Ways of Knowing are methods in which we acquire and retain knowledge, each of which are used to different degrees in different situations. We use reason and emotion, in tandem everyday, and debatably, all the time. They are a crucial of the way we think and behave but both have their limitations.
Reason is defined as “the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways” (Definition of Reason, n.d.) and is often thought of as equivalent to logic. Logic is a strain of reasoning which can be categorised two different ways: inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reason is looking for a pattern in information, and generalising based on that. Contrastingly, deductive reason takes a broad generalisation and comes to specific conclusions from that. An example of deductive reasoning are syllogisms, which are consisted of two premises and a conclusion. An example would be:
All boys like football.
Sam is a boy.
Sam likes football.
The above demonstrates how deductive reasoning can help us come to valid conclusions. However, it also demonstrates how a valid statement is not necessarily a true one and people often don’t differentiate the two meanings, which leads to false knowledge. There are …show more content…
Another example of a common logical fallacy would be Appeal To Ignorance which is often used to prove that certain religions are true because they can’t be proved to be false. Both of the aforementioned fallacies are proof that reasoning can fail us on a day to day basis, even when we think we are being perfectly logical and that reason is the best method of finding the