Rational Faculty

A detailed Summary of Rational Faculty

Man's essential characteristic is his rational faculty. Man's mind is his basic means of survival-his only means of gaining knowledge. Man cannot survive, as animals do, by the guidance of mere precepts. He cannot provide for his simplest physical needs without a process of thought. He needs a process of thought to discover how to plant and grow his food, or how to make weapons for hunting. His precepts might lead him to a cave, if one is available-but to build the simplest shelter, he needs a process of thought. No precepts and no "instincts" will tell him how to light a fire, how to weave cloth, how to forge tools, how to make a wheel, how to make an airplane, how to perform an appendectomy, how to produce an electric light bulb or an electronic tube, or a box of matches. Yet his life depends on such knowledge-and only a volitional act of his consciousness, a process of thought, can provide it. Informal education is the sharing of this knowledge, and formal education provides the building blocks to gain more knowledge.

A formal definition by the Websters Dictionary would be :

ed.u.ca.tion .ej-*-'ka -- sh*n -shn*l, -sh*n-*l n 1a: the action or process of

educating or of being educated; also : a stage of such a process 1

Processes of thought that developed out of necessity are similar to Informal education. That is, what is not learned in school or a place that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning, but learned directly due to specific need. Like the baby/mother relationship was created out of the need for survival, the creation of communication was created out of the need to understand one another. As society progressed, from nomadic tribes following their kill, to static society's raising crops and animals. The human's thought process determined there was a need to work together. The ability to communicate enabled people to focus on more specific needs. Mr. Jones and Mr. Gates could raise crops while Mr. Clinton and Mr. Dole could hunt for meat. Communication also provided the ability to pass down the hard learned knowledge to each other. Mr. Jones could tell Mr. Gates that corn grew better in the summer and not the winter. Mr. Dole could tell Mr. Clinton that the spear was a better weapon than the rock. With this basic understanding and ability to communicate, people became specialized on certain skills. The need to perform other tasks diminished and formal education enabled people to focus on more specific needs of their specific purpose.

of little ~} 2: the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching

Foundations of knowledge are not just

Some common words found in the essay are:
Websters Dictionary, Clinton Dole, , formal education, Jones Gates, informal education, ability communicate, people focus specific, enabled people focus, deals mainly methods, knowledge development resulting, development resulting, teaching learning, methods teaching, knowledge formal, today's age, knowledge development, focus specific, ability communicate people,

Approximate Word count = 920
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous