SCI 105                    Six Ways We Choose Values

Mode by which we arrive at knowledge

Explanation

Example

Authority

 Taking someone else’s word, having faith in (eg., church or bible) "I believe what he said. I have faith in the authority of …."

Deductive Logic

 Subjecting beliefs to the variety of consistency tests that underlie deductive reasoning. "Since A is true,

and B is true,

C must be true, since it follows from A and B."

Sense Experience

 Gaining direct knowledge through your own five senses. I saw it; I heard it; I smelled it, etc. "I know it must be true because I saw it, heard it, tasted it, etc."

Emotion

 Feeling that something is right. Although we do not usually associate feeling with thinking or judging, we actually "think" and "judge" with our emotions all the time. "I feel that this is true."

Intuition

 Unconscious thinking that is not emotional. Think of the mind as 1) the conscious mind, 2) the emotions and 3) the intuitive mind. The conscious mind and intuitive mind are highly sophisticated, but the intuitive mind is much more powerful. Most creative discoveries are intuitively derived, and later "dressed up" with logic or other conscious techniques. "After struggling with this problem, I went to bed confused and exhausted. The next morning, as I awakened, the solution came to me in a flash and I just knew it was right."

Science

 A synthetic technique that relies on sense experience to collect observations; intuition to develop testable hypotheses; logic to develop a test; and sense experience to complete the test. "I tested the hypothesis experimentally and found that it was true."

Lewis, Hunter. 1990. A Question Of Values. Harper Collins, New York. pp 10-11.