Main knowledge question: To what extent does reasoning provide knowledge in the areas of knowledge ethics and natural sciences?
Knowledge can be gained in multiple ways, and can differ from person to person. This is why there is a distinction between shared knowledge and personal knowledge. There are ways of knowing, these include the use of language, reason, emotion, intuition, memory, sense perception, imagination and faith. The different areas of knowledge to which these ways of knowing are applied are maths, arts, history, ethics, natural science, human science, religious knowledge systems and indigenous knowledge systems.
The natural sciences mostly use reasoning to obtain knowledge. In the natural sciences inductive and deductive reasoning is used a lot. A lot of the scientific theories started from reasoning, which were later on proven with experiments. Reason in the natural sciences enables us to make sense of what we perceive through our senses when gathering data. Often insights which seem very abstract and unsuited to practical application end up having practical uses. For example, when the structure of DNA was first discovered, genetic engineering wasn’t considered a practical possibility. Now however, genetic manipulation is used in the growing of crops. The description of ethical reasoning is the ability to reflect on moral issues in the abstract and in historical narratives within particular traditions. Ethical questions concern judgments of right and wrong, good and bad, as well as matters of justice, fairness, virtue and social responsibility. Ethical reasoning is for example very important in real life regarding issues like the law, individual rights and the legal system. In civilized societies, people have individual rights, but it is vital that these rights coincide with the collective rights of society as a whole. A person being denied personal rights due to the greater good of society may feel the decision conflicts with his own ethical reasoning. While some people believe that a person’s individual rights should be preserved regardless of the benefit or harm to society, others deem it more important that the common good and justice be considered in a civilized society. These opposing beliefs are a result of individual ethical reasoning.
Intuition is associated with instinct, and innate knowledge, and is linked to ethics and knowing instinctively the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ way to behave. It is another way of knowing, and sometimes referred to as unconscious reasoning. An ethical intuition is the way that things seem to be, morally. For instance, if we see a child being stabbed, we have an intense internal reaction that what we are seeing is wrong. Intuition also plays a role in the natural sciences, it is mostly used to explain natural phenomena. Just sticking to reasoning could mean restriction of the broadness of thinking, by imposing specific scientific methods. As well as being an obstacle to taking action. Using reasoning for everything, regardless of your intuition, would be problematic in real life situations. Also, studies have shown, for example, that around the world children intuitively feel that the earth is flat, regardless of one’s culture, gender and language. So, whilst intuitive knowledge can be very useful, the methodologies of areas of knowledge as well as other ways of knowing may be necessary to keep a check of wrong intuitions. A quote from Chesterton describes his view on the matter: “Reason itself is a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all.” So by this he is saying (applied to the specific topic) that even if natural sciences are mostly based on reason, this itself is also something that is not really sure and you choose to believe that it is true and valid.
To conclude, while ethics are mostly based on intuition, and the natural sciences mostly on reason each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Ethics and natural sciences both require thinking and conscious reasoning. The strength of using reason in the natural sciences is that reason enables us to make sense of what we perceive through our senses when gathering data. Despite this, intuition is also essential in real life situations. By using reason to decide if something is right or wrong, the entire human aspect of emotion is ignored. By comparing these two contrasting ways of knowing it has shown that knowledge can be gained through multiple ways of reasoning. In ethics intuition is the main way of gaining knowledge, but to see things from a different perspective and to explain intuition, reasoning is used. In the natural sciences intuition is not necessarily vital, but it helps when trying to explain a situation or theory.