Evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason as a Way of Knowing.
Evaluate the Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason as a Way of Knowing. Reason is the most effective tool to use when trying to convince someone of an argument because a well-reasoned argument has no room for interpretation and is thus always true. Because every knower uses reason more than any other way of knowing, it should be seen as the most essential one, without which the knower's range of knowledge would be strictly limited. These statements lend themselves to a lot of scrutiny because of all the affirmations they make so boldly. Ironically enough, the statements were put together through the use of reason. This presents the following question: How accurate can an analysis be if the very thing we are trying to analyze is involved in the process? This question should not be undermined since the only way of knowing I will be using to form my arguments will be reason. I do not personally believe in these statements but I do think they present a series of knowledge issues that are fundamental in evaluating reason as a way of knowing. In the essay I will make a clear contrast between objective knowledge and subjective knowledge. Objective knowledge will simply be the raw data that has been reasoned with to become a statement. Subjective knowledge will be the raw data which has been interpreted to form an argument. Reason will be referred to as an objective process
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of reason as a way of knowing
Fahim Khan Y12.2 Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of reason as a way of knowing According to Henry David Thoreau, “All generalizations are false – including this one” (R. Lagemaat, 2005, p. 111). By acknowledging only the beginning half of the statement, it refers to the negative connotations when applying deductive logical as a form of reasoning. While the deductive statements may be more ‘certain’ than inductive reasoning, it lacks the validity in the form of information and other issues arise when referring back to whether or not the premises are true – if I was to notify everyone that ‘my brother goes to Cambridge University’, the initial response I would receive is that my brother must be extremely intelligent. Certain premises are disregarded here – the only premise other people find significant is that Cambridge University accepts only the extremely intelligent, but would often ignore other premises which contradict that particular statement. One example would be that ‘Cambridge University has a Disability Resource Centre (DRC) which offers university places for students suffering from a particular disability’; while both premises are ‘true’ and ‘valid’, it does not follow that the conclusion is true and Thoreau highlights this problem regarding deductive reasoning. Thoreau then contradicts his own previous deductive statement to
Emotion: How does your mood affect your perception of things?
Emotion: How does your mood affect your perception of things? Mood affects my perception of things all the time. If I wake up feeling alone, I can go through my day feeling no one cares about me. If I wake up feeling depressed I can go through my day believing there is no point to anything at all that I do, nothing is funny and everything is in a gray haze (metaphorically speaking) and nothing matters. If I wake up feeling happy I won't let anything bother me all day or at least until the happy feeling goes away. If I wake up angry/mad, everything is annoying and is out to get me. It is something that we have to come to the point of realizing and once we do we also see that we have the power to change our mood... that is the secret... how we view the outside world, (outside of our 'self') has the power to heal, laugh and really live. It just takes the realization! Art can affect our mood, thus affect our perception of things. Music for example is a fundamental necessity in the world that we live in today. We all implement music in our everyday lives whether it's professionally or simply for entertainment purposes. Some people build careers on music as musicians, composers, singers, or teachers while the latter of us just need music to get through the day whether we're driving or at work or just need to relax. The need for music in our contemporary society affects us
In what ways may disagreement aid the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human sciences
Candidate No.: 001529-015 Word Count: 1,291 kgmmsgkmdksmk . In what ways may disagreement aid the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human sciences? As human beings it is our intuition to seek a higher level of knowledge and truth, whether it be in the sciences, our own lives or in religion. With this pursuit of knowledge come boundaries and obstacles that hinder these intellectual advancements. These obstacles can appear in many forms, many of which are disagreements, whether it is religious disagreements, individual disagreements or idealistic disagreements. These disagreements arise from different paradigms or assumptions present in religion, personality, and ideals. Disagreements may be over the logic of arguments or value of evidence, therefore it is also possible that these disagreements may aid in the pursuit of knowledge. Throughout this paper I will be delving deeper into the pursuit of knowledge, as well as our logical reasoning, perception and emotions towards this knowledge when disagreements arise, allowing for the exploration of the ways in which disagreement may aid the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human sciences. The meaning of the word disagreement is vastly varied, for example it can range from the slight difference in opinion to a full-blown argument. It is my opinion that in human and natural
In what ways may disagreement aid the pursuit of knowledge in the natural and human sciences?
A disagreement occurs when a different opinion is expressed (Oxford Dictionary). To a certain degree, it is assumed by the question that disagreement aids in the pursuit of knowledge. There are cases that will be evoked that indicate otherwise. Isaac Newton stated that “if [he] has seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” (Hawking, 9) He is stating that those who develop future pursuits of intellect in the form of knowledge are those who best understand and develop further works created by major thinkers of prior times. Newton believes that the in-depth study of others’ work, and at times disagreeing with some of it can push us forward in our pursuit of knowledge. The areas of knowledge being dealt with are pre-determined by the topic and are: human science and natural science. Natural science is a branch of science which deals with the physical world (Merriam-Webster). This includes physics, chemistry, and biology among others, including geology. This also includes human physiology. Anything in medicine discussing how our bodies work falls into the natural sciences. When we take that a step further to discuss behavior, this is what constitutes human science. This type of science is a field that deals with the institutions as well as the functioning of human society. This also encompasses the interpersonal relationships of
The possession of knowledge carries an ethical responsibility. Evaluate this claim.
“The possession of knowledge carries an ethical responsibility.” Evaluate this claim. The right to study and possess knowledge is a fundamental right for every human which is enshrined in nearly every single country’s constitution. However, the decisions that are made when this knowledge is applied could potentially have repercussions. At this point, ethics becomes involved in the use of knowledge. In order to evaluate the claim that the possession of knowledge carries ethical responsibility, it is important to understand ethics and knowledge in the general sense To put it simply, ethics is moral philosophy, or rationalization of conduct as either right or wrong. Normative ethics is the study of determining a moral course of action. The two most prominent ethical guidelines are Kantianism and Utilitarianism. Immanuel Kant suggested that ethics revolve around duty, rather than emotions. All actions are related to an underlying principle. Kantian thought supports the idea that the actions are justified by a set of rules outlined in Kantianism. Utilitarianism is based on the idea of a greater good. Positive and negative consequences are quantified and the most positive consequence for the greatest amount of people is chosen, sometimes at the expense of others. For utilitarian school of thought, an individual strives to do the most good, even at the expense of the
To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge?
To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge? How humans understand different events in their life varies. This topic suggests that people mostly rely on their experience and culture to comprehend their surrounding. They use subjective knowledge, which is based on personal opinion and a personal interpretation of events1, such as ethical issues. However, the question is if objective knowledge is possible. I would argue that it is. Mathematics, for example, can be understood through objective knowledge, facts and impersonal judgement, because the subject is not influenced by people's subjective desires or perception.2 Science, Art, and history, on contrary, can be comprehended by subjective or/and objective knowledge. In this essay I will explain with different examples that humans sometimes use subjective or/and objective knowledge to understand the world around us. People understand events in different ways. There are things in life that humans need to experience to understand it, for example not touching a warm stove. Most children, as I did, touch the warm stove despite their parents' warning, and after they have been hurt, they learn from their experience not to touch it again. Another way of obtaining an understanding is through culture. How people interpret events has been
Theory of Knowledge
TOK Practice Essay: "Different Cultures have different truths." "A truth is that which can be universally accepted." What are the implications for knowledge of agreeing with these opposing statements? Aakaanksh (A.K) Pothukutchi Friday, May 02, 2008 Mr. Richmond TOK According to Albert Einstein, one of the great minds of the human races, "Truth is what stands the test of time." The seemingly innocent looking question: "What is truth," appears in one's mind. In an effort to better humanity the elite minds have concocted three different theories of truth, none of which is individually satisfactory, but combined provide a glance into the "truth" about truth. The word truth, in context of the question, is a statement which conforms to fact and is commonly/universally accepted as the reality or actuality. At first glance, both statements appear to be contradictory in nature, as they transmit conflicting two conflicting ideas of truth. The first statement conveys the idea of relativism, the belief that what is true is what is accepted by one's culture/community; while the second statement dwells mainly on the idea of absolutism, a philosophical argument which claims that a statement is either absolutely true or absolutely false, leaving no room for any middle ground. The statements are in direct conflict with each other in that, the first leads us to imply that each individual
When should we trust our senses to give us truth?
When should we trust our senses to give us truth? Truth is a medium to express actuality. To humans, primary sources of truth are our senses. As the view gained through our senses is quite objective, language emotion and reason are applied to make it more subjective to us. One therefore asks to what extent truth brought to us by our senses is supported or contrasted with our language, emotion, and reason. In this respect there is often a trend where language assists sense perception to provide objective perception and this information is then processed using emotion and reason based on experience to make it more subjectively relevant to us. Further, truth provided solely by our senses is by no means the same in the different areas of knowledge, and based on A.J. Ayer's concept of knowledge being justified true belief (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP)) it is important to find the truth no matter which area of knowledge is being presented. An example would be science and art as they utilize sense perception in different ways to find truth and ultimately knowledge. Hence the question arises to what extent truth, gained through our senses, in science versus in art compares. To what extent is truth brought to us by our senses supported or contrasted with our language, emotion, and reason? However the environment is perceived, the human never completely relies on the
When should we trust our senses to give us truth?
When should we trust our senses to give us truth? In this essay I am going to be discussing the topic of 'when should we trust our senses to give us truth' and if it is a relevant statement or not. I will be using knowledge issues to back up this theory and also will be using different ways of knowing and different areas of knowing for this to happen. Humans have initially five main senses but in actual fact there are nine these extra ones include the feeling of heat, balance and acceleration, kinaesthetic sense and pain. For example when you are in a car you can judge the speed you are travelling at by your balance and acceleration but also by vision, so you could be on a simulator and feel as if you are going somewhere so your vision combines with this to give a match to show if it is a certain scenario. This can have many interpretations as to why and how we achieve this knowledge. We should trust our senses to give us truth, as without it we would have no justification for anything like for example if you have a carton of apple juice and the way you can tell it is apple juice is by using prior knowledge and using senses such as vision, taste and smell. Also you need to combine these to actually be sure that it is what it is. In some cases one bit of prior knowledge is sufficient but in most others it is not. Our senses are a vital and important tool that we use so