RELIGION AS AN AREA OF KNOWLEDGE 2

GOD MATTERS XS IB CLE 2011-2012 Full Name Ray Justin Huang 4G Section 5 LC#

Note: This is your digital worksheet. You will nd the instructions for todays module here. Perform the requested tasks using this Pages le. In other words, make it your own. Thank you!

Part One: YOUR Epistemological World Views Summarize here your ndings (even if tentative!) about your theories of knowledge. Domains Natural Science Social Science Art Morality Religion Item #s 1, 5, 14 4, 8, 12 3, 7, 10 6, 9, 11 2, 13, 15 YOUR world view Evaluativist Evaluativist Relativist Evaluativist Absolutist Brief Reason + Remarks Weigh evidence and authority. Weigh evidence and authority. Appreciation of art is personal. Weigh evidence and authority. One true God.

Part Two: Ways of Knowing How important are the different Ways of Knowing in the different domains? Rate them from 1 to 10 according to importance, with 10 as VERY IMPORTANT. If there are other ways of knowing/judging, use the last column and specify. Domains Natural Science Social Science Art Morality Religion Sense Perception 8 8 10 5 6 Reason 9 7 3 9 7 Language 7 8 4 9 8 Emotion 4 7 9 8 8 Others? Intuition: 5 Intuition: 6 Intuition: 8 Intuition: 7 Intuition: 8

Part Three: AUTHORITY and/or EVIDENCE When you justify claims, how much do you actually rely on External Authority and Direct Evidence for every domain? Assign a percentage to each one per domain (Just make an estimate, so NO decimal points--e.g., 25.2321%!). Make sure both total 100%. Domains Natural Science Social Science Art Morality Religion % AUTHORITY 30 45 20 40 60 % EVIDENCE 70 55 80 60 40 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Brief Reason + Remarks Theories and observations Qualitative over quantitative Entitled to own opinions Theories and truths Catechism and evidence

My absolutist stance concerning religion constitutes a different way of thinking than the one you propose in class. I believe that everyone is entitled to believe in the religion they choose to believe in, but the religious truths in whatever religion you choose to believe in are absolute. So, being a Catholic, I believe that the faiths religious truths are absolute. Its hard to reconcile, but this is why I say that I am a religious absolutist. I also believe that one can be an artistic relativist whilst still recognizing standards. I personally believe that Shakespeare is a much deeper and more profound literary experience than The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, but I also believe that a toddler is just as justied and correct in believing that the poem is a better form of art as I am justied and correct in believing that Shakespeare is a better form of art. In art, I believe people are entitled to their own opinions. Additionally, you can have contests in terms of art -- in terms of whatever standards the judges of those competitions set on the art they are judging. They, the judges, are just as right in thinking that whatever piece of art wins the competition is the best one presented as an audience member believes that another piece of art in the contest is best to him/her. Standards and relativism are not mutually incompatible. Its just that the standards will differ per community/niche/group, which is ultimately what relativism is about. There are many different planes of relativism, however, and we may not be speaking about relativism on the same plane. All prayers are answered if we have the courage to admit that, sometimes, the answer is No.