Philosophy: Does Knowledge Come From Experience or Reason?

Imagine that you are listening to a friend that is presently going through a heart break and she’s asking you for some advice. You have been through the whole heartbreak situation before, thus making you a better person to ask because of your experience towards this subject. I believe in the empiricist theory, therefore making me believe that knowledge originates from experience. I believe that knowledge derives from experience because without an eventful and marking past, we make naive decisions where we are most likely to make a mistake without the wisdom of this error.

C.S Lewis said “Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn; my G-D do you learn.” In school, we are taught to deal with mathematic equations, we learn guidelines to literary texts, and we memorize what kind of chemical substances react well with others. I believe that that is fact and scientific proof. But when will we have a moral situation that would demand of us to solve these kinds of problems? Experience can be defined by the mistakes that we have to go through to be wiser for the next situation. Without an eventful past, we make naive decisions that lead us to mistakes. I believe that experience is what we name our mistakes, and wisdom is what comes from it. For example, imagine that you are in a position where you have a huge test coming up. You procrastinate, study the night before the exam and receive a horrible grade. The next time, you will remember this mistake, take it in account and study days before your next exam. I also believe that experience is not necessarily important in mathematical or scientific fields, but in our self knowledge. I think that we understand ourselves better when we have gone through things, when we have gotten to know ourselves as well as when we have completed ourselves. I believe that our experience is a part of who we are, it is something that influences our development as human beings.

Ironically, I think that the more trouble and pain someone has been through, the more beauty and knowledge comes out of it. Have you ever noticed that while you are engaged in a conversation with someone, the conversation is much more entertaining and interesting if the person has been through difficult positions? I believe that experience makes a person more complete.

I appreciate experience and believe that it is an essential part of knowledge and wisdom. It opens our minds to make a better decision for a situation where we once made mistakes, it is closely related to wisdom and it opens doors to better advice as well as more interesting conversations. Experience is an essential part of knowledge. This knowledge does not necessarily have to do with mathematical or scientific knowledge, but more with self knowledge and completion.

Sociology: The Web - Helping or Hurting?

The internet has become one of the largest destinations for teenagers. The teen culture has become a culture where the internet is the center of social communications and entertainment. “Fifty percent of teenagers have a social-networking-site presence.” says young sociologist C.J Pascoe. While some people believe that the internet is beneficial for teenagers, I think that it is not because of the danger it contributes to teenagers and because of the harmful influences it can have towards their self-appreciation, their desired identity and their sexual behaviours.

First of all, I do not think that the web is benefitting our youth because of the amount of danger there is towards this teen cyber culture. Privacy has alternated greatly in this generation. According to Ezine Articles, seventy-five percent of kids are willing to share information with strangers, making them more open-minded towards the people they are talking to and the things they are posting. There are also websites such as Chat Roulette which pairs people up randomly for webcam-based conversations. This site is impartial to anyone, and it is a great danger for children and teenagers considering that they can be enamored by any predator that engages in conversations with them. Children as well as teens do not realize the danger that the internet brings upon them; they do not recognize the kind of situations they can get caught up in. Predators can easily have access to children on the internet, making it an easy playground for them.

Here is an example of a confession of two young boys that explain their expiriences with internet predators:


Secondly, the internet has an outstanding influence on the way adolescents would like to appear and the way they want to be perceived. How many times have you seen ads on a web page saying “How to Lose Weight” or “Diet Tips”? They see web sites on surgery and how to look “the best you can be”, which influences them to think that they are not sufficiently pretty or good-looking. Then, there is the aspect of self identity and what defines this person. In my sociology class, we saw a video about the impact that the internet had on teens. Autumn, one of the young girls that was interviewed, was using the internet to post somewhat graphic but artistic photographs of herself to feel like she fits into this cyber culture. Often, younger girls even send out naked pictures of themselves or engage in sexually-based conversations to feel like they are performing something that is "in". They feel complimented by being asked for an inappropriate picture, which sends a message of interest towards them, and their self-worth instantly goes up. Numerous teenagers also post photos containing alcohol, drugs, or inappropriate outfits while not realizing that tracing information back to someone, even if it has been deleted, is not very painstaking.

Here is a video of a CBS report of teen sexual interactions of the internet and cellphones:


The internet has been proven to be adverse towards teenagers. There are many dangers that it harbours, as well as numerous damaging influences that it carries. Teenagers must recognize these hazardous aspects to assure their safety as well as their well-being. How can we expect our youth to be safe and rational in an environment that is treacherous and unreasonable?