Pursuit of Knowledge

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To a large extent in several cases, doubt can be considered heavily influential in the pursuit of obtaining knowledge. In order to construct a balanced answer to this question, a stringent assessment of several key terms should be undertaken. The term ‘Doubt’ can be defined as a feeling of hesitation in regards to the legitimacy of something which is alleged. A ‘key’ can be considered a tool that enables access to a further advanced place of meaning, in this instance, knowledge. The profound figure, Rene Descartes, who is often credited as being the ‘Father of Modern Philosophy’ branded the ‘mind’s existence’ as being the only absolute certainty in the universe. Descartes arrived at this conclusion through rational doubt. When an element of doubt is inherited a motive is thereby created as means to determine whether or not the proposed piece of information is actually truthful or not. Nevertheless, whether ‘doubt’ is representative of ‘the key’ by authenticating or assisting our prevalent pursuit of knowledge or whether it is in fact a constraining deterrent on our thirst for knowledge is dependent on the specific aspect of knowledge under examination. For the proverb in question, I will be assessing History and the natural sciences. Within these areas of knowledge there are numerous examples in which ‘accurate’ information has been divulged through scepticism, namely; theoretical developments within the natural sciences as well as revision historical revelations. The Persian proverb takes a definitive stance as ‘the’ sole ‘key’ to knowledge, however this claim should be challenged as in many cases, doubt is merely a tool in the acquisition of knowledge.

An immediate contradiction to the Persian proverb is the idea that certai...

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...on in the Earth Sciences: From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

- James P. Levy, Appeasement and rearmament: Britain, 1936-1939, Rowman and Littlefield, 2006

- Miller, R. 1983. Continents in Collision. Time-Life Books, Alexandria , Virginia.

Electronic Sources:

- http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0162b.shtml(viewed on 26th January 2011)

- http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/(viewed on 26th January 2011)

- http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html (viewed on 26th January 2011)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer (viewed on 26th January 2011)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Grobman (viewed on 26th January 2011)

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubt(viewed on 19th January 2011)

- http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-continental-drift-theory.htm(viewed on 26th January 2011)

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