Theory of Knowledge Essay Question #5: “Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgments.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? Name: Mohammad Yehia Mohamed Selim Shawky Candidate Number: School Name: Hayah International Academy Date: Word count: May 2015 “Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgments.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? Taking decisions, a thing that we do every day, all the time. Our conscious minds might not feel or sense anything while taking some of these decisions. One main factor that helps us through that is our instinctive judgment. Instinctive judgment is the unconscious knowing without deduction or reasoning . "Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgment", this reflects that ways of knowing and instinctive judgment are intertwined. For example when a person is crossing the street he waits until there are no cars and then he proceeds to pass, using reason to deduce an intuitive judgment to assess the situation. I personally agree that ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgment, but not at all times. There are incidents where one makes a judgment without any checks our thoughts about it. Seeing that ways of knowing are a crucial part of the thinking process I have deduced a knowledge question "To what extent do ways of knowing serve as a foundation for our instinctive judgments?" This knowledge question can be discussed through a couple of areas of