The Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason as a Way of Knowing - Essay Example

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason as a Way of Knowing One of the branches of philosophy is the study of the theory of knowledge, or epistemology. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Epistemology is the study of the nature, origin and limits of human knowledge.” (Encyclopedia Britannica ,. 2005 . p.472) We come to the question, “What is Knowledge?” Is it something concrete or is it something abstract? To define knowledge, we must study the uses of knowledge. Knowledge can be ‘know him’ or ‘know that’ or ‘know how.’ It is the task of philosophy to discuss this question- what is knowledge? Is it intuitive or acquired through experience or through reason? According to the Greek philosopher Plato,” Knowledge is justified true belief”. According to modern philosophical traditions, there are four ways of knowing- through sense perceptions, emotion, reason and through language. Reason has long been extolled as the best source of knowledge. Philosophers and scientists have used reason to gain insights into puzzling questions. Ancient people used to think that the sun moved round the earth. One example where reason has led to knowledge is that of Copernicus. In the seventeenth century, Copernicus used reason and propounded that it is the earth which moves round the sun. Thus knowledge was gained with the help of reason. Many great discoveries and inventions have been made by using reason. .(Oakes, Encyclopedia of notable scientists, p. 127) A second example where reason has been proved right is that of Magellan. We have studied in history books that Magellan used the reasonable assumption that he can go round the world if he traveled in the same direction, and he became the first man to go round the world. On the way he proved beyond doubt that the earth was spherical in shape.(Oakes, Encyclopedia of notable scientists, p. 187) One of the implications of reason is that it plays a significant part in recognizing patterns. Some of the major scientific discoveries have been made possible because the scientist applied logic and reason to the available data. The Periodic Table of Elements, formulated by the Russian professor Dmitri Mendeleyev, is a product of applying reason and finding a pattern. The elements are arranged in a logical sequence which highlights the recurring chemical properties of some elements. I believe, Mendeleyev left gaps for the “missing elements” in the table and predicted their properties. Many of these “missing elements” were later discovered. (Encyclopedia of Notable Scientists 2004. P.141) The Periodic table has now become a valuable tool for chemists, because they can predict the chemical properties of an element based on its location on the Periodic table, again applying reason. I believe the table has wide applications in other branches of science like physics and biology, engineering and metallurgy also. Another consequence of reasoning is that, b y the use of reason, the knower can recognize and create patterns in social as well as natural life. The proverb says, “No smoke without fire” When a person smells smoke, he immediately connects it to fire and becomes alert. Not only humans, even birds, bees and animals show that they connect smoke to fire. Man has been able to use this pattern in devising fire alarms, which start working as soon as their sensors detect smoke. Another consequence of reasoning is that it can be used to make correct assumptions. Edward Jenner , the nineteenth century scientist, found that people who had cow pox did not get small pox. So, he made the assumption that if people are given a vaccination of cow pox, they will not get small pox. This led to one of the greatest discoveries of medicine- the invention of vaccination. The dreaded small pox has been eradicated from the world now, because of Jenner’s discovery. It has also helped to start the fields of Virology and Immunology in science. ( Oakes, Encyclopedia of Notable Scientists, p.148) A great strength of reason is that we can discriminate between valid and invalid arguments. An example of a valid argument is, Argument from Authority. Suppose a person is feeling sick and goes to a doctor, and the doctor tells him that he has viral fever, the person is justified if he accepts the doctor’s words, because the doctor is the authority. Similarly, when a judge delivers a judgment, it is accepted because he is the authority. The four ways of knowing, according to modern philosophers, neuroscientists and educators are, reason, sense perception, emotion and language. People know when they feel hungry, cold or hot, happy or sad. When I see a red light, I know it is red. This knowledge does not need the help of reason, as it comes from sense perception. On the other hand, ‘know how’ is knowledge related to a skill or ability. A person can have a knowledge of swimming and be a good swimmer, but he may not be able to convey this skill to others. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘know how’ is a knowledge or ability, “ People can know a skill like swimming , but they may not be able to explain to other people what they know “. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005. p. 473) An Olympic swimmer has knowledge of swimming very fast. Here, he needs to apply reason and overcome the problems of friction he faces. Although reason has great strengths, it has some weaknesses too. It can lead us to wrong conclusions, it can make people believe wrong statements made by unscrupulous people.. Reason cannot explain chaos, and many other facts of nature. While reason has many advantages as a way of knowing I believe that reason alone is not sufficient to gain knowledge. I think that reason also has some disadvantages. For instance, Reason can also lead us to wrong conclusions. By the use of reason, we can build up a valid argument or an invalid argument. Let us take another example Jasmine has a sweet smell. There is a sweet smell in the room. Therefore there is jasmine in the room. Although both the premises are true, the conclusion may be wrong, because the smell could have been caused by some other reason. Let us look at an example of a valid argument All bears have fur. The cat has fur. Therefore, the cat is a bear. Here, although both the premises are true, so the conclusion must be true too. But it is obviously false. .This shows us that reasoning is not always a good way of knowing. An example is that people in the sixteenth century reasoned that heavy objects fall to the ground faster than light objects. “Galileo demonstrated by experiment that falling bodies accelerate uniformly, whatever their weight is”(Oakes, Encyclopedia of notable scientists. P. 113) showing that reasoning can lead us to wrong conclusions. Beliefs and opinions affect our capacity to reason properly. Beliefs are some things we hold without knowing why. People believed that the earth was flat, for a long time., and even after it was proved wrong, many people continued to believe so. People also believed that the sun went round the earth.” Galileo, the famous Italian astronomer, was kept under house arrest during the last years of his life because he supported Copernicus ‘ heliocentric theory”.( .(Encyclopedia of Notable Scientists 2004. P.47) Very often, changes are resisted because people have certain strong beliefs , which may be quite unreasonable. They invent ‘reasons’ for their resistance, convincing themselves and others. They become adamant, and resort to wild arguments. which confuse everyone. When a person is sick , and the person’s friend who is not a doctor but an astrologer, says,”. It is only the conjugation of Mars and Jupiter which is making you feel sick”, then this is a fallacial argument and cannot be accepted, because it came from false authority. Similarly, when we need to take the advice of a lawyer, and we go to a lay person and take his advice, it will be a false argument and cannot be accepted, because it did not come from authority, but from false authority. . Another informal fallacy is using the emotions in an argument. Emotions like anger, jealousy and resentment can be aroused by unscrupulous people using such arguments. Although reason is a major way of knowing, there are some areas of human experience where reason does not work. For instance, when two people fall in love, it is emotion, not reason which is at play. Similarly, reason has no role to play in psychic experience. An example of the weakness of reason is the Chaos theory. “ The Chaos Theory is another example where normal reasoning methods do not work Chaos is the irregular side of nature: the variations in the oscillations of the heart, the fluctuations in the atmospheric temperature and many other disorders in nature”..(Gleick, 1998 . P.3)” Pascal claims that The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things that surpass it”(Encyclopedia Britannica) This is supported by “ the mystery of the Great Red Spot of Jupiter It had been known to the scientists since the time of Galileo who saw it is his telescope.” ..(Gleick, 1998 . P.53)” Scientists of the nineteenth century reasoned that it was lava flow, a Germain scientist thought it was a new moon of Jupiter, and another theory was that it was a column of gas rising through a crater. All the while, the astronomers had reasoned that Jupiter was a solid planet. When they saw the pictures taken by the ‘Voyager’, and studied them, they realized that the planet was made of fluids” (Gleick, 1998 . P.53) “A scientist called Marcus studied the images and came to the conclusion that the red spot was a self-organizing system , created and regulated by unpredictable chaos. (Gleick, 1998 . P.53) Reason also does not work in the case of “Phantoms of the brain” Many doctors and surgeons have seen this in their patients. .” Suppose a person has had an operation and his left leg has been removed. After some time, he will feel scratching sensation in his left leg. He knows fully well that he has no left leg, but the scratching sensation persists, and it can become unbearable. This is called the Phantom of the brain”( Ramachandran, Phantoms in the brain p. 23) According to Dr. Ramachandran, “ the continued sensations of limbs long after amputations have been done , was known since sixteenth century. Lord Nelson argued that if an arm can exist after it has been removed, why not the whole person survive after his physical body is destroyed?” (Ramachandran P. 23) Thus we see that reason is not the only way of knowing. Sense perception, language and emotion are the other ways of knowing. The major strength of reason as a way of knowing is that it can help us evaluate the data and arrive at the right conclusion. It helps us to form judgments. Many great scientific discoveries and inventions have been made with the help of reason. By using reason, we can recognize the fallacies in convincing arguments. At the same time, there are many disadvantages to reason as a way of knowing. Many informal fallacies are very plausible and convincing, that people believe them Many new theories such as the Chaos theory are beyond reason. Phantom limbs which people experience also defies reason. .I believe that reason in conjunction with other ways of knowing such as perception, emotion and language is of great importance to acquire knowledge. (1769words) Bibliography Gleick, James1998.. Chaos : The Amazing Science of the Unpredictable Vintage. London. “Mendeleyev” 2004. Oakes, Elizabeth H. (Editor) The Encyclopedia of notable Scientists – Chemists. Viva Books Private Limited. New Delhi. “Aristotle”, 2005. Encyclopedia Britannica E/17 Vol 1 Chicago Ramachandran,V.S.1998. Phantoms in the Brain Harper Collins. Publishers India. New Delhi. Read More