Impact Impression Blog

ARGUMENT: A PROOF OF KNOWLEDGE? Arguments are connected beliefs or statements. How they are structured is very important. Cogent argument follows a particular structure, so it’s usually easy to tell if you are listening to one or not. The logical structure of an argument is pretty simple, but very powerful. We gather things that we know or things that we think might be true, about an issue. We then try and put these things together in a coherent way so that they may lead us to a conclusion. The things that we think might be true are called PREMISES. We list these in a way that makes sense. The conclusion is the end point of our reasoning – at least of that particular argument. But then, going through the premises to the conclusion is called INFERRING. Being able to recognise and produce good arguments is a matter of understanding how some ideas (premises) support other ideas (conclusion). An argument is valid if the form of the argument is such that if the premises ...

To be an effective thinker, you first have to think about thinking and develop the art of reasoning. Philosophy is the study of the foundations of pretty much everything. The search for knowledge is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Sometimes, knowledge and belief are thought to mean the same. They are not. It is not enough to just have an opinion. To say you feel it deep in your gut does not make it knowledge. But after getting the true picture of things (with proof of course), you say, ‘I used to believe this...’ Notice that you never say, ‘I used to know...’ This means that knowing can be said to be superior to belief. Knowledge is very objective , while belief is very subjective. Doubt is absolutely important with knowledge because for example in science, doubt has a special place; any theory is always open to being doubted and tested. But with belief, it’s quite different. Your doubt of a person’s belief most times does not stop them from believing...

 Africa shows its colourful tradition and heritage in grand style.