Producing Knowledge: Passive Observation or Active Experiment - Essay Example

Theory of Knowledge essay "Essay Candi Number: School Examination Section: Word Count: 1018 "There are only two ways in which humankind can produce knowledge: through passive observation or through active experiment. To what extent do you agree with this statement? “Thy have sinned!” was the call by Church in 16th - 17th century to Galileo and Copernicus when they presented ideas opposing the common knowledge base which was then the knowledge provided by the Church. As a result, Copernicus natural death became Gods’ wrath upon him and the Church got justification to persecute Galileo to death. With a shift of power from aristocracy to democracy, knowledge became facts that were commonly accepted or experiments that could be demonstrated to the public (Starbuck, 2006). Central to both the times is power. If a piece of information is false and is backed by power, it is widely accepted and believed to be true .It is then that it is called knowledge. Foucault equates knowledge to power. He says that the “Truth is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it” (Foucault, 1984). In the case of Galileo, his observations and experiments were not enough to be a part of knowledge realm. It was a shift of power from hands of the Catholics to Protestants, after which his reasoning became a part of knowledge. Passive observations and active experiments are means of providing rationalizations to the masses. In this essay I would argue that there is a one big source of knowledge production in the world. That is power, which sometimes uses tools of passive observation and active experimenting to make information a part of our knowledge realm; and sometimes by simply using its hegemonic authoritative supremacy, establishes its unproven information. History is full of examples of knowledge produced by science using observations and experiments that later got debunked by other scientists. Such a trend has proved the fact that if the world is told some information by those who exert superior power over others with assumed credibility, the knowledge produced by the person begins to be followed blindly. People believed in Einstein’s theory of static universe just because it was Einstein who was saying this. When it was later opposed by Edwin Hubble’s, another reputed scientist, discovery of the relationship between the red shift, everyone changed their stance, most without even knowing what “Red shift” actually is. A similar case was of the theory of the expansion of the earth which was later invalidated by modern science (Nussbaumer, 2014). In today’s world, power lies in the hands of people with capital and but who has this capital? Corporations do. Today major research happens at these corporations. A monopoly of knowledge production is being formed. In 2013, 54 billion Euros were spent only by Germans on Research and Development (Deuse, 2013) . The least spending pharmaceutical company in the top 100 pharmaceutical companies of the world spends $15 million on the research of only one product (Herper, 2013). With this amount of funding being spent on scientific research, the knowledge regulated and produced in the world is one that is beneficial to the power sources. Amid these scientific discoveries sometime false claims succeed at fooling people. Hyundai claims of improved horsepower increased their sales without actually any improvement in their product (Gibbs, 2012). False advertisement is corporations’ way of using their power. By making their claims so common in the society, they turn claims into knowledge. One may argue that research does not just takes place in corporations, individuals college students and professors carry out research and publish independently. However research requires funding and for it to spread or become “common” it needs implementation and marketing. That is provided by corporations. Rights of important research are bought away by these corporations to establish unprecedented power. To further question it, individuals rebellious to the capitalists’ world sometimes refuse to bend down and reject invitation to get involved in the capitalist world. Corporations with immense capital can evade any claims made against them through PR strategies and overshadow the individuals massively and then they just become rumors. Rumor and gossip have received little attention in knowledge management but these two are a well-practiced social phenomenon. Backed by power they continue to exist and travel from one individual to another and the chain continues (SHIBUTANI, 1969). Brands such as McDonalds, Pepsi, Starbucks, Hershey, Target and many more have faced rumors. Sources of these rumors have not come to light, but the adversaries of the brand greatly benefited from a rumor. Rumors bring results because they are believed upon and thus are form of knowledge which may later found out to be false. But in the time they bring rapid decrease in sales. With Media’s increasing presence, they are contributing to the power play in the realm of knowledge. They are perfect examples of regulating and producing information based knowledge with the capital push. All of which has little to do with passive observation or active experimentation. From Foucault’s discourse over truth and knowledge, it can be derived that knowledge is what is regulated in the public. And after a study of the believed, beloved and experimentally proven misinformation, it can be said that backed by power any information can be assumed to be true by the masses (Foucault, 1984). There is also sufficient evidence that if this knowledge comes from a source that holds a degree of influence over people’s perception, they readily accept it. Such an influence comes when the people propagating the knowledge holds power over general public. This power can be educational, experiential, authoritative, capitalistic or just psychological conformation of public’s mentality. Passive observation and active experimentation comes secondary to power over the minds of people. History has repetitively proved, disproved and then again proved facts with shifts of power. We see clearly that power shifts throughout history changed the knowledge sources of people. It went from religion to military and now to the contributors of economy. With this it can be said that power is the main source of producing knowledge. Without the support of power, knowledge from neither passive observation n nor active experimentation can be propagated. Power gives credibility to knowledge and death of Galileo will witness to this “truth”. Thus there is only one way of producing knowledge. That is power. Bibliography Deuse, K. (2013). German companies invest billions in research. DW. Foucault, M. (1984). Truth and Power. Gibbs, G. (2012). Hyundai & Kia Class Action Lawsuit Settlement. Retrieved December 2014, from Giradgibbs: http://www.girardgibbs.com/hyundai-horsepower/ Herper, M. (2013, November). How Much Does Pharmaceutical Innovation Cost? A Look At 100 Companies. Retrieved December 2014, from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2013/08/11/the-cost-of-inventing-a-new-drug-98-companies-ranked/ SHIBUTANI, T. (1969). Improvised News: A Sociological Study of Rumo. The New School. Starbuck, W. H. (2006). The production of knowledge. Oxford University Press. Read More