Theory of Knowledge Homework (2/3/2017)

 Theory of Knowledge Homework (2/3/2017)

Theory Of Knowledge Prompt:

“Facts are needed to establish theories but theories are needed to make sense of facts.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge. May 2017

1) 1-Identify (give definition) for key terms.

• The key terms of the prompts are “Facts”, “Theories” and “Sense”. A fact is known to be a proven observation justified by being a repetitive outcome or having scientific evidence to support. In addition, facts can also be seen through religious beliefs which is known as “Religious Knowledge systems” in the AOK and as mentioned in the definition given, scientific evidence which would fall under the Natural Sciences and Mathematics AOK. An example of a fact would be “The sun is a star”  and this is regarded as a worldwide known FACT: having scientific evidence and observations from AOK that back up the claim. In contrast, a theory is an assumption based on either logical explanation or simply examining the explanation  in a very focused manner. Theories differ from facts or scientific observations(laws) as they do not contrast with the Mathematics or Natural Science AOK and are adopted( deemed as acceptable) and used by the general public. An example of a theory would be”Information theory: Claude Shannon, 1948”. Information theory studies the quantification, storage, and communication of information. It was originally proposed by Claude E. Shannon in 1948 to find fundamental limits on signal processing and communication operations such as data compression, in a landmark paper entitled "A Mathematical Theory of Communication”. And lastly, sense is a feeling that something is the case.However can easily be regarded as a not accurate enough way of knowing. 

2. Brainstorm specific examples in two AOKs you would use to answer the prompt.

Mathematics: Knowledge in mathematics is identified as unique in comparison to the other ways of knowing,  it is identified as unquestionable since the information is certain and factual it is regarded as a high degree of certainty assisted with knowledge in this area.In addition, it is free of specific cultural context.

         &

Natural Sciences:  Science makes claim about the natural world, and attempts to find law by which the world works. The laws are defined, often, as the results of experiments or tests(Observations). However, raises a question such as the certainty of the knowledge gained by these methods or the usefulness of the scent laws in predicting the future. An example of a biology theory would be the falsification of urea or spontaneous generation. 

3.  What are the assumptions of the claim?

- The assumption of the claim identifies that theory is reliable once being an established/delivered source. This could potential negatively affect our progressiveness in the scientific or mathematic filed, as it is known worldwide; science is a progressive field and there are new theories to be discovered and some theories. When considering bias, we associate it as the subjective way of thinking that is not impartial, leading to uncertainty in information given out. 

““Science is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks: but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks is a house” Henri Poincaré"