Essay Chapter 1
Question 3: What is "knowledge"? Why is it useful? Is it ever possible to have knowledge? Is it ever possible to know that you have knowledge? Why, or why not?
The ability to familiarize, analyze, and understand something or someone is known as knowledge (Knowledge par. 1). Some of the things include information skills facts and skills. One learns most of these through education and a few from personal experience. Knowledge is essential in one’s day-to-day life. Having the general knowledge of the current matters gives one an edge in the society. People, especially in the workplace, might bring up the topic, such as sports, and one might feel out of place if they lack the necessary knowledge. Being knowledgeable portrays a person as learned. School does not teach everything in life. Most of the things, like business, people research on them before involving themselves in it.
It is possible for one to gain knowledge. The primary way is by enrolling in school. Almost everyone has gone through school and gained both education and knowledge. From the education, one acquires knowledge in various fields of careers and their requirements. The secondary way of acquiring knowledge is by reading newspapers, books, and magazines. The information in this medium is enough to equip one with the necessary knowledge of a particular topic discussed. Documentaries are slowly gaining popularity among people since they give a visual feeling towards an event. Having different categories of documentaries helps in gaining knowledge
It is possible for an individual to test whether they are knowledgeable by doing simple trivia. Trivia help in juggling their minds and gauge how good their knowledge is. Another way is to gauge how good you are among people discussing broad topics. If one feels insecure in sharing their views or feels out of place, then their knowledge is not that diverse.
Essay Chapter 3
Question 7: Do you believe that people should be required to pay for their educations, or should it be free to all who could benefit? Argue for your view.
Education is an act of tutoring a person with general knowledge that will help them to judge and reason accordingly (Education par. 3). Apart from that, it prepares one intelligently for the future. The people who come up with different educational topics are scholars. They spend time reasoning, querying, and fact-finding for them to come up with a reliable topic. Some of the topics take years to develop and end up eating the scholar’s time. Once all facts are found, and loopholes checked, the scholar can present this as a finished topic. Question is; should the scholar be paid for providing the topic?
The answer is yes. A lot of effort and resources have been pulled together to facilitate the research and development of the project and in return, the scholar intends to get compensation. In the same way, people should pay for education. Most institutions spend time collecting resources for the subject and plan the course outline for the topics. The school has costs to handle such as the buildings maintenance or rent, workers and stationery. The money collected from students, assists in hassling the expenses.
Making education free would contribute negatively to the scholars and learners learning processes. More and more people will want to learn, that is a great thing, but the schools or scholars will be in a loss.
There is a possibility of free education if schools or scholars receive funding from well-wishers or organizations. Even though, education is essential to everyone since it affects them positively, people should pay for it.
Essay Chapter 6
Question 7: What are Aristotle’s Four Causes, and how are they related to each other? Do you believe that this is a correct view of causation, or not? Justify your answer in each case.
Aristotle came up with the four causes as he developed the philosophy of substance (Aristotle on Casualty par. 2). The primary aim of coming up with the causes is to try to explain how everything in the world came to be. All four causes are related together in that one cause leads to the development of the other.
The first cause is the material cause (Aristotle on Causality par. 4). It states what composes something. For example, the human body is composed of cells, tables, chairs and desks composed of wood. The material cause explains the characteristics of something. The material cause subdivides into prime matter and the proximate matter. Proximate matter is matter that has assets such as cells and wood while prime matter is subject that lacks assists.
The second cause is the formal cause (Aristotle on Causality par. 5). It mainly identifies a thing as one and not mixes it up with other things. For instance, the human’s body is known as human. The formal cause subdivides into formal cause and exemplary cause. The blueprint in someone’s brain that brought about computers is the exemplary cause.
The third cause is the efficient cause (Aristotle on Causality par. 6). It explains the object that did a particular action. For instance, when one throws a stone onto a window, and it breaks, the stone is the efficient cause to the broken window.
The fourth cause is the final cause (Aristotle on Causality par. 7). It explains the theory behind the efficient cause and formal causes. For instance, why did the window break? Stone is heavier and harder than glass hence leading to the breakage.
Aristotle’s causes provide a correct perspective of causation. The four causes have a link from one to the other. They explain all processes and things used in making an action.
Essay Chapter 8
Question 1: Outline the Problem of Evil. For what type of religion is this a real problem? What are some possible solutions to it? Do you think that they are effective, or not?
The problem of evil is the utmost barrier on the belief of God’s existence (Beebe par. 1). There have been several arguments that defy the fact that a true God exists and if he does, why does he allow evil to prevail. Different people come up with different views and arguments towards the matter, but a few of them tend to occur severally. An omnibenevolent, all mighty and omniscient God does not live (Beebe par. 8). There is suffering and evil on earth. Any omniscient mortal knows what suffering and evil are and when it they would happen. An omnibenevolent mortal will free the earth of all suffering and evil or create a planet that lacks evil and suffering. If an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent mortal exists, he would eliminate all evil and suffer on earth (Beebe par. 1). These are a few of the common statements used. The statements are a problem to Christians and Catholics since they are believers of God. They believe in God and that he watches over every one of us. However, it is hard to prove to people that God is real since they will ask for living proof of him. The setback is that God is not human, and it is hard to convince him to reveal himself to people as they watch. The only way he proves his existence is by working miracles in our lives and those around us. The solution to this problem is not practical since it has to come from the Supreme Being.
Works Cited
Aristotle on Causality. 15 October 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.< http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/#FouCau>
Beebe, James R. Logical Problem of Evil. n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.< http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iep.utm.edu%2Fevil-log%2F&ei=xmc4VMrSHoXj8AXLtYKAAw&usg=AFQjCNFFUjfLSB633Wv_Wq7FhMkRhezsqw&sig2=QnFDUGHhgEZy4uNb56nNkg&bvm=bv.77161500,d.dGc>
"Education." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/education>.
“Knowledge.” The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Houghton Mifflin Company. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knowledge>
