Making Sense, Epistemology and Practical Wisdom - Essay Example

? s School Chapter 3: Making Sense This chapter aims at defining the meanings of “making sense”, defining the levels of meanings, the levels of experience, the link between knowledge and decisions, along with the getting to know about the world around us. The chapter starts off with the levels of meanings, i.e. common sense, science, transcendence and interiority. Interiority however is a significant level which is characterized by the cognitional processes of the self. Moreover, to make sense of the world, two things need to be considered, i.e. to decide whether whatever going on is true or false, and whether it is good or bad. Making sense is a way to fulfill the curiosity of a person, and can be understood in levels of experiences which include; the five senses, affections and the memories whereby without these the experiences would be just plain data. Thus, to make sense of the data situational analysis is important i.e. what would be most suitable in a particular situation which would in turn lead towards good decision making. Moreover, to make good decisions, authenticity is the key, which is further characterized by experience, understanding, judgment and decision to decide if we are responsible or not. The most interesting part of making sense in this chapter was the proposition that we as humans are all truth seekers, we want to make sense of the world because we keep wondering, and we are always striving to remove the confusion around us, also because we are curious. These are all those realities which we can`t ignore, and even practically speaking makes perfect sense as that is why we want to make sense of the world. Chapter 4: Making Sense, Epistemology This chapter focuses on the epistemology of making sense i.e. the philosophy behind making sense, which can be divided into four levels. These levels or stages include experience, understanding, judgment and decision. In this case, the first three are relevant to knowledge production which the last one deals with the ethics, values etc. Experience has been explained by perceptions implying that the by virtue of perception the data is arranged to form meaningful images whereby perceptions are not present readily, rather one has to put in an effort to retrieve it. The external factors of perceptions include senses while the internal factors include affect (emotions etc). Further comes understanding and we can distinguish experience from understanding by considering that while experiences are singular, understanding involves concepts which are multiple and complex. To understand meanings, one should be innately curious which arouses the Eurika Movement i.e. the insights. Also, interests for understanding may b natural or cultivated while interests depend on the internal factors, thus in other words understanding involves intellect. On the other hand, judgment involves verification which implies that it means evidence. Experience and uncertainty principals are required to make judgment. Moreover, being judgmental means being reasonable. The most interesting and insightful part of this chapter involve the curiosity principal which is a must to understand, i.e. the Eureka Moment is induced by the tension of enquiry i.e. being curious. Therefore, being curious is naturally a pre-requisite of developing an understanding or in other world for understanding concepts intellectually. Chapter 5: Practical Wisdom This chapter aims at critically understanding the concept of morality and goodness, what we view as the moral agents etc. Also, this chapter intends on appreciating the structures created by humans which makes us authentic people. Lastly, to help us understand the levels of transcendence is also another purpose of the chapter. Firstly, we need to understand that morality is a characteristic found only in humans, and not found in other natural species, i.e. the Flora, Fauna or other cosmic forces. Morality is related to rationality and it is grounded in our religion, philosophy and hedonism. Next comes the concept of moral relativism i.e. the concept of morality is relative and what might be right for someone might not be right for someone else. This involves objectivity and subjectivity i.e. what is universal truth (objective) or what is subject to individuals (Subjective). Also, the concept of cultural relativism is significant which implies that morality is defined by reality. Stages of making sense in this perspective involve experience, understanding, judgment or decision. However, decision involves practical as well as moral deliberations while the former involves experience and intelligence. The best action is however decided on the basis of a value (good or bad) and the judgment (true). Our moral feelings have been cultivated by punitive actions of owing to our society. Thus, authenticity in our actions needs to be cultivated by inducing affirmative and morally responsible intuitions in individuals. The most interesting part of the presentations however is the concept of cultural relativism as far as morality is involved. What apparently seems as a simple phenomena becomes quite complex once culture gets involved since the definition of morality then becomes instinctive to culture. Rene Descartes’: Meditations The objectives of this chapter involve the concept of knowledge i.e. to be able to ask that what is knowable. Similarly, answering this question from the perspective of Descartes` and also to learn about various approaches of epistemology i.e. rationalism, empiricism, idealism. Descartes states that rationality involves reasoning which is the sole source of knowledge in any case. Truth can be contrasted with empiricism in the sense that truth related to intellect while empiricism relates to the experiences and the senses. While he was a soldier he observed that the practical affairs were full of contradictions and thus these truths should be doubted. He also gave steps to discard doubts, i.e. the first step involves senses but one shouldn’t completely rely on them however they may deceive. Step two involves dreams which imply that some of the elements of dreams may not be true. The third step involves the belief that God might be deceiving me and thus sciences like Math should also be doubted. Next comes the proposition of certainty i.e. one cant deceive one`s own existence. Furthermore, the proposition that I exist but what am I is also important in this context. What I found most interesting in this context is the concept of dreams implying that dreams may or may not be true, i.e. the colors are true however some of the things which may seem real aren’t true in reality. John Locke This chapter discusses the innate ideas with the problems related to epistemology, at the same time presenting various views of epistemology, along with the presumption regarding Locke`s views on the issue. The standards of empiricism are judged by the experiences we go though which help us judge or understand whether what we know is true or not. Senses however provide us with the units which make up knowledge. John Locke also reacts to the Cartesian rationalism where the world help us rationalize things and in reaction he stresses importance on the ideals as being integral to human existence. Moreover, he acclaims that there is one infinite spirit i.e. God, and various finite spirits i.e. the humans, and God is the one who bestows us with the experiences. He stresses that God is rather an innate idea where there is no contradiction. Other innate ideas have also been presented for instance the knowledge of good and evil, causality etc. Moreover, he stresses that human have knowledge of things because they have an innate ability to seek justice and good. The rationalists agree on the proposition that children will recognize the innate ideas when they will use reasoning. Locke, in this context, states that one can`t take rational approach unless reasoning is used. Knowledge however comes with sensation and reflections, after which we can distinguish experiences from innate. Reasoning was the highlight amongst the works of Locke`s which is also the most interesting aspect as he relates innate knowledge to reasoning and stresses that to make sure of the innateness of anything reasoning must be used which is the only way to reach conclusions. Aristotle: Nichomachean Ethics Aristotle regards ethics as virtue which is the innate ability of every being to decide what kind of a person he wants to be. Based on empiricism, he classifies three kinds of people in the world, i.e. the fools, the mature and the wise. Similarly, he states that there are three kinds of lives which may lead towards happiness i.e. hedonistic life, the ethical life and the theoretical life (philosopher`s life). Hedonistic happiness relates to the happiness of reasoning found in individuals, which implies that things must be done in order to enjoy. Similarly, virtue deals with excellence, meaning that the perfection in playing any sports, musical instrument etc. This excellence may be intellectual as well as ethical. These activities can be understood in terms of dispositions which have been placed since childhood in individuals and differ with the distinction of good or bad. Virtue however is not a feeling; rather it involves reasoning and is located in the soul of the individual. Ethical virtue can be on the either extreme i.e. excess of extreme deficiency of something. Virtue is thus the mean of the extremes. Conclusively, the most interesting part of the chapter deals with the means which the person should find in order to be virtuous for instance, virtue is the mean between the cowardice and foolhardiness, similarly between indifference and violence, thus a person should find a balance between the extremes to find virtue. Read More