Faith Journal #3
by Paul Marsek
The Human Condition
Summary of the key idea summarizing the major idea of the section.
The key idea of this section is reason. Reason, as defined in the readings book is "the power to think in such a way that we proceed from what we know to what we do not yet know."(RB 58) Reason is one tho three types of knowledge. Two types of reasoning are deduction and induction. When reasoning you must be careful to avoid the five common thinking errors. To avoid thinking errors and reason rationally you need to become more aware of the five steps to critical thinking and the process of knowing. Using these tools will enabe you to think more clearly and critically.
The three most important ideas I want to remember from this section.
1.) The first idea that I would like to remember is the three kinds of knowledge. The three kinds of knowledge are experience, authority, and reason. Knowledge from experience comes into your brain through the five senses, see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. You know that ice cream tastes good, because you've eaten it. You know that sunsets are beautiful because you've seen them. The other kind of experiential knowledge, science calls empirical knowledge. Empirical knowledge, is knowledge obtained by measuring something. All empirical knowledge is experiential knowledge because, our senses must be used to see and record the data obtained through measurement. The next type of knowledge, is knowledge from authority. An authority is a person who posesses knowledge that you don't. When listening to an authority, St. Augustine says not to trust everything that they say. When trying to decide what to believe, you need to take a few things into consideration. Do you trust this person? If they are lying, are they mislead or misinformed? How do they know? Is there a reason they are telling you this. Can you verify that what they tell you is true. The third type of knowledge is reason. Reasoning is going beyond what you know, and applying it to something that you don't know. There are two main types of reason, deduction and induction. Deductive reasoning is drawing in new facts based on what you already know. Inductive reasoning is making a generalization about something based on limited knowledge or experience in that area.
2.) The second idea I would like to remember is the five common thinking errors. We need to think responsibally. "We do not have the right to think any way we want."(RB 17)they incude:
Non Sequiturs- when a conclusion does not logically follow the premises that support it.
False and Vague Premises- when the concusion logically follows, but the premises are false, thus making the conclusion false.
Ad Hominem- litrally means against the person. Occurs when one attacks a specific quality or qualities in a person instead of their arguments.
Begging the question-when a person is trying to prove something to be true and already assumes that it is true in the process. Trin to use what you are trying to prove as evidence to prove it.
Red Herrings- throwing out an iflammatory or beside the point to distract others from the current issue and salvage his pride.
3.) The third idea I would like to remember from this section is the five steps to critical thinking. These include:
Know the Facts- no one expects you to know all of the facts, but if don't educate yourself, ignorance is immoral and inexcusable. You must educate yourself and your conscience.
Remember the principle of Contradiction- this states that something cannot = both A and not A at the same time. Something cannot be and not be at the same time. Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Either he did, or he didn't. There is no middle ground.
Define your terms- "The validity of a person's arguments depends on how well one defines his or her terms." If your terms are vague or unclear, your meaning is unclear and your argument suffers because of it.(RB 24)
Be intellectually Humble- the reason Socrates was the smartest man in the world by the delphic oracle was that he knew that he didn't know everything. There is always more to learn, and arrogance just leads to humiliation.
Look for different Perspectives-everyone, whether they realize it or not, has a point of view and a perspective on everything. There are always more ways to look at or interpret any given issue. "It seems people naturally gravitate toward the more negative interpretation."(RB 26)
key images:
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Question to ponder: When I am thinking, am I conciously trying to avoid thinking errors and think critically?
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