John Setnicar

Per. 7

How Do We Know What We Know?

            The above question is very legitimate.  At first glance it may seem like a fairly easy question to answer, because we think that we simply need to cite textbooks, internet sites, or even teachers to validate our beliefs.  But the truth is that we cannot truly know something unless it is philosophically or scientifically proven or in some cases we prove it ourselves.  For example, in the time of Galileo every person “knew” that the earth was the center of the universe.  It was a very important teaching of the church and everyone was taught this as a child.  Everyone accepted this as fact, because it came from the highest authority.  Throughout history, the Catholic Church has been able to manipulate people into accepting their beliefs as superior.  The purchase of indulgences is another example, because the consumers of these documents were sure that they would literally buy their time out of purgatory.  Many did not think to question the reasoning behind it.  In other words, it did not occur to them that this was just a simple ploy to raise revenue, perhaps out of fear, but mostly out of blind ignorance. ‘

            Throughout history scientific evidence has been necessary to explain natural occurrences in our environment.  Philosophical reasoning has been used differently in that it has been used to refute or support moral ideologies.  Slavery had existed in North America for hundreds of years and there were several justifications for the institution.  Religion was used once more by some to support their reasoning as there are some passages in the Bible that support slavery.  Some plantation owners said they had an obligation to keep blacks as slaves, because they were the inferior race and needed to be looked after by their white masters.  An early form of Social Darwinism was used as well to dehumanize blacks to show white superiority.  It is very alarming that this was such a great part of our history, because there certainly were abolitionist supporters at the very beginning that slavery was instituted.  Maybe many southern-Democrats were able to convince themselves that it was a moral virtue, because it was so vital to the southern economy. 

            Another utilization of philosophical reasoning is the Holocaust.  In a time of horrible economic crisis, Hitler promised to heal all the woes of the German people and for this reason, many refused to question his anti-Semitic views.  They saw that he was bringing their country out of a depression and once again making it a dominant power.  Once again there were definitely some people who questioned his elitist speech, but like in Galileo’s time, they were either too afraid to speak or they adored Hitler so much that they were willing to go along with almost anything he said.

            In today’s world many of us still accept many beliefs and theories as facts, which history has shown can be quite dangerous.  If we accept everything in our textbooks, it limits creativity and ingenuity that may slow down scientific inventions or progress.  On the other hand there are still people that believe that their religion or their political candidate can do no wrong.  As a result, today gays and lesbians are among some of the people that are oppressed by the Catholic Church and there are still many corrupt dictators in the world today.  Philosophers like Socrates developed his teaching method so that we could find the truth ourselves rather than to follow others blindly.