Four Ways of Knowing

Authority You trust an expert based on their credentials and experience. The strength of the knowledge depends on the strength of the authority Ex:Don’t leave your roller skates on the stairs. Ouch!

Authority Benefits Drawbacks Saves you from finding out the hard way Faster than learning for your self Drawbacks The expert can be wrong Two experts could disagree The expert could change their mind

Logic You use reasoning and thinking to get new knowledge based on what you already know This is like how you figure out who did it in the game Clue, or how you win Sudoko

Logic Benefits Drawbacks You can come up with new knowledge just by thinking and puzzling it out. If A=B, and B=C, then A=C Drawbacks If your starting point is wrong, your conclusion will be wrong. I always get an A in my favorite class. Economics is my favorite class, so I will get an A in Economics. If your reasoning is wrong your conclusion will be wrong Parrots live in trees, and parrots eat crackers, therefore, crackers grow on trees.

Intuition You have a strong feeling that something is true Something that you just know, you can’t explain how you know Gut feelings or hunches, or common sense, or faith fall into this category

Intuition Benefits Drawbacks It feels right to you. This knowledge comes from within you without an outside source. Drawbacks It may be impossible to explain to someone what it feels like or how you know. It’s knowledge you can’t share You can’t really tell if it’s right or wrong until you find out later

Science You use your senses to make observations and experiments to gather evidence to physically show something is true.

Science Benefits Drawbacks Easy to share because people can get the same results you did Very reliable Can be used to make predictions Drawbacks If something can’t be observed, measured, or tested, science can’t tell about it. There are some questions that can’t be answered with science.

A Quick Quiz

Which kind of knowing is it? 1. Sally is a head detective at the Draper police department. She is sure that Jeff stole her lunch out of the fridge. She doesn’t have evidence yet, but something tells her he’s the guilty party. 1: Authority 2: Logic 3: Intuition 4: Science

Which kind of knowing is it? 2. Luke is playing in the park by the creek. He’s really thirsty, but he remembers his teacher telling him that river water isn’t safe to drink, so he just keeps playing. 1: Authority 2: Logic 3: Intuition 4: Science

What kind of knowing is it? 3. Gabriella is baking a raspberry cake for her best friend’s wedding and so it is important to get it just right. She tries a few different recipes until she gets the one that she likes the best. Then she practices making the cake until it’s just right, writing down everything she did so she make it perfectly for the wedding. 1: Authority 2: Logic 3: Intuition 4: Science

What kind of knowing is it? 4. Eric steps into the shower and turns on the water. After waiting for awhile, the water is still cold. Eric knows the shower made hot water yesterday, so it should give hot water today. Since he was the first one to get the shower, he decides the hot water couldn’t have run out already, so the pilot light on the water heater must be out. 1: Authority 2: Logic 3: Intuition 4: Science

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