It is very interesting how humans have perceived reason. Over the centuries, different philosophers and cultures have developed different theories regarding the nature of truth. In Hinduism, Truth is believed to be eternal and rooted in each individual soul. The process of reasoning, or seeking truth, occurs through self-exploration and this process is necessary to reach Brahman. The ancient Greeks developed a correspondence theory, propagated by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, according to which the truth of the description of an object is based on the accurate description of reality. Between the ancient and modern worlds, medieval philosophers repeated and augmented ancient ideas. A famous medieval philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, based the truth of human intellect on ontological truths. During the transition into the modern world, two new schools of thought, Rationalism and Empiricism, developed independently after the revitalization of ancient teachings and scientific methods. Rationalism, founded on ancient classical beliefs with a scientific twist, believes that the path to truth is through reason and that the ability to reason is innate in all human beings. Rationalism concludes that humans can reason about all the truths of the world from commonly accepted facts, including the ancient ideas of the syllogism and Archimedes' point. Following a more scientific path, empiricism claims that humans reason about the world through sensory experience and that truth is perceived through the senses. The impact of the scientific method is evident in empiricism's reliance on empirical data gathered from the senses. Empiricists also believe that all human beings are born with a blank mind, or tabula rasa, which is changed when they stand...... middle of paper ...... this is the first widely televised American presidential debate national, Nixon vs. Kennedy, with a television audience of 70 million. Many political observers thought Kennedy stood no chance against the more responsible and experienced Nixon. Kennedy, however, looked presidential on television, while Nixon was sweating and wearing too much makeup. The famous story is that if the debate was watched on television, Kennedy won, and if the debate was heard on the radio, Nixon won. Although the content of the candidates' speeches was important, the way each candidate presented themselves on television greatly influenced the voter's decision. This trend continues in contemporary politics, where voters take emotional and physical cues from candidates and factor them into their decision. The bottom line is that while political issues matter, voters choose candidates who appear presidential.