That Which Is Accepted As Knowledge Today Is Sometimes Discarded Tomorrow - Coursework Example

That Which Is Accepted As Knowledge Today Is Sometimes Discarded Tomorrow” INTRODUCTION Knowledge is acquired through perceived sense, feeling, causeand language. Every person is greatly affected with respect to these elements. They are affected by their personal background, incomplete methods of reasoning and feelings among others. It is apparent that as a result of subjectivity, various components are influential for a person wherein they cannot be sure whether their thinking is actually true or not. Due to this reason, people at times discard the knowledge that has been attained yesterday but a situation might arise that the knowledge that has been acquired today gets proven wrong tomorrow as well. For instance, as proven by Albert Einstein, it is known that the highest velocity that can be possible is the quickness of light, but it was observed that there is quicker velocity than the quickness of light. It is worth mentioning that whatever a person believes is based upon the authority as it decides what has to be accepted in the society. However, as there is a change in time accordingly there is a change in knowledge as well. Thesis Statement. Correspondingly, the objective of the essay is to discuss the issues relating to knowledge that have aroused and how the knowledge attained before can be discarded due to the changes occurred in today’s prevailing situation. KNOWLEDGE ISSUES Knowledge issues or problems associated with knowledge are terms which do not have a single definition as this definition might cause confusion. However, these issues are directly related to understanding the world. These issues are open to exploration and enquiry of strength along with problems relating to knowledge. These issues help in finding out how knowledge can be of assistance along with limitations of knowledge in collaboration with the approaches of explanation and confirmation in different aspects of knowledge. In a broader perspective, knowledge issues include an assortment of aspects which could be approached from the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) viewpoint wherein it allows exploration, discussion and development of the issues. For instance, most frequently raised questions by students, “Are the textbooks and questions provided by the teachers’ right?” is a knowledge issue when it is framed appropriately in TOK objectives along with aims context (Carroll, “Knowledge Issues”). Moreover, it can be expected that if the knowledge issue is treated properly then it would certainly deal with aspects that can be interlinked in different relevant ways. This is the reason because of which the knowledge issue is treated in a different way as compared to other issues. For instance, sense perception from the viewpoint of biological or psychological perception cannot be accepted in the knowledge issue of TOK (Carroll, “Knowledge Issues”). KNOWLEDGE ISSUES OF HISTORY People who are influenced by modern tradition claim that history cannot be objective as it cannot be known objectively. It is considered that history has been reported only from a perspective which is biased because of which it cannot be trusted to be objectively true. This is when the question of knowing the actual past arises. There are indisputable facts which include allied conquest of Normandy in World War 2 or Nazi’s in Germany conducting a holocaust execution of Jews, blacks, gays but it is reasonable to have a realistic approach of understanding to history. For the protesters of historical Jesus and miracles reality, the issue relating to history becomes interesting. Ernst Troelstsch who was a sociologist opposed to miracles which were premised on the belief of historical comparison. According to this belief, historical realities cannot be accepted by the historians if they do not account for the past event which has no analogy in the present. For instance, if there was a battle in the past wherein a group of army massacred the other group without even suffering a casualty, this battle would be suspected of its legitimacy. Furthermore, the sociologist quoted that “God never does miracles today; at least I’ve never seen one. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that He did them in the past” (Andrews, “The Problem of Historical Knowledge”). Response to Knowledge Issue of History. In response to the above given argument, there could be reasons to accept that the miracles that occur today are true. There is a growing concern in the world relating to the paranormal events involving near death situation which cannot be described with a natural reason but history can help in revealing these facts. It is considered impossible to claim the non-existence of miracles for the people who have not experienced them. Besides, there cannot be a reason to deny the testimony of people who have already experienced the miracles. However, a person might be testified for providing the substantiation for miraculous claim, but miracles are events that may be falsified and verified like other events (Andrews, “The Problem of Historical Knowledge”). KNOWLEDGE ISSUES OF SCIENCE Science is considered to be very powerful as it has generated a lot of knowledge. Nonetheless, there are certain knowledge issues relating to science which include facts like science does not provide moral judgements. Science provides help in describing the actual reality in the world but it does not make certain judgements which relate to whether the set of circumstances are good, bad, correct or incorrect. Science does not provide an indication regarding what has to be done with the scientific knowledge being incorporated. For instance, science provides an understanding of how recombination of DNA is done in different ways but it does not provide knowledge in relation to the use of science in rectification of genetic diseases. There are several questions which involve God’s presence and supernatural power within human beings which might be important but these questions cannot be addressed by science along with its studies, as they are beyond the natural realm. In addition, there are human accomplishments which actually might appear like science but they are not much like science. For instance, Intelligent Design programme encouraged the idea regarding the aspects of life that are very complicated and have changed without the involvement of any intelligent reason that was assumed by followers who believed the presence of God and supernatural being. However, as the Intelligent Design relied on an unspecified cause thus the idea was not tested. Western astrology targets to predict and to explain various incidents on Earth on the basis of the positioning of sun, constellations and planets. As observed, astrology focuses to explain the natural world but astrology is not considered as science at all. Moreover, there are people who wonder regarding animals understanding and thought in relation to the world but science cannot provide information pertaining to this situation (The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California, “Science Has Limits: A Few Things That Science Does Not Do”). Response to Knowledge Issue of Science. Science provides help to learn about life-threatening illnesses along with the history of animal and human rights. Knowledge plays a significant role for providing information regarding the opinions and decisions to be made. Most often the discoveries made by the scientists are very conceptual as they provide knowledge to a person which helps in deciding how to use this knowledge. Science is very significant in human life as it provides help in creating knowledge regarding the natural world. Science has provided a major contribution in developing the present world which includes discovery of Alzheimers drug along with probing the neurology of human emotion and dissecting the structure of atoms among others. It can be affirmed that scientific research emphasizes improvement of people’s understanding related to the natural world. Science works with those ideas that have evidence which depend on scientific communities and is performed by those people who are experienced scientifically (The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California, “Science Has Limits: A Few Things That Science Does Not Do”). CONCLUSION It has been recognised that knowledge is attained through perceived sense, feeling, cause and language and these elements may be affected by their personal background, incomplete methods of reasoning and feelings among others. Conversely, as a result of subjectivity, various components are influential for a person wherein they cannot be sure whether their thinking is actually true or not. Consequently, it is often acknowledged that knowledge attained yesterday is often discarded by individuals however apparent positive knowledge of today might turn out to be wrong tomorrow. Knowledge issues are those facets that have a major bearing upon understanding the purview of the world. These issues are open to exploration. In order to know the issues of knowledge, it has been bifurcated into two categories i.e. knowledge issues in history and knowledge issues in science. Knowledge issues in history refer to those issues wherein the modern tradition asserts that as history cannot be known objectively, it cannot be termed as objective. There has been an increasing notion that history entails within its purview certain biased comprehensions that might not be true based on objective consideration. In relation to science as well, often it is affirmed that no moral judgements are provided. Despite such ambiguities, it can be stated that science has a profound and undeniable influence on daily life and activities of human beings. Consequently, there is a need to eradicate the knowledge issues prevailing in both science and history to assume the benefits from them for the entire mankind. Works Cited Andrews, Max. The Problem of Historical Knowledge. 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. Carroll, Lewis. Knowledge Issues. 2006. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. “Science Has Limits: A Few Things That Science Does Not Do.” The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California. 2014. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. Read More