Personal Experience, Authority, Religion, And Science

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Coming to know the world is one thing that every human experiences. Knowing can occur at any time of ones life in five different ways; through personal experience, tradition, authority, religion, and science. No two people will have the same experiences which may result in disagreements that can not be resolved. Disagreements will exist for all ways of knowing excluding science.

From a young age many of us will experience most ways of knowing. Personal experience is quite common as it is essentially any good or bad experience that one has had. Putting your hand on a burning stove is an experience that will teach you that the stove is hot and will cause pain. This can teach us that heat above a certain temperature is painful …show more content…

When we are young the only authority we know is those older than us - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles - but as we grow older we realize that those of authority are anyone who has the knowledge and experience that we do not about a certain topic. We know that there are stars in the sky because we can see them, but we do not know what they are made of, how far away they are, or how old they are by just looking at them. We do know the answers however, by believing those of authority that have the knowledge and experience, that we do not, by studying space and relaying the answers to us. Most people will believe this, but there are a few who will not. Their way of knowing the world through authority is by refuting and creating their own thoughts and ideas. This is the same for religion. Many religions exist in the world and there is no proof that one holds more truth than another. Based on the religion we grow up in, or choose, there may be several different rules to follow that we accept as right because it is what we are told, or what we have read in scripture. For example, the Pentecostal religion believes that women should not cut their hair, wear make-up and must wear skirts and Hinduism prohibits the consumption of beef. Both are widely followed religions but many disagreements happen within religious communities because there is no concrete proof that one is right or wrong. As with authority, many people choose to not follow a religion as they cannot accept any of the

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