Which do you believe is more important?

Question

1)The knowledge gained from personal experience;
2)The knowledge gained from reasoning;
or 3)They are equally important.

Both types of knowledge have been necessary to grow and develop as a human being, but that gained from personal experience has had a more profound and lasting effect on me.

Please provide reasons to back up your answers.

Thank you.

Answer 1

3, and i dont need to give a reason to back up my answer, it is self evident. he who reasons in a vacuum knows nothing, and he who experiences without thought knows nothing, the relationship is hinged and mutually inclusive.

Answer 2

knowledge from both are intwertwined. Some times they are equally, some one more than the other.

On a whole, experience seems to be more important because it speeds up the processing of reasoning. If you were in a dark room with nothing but reasoning, it would be hard to gain knowledge of much significance releven to the human form.

Answer 3

I feel like the knowledge gained from reasoning is not so much, less important, but it just doesn't have the impact that the personal experience does. If I have experienced something, be it good, or bad, all the reasoning in the world is not going to make me change my mind about the outcome and how the situation affected me. It's kinda like being superstitious, because although pointing my shoes towards the front door so nothing bad happens, isn't very reasonable, I do it anyway because, the times I haven't (call it crazy, if you like) something always seems to go wrong. I hope you understand my logic, I don't!

Answer 4

I would argue that kowledge gained from personal experience is knowledge gained from reasoning. Its just we form different types of reasoning as we age and grow wiser. It would seem that knowledge from personal experience leads to better reasoning skills because how can we know how to reason without an example of it in our lives. We have to live something before we can realize it. Thats why there is always a lag between what we will know in the future and what we know now. You cant reason yourself into seeing the future any more then you can experience yourself into it.

Answer 5

If you think about it, knowledge gained from sound reasoning is far more likely to be sound knowledge than that gained merely from personal experience. We all know someone who has 'seen a ghost', does that mean ghosts exist? Of course not.

Personal experience is a critically important learning tool, but it is no substitute for knowledge gained from sound reasoning; how would you prefer to learn that electricity can shock you, burn you, or even kill you?

Answer 6

Number 2.

Reason is based upon personal experience, so personal experience is really the root of all knowledge. Until you experience how the rules of reason work you will not be able to rationalize. Reason is not some innate guiding principle in every man, but something that is acquired by experience.

Answer 7

It is impossible to believe either is more important, for anyone.

Belief means you cannot verify the truth of either.

Perhaps you meant "think", for if you meant "assume", the other meaning of "believe" you still have a problem.

Now, both types of knowledge, a priori and a posteriori knowledge are important and neither should be elevated above the other. There is nothing useful to be gained by ranking them. No problem is solved and there is the potential of creating problems where none exist if you do rank them.

Why not spend the little energy you have on useful things?

Answer 8

It depends. Learning through experience is necessary for knowing how to perform a task correctly, or personal experience learning can be painful or even deadly. On the other hand, no amount of reasoning can allow one to realize the more subtle states of consciousness, which can only be experienced to become known. Both ways are equally important, depending on the goal.

Answer 9

The knowledge gained from personal experience, but only that which is not influenced by your environment. The best answers come from within.

Answer 10

The knowledge gained from reasoning because having the ability to reason gives the the ability to see both sides to every problem and therefor able to work it out easily.

Answer 11

3) They're equally important.

On the one hand, experience is important because the lessons best remembered are often those that are self-taught. On the other hand, logical thought and deductive reasoning can go a long way to preventing something that could turn out to be a rather painful lesson.