Post #6: Conclusion

Prichard introduces two types of knowledge: the propositional knowledge and the ability knowledge. The propositional knowledge is a knowledge of a statement whether the statement is true or false. The mere true belief is not knowledge because people can gain mere true belief by luck or accident.

The theme “what makes human bad” is an open-ended question; I approached to answer the theme by making a statement i.e. people tend to be bad when they do not have empathy for others. In order to prove that the knowledge that I possess contributes to the understanding of the theme, I need to read journal articles written by scholars who have been certified by the higher education degrees and who have been used the sources that are credible.

Blackmore has helped me to think about the knowledge of consciousness. By reading Blackmore’s book Consciousness, I was able to distinguish that some of my propositional knowledge about human consciousness were just mere true beliefs. For example, consciousness seems to be the one that makes decision, but there are many evidence that the brain makes decisions and the brain may not even need an extra force to do it.

Humanities have helped me to see how others have different views and perspectives about the world. Breaking Bad is the film that displays the transformation of Walter White from a chemistry teacher to a criminal. Walter’s desperate need for finances definitely contribute him to become a drug dealer. The environment may change human moral values and may lead people to commit crimes.

Social sciences helped to understand the human interactions. Social scientists observe the patterns of the human behaviors by using scientific methods. By reading the journal articles from social sciences, I found that criminals tend to have family issues in their young age. The lack of maternal warmth seems to be one factor that damages the brain which may cause the lack of empathy for others.