Reason as a way of knowing can give us certainty. Although
this belief is open to serious doubt. Reason is only as certain as the premises
on which it is based. Furthermore reason is not appropriate in every situation,
as there is no emotion in reasoning, it can be very ‘cold’. Reason needs to be
balanced by emotion.
Reliable can be defined as something consistently good in
quality or performance; able to be trusted, which is not very specific.
Although reason can be trusted, but once again it depends on the situation.
When reason works in tandem with another WOK, it can be more reliable than just
on its own. Measuring reliability can also be difficult, although the key is in
the premise the knowledge claim is based on. For example, in Biology we are
studying about nucleic acids – Deoxyribonucleic Acid
and Ribonucleic Acid. The base pairs are arranged as follows in DNA: A:T and
C:G but for RNA you have uracil (U), instead of thymine(T) and C:G so for
example, one DNA strand has a sequence of ATCGCGTTTAAA. After transcription,
the RNA strand produced will have a base sequence of UAGCGCAAAUUU. I used reason to come to that conclusion. As
it is an RNA strand it will have uracil instead of thymine.
Reason often uses logic. The biggest problem with logic is
that your conclusion can be valid but not true. For example, your syllogism
could be: Socrates is a man- all men are mortal- therefore, Socrates is mortal.
The conclusion "Socrates is mortal" is true and valid in this case.
However, something like: When Mitch eats a burger he is happy- Mitch is always happy-
Mitch is eating burger all the time, is unacceptable as it is a poor
conclusion. This is a weakness with reason as logic isn't always reliable.
Also, you can never be 100% sure about anything. Even though every extra
example that you find that supports your theory makes you more certain that
it's correct, you can never hit 100% because you can't try out an infinite
number of possibilities that tests your theory.
Another weakness that is associated with reason is that it
is often associated with your personal opinions and beliefs. Your conclusion
that you draw is personal and based on your environment and your personal feelings.
For example, you may say gay marriage is not morally correct, but other people
can have other opinions and feelings about it, so it is based on your feelings
and not from a unbiased viewpoint.
Although reason as a way of knowing has many disadvantages
associated with it, it also has many advantages, which is why it is widely used
on a daily basis. It can be really easy to gain information by using all three
types of reasoning (informal, deductive and inductive). Reason is also a strong
way of knowing as it is in a sense the way that is most based on our common
sense, although some may argue common sense is not very common. Another
advantage is that it allows for us to build upon previous information and back
up our arguments or thoughts on something.
In conclusion, reason, can be unreliable and reliable like
many of the other WOK, although it is often used every day. Although the user
must be aware of the uncertainty of reasoning and the emotional disconnection
one may feel. I feel like reason can be reliable although I cannot say it is
the most reliable. I find it hard to say any one WOK is reliable. I feel like
they are more reliable when you combine multiple WOK.
Reference used:
Al-ansari, Maha. "QA Tok Maha.": Evaluate the
Strengths and Weaknesses of Reason as a Way of Knowing. Blogspot, 11 May 2010.
Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
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