Justifying+Knowledge


 * ====Your Truth Reliability Ranking==== || ====Source of Knowledge==== || ====Example and Explanation==== ||
 * 10 || Belief || I believe something to be true but others may believe it to be false. This is based on my opinion and as a result is not always true. ||
 * 11 || Faith || Similar to belief, I have a belief in something based on my personal ways of thinking. There is not always justification for faith, but I can still believe it to be true. ||
 * 4 || Acquaintance || If I am familiar with something, I know it, and sometimes I can even "grok" it. Familiarity allows for more accurate knowledge with something. ||
 * 5 || Practice || I practice shooting in basketball. With a lot of practice, my knowledge for the proper shooting technique increases. ||
 * 8 || Introspection || I look deep inside myself and understand myself better than anyone else can understand me. I gain knowledge about myself by understanding myself. ||
 * 9 || Empathy || If someone is feeling sad because of the loss of a loved one, then I can understand what they are feeling if I underwent the same thing. ||
 * 1 || Instinct || If I see a car speeding towards me, I'll instinctively get out of the way. I have the knowledge based on instinct to know that this is the smartest thing to do in order to ensure my survival. ||
 * 6 || Ethics || I steal a valuable item from somebody's house. My ethics/conscience gives me the knowledge to know this is wrong, and so I feel guilt. ||
 * 12 || Authority || I get told a statement by someone in a position of authority that I know is false, but they say is true. I can use the knowledge I have of this person and the statement to decide whether or not to accept it as truth. ||
 * 2 || Logic || I see a pot of boiling water. I know that if I submerge my hand in the water, I will get burnt. I have knowledge based off of logic that this type of action would only inflict pain on me. ||
 * 3 || Empirical || I learn to do something based on observing or practicing. I know how to do something because I have persisted and kept on trying and know, through my interactions with something, how to do it. ||
 * 7 || Memory || I remember a relatively succulent steak I ate a few years ago. I know that this event happened because I remember having tasted and smelled the steak. ||


 * Top Three:

1. Instinct: Instinct is a built-in source of knowledge for humans. It contains the basic and necessary knowledge that we, as humans, need, such as retracting our hands if we touch something that is hot. It can be very reliable because of the fact that we are not told or taught this knowledge. We have not gained it in a way that could be affected by human error, and so for this reason it is a very reliable source of knowledge.

2. Logic: Logic is similar to instinct because of the fact that it is also a built-in source of knowledge for humans. However, logic does not give us everything we need to know. Like instinct, it is basic ways to deduce or infer things in situations. For example, I can use my logic to deduce that if I stay underwater too long, I can drown. This logic is based on me interpreting situations that I have seen or experienced and applying them to this situation. Basic logic is not something that is taught, and so it is very reliable in this sense.

3. Empirical: Empirical knowledge can be very reliable because it's us learning how to do things using our logic. It involves us learning by way of interacting or observing our environment. We apply the things we learned by observation or interacting using our logic and reason. This can be reliable because it's you, specifically, that is learning to do these things for yourself and it does not require you to depend on others for any source of information. Learning how to deal with different people is an example. You interact with people that possess different mentalities, and eventually, after interacting with them, you learn what things to say and what not to say to them.

** __**Knowledge Justified by Authority**__

Knowledge justified by authority that I agree with personally is specific laws, such as those against stealing. Authority, in the form of governments, has outlawed stealing for the sole reason that it is wrong. This is knowledge that the public gains not only from authority, but also from their ethics. However, to have authority apply their knowledge of stealing and how it is against one’s ethics/conscience (in most cases) helps to provide justification for the public as to why it is wrong. Knowledge justified by authority that I disagree with personally is stereotypes implemented by some countries’ governments towards a certain people. For example, in parts of America there is a large Mexican population. There are some Mexicans, however, that come to America as illegal immigrants. The American government acknowledges this problem and works against it; however the masses that gained the knowledge that the authority (in this case, the American government) has provided for them of many Mexicans being illegal aliens has allowed the stereotype to spread throughout the American public that all Mexicans are illegal immigrants in America, which is a blatantly wrong statement.