Tuesday 6 September 2011

Faith: one of 3 possible sources of knowledge

Thinking about it, there can be just 3 sources of knowledge (and possibly truth) for any human being:
  1. Reason = Inherent "knowledge" / common sense / intelligence. This would include things like the laws of logic, which we simply cannot prove, but take for granted since it is somehow hardwired in human beings and forms the basis of intelligence itself. Here we can distinguish between "hardwired" (genetic?) "assumptions" and assumptions which we share because of culture. The last mentioned is commonly included as "common sense", but is not necessarily shared by all people in all cultures and times. Some aspects of mathematics (or at least the assumption that basic mathematics is universal (i.e. 2 + 2 = 4 everywhere and always)) might possibly be included here. Some assumptions are taken for convenience, but again are without proof, although they somehow feel more probable than the alternative (e.g. the principle of Occam's Razor: the simplest solutions are most likely to be true)
  2. Direct Observation / Experience. This is a major part of the empirical sciences where experiments can be designed to see the results of different controlled factors. But everyday observations and experiences is also a major factor in all knowledge.
  3. Faith. We all trust (believe / have faith in) people to some degree to speak the truth (to some degree). Even scientists must believe that the results published in the scientific literature is reliable, because we simply don't have the time to repeat each and every experiment (or research project) ever done in order to do our own observations. If others repeated previous experiments, we still have to trust them to give reliable reports of their results. Of course, in science, because it is likely that somebody may repeat an experiment and scientists' careers are build on being reputable and accurate, the results of scientific research are generally much more reliable than a newspaper report, for example. Part of the scientific method is that results should be testable and repeatable. Faith is therefore not blind. It should be the reasonable result of measuring the reliability of our source of knowledge. In this, direct observation of past events and logic should play a major role. Ultimately, even our trust in our own logic and the reliability of personal observation and experience, is based on faith; a well-placed faith in my opinion, but faith nonetheless.

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