Knowledge In The Theory Of Knowledge

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In the Theory of Knowledge, the main four knowledge tools humans use are reason, emotion, language, and perception. Though these tools are considered to generally allow us to pursue and gain knowledge, are these four ways of knowing the only means of acquiring knowledge? In the recent years, the IB curriculum has included the four other ways of knowing: intuition, imagination, faith, and memory, recognizing them as further ways of acquiring knowledge. This implies that the knowledge acquired by the four methods would be limited, thus reaching out to other methods to pursue knowledge. These newly considered knowledge tools are considered to be mistrusted or invalid ways of knowing in certain areas of knowledge. Abraham Maslow’s quote implies that we, humans, are all biased by our backgrounds and have the tendency to put forward solutions to any situations that our backgrounds suggest to us. If overly-familiar methods aren’t the only tools in acquiring true knowledge, how does the other ways of knowing, such as intuition and imagination, play a role in different areas of knowledge?

Scientists tend to argue their common belief that general scientific theories and laws have always been reached through rational explanation, thereby overlooking the possibilities of intuitive and imaginary developments. It is commonly stated that intuition or emotions suggest irrationality and that scientific truth and achievements depend on reason alone. Intuition can be defined as the ability to understanding something instinctively without the requirement of for conscious reasoning while imagination can be defined as the ability of forming new ideas, images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.

In the areas of natural sciences...

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...at ethics in part determined by emotional response, most students may be tempted to argue that it is in fact the area of knowledge that relies most heavily on intuitive thinking. I believe that our moral judgments are based on elaborate processes of socialization whereby we acquire our moral foundation through the testimonies of the main sources of authority in our lives, such as our parents, teachers, priests, and etc. This socialization, when combined with our emotional sensibility, allows us to be particularly in tune with detail, an acuteness which we often confuse with our intuition.

Therefore, although these other ways of knowing such as intuition, imaginary, and others, surely cannot become certified as a justified way of knowing, it still plays an important role in enhancing the quest for knowledge in different areas of knowledge, though to varying degrees.

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