Weighing+WOKs

Theory of Knowledge

Thesis: Sense perception, reason and emotion are weighed differently in their role in both Human Science and Natural Science.

Question: Do sense perception, reason, and emotion have the same weight in providing good evidence for claims within the different areas of knowledge? (Natural and Human Sciences)

I. Write 2-3 sentences in introducing the importance of ways of knowing. II. Define the meaning of sense perception, reason, and emotion and what are the basis for sense perception, reason, and emotion in providing valuable and reliable evidence? III. Define the meaning of Human and Natural Science in general and example for both. IV. What are the similarities and differences of sense perception, reason, and emotion in providing valuable and reliable evidence in the field of Natural Science? How valuable is it the information provided by sense perception, reason, and emotion in Natural Science? Provide an example each for sense perception, reason, and emotion used in providing valuable and reliable evidences for Natural Science. V. What are the similarities and differences of sense perception, reason, and emotion in providing valuable and reliable evidence in the field of Natural Science? How valuable is it the information provided by sense perception, reason and emotion in Human Science? Provide an example each for sense perception, reason, and emotion used in providing valuable and reliable evidences for Human Science? VI. Overall, how vital are the roles of sense perception, reason and emotion in both Human and Natural Science and how does it differ from each other?

The four ways of knowing is an important aspect in life that all of us utilize in making judgments or taking a side in a belief we deem as true. Although the four ways of knowing are distinct from one another, they play an important role in providing different evidences that could be either valuable and reliable or invaluable and unreliable.

There are four ways of knowing but in relation to the main question, I will look upon the definition of sense perception, reason, and emotion. Sense perception means the way of knowing using the five senses to come up with a conclusion. Reason means the way of knowing through the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways. Emotion is the way of knowing, which is the affective aspect of consciousness where conscious mental reaction subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.

In the field of science, both Human and Natural Science tackle their own respective fields of study that some have their similarities and differences. Natural Science submits to a naturalistic approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as to abide by rules or laws of natural origin. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy are a few of the different types of Natural Sciences. Human Sciences on the other hand, is the science applied to the investigation of human life and human activities via a rational, systematic, and verifiable methodology that acknowledges the validity of both data derived by impartial observation of sensory experience and data derived by means of impartial observation of psychological experience. History, Economics, Psychology and Anthropology are few of the different types of Human Sciences.

Natural Science requires a lot of data analysis, reasoning skills, and experimentation of physical materials so as to arrive to a conclusion of a study made. Therefore, Natural Science ought to need more of sense perception and reason than emotion, as these are the major factors in studying Natural Science. So what are the similarities and differences between sense perception, reason and emotion in providing valuable and reliable information for the different types of Natural Science? Sense perception and reason and emotion both provide much needed physical experimentation basis for Natural Sciences. They all base their evidences from past experiences or occurring experiences to arrive into a conclusion. However, reason does provide much needed important factors that Natural Science requires to come up to complete a study as reason provides rational thinking and empirical knowledge that sense perception and emotion cannot give both. Sense perception and emotion does provide empirical evidences but they cannot provide much of the rational thinking. For example, in Chemistry, just simply rationalizing or doing empirical experiments cannot perform concluding answers for chemical reactions but rather it needs both to come up with a conclusion. It is a major factor that when dealing with different areas of Natural Sciences to interlock both empirical and rational thinking based more on reason and sense perception and less of emotion.

Human Sciences, on the other hand, requires less of data analysis and more of reasoning skills, empirical experiences, and prior knowledge. Human Sciences seemed more of the abstract version of Natural Sciences where Natural Science is more logical sequential in the way it is organized. Human Sciences basis on it’s different areas are more on personal experiences, which is formed into a prior knowledge that is used upon for future reference of different actions like History, Psychology and Anthropology. It seems that both Natural and Human Sciences are very similar but as one observes more closely, one would be able to easily indicate their own similarities and differences. One example of identifying Human Science is History. History is the study of human past so to speak. History prefers to be based more on the empirical knowledge of people from the past in important events, where we consider these people as important figures of our history. It is based more on experiences, analytical data, specifically time, reason, and emotion. All of these factors are significant in coming up with not a conclusion but rather a possibility of an answer of an event in the past because again, emotion interferes in people arriving at different answers.

Therefore, one could easily identify the distinctiveness of the roles of emotion, sense perception and reason in both Human and Natural Science. Emotion plays a lesser role in Natural Science whereas in Human Science, emotion, sense perception and reason play their own significant roles in arriving at a possible answer. Natural Science also deals more of the analytical data to whereas Human Science deals more with empirical knowledge, which is further elaborated with reason and emotion.

John, the ideas here will need further consideration. For example, what differentiates analytical from empirical data as stated in your last line? Is data not a measure of something? How are the observations different in each field? Food for further discussion.