To what extent is it an oversimplification to claim that some Ways of Knowing give us facts while others provide us with interpretations? The ways of knowing (WOK) include sense perception, language, reason, memory, emotion, imagination, faith, and intuition. This begs the question: are some WOK more reliable than others, and if so, to what extent? To claim that some WOK give us fact and others give us interpretations is to a large extent an oversimplification. Facts are defined as pieces of knowledge that are indisputable and certain. The definition of facts bring up the question if anything is certain, and if so, how are we sure of it? Strong evidence must be present in order to label something as a fact. Interpretations are knowledge we derive based on how we understand or explain something because of prior knowledge or our judgements, they are not always indisputable and something can be interpreted in different ways. The WOK are a combination of fact and interpretation that result in knowledge. This essay will focus on the WOK reason, sense perception, and memory through the areas of knowledge (AOK) math and history to investigate this claim. …show more content…
To a great extent reason can provide factual knowledge. Reason is how the mind understands through logical thinking. In the AOK of math, which is defined as an area of science focusing on numbers and quantities, factually knowledge is often found through reason. With basic prior knowledge reasoning can be used to deduce new information that is factually correct. Math is very fact based; however, without reason, math would be impossible. For instance, a student in math class is able to figure out that 2+2=4 if they have the prior knowledge of how to count. This is using reasoning. Through logical thinking the student arrives at an indisputable fact. At least within the AOK of math, reasoning can provide us with fact and is very