Reason_and_Logic_as_a_Way_of_Knowing

TOK Reason and Logic as a way of knowing Reason could also been seen as logic and it involves the ability to think, understand and draw conclusions in an abstract way. It is a way of knowing (like perception, language and emotion) in which we construct meanings together through modifying and improving individual opinions and ideas, in order to reach a logical and plausible conclusion. In other words, it is the ability to help people decide what is true and what is wrong. Often, reason is used in math and sciences, in order to obtain logical validation and justified claims/explanations. But on the other hand, reason can disturb knowledge to a certain extent, in the case of different cultural beliefs as well as more creative subjects such as music and art, because in these kinds of things, reason is not useful. This is because we also rely on perception and emotion. However we also need emotion and perception in order to gain reason. Thus reason can help use gain knowledge, but only to a certain extent as there are strengths and weaknesses in the case of reason as a way of obtaining knowledge. If a person can reason something, then obviously he has to know something, so it can be said that reasoning is a way of knowing based on thinking about what the person actually knows. It can be said, that reasoning is the reformulation of information we know. We use reason every day, in a lot of things we do. For example, if we buy something, then without really thinking about it, we reason about how much we have to pay. There are three types of reasoning: deductive reasoning (formal arguments), inductive reasoning (formal arguments) and informal reasoning. Reasonings consist of arguments, those who consist of premises and a conclusion. Deductive arguments are arguing from the general to the particular and inductive arguments are arguing from particular to the general. So there are different ways of explaining things. A premise is a statement that serves as a basis for an argument. There are two types of premises: minor premises and major premises. A major premise is a premise that can be concluded after looking at the minor premise. For example, a bowl is in a room. An apple is in the bowl. Therefore, the apple is in the room. All this is an argument. The minor premise is that a bowl is in a room. The major premise is that an apple is in the bowl. The conclusion is that the apple is in the room. We can also say that we solved this by reasoning. They are clear statements and steps taken to come to the final conclusion. A strength of reason as a way of knowing in general would be that it can be proven and that there is not really a discussion about it. So as said before, in math and sciences, it can be very useful, because nothing can get in the way of the explanations. Whereas in music and arts, it is more a question of personal opinion and emotions. There is not really a right or wrong, like in math, because everybody has a different personal opinion and way of explaining. A weakness on the other hand is that there is no room for perception, because there is one way of doing it and rest does not matter. So how are reason, logic, perception, language and emotion related' First of all, they are related, because are all forms of communication. Language is maybe the most obvious, but there are different sort of language too. For example, there is the spoken language, the written language, the facial language (which also relates with emotion), but also the gestic language. The biggest difference between them all is that reason and logic are straight forward and for the others, there is no real right or wrong answer, because for everyone it is different. Here we see that reason as a way of knowing does not depend upon the limits of sensory observation, it is checked by rules of logic and internal consistency, in its least formal practice, this is often a “common sense” way of knowing”. So as said before, it means that it is straight forward, without room for personal opinions. In my opinion, reason should be a guide for the choices of our premises only to a certain extent, because in some cases it important to stay logical, but in other cases of our lives logic does not fit. In the case of a judge for example, here it is important to state the facts and come to logical conclusion. If the judge starts letting his emotions go, then this could have a big impact on many lives. But when it comes to art, like music and paintings, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to start giving logical statement, because the artistic world is not made to be logic. It is imaginative and completely free. So using one way of knowing is not enough if you want to determine if something is true or if something is believed to be true. When we believe something is true, we do not know it for certain. We just have faith in the fact that it is true. To test if our beliefs are real and true, we can use the different ways of knowing to confirm or abolish our beliefs. However these ways of knowing each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Sense perception is usually the most accurate way of getting behind the truth because you have five senses that each tell you part of the truth. For instance if you see something, you feel something and the two senses confirm each other than that gives you an accurate confirmation of what you believe to be true. Also we can use our sense of smell, hearing and taste to confirm our beliefs. This has got to be the most accurate way to determine if something is real or not for we use this every single day of our lives. We get very skilled at using our senses and so we can determine truth from belief with great ease. However, some people that are blind or deaf or have their senses crippled in some other way, have a disadvantage due to the fact that this is the most common routine of establishing a truth. Another way of distinguishing between belief and truth is reasoning. We use reasoning by observing what we already know and other facts at our disposal to confirm this truth. A situation where this method could be applied is if you want to know who ate the last piece of pie. You might use reasoning to conclude that one of your guests commented that he was starving and that he remarked the pie looked delicious.