Reason: The Three Kinds of Knowledge |
We gain experiential knowledge through our five senses, thus, from our life experiences. When we see, touch, smell, hear, and taste, we are gaining experiential knowledge. How do we know that a wet dog smells bad? We've smelled a wet dog before. How do we know what a dog is in the first place? We've seen and heard a dog before. |
An auhtority is a person who claims to have knowledge that I do not. An example of knowlege from authority is the country of China. I have never been to China, so how do I know that it exists? Someone who has been to China told me that it exists and I trusted that source. I took the authority's word and gained knowledge from an authority. Here is an example of knowledge from authority  http://www.familycircus.com/ The boy has never had any experiences with drugs in his life, but he knows from authorities that drugs are harmful. |
When I say that Ralph Nader will be elcted because I brushed my teeth in the morning, the response from people will be, "You're crazy!" But what ability do humans possess that enables them to determine this? The ability is reason. Reason is the power to think in such a way that we proceed from what we know to what we do not yet know. To give an example, let's say that when you walk into your house, all your rugs are gone. There doesn't seem to be any forced entry to the house, so you assume that you must have left the door unlocked. Here is an example of reasoned knowlege  http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/2008/10/05 Paige reasons that the only one who would be able to make that answer would be Jason. |