To what extent does Sense perception and Reason help us to answer the question “Is this knowledge true?” in Natural Sciences & Ethics?

 Everyday we use different ways of knowing in order to help us gain knowledge. However, to what extent is this knowledge we gain true? Each way of knowing has its own flaws that can prove our gained knowledge from a specific area of knowledge to be unreliable. When discussing the issue “To what extent does Sense perception & Reasoning help us gain true knowledge in the Natural Sciences and Ethics”, it is crucial to note that natural sciences are an area of knowledge known to be the study of the natural world around us. Natural sciences, a broad area of knowing, can be broken down into three general known sciences - Chemistry, Physics and Biology. Ethics is another area of knowledge; the ways of knowing are the ways in which we gain knowledge – sense perception and reasoning are two ways of knowing. Sense perception is when we use our five senses to gain knowledge, whilst reasoning is when we make meaning to explain what we think by changing or improving our opinions/ideas. These two ways of knowing have limitations in finding the truth about Natural sciences and Ethics.

Sense perception is based on the usage of our five senses – our five senses being the ability to touch, taste, feel, hear and see. In the natural sciences, sense perception allows us to observe the world around us whilst gaining knowledge through the use of ‘The Scientific Method’. The first step in the ‘Scientific method’ is observation. Scientists use sense perception in order to make these observations which lead them to forming generalisations. From there, they form theories and try to prove or disprove whether their theory is true. An personal example of this, with regards to chemistry, can be noted when I carry out many experiments, in order to make observations about the products produced when a metal reacts with acid; I make generalisations, for example, all metals will react with acid to produce salt and water. I then form a theory which justifies why metals react with acid in the way that they do. I would then use my theory to predict the products of other metals when they react with acid. The theory is seen as knowledge that we can acquire. However, sense perception has its limitations, which affect the reliability of observations made and as a result, theories are based upon them.

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The limitations of sense perception in terms of the Natural Sciences are many; firstly, it is selective and depends on ones expectations and memory. If one perceives certain observations as more interesting or with more scope than the others, they are clearly more likely to examine those particular observations, and in return, ignoring the other observations that later seen as relevant to the experiment.  The selectiveness of sense perception makes it easier for us to overlook factors that would affect our experiment. An example of this can be seen once again in my chemistry class whilst conducting an experiment ...

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