PSY201H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Scientific Method, Syllogism, Estimation Theory
Document Summary
+ historically, humankind employed four methods to acquire knowledge: authority, rationalism, intuition and the scientific method. + use method of authority, something that is considered true because of tradition/because some person of distinction says its true. Ie: may believe in a theory because a professor says it"s true;; religion because of parents. + method is in disfavor and sometimes leads to error although it is used a lot in living in daily lives. + frequently accept a large amount of information on basis of authority we don"t have the time/the expertise to check it out first hand. Ie: believe electrons exist although never seen one. + uses reasoning alone to arrive at knowledge. If premises are sound and reasoning is carried out correctly according to the rules of logic, then conclusions will yield the truth. + familiar with reason because we use it a lot.
