Assignment on 3-08
A Few More
And then, a Summary
Intuition
The ability to acquire immediate knowledge,
independent of analytical or conscious reasoning.
• Messages from the
Heart
• Gut Feelings
How to Develop Intuition
Where does intuition come from?
(many alternative explanations)
• We are all connected to a “universal mind” or universal
consciousness”, and we receive intuitive messages
messages from it.
• Intuition is the “divine spirit” speaking to us.
• Intuition is the “Life Force” speaking to us.
• “High-speed information processors” in our
subconscious send intuitive messages long before our
rational brains do.
• Intuitive messages travel “from the heart to the brain”
when when the two organs are in synergistic coherence.
• Just one example
Lots of Ways to Learn Things
Emotional Intelligence (EI) or (EQ)
Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ)
• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Empathy
• Social Skills
• Intuition
• Emotional
Intelligence
• Messages from
the Heart
• Gut Feelings
Other forms of “Knowledge”
“I know it’s true because……..”
Very often, things that we “know” or “believe”
to be true are actually beliefs that we have
borrowed from others, even though we would
be hard-pressed to explain or justify the belief.
Let’s look at two examples.
Other Sources of “Knowledge”
(Not really legitimate epistemologies)
Expert
Knowledge
Common
Knowledge
Expert Knowledge
Knowledge or beliefs
that we adopt from
someone else based
solely on her or his
credentials, experience,
or position, even
though we do not fully
understand the
supporting evidence.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Economic issues
Environmental issues
Legal issues
Political issues
Business issues
History issues
Etc.
Common Knowledge
Everyone knows that….
• politicians are dishonest.
• professors are liberal.
• business people are
conservative.
• going to college is good for
students.
• democracy is the best form
of government.
• _____________________
Knowledge or beliefs
that we hold because
most others in our
social group hold them,
even though we would
find it difficult to
support or justify the
beliefs.
Expert Knowledge & Common Knowledge . . .
 Are not “legitimate” epistemologies.
• When your “evidence” that something is true is that someone else
thinks it is true, that’s pretty weak?
 Yet, they are often used to justify or
support or prove claims that people make.
 So, it is useful to recognize them.
So, let’s briefly summarize
Ontology
Epistemology
What exists?
What are the
categories of
reality?
How do humans
acquire
knowledge?
Ontological Theories
Materialism
Only matter and
energy are real.
Idealism
Ideas are the
clearest and
highest form of
reality.
Spiritualism
Spirit realm is
real and
interactive with
other realms.
Existentialism
Whatever each
individual thinks
is real is more
relevant.
Skepticism
We really can’t
know with any
certainty what
really exists.
Physical
Spiritual
Mental
Epistemology Theories
• Rationalism justifies claims by offering clear, analytical, and persuasive
reasoning, or deductive and inductive logic.
• Empiricism justifies claims by citing sensory experience, life experience,
or scientific evidence.
• Religious Faith justifies claims by citing revelation, special teachers,
important texts, or insights from personal prayer, meditation, intuition .
• Mysticism justifies claims by citing realizations derived from deep or
transcendental meditation.
• Occultism justifies claims by citing lessons or insights gained from some
type of supernatural or paranormal force or agency.
Epistemology Theories
(continued)
• Intuition (immediate knowledge) justifies claims by pointing to deep
feelings or emotions or to gut feelings.
• Emotional Intelligence justifies claims by drawing on self-awareness
and social awareness.
• Expert Knowledge justifies claims by simply citing and accepting the
opinion of some credible expert as sufficient in itself.
• Common Knowledge justifies claims by noting that most people in
some social reference group believe it to be true.
Your Epistemology??
• Do you have a primary
tendency?
• Are you multi-modal?
• Are there some that do
not work for you?
Epistemology??
The point is not to figure out
which ways of knowing are real
and which are not.
Rather, the point is
to better understand the
alternative ways of knowing
that you and others use.
Let’s Practice
Epistemology on Display
Epistemology on Display: A Fictional Example
The Chancellor’s Office was encouraging all campuses to “disenroll” students who
did not demonstrate solid basic skills in math and English writing by the end of
their first year. So, CSUMB formed a faculty and student committee to consider
this issue: Should CSUMB disenroll the students, or should we allow them to stay
and continue to help them? Which course of action would best serve students?
The following is how different members of the committee processed the issue.
1. If we disenroll the students and encourage them to go to the community colleges
to develop their basic skills, they will get much better assistance. Then, in a year
or so, the students can return to CSUMB with a much better chance for success
and graduation. The community colleges have more resources and better services
in this area. CSUMB is a university that just is not equipped or financed to
provide basic skills development.
2. The Vision Statement says that CSUMB is particularly committed to helping
educationally underserved students from across California. By definition, these
students we are talking about are educationally underserved. So, our stated
Vision requires us to allow these students to stay and to continue to serve them.
Kicking them out because they are educationally unprepared would contradict
what we say we stand for.
3. I have reviewed all the existing research on this topic, covering 17 universities
around the country that have faced this same issue. Ten (10) universities chose to
disenroll the students, and 7 allowed the students to stay and continue working
on their basic skills. Where the students were disenrolled, 38% of them
eventually returned and graduated from the university. Where students were
allowed to remain in the university, 26% of those students went on to graduate.
So, it’s fairly clear that disenrolling students would be the best policy for CSUMB
to follow.
4. I can’t really put it in words or fully explain it, but I just have this deep feeling
that telling some of our students that they will have to leave would be really
wrong. Particularly the ones who feel like they are part of our community and
whom we know are working hard to improve their skills. Like I said, this is a gut
feeling, but its message to me seems so clear.
5. Look, most of us have experience at only one or two campuses. The Chancellor,
on the other hand, has been responsible for many, many campuses over two
decades in a number of different states. So, if the Chancellor thinks that
disenrolling students would be the best policy, then I think we should rely on his
extensive knowledge and experience. He was selected to lead the largest
university in the nation for a reason.
6. In my seven years here at the university, I have worked with many students who need
further work in their basic skills. The very students that we are talking about today. And, I
can tell you that they think that their skill levels in reading, writing, and math are just fine.
So, they resist every suggestion that they engage in further development work. Therefore, I
strongly believe that sending these students back to the community colleges is the only
way that they will get the message that they are not ready for university-level academic
work.
7. At my tribal council meeting the other evening, I asked our tribal elders to consider our
dilemma. After deliberating on the issue, they reminded me that the occupants of this land
have a tradition over thousands of years of nurturing and protecting members of the
community. They advised that kicking out some members because they need help would
seriously violate the spiritual traditions of this space. Of course, they did note that more
recent occupants of this land had different ways that might well approve of disenrollment.
8. You know, when I was in college, I was a student who had a lot trouble with math, but I
was able to work my way through it and to successfully graduate. So, I try to imagine how I
would have felt if my university had told me to go back to a community college. I think I
would have felt devastated, like a real loser. And that’s what I think our students would feel
like. It’s a feeling that would probably crush them, not motivate them.
9. I frequently consult with my psychic when I have these difficult issues to deal with, and I
had a session with her last night. She suggested that the Ouija Board or talking board could
be helpful, so I posed our question to the board. The Ouija Board responded by spelling out
something that was a lot like “Tough Love”. I take this message to mean the we should
disenroll the students because it would be the best way to show them that we care.
10. Frankly, I’m having trouble making sense of what any of you is saying. I think it’s all just
different ways of guessing. How in the world can we know how an individual student will
react to a disenrollment letter or to being allowed to stay? Anger, relief, challenge,
depression, fear, inspiration…these are just some of a million possible reactions. Every
single student will decide how she or he is going to make sense of whatever we decide, so
let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we know what will be best for the students. If
that’s really our goal, we ought to just let each student decide for themselves if they want
to go or stay.
Deliverable: Epistemology Paper