Is it real?

We are continuing on with the subject of epistomology - the study of how we can know anything at all and specifically how we can know what is really real. Thank you, Sadie, for helping us to illustrate this with your homework assignment!



Remember that last week we watched a video clip in which the participants voiced their opinions on this topic. Yesterday we focused on the written transcript of that discussion entitled "Science or Revelation." Parents, you should know that the students were each given a copy of this transcript which you might find useful for continued conversations with your child. Some of the questions involved are:

• Is science the only way of knowing?
• Are empirical methods the only valid means of gaining knowledge? (At this time, we are using the term "empirical" to mean those things which can be learned by experimentation, observation and/or measurement; however, we will soon bring in another aspect of this term as it relates to personal experience).
• Is the material world, and the knowledge we can gain from it, our only source of knowledge?
• Is the scientific method the only way to determine what is real?

In the transcript, you will notice that one of the panelists tells us that reality is viewed through different windows. We know this to be true as it concerns the window of our particular worldview because this is how we interpret everything, but what we must clarify is that what many people are viewing, and clinging to, is a false sense of reality. For further illustration of this, we discussed what we might call peepholes within the bigger worldview window. Some may be viewing reality through the window of science or that of music or art or any other area of interest to the individual. Even around our small classroom table, we are all bringing something different to the 'table' of life. These differences are opportunities for us to learn from each other. We have been emphatic in pointing out that just because each of us may view different facets or aspects of reality, we are not viewing a different reality. We are not saying that we can create our own reality by choosing what is real and true for each of us as individuals (Students, remember that this is called "relativism").

Back to our transcript: the panelists in this discussion have given us glimpses into their own presuppositions, many of which are false. Francis Schaeffer says that one of our apologetics tasks is to lovingly bring unbelievers face to face with the logical conclusions of their presuppositions. We will begin learning how to do that as we tackle the homework assignment for next week. See you then. . .Mrs. H.