We Rely on All the Four Ways of Knowing free essay sample

Logic facilitates us to understand more about what our belief’s mean, and shows how clearly we can express them. Throughout the period logicians have discovered two different types of reasoning; inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is the use of scientific principles to draw the most probable conclusion from evidence. Inductive reasoning usually derives from observations and generalisations are made about the unobserved. However, because it is based on observations, it can be biased to the person therefore it might not be concrete knowledge and it might be subjective. Deductive reasoning is the use of necessary inference to draw sure conclusions from premises. Since its premises determine the validity of the form, therefore the argument is dependent upon the validity of the form of the argument and the truth of the premise. Thus the only weakness of deductive reasoning is the truth-value of its premises. Mathematics, which is one of the major areas of knowledge, is a subject that seems to charm and alarm people in equal measure. We will write a custom essay sample on We Rely on All the Four Ways of Knowing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Mathematics in fact seems to give us more certainty than other areas of knowledge. And it said to be purely based on reasoning. Without reasoning, mathematics will not work. Is this true? When you reason formally, you begin with axioms. Mathematics is based on axioms. Axioms are based on assumption however the axioms of mathematics were considered to be self-evident truths, which offer a firm foundation for mathematics knowledge. There are four requirements for a set of axioms; they should be consistent, independent, simple and fruitful. Solving mathematical equations require logical thinking. Thus reason is an important aspect in math. Without reason, one will not be able to proof and explain the result to a particular mathematical equation however, when put into real life situation, reasoning will need to be evaluated due to other circumstances for example A mathematician will agree that the result of the equation above will always be two. Logically, when based on the axioms of math, 1+1 will never be equal to 4 or 5, thus making reason as a strong justification for math problems. However, one can argue that in real life situations, the two apples will not always be there. Imagine 100 years later, throughout time, the apples will rot away and therefore 1 + 1 will not always equal to two. When one uses reason as a justification for the present, reasoning may be seen as strength. However, when we attempt to evaluate the future and the aftermath of a situation, reasoning might not be one of the strongest ways of knowing, as shown from the example above. Therefore we could say that reasoning can be said as a misleading aspect when one ignores other circumstances, such as time. Although many say that math is based on reasoning, this is untrue, because math also utilizes axioms, therefore it is not strictly reasoning, but also on an assumption. Reasoning can also be applied to ethics. The ethical dilemma of abortion makes complete sense; when you don’t want something, you get rid of it. If you are against abortion; this means that you feel uncomfortable in taking other people’s lives. The reason behind this, might link to individual’s emotions. The emotions that speak to some, the guilt that one would feel when experiencing an abortion would prove it is unethical. Through the belief of against abortion, we assume that murder is wrong with no exceptions. However, to those who believe that abortion is ethical, one can reason that since the foetus is not developed yet, no soul will be abolished. Therefore abortion is ethical because women have the right to decide their own choices of maternity. For example, if we take the case of rape, and assume that the woman is impregnated. But the mother of the child is against abortion, and decided to give birth to this child. However, if we consider the fact that the mother of the child is incapable physically or economically to have a child, we can argue that reasoning may be a disadvantage; because it will not benefit both the mother and the child. However, the fact that the mother is unwilling to choose abortion might be caused by her emotion. There was a woman that I know and had this situation. She believes in premarital sex yet often practices it without safety. In this context, reasoning can be seen as a weakness because she reasons that due to the existence of abortion, it was acceptable for her to practice unsafe sex. At the end she was impregnated twice and chose to abort for both. Abortion was used weakly as a choice and therefore suggests that reasoning can lead to flawed decisions. Torture can also be applied to reasoning. For example, in the case of terrorism, is it ethical to torture one person in order to get information of the killing of the bombing of 1000 people? Some people might say it is ethical. Therefore these people will agree that there isn’t any problem in hurting one human being, and by torturing this person that we assume to be the terrorist, society can benefit it as this person would give the truth and will save 1000 people. However, there is a dilemma of the value of a soul. Although one is a terrorist, but who decides that one’s life is definitely less valuable than 1000 souls? When dealing with human’s lives, one cannot play God by making assumptions and decisions on which soul is to save, torture or ‘let go’. Moreover, one of the purposes of torture was to reveal the truth by putting the targeted person in pain. However, that will not always be the case. We do not know that the terrorist is saying the truth or whether he has immense belief in what he does rather than his life, therefore leading to give â€Å"false confessions†[1]. From this, we can clearly see that if we apply reason in torture, reason might not always works and it does not give us certainty. Art is exceedingly subjective and personal, even though emotions tend to play a bigger role in art as they communicate one’s reaction to his perceptions and this will create his own thoughts regarding this artwork within him. However, some might also say that reasoning can be used in the knowledge of art due to the abstractness of art, one can always see the relation of art. Another reason that reasoning can be applied to the knowledge of art is because it can be seen through the illusions in art. For example, in the picture of the young/old lady above, one instantaneously see a young lady, however, through reasoning one is able to see the young lady’s ear as old lady’s eyes and the young lady’s face as old lady’s nose. Thus one is able to see the old lady. However, the counter argument to this knowledge is that in comparison to emotion, reason may not be the strongest ways of knowing, in determining the knowledge of art. I heard this song called â€Å"never felt this way† by Bryan McKnight. And I was certain that it was a heartbreaking song. And since art is viewed from our personal perspective, and that art is subjective, therefore my beliefs became my knowledge. When I listened to this song again while reading the lyrics to find the meaning of this song, I realized that my belief is wrong, it was instead a love song; where the artist expressed how much this relationship means to him. This is evident to the lines such as: â€Å" darlin, Never felt so good. Never felt this way about lovin, it feels so good†. However, my emotions implied to me that it was a depressing song. I believed that the beat and the melody of this song had provoked me and came to such conclusion. Although my reasoning told me that this song was not sad, my emotions designated that it was so, and I was taken over by my emotions. Therefore, we can say that in determining the knowledge of art, reason is not the strongest way of knowing to use although reason gives some certainty but only within the reach of your own thoughts. And in this case, emotion is more reliable instead. In conclusion, although in one hand reasoning had its disadvantages, as reason can be taken over by other ways of knowing; such as emotion, and from the examples above, emotion can take over reason because usually in a situation there’s always a logical and emotional solution and usually the emotion wins, this is evident through my example on abortion. However, reason is one of the most certain because when we apply reason in a situation, we will be able to see a bigger picture of this situation, and this is evident through my examples from the illusion picture on art. Bibliography: Websites: †¢ http://samaralansari. blogspot. com/2006/11/samars-ib-tok-essay_15. html date accessed 11th November 2008 †¢ http://www. h4x3d. com/feat/themes/red-apple. jpg date accessed 11th November 2008 †¢ http://www. jokes123. com/picturejokes/picjokes6/bigimages/Lady_illusion. jpg date accessed 11th November 2008 †¢ http://www. azlyrics. com/lyrics/brianmcknight/neverfeltthisway. html date accessed 15th November 2008 †¢ http://andrewsullivan. theatlantic. com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/imaginationland. tml date accessed 22nd December 2008 Books: †¢ Theory of knowledge for the IB Diploma by Richard van de Lagemaat, first published in 2005 and reprinted in 2006; Cambridge †¢ Theory of knowledge by Nicholas Alchin, published in 2002, by John Murray; London Word Count: 1587 [1] Andrew Sullivan http://andrewsullivan. theatlantic. com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/imaginationland. html May 09 Theory of Knowledge essay 08 Fall Evaluate the streng ths and weaknesses of reason as a way of knowing + =