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08
May
09
When you reason formally, you begin with axioms. Mathematics is based on
axioms. Axioms are based on assumption however the axioms of
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mathematics were considered to be self-evident truths, which offer a firm
foundation for mathematics knowledge. There are four requirements for a set
of axioms; they should be consistent, independent, simple and fruitful.
+ =
A mathematician will agree that the result of the equation above will always be
two. Logically, when based on the axioms of math, 1+1 will never be equal to
4 or 5, thus making reason as a strong justification for math problems.
However, one can argue that in real life situations, the two apples will not
always be there. Imagine 100 years later, throughout time, the apples will rot
away and therefore 1 + 1 will not always equal to two.
When one uses reason as a justification for the present, reasoning may be
seen as strength. However, when we attempt to evaluate the future and the
aftermath of a situation, reasoning might not be one of the strongest ways of
knowing, as shown from the example above. Therefore we could say that
reasoning can be said as a misleading aspect when one ignores other
circumstances, such as time.
Although many say that math is based on reasoning, this is untrue, because
math also utilizes axioms, therefore it is not strictly reasoning, but also on an
assumption.
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when experiencing an abortion would prove it is unethical. Through the belief
of against abortion, we assume that murder is wrong with no exceptions.
However, to those who believe that abortion is ethical, one can reason that
since the foetus is not developed yet, no soul will be abolished. Therefore
abortion is ethical because women have the right to decide their own choices
of maternity.
For example, if we take the case of rape, and assume that the woman
is impregnated. But the mother of the child is against abortion, and decided to
give birth to this child. However, if we consider the fact that the mother of the
child is incapable physically or economically to have a child, we can argue
that reasoning may be a disadvantage; because it will not benefit both the
mother and the child. However, the fact that the mother is unwilling to choose
abortion might be caused by her emotion.
There was a woman that I know and had this situation. She believes in
premarital sex yet often practices it without safety. In this context, reasoning
can be seen as a weakness because she reasons that due to the existence of
abortion, it was acceptable for her to practice unsafe sex. At the end she was
impregnated twice and chose to abort for both. Abortion was used weakly as
a choice and therefore suggests that reasoning can lead to flawed decisions.
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know that the terrorist is saying the truth or whether he has immense belief in
what he does rather than his life, therefore leading to give “false
confessions”1. From this, we can clearly see that if we apply reason in torture,
reason might not always works and it does not give us certainty.
I heard this song called “never felt this way” by Bryan McKnight. And I was
1
Andrew Sullivan -
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/imaginationland.html
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certain that it was a heartbreaking song. And since art is viewed from our
personal perspective, and that art is subjective, therefore my beliefs became
my knowledge. When I listened to this song again while reading the lyrics to
find the meaning of this song, I realized that my belief is wrong, it was instead
a love song; where the artist expressed how much this relationship means to
him. This is evident to the lines such as: “...darlin', Never felt so good. Never
felt this way about lovin', it feels so good”. However, my emotions implied to
me that it was a depressing song. I believed that the beat and the melody of
this song had provoked me and came to such conclusion. Although my
reasoning told me that this song was not sad, my emotions designated that it
was so, and I was taken over by my emotions.
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Bibliography:
Websites:
• http://samaralansari.blogspot.com/2006/11/samars-ib-tok-
essay_15.html date accessed 11th November 2008
• http://www.h4x3d.com/feat/themes/red-apple.jpg date accessed 11th
November 2008
• http://www.jokes123.com/picturejokes/picjokes6/bigimages/Lady_illusio
n.jpg date accessed 11th November 2008
• http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/brianmcknight/neverfeltthisway.html date
accessed 15th November 2008
• http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/imaginatio
nland.html date accessed 22nd December 2008
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