"Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgements."

"Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgements."

1. MATHS

   • Pure maths is almost entirely based on abstract concepts, relying heavily on reason to verify our often incorrect instincts e.g. piling paper
   • All triangles are isosceles: completely goes against instincts
   • Euclidean algebra based entirely upon reason

2. OED definition of INTUITION: the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning: we shall allow our intuition to guide us, a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning

3. Perhaps WOK do not help to verify our intuition at all, but rather give us ways to evidence preconceived ideas

   • We will often sort through a pile of data and select those that confirm what we already believe, rationalizing away those that don't
   • RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS
     • The Goldilocks Effect: religious people claim that they must be right because everything is perfectly designed for us: does this ignore the reason of evolution?
   • http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/04/advice-stock-market-crashes-plane-disasters-bad-weather-risk-not-reading

4. Link to the "Scientific Method": we are essentially combining intuition/instinct with WOK to formulate and check hypotheses

   • "It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover." - Henri Poincare
   • NATURAL SCIENCES
   • http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/01/the-art-of-scientific-investigation-beveridge-2/
   • Paradigm shift
   • Karl Popper's idea of falsification
   • Are scientific discoveries made through reasoning or serendipity?

5. Multiple bias effects impact instinctive judgements

   • "Intuition is a suppression of logic due to impatience." - Rita Mae Brown
   • Daniel Khaneman
   • Dan Gilbert

6. Michael Shermer argues that humans are essentially irrational. Even when they think they are using reason, variables such as genetic predisposition etc. lead us to our beliefs. Even when we try and check instinctive judgements using WOK, we cannot

7. ETHICS

   • Henry Sidgwick - moral common sense
   • Our initial judgements can often be altered when we are provided with additional information.
     • Should we sell our kidneys?
     • Is abortion ever right?

8. Linguistic determinism: language determines thought