RELIGION AS AN AREA OF KNOWLEDGE 2

GOD MATTERS XS IB CLE 2011-2012 Full Name Kyle Lim 4G Section 7 LC#

Note: This is your digital worksheet. You will nd the instructions for todays module here. Perform the requested tasks using this Pages le. In other words, make it your own. Thank you!

Part One: YOUR Epistemological World Views Summarize here your ndings (even if tentative!) about your theories of knowledge. Domains
Natural Science Social Science Art Morality Religion

Item #s
1, 5, 14 4, 8, 12 3, 7, 10 6, 9, 11 2, 13, 15

YOUR world view

Absolutist Evaluativist Relativist Relativist Absolutist

Brief Reason + Remarks

Explanations are built on solid evidence; hard to disprove Many perspectives but can be determined through research and tests (experiments) Each one has own tastes and emotions We dont truly know if something is right or wrong God is above all

Part Two: Ways of Knowing

How important are the different Ways of Knowing in the different domains? Rate them from 1 to 10 according to importance, with 10 as VERY IMPORTANT. If there are other ways of knowing/judging, use the last column and specify.

Domains Natural Science Social Science Art Morality Religion

Sense Perception 10 10 8 7 9

Reason 8 8 5 7 5

Language 6 6 8 4 8

Emotion 3 5 9 8 6

Others?

Culture

Part Three: AUTHORITY and/or EVIDENCE

When you justify claims, how much do you actually rely on External Authority and Direct Evidence for every domain? Assign a percentage to each one per domain (Just make an estimate, so NO decimal points--e.g., 25.2321%!). Make sure both total 100%.
Domains Natural Science % AUTHORITY 70 % EVIDENCE 30 100% Brief Reason + Remarks I tend to accept what textbooks and different sources say about natural science as long as there is a certain amount of explanations to back it up. Evidence plays a big part compared to authority because I tend to look at different explanations and perspectives when it comes to areas like history and business. Neither authority nor evidence inuences me in terms of art because I always rely on my emotions. My take on morality is split into two since I do believe what higher-ups tell me about what is right and what is wrong (especially my parents), but evidence for me matters also because I want to know why a certain thing is right or wrong. Xavier School and my parents have always been religious inuences to me ever since I was little even if some things are still a mystery to me.

Social Science

30

70

100%

Art

15

10

100%

Morality

50

50

100%

Religion

70

10

100%

Some learnings, comments, connections... -Based on the discussion, I feel that evaluativist is the best choice for almost all domains since it basically describes what humans are like: we learn, we accept, and we decide. -The most important lesson that can be drawn from the discussion is the need to decide on the choices we make since it denes us as a person. We keep talking about individualism and having our own personal tastes, yet we cant even make our own decisions and instead, just go with the ow (relativist). -Being absolutist or relativist is not necessarily the best. I now believe that being absolutist somewhat means that one blindly follows authority while being relativist signies indecisiveness. -Maybe a lot of people chose relativist for art because the domain is very broad, we tend to accept different forms of art, and our tastes may still change over time. -Authority and evidence are both signicant to each domain in some way, but what is more important is that they work together to bring about the best decision that each person makes. -The most important way of knowing for each domain in my opinion is sense perception because we always start from there. Whether it be natural science, human science, art, religion, or morality, they all include a certain degree of interacting with our surroundings and obtaining information from there. -I believe that culture should be an additional way of knowing for morality since what we believe to be as right or wrong is mainly based on the way we grew up and the people we are exposed to. A culture somewhere in the world might practice cannibalism, for instance, and think its right, yet it may not be the same for another.