TOK - Does all knowledge require some kind of rational basis?

With this lesson, we begin a new unit on epistemology, which is the philosophical study of knowledge claims. In this first lesson on epistemology, we begin by examining the question “What do we mean when we say we know something?” What exactly is knowledge? We will begin with a presentation that introduces the traditional definition of knowledge. Wood then discusses some of the basic issues raised in the study of epistemology and then presents an approach to epistemology that focuses on obtaining the intellectual virtues, a point we will elaborate on in the next lesson.

Rationalists would claim that knowledge comes from reason or ideas, while empiricists would answer that knowledge is derived from the senses or impressions. The difference between these two philosophical schools of thought, with respect to the distinction between ideas and impressions, can be examined in order to determine how these schools determine the source of knowledge. The distinguishing factor that determines the perspective on the foundation of knowledge is the concept of the divine.

| The study of knowledge: What constitutes knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and whether knowledge is possible

Religion is one of the greatest creations of mankind. Human beings are different from any other animals because of their ability to think and to create. When man evolved to form societies or countries, when they need to understand better the world around them, religions were created naturally.

Religion is something most people around the world have in common. Whether one holds religious beliefs or not, he can relate to others with similar beliefs. A belief in a higher power has a big impact on society today just as it has in the past, as illustrated in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Religion impacts all members of society, whether they believe in one or not.

The real life knowledge question considers faith as a type of religion. Religion is based on a set of beliefes and reason is created from the senses that analize the situation. Morgan Geyser and

There remains doubt in how much the human mind really knows; what is known and how the mind is capable of knowing it. In philosophical skepticism, it is asserted that we know little to nothing about the world external of our senses. Anything claimed to be knowledge retains the possibility of doubt, even that which is used as justification for obtaining that piece (or pieces) of knowledge. There is a problem that arises when considering the external world, which is of obtaining and being able to offer sufficient justification for “commonsense” belief.

Faith can play a key role in how people reason with others. Faith and reason tend to be very close to each other. "The Bible itself tells us what faith is. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Dr. Jason Lisle, anseringgenisis.org) In order to reason about anything we must have faith that there are laws of logic which correctly prescribe the correct chain of reasoning. Since laws of logic cannot be observed with the senses, our confidence in them is a type of

Knowledge: It is information that has been synthesized so that relations and interactions are defined and formalized; Knowledge answers questions of “why” or “how”. It explores options.

Regardless of your religious or non-religious position, belief is vital in your growth and achievement, and you cannot understand belief without an understanding of faith. Do not downplay this truth - faith and belief in your potential to achieve is absolutely vital.

Before I get into to religious belief, we should start of on what religion means. Religion is a group of beliefs, values, and practices that people feel strong about. People's religious beliefs almost shape who a person is and how they want to live their life. Their beliefs actually can show where someone came from and how they live their after lives. People may believe in one or many gods, these religions are called monotheism and Polytheism. Monotheism is the worship of a single God, while Polytheism consist of worshiping many Gods. When it comes to christianity(monotheism), Thomas Aquinas a Catholic priest says he can prove the existence of God in many ways.

Empiricist philosophers such as John Locke believe that knowledge must come from experience. Others philosophers such as Descartes believe that knowledge is innate; this way of thinking is used by rationalist. In this paper I will discuss the difference between Descartes rationalism in his essays "The Meditations" and Locke's empiricism in his essays "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". I will then lend my understanding as to what I believe as the ultimate source of knowledge.

Faith, it is the complete trust or confidence in someone or something. We as humans can only define it as that because we cannot tangibly grasp faith, or even understand it as we do our emotions. It can be as overwhelming as love and yet there may not be a reason or an understanding to why we have it or put our faith into someone or something. The only way to describe it is through the claim faith and reason are compatible. This claim is examined in the stories, Genesis, as God creates human beings to live amongst his other creations but to have free reign over the land, the Romans & Corinthians, as even Jesus’ faith was to put to the test, and it is deeply explored in St. Augustine’s Confessions. Furthermore, the compatibility of faith and reason is seen in The Book of Matthew as Jesus travels the lands of Israel blessing them with his own faith. Faith and reason would not be attainable if it weren’t for our triune God subtly giving us the knowledge we need to make decisions on our own.

It can be said that knowledge is something that is created individually and then confirmed in a group. Justification is the bridge between truth and belief. The focus of this essay when dis-cussing knowledge, will be on the concept of truth; whether the knowledge is an objective truth, or the truth of an individual; subjective to their own interpretation or experience. Whether knowledge production is possible without group verification is not what is being discussed; rather that truth is not possible without a group’s verification. To do so we must consider whether group verification is always the standard that ensures truth is possible. Op-posing group’s verifications’ may stand in the way of knowledge, through bias or verification methods

The production of knowledge is a process that occurs through a sequence of related actions, these series of actions allows for the Ways of Knowing to interact in a way that works to develop the knowledge that is being produced. From the prescribed title we can claim that while the Ways of Knowing may appear to be acting in isolation when forming knowledge, they are actually working in a variety of different ways in the construction and formation. In some cases, the Ways of Knowing are interacting so closely together that it is often hard to differentiate between them, for example emotion and reason, or imagination and memory. Given the right circumstances faith can be isolated to a point where it can be acting by itself to produce knowledge. However, this knowledge is often deemed as unreliable, due to faith being seen as one of the more “subjective” ways of knowing. This inability to differentiate the ways of knowing from each other during the production of knowledge, raises the questions “Can any knowledge in any Area of Knowledge be produced by a single Way of Knowing?” and “Is it possible to distinguish between Ways of Knowing if they are working together?”. While reason is used in almost all production of knowledge, it is the other Ways of Knowing used that can determine whether the knowledge is reliable or not, as some Ways of Knowing are more subjective than others. This essay will attempt to