title statement.( 200 - 250 words)
i largely conclude that i agree/ disagree with the claim that ............................................................
because of .................................
POINT 1 ..
POINT2............
POINT 3..............
however my claim might not be valid if ....................
POINT 1.......
POINT2............
POINT3...........
therefore i believe that ..........................................................
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MAIN Thesis re-estate ........................