Monday, August 8, 2011

Exploring the nature of Knowledge....

                                       .................The THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE DEBATE

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On the 6th of August, two teams debated the topic, “is faith the basis of any knowledge, be it religion or science?” The pro side included Rishi Kumar and Vishal Namala, whereas the con side included Suraj Verma and Albert.

The speaker 1 from the pro side, Rishi, rendered his well rehearsed speech by first stating the definition of faith and knowledge which then provided a foundation for him to state confidently that faith proves the very existence of knowledge. He furthered his argument by providing various examples that supported his stand.

But nothing could undermine the confidence of Suraj, the first speaker from the con side. While giving an example of Aristotle and people’s blind faith in his theories, which were ultimately proven to be wrong, Suraj attacked the pro side with facts, logic and well articulated arguments.

Vishal, the second speaker from the pro side brought the momentum back to this team by proving to us through his rationalization that our faith is what drives us to discover the truth and to gain knowledge. Due to faith, we are able to induce certain things, based on the concept of cause and effect, which drives the very pace of our world. Albert, who was Vishal’s counterpart on the con side, was quick to refute this statement by saying that faith put in something false, doesn’t take us any near the truth, which forms the very basis of knowledge.

Both sides took a very active part in this highly debatable topic. Their enthusiasm was highly appreciated. The question which we all (the audience) were ultimately left to think about was, “If faith is not the basis of knowledge, and evidence is, then to gain knowledge don’t we need to put our faith in the evidence?” Which ultimately brings us back to the main question ‘is faith the basis of any knowledge, be it religion or science?’

Udaya Malik IBDP XI

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