Faith is a pathway to knowledge

=====================Definitions======================I will agree to use your definitions of belief and true.I anticipate that semantics will be the major source of contention between us. Please indicate whether or not you agree with the following definitions.pathway - a route to or way of access to; way of reaching or achieving something (1)evidence - A thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment (2)=======================================================================Contention #1======================"For example, when we are small, our parents tell us that medicine can make sick people better and we accept this on faith."The very fact that our parents are telling us this information is a form of evidence. It is quite debatable whether or not it could be considered reliable evidence, but collecting information from outside sources with experience IS evidence and therefore not faith.=========================================================================Contention #2====================="Later, we watch people take medicine and get better, and believe the medicine is responsible (faith again, shaping our observations)..."Reference contention #1. Witnessing cause and effect is a direct form of evidence, and therefore not faith.==========================================================================Contention #3======================"...and later, impressed by the power of medicine, we might study biochemistry and pharmacology to learn more about these amazing substances, at which point we study the evidence that they work, and faith is replaced by knowledge."I just demonstrated that a no point faith was involved in the process. Information from authorities (parents) is a form of evidence and witnessing cause and effect (seeing someone take medicine and subsequently get better) is a form of evidence. At no point was faith involved in that person holding that belief.============================================================================Contention #4======================"But the faith provided the motivation and the early framework for learning, and so faith was a pathway to knowledge.."Even though I reject (and demonstrated why) the premise that faith was involved in the specific example provided, for the sake of argument I will consider the implications if it WERE the case. It seems to me as though you are arguing that simply because faith was involved in the initial process that it is to be considered as a "pathway". While I believe this is ultimately a semantics issue, I think it's clear that even if this was the case that belief without evidence ultimately lead to knowledge, that it wouldn't/shouldn't be considered an true pathway. I will demonstrate this by analogy:I wake up in the morning, and smelling my fiancé's cooking makes me hungry, so I decide to go to McDonalds to get my breakfast. On the way there I hear a commercial on my car radio about night classes for medical school and decide that I will go and get my degree studying biochemistry and pharmacology, and I ultimately obtain a whole bunch of knowledge. Applying your argument to this scenario means that you would have to argue that the following are pathways to knowledge:- Waking up in the morning- Smelling my fiancé's cooking- Getting hungry- Driving to McDonalds- Listening to the radioAll of these actions are directly responsible for my ultimately obtaining knowledge, but to argue that they should be considered "pathways to that knowledge" is absurd and demonstrates that the way you are using pathway is not a useful one for this conversation. I would argue, using your analogy, that the pathway to that specific chunk of knowledge was the forming of hypotheses from evidence (from authority and direct observation) and subsequent testing/studying in the realm of science. Nothing else in that process could reasonably be considered directly responsible for obtaining that knowledge, and therefore isn't reasonable to consider a pathway.===========================================================================Conclusion==========================I have demonstrated that at no point in Pro's argument did he instance any acts of faith and therefore has not demonstrated that faith can be a pathway to knowledge, and I have also demonstrated that even if he were to come up with a different analogy in which faith was initially involved in some decision making process that spurred the action to attempt to gain said knowledge, that it would be absurd and unreasonable to consider that it it as a "pathway" to that knowledge.In order for Pro to support his case I would ask that he demonstrate how accepting something is true without evidence (faith) resulting in the scientific study of that concept is a "pathway to knowledge" in a different way than hearing an ad for college night courses resulting in the same scientific study. If he cannot demonstrate that a distinction exists, he must either acknowledge his idea of a "pathway" is absurd in this context, or concede that any and every action that could be somehow linked in some sort of causal chain to the act of obtaining knowledge, should be considered a pathway to that knowledge. If he were to accept the second proposition then it's clear we are not debating the same subject.===========================================================================Sources========================(1) http://www.thefreedictionary.com... (2) http://www.thefreedictionary.com... ===================================================