David Wen
0277-
Theory of Knowledge
Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School
B. Patton
21-01-2015
Reasoning with Imagination
topic #1: Compare the roles played by reason and imagination in at least two areas of knowledge
To what extent does reason require imagination? In the field of epistemology, the roles played by reason versus those played by imagination have been controversial. Reasoning is the action of thinking about something in a logical, sensible way whereas imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, images, or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. Reasoning can be either deductive or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning, or the top-down logic, proceeds from a general premise to a specific one …show more content…
However, reason and imagination are believed to be mutualistic in the advancement of human knowledge. Reasoning and imagination come together in the formation of a hypothesis and in the process of justifying the hypothesis in both areas of natural sciences and history. The importance of reasoning and imagination and the distinctions between them can be established in their specific roles in natural sciences and history. In natural sciences, the application of reasoning is evident. Scientists use deductive logic to derive more information from existing knowledge. In the book Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant states that imagination is used to formulate a theory based on either abstract or empirical knowledge found in the real world, and justified and validated by means of inductive or deductive reasoning. One common form of deductive logic is syllogism, a formal argument in logic that is formed by two statements and a conclusion which must be true if the two statements are true, if a=b and b=c, then a=c. Syllogistic mathematical reasoning is applied in chemistry, if noble gases are stable and the element neon is a noble gas, then neon must …show more content…
He says: “Imagination was given to man to compensate for what he is not; a sense of humor to console for what he is.” Bacon believes the world to be a deterministic place and priori knowledge and rationalism were the only sources of knowledge. In his book Novum Organum published in 1620, he says it is possible to use the method of reduction, or Baconian method, for all situations. He believes that through methods of reasoning, it is possible to establish a level of certainty. However, while using sense perception to establish a level of certainty might be true in 1600s, it is not the case in the modern world. Scientific research is advancing towards areas beyond human perceptions, such as astrophysics and quantum physics. In natural sciences, both imagination and reasoning are required to advance further. Another area in which one can argue against Bacon’s deterministic point of view is history. History is constantly changing over the generations. Sources are lost and then re-written by historians using imagination, thus would be highly unlikely to be
0277-
Theory of Knowledge
Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School
B. Patton
21-01-2015
Reasoning with Imagination
topic #1: Compare the roles played by reason and imagination in at least two areas of knowledge
To what extent does reason require imagination? In the field of epistemology, the roles played by reason versus those played by imagination have been controversial. Reasoning is the action of thinking about something in a logical, sensible way whereas imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, images, or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. Reasoning can be either deductive or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning, or the top-down logic, proceeds from a general premise to a specific one …show more content…
However, reason and imagination are believed to be mutualistic in the advancement of human knowledge. Reasoning and imagination come together in the formation of a hypothesis and in the process of justifying the hypothesis in both areas of natural sciences and history. The importance of reasoning and imagination and the distinctions between them can be established in their specific roles in natural sciences and history. In natural sciences, the application of reasoning is evident. Scientists use deductive logic to derive more information from existing knowledge. In the book Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant states that imagination is used to formulate a theory based on either abstract or empirical knowledge found in the real world, and justified and validated by means of inductive or deductive reasoning. One common form of deductive logic is syllogism, a formal argument in logic that is formed by two statements and a conclusion which must be true if the two statements are true, if a=b and b=c, then a=c. Syllogistic mathematical reasoning is applied in chemistry, if noble gases are stable and the element neon is a noble gas, then neon must …show more content…
He says: “Imagination was given to man to compensate for what he is not; a sense of humor to console for what he is.” Bacon believes the world to be a deterministic place and priori knowledge and rationalism were the only sources of knowledge. In his book Novum Organum published in 1620, he says it is possible to use the method of reduction, or Baconian method, for all situations. He believes that through methods of reasoning, it is possible to establish a level of certainty. However, while using sense perception to establish a level of certainty might be true in 1600s, it is not the case in the modern world. Scientific research is advancing towards areas beyond human perceptions, such as astrophysics and quantum physics. In natural sciences, both imagination and reasoning are required to advance further. Another area in which one can argue against Bacon’s deterministic point of view is history. History is constantly changing over the generations. Sources are lost and then re-written by historians using imagination, thus would be highly unlikely to be