The Three Kinds of Knowledge
A. Experience

Experimental knowledge comes from personal experience

-enters our mind through our five senses- sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. You learn them firsthand.

-An example- "I know that the arch exists because I have seen it."

Empirical Knowledge is knowledge we obtain by measuring something, such as a weight of something.

-all empirical knowledge is experimental, but certainly not all experimental knowledge is empirical.

B. Authority

An authority- A person who claims to have knowledge that I do not.

Some authorities: teachers, friends, parents, tv shows, and books.

Knowledge from authority- knowledge you obtain by believing what authorities say is true.

-example: "I know that atoms exist. I have never seen one, but scientists have said that they exist."

-Though we can learn from authorities, we must not believe everything that they say.

-Such as a tv show stating their opinion on why the Rams lost.

Greatest obstacle of knowledge from authority- fear of the cost

-questioning an authority when it the knowledge affects you personally.

"It is impossible to have a completely open mind- but even to our standards, an open mind is a horrible risk, even though that's what we were born for."-Jesuit Priest, William O'Malley

C. Reason

Reason- the power to think in such a way that we proceed from what we know to what we do not yet know.

-example:

Premise #1: I live with my parents

Premise #2: My parents live on Rue Renee

Conclusion: I live on Rue Renee

- We must not think irrationally though.

-example of thinking irrationally:

Premise #1: There is a car in my driveway

Premise #2: I have never gotten robbed

Conclusion: Having a car in the driveway keeps robbers away.

This conclusion is not true, their reasoning is flawed

Aristotle states that Reason works on two processes- Deduction and Induction.

Deduction- the power to draw a conclusion from two premises.

-an example of deductive reasoning

Premise #1: 7 is greater than 3

Premise #2: 3 is greater than 2

Conclusion: 7 is greater than 2.

-implied premises- premises that are not explicitly stated, they are just understood without stating them.

Induction- making universal generalizations about something based on a limited number of experiences of that thing.

-example: No pigs can fly.

-Some words that are usually showing that the speaker is thinking inductively: "all", "no", "always", or "never". (Do not assume that if these words are used, they automatically indicate an inductive statement)

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