Click on the picture for a website on the "Analysis of Knowledge"
1. Experience
2. Authority
3. Reason
1. Experience:
“What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon, and touched with our hands…” 1 John 1:1
Experiential Knowledge: is prior knowledge that comes from personal experience.
It enters the mind through the five senses. (Sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell)
Examples of experiential knowledge….
Sight: I know SLUH exists because I see it everyday.
Hearing: I know cicadas make a weird noise because I hear it every summer.
Taste: I know Hot Chocolate is hot because I drink it on a cold day.
Touch: I know punches hurt because I’ve felt them.
Smell: I know coffee shops smell funny because I’ve smelt them.
Other Facts/Forms of Experiential Knowledge:
-Aristotle believed the mind is an empty slate (tabula rosa) at birth, which means it lacks knowledge of any kind and gains it through childhood.
-St. Thomas Aquinas also wrote, “All knowledge in our minds ultimately depends on experiential knowledge.”
-Empirical Knowledge, or knowledge we obtain by measuring something
-Example: I know I weigh 155 lb.. because I’ve stepped on a scale before.
-This is a form of experiential knowledge because it requires us to use our senses to see things (in this case, the number on the scale or actually feeling the scale)
2. Authority
“It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.” John 21: 24
Authority: a simple person who claims to have knowledge that I do not.
Knowledge from Authority: Learning something from an authority.
A great deal of our knowledge is from authority figures as we learn a great deal of things from parents, friends, teachers, TV, etc.
How do we trust our knowledge form authority?
1. Do I consider this so-called authority trustworthy?
2. Might this person have an ulterior motive for telling me this?
3. If this person isn’t lying, then is he mislead or deceived?
4. From where does she get her facts? How does she know?
5. Is there any way to verify this person’s claim?
“I believe them because it doesn’t cost me anything to believe.” Ralph Houlihan, S.J.
-The greatest obstacle to knowledge from authority is fear of the cost.
-Fear of the cost: When a message touches close to home for you…
-You don’t bother questioning a person if they don’t care. Do you?
3. Reason:
Reason: The power to think in such a way that we proceed from what we know to what we do not know yet.
“An invisible elephant just tracked mayonnaise through my house” -Example of not using reason.
People think in certain ways...we don't say....
- “The earth is round, i am not doing homework today.”
- “We won the football game, I’m going to go play tennis.”
- “An invisible elephant just tracked mayonnaise through my house.”
Example of using good reason.
Premise #1: Jessica Phelan is a girl.
Premise #2: I take a liking for girls.
Conclusion: Jessica Phelan is my girlfriend.
or
Premise #1: The A.P. History test is very hard.
Premise #2: I didn’t study for the test very much.
Conclusion: I didn’t get a good grade on the test.
When one think irrationally, it usually means he or she passes incorrectly from what is known to what is not known.
Two types of reason...
Deduction:
Deduction is the power to draw new facts from statements which we already know (or at least believe) are true.
Examples of deduction:
#1: Kirkwood is a public high school.
#2: I live in West County near Kirkwood.
Conclusion: I go to Kirkwood High School.
or
#1: If i study, i will get a good grade on the test.
#2 I didn't get a good grade on the test.
Conclusion: I didn't study.
Notice that both examples of deduction include two statements, called premises, and a new fact deduced from those two premises, called a conclusion.
Premise: (According to Aristotle) is an affirmative or negative statement about some subject which is believed to be true.
Induction:
Induction is the a kind of reasoning which works by making universal generalizations about something based on a limited number of experiences of that thing.
(Universal means something which is true always and everywhere in every instance.)
Examples of induction:
- “No cows are orange.”
- “People “ssshhhh” people when they want tehm to be quiet.”
- “The symbol for Aluminum is Al.”
- “Momentum=Mass x Velocity”
When you use the words “all” or “always” (etc.) it usually means people are thiking inductively.