Having a Definite Answer to a Question

Having a Definite Answer to a Question

Some questions do not have definite answers and are usually judgments

of value. This means that they cannot be proved true or false, they

include; religious judgments, aesthetic judgments and moral judgments.

They aspire to be as definite as judgments of fact. However it is

debatable as to whether them not having a definite answer makes them

more or less important. We find that as we discover the answers to new

scientific questions we can expand our knowledge. However it is the

questions that we cannot answer that which are remembered most

prominently in history and that inspire films and literature, for

example what is beauty? This essay will discuss whether all questions

can have a definite answer and whether having a definite answer makes

a question more or less important.

Judgments of fact are the only one which can have definite answers;

they can be proven true or false. They can be either inductive or

deductive. Inductive is scientific and is bases on empirical evidence,

evidence from the senses. It is contingent and not as definite as

deductive as the senses can lie and laboratory experiments are

constantly changing in light of new measuring devices and other

equipment. Deductive reasoning is from logic and mathematics and is

definite. Truths derived from logic or mathematics are referred to as

apriori truths, meaning they do not refer to human experience.

Judgments of value, however, are different, in that they cannot be

proven true or false. There are three types of judgments of value;

aesthetic judgments, religious judgment and moral judgments. Judgments

of value are subjective...

... middle of paper ...

...t moral or immoral, such as lying. The utilitarian

theory is good because the theory refers to human emotion and desires;

however it ignores the rights of the minority and does not account for

human differences. Enlightened self-interest does encourage working

together, however it does not give an exact definition of what is

moral. Therefore after looking at these theories I have noticed that

there is no exact way of proving morals with reason and that moral

judgment is still on the basis of personal opinion. Lastly is the

question of whether having a definite answer makes a question more or

less important. While judgments of fact are important because they

widen our knowledge, it is the ambiguous questions that seem the most

important. It is they which inspire art and to which has been

dedicated much work and thought.