The Changing Knowledge about Matter and Life - Essay Example

? ‘That Which Is Accepted As Knowledge Today Is Sometimes Discarded Tomorrow’ Introduction According to Kim and Lee (2004, p. 2), ‘knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information’. Knowledge is bursting from all corners because of the rapid advancements in science and technology. Much of yesterday’s knowledge is getting outdated today and today’s knowledge may become outdated tomorrow. According to renowned scientist Albert Einstein, ‘nothing is absolute, everything is relative’. Science never believes in making absolute conclusions because of its awareness of the limitations of human intelligence in explaining everything in this world. Earlier, science argued that the sun moves and the earth remains stationary. Later, it contended that the earth remains stationary and the sun moves. Today, science holds that both the sun and the earth move and nothing remains stationary. What is going to be the scientific theory in future in this regard? Nobody knows. In short, ‘that which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow’. The Changing Knowledge about Matter and Life Scientific theories or knowledge about the matter is changing day by day. Earlier, science believed that molecule is the smallest particle of an object. It was argued that molecule cannot be divided under any circumstances. However, science did succeed in dividing the molecule later and formulated another theory. In this theory, scientists postulated that atom is the smallest particle of an object and cannot be divided again. However, this theory was also challenged later. Science succeeded in splitting the atom into its components: protons, neutrons and electrons. Now science is trying to split even the protons and neutrons using a Large Hadron Collider experiment which is going on at present in Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground (‘The Large Hadron Collider’, 2013). As per the latest published information, the Large Hadron Collider experiment did succeed in identifying a particle called the Higgs boson, which is responsible for giving masses to objects. Moreover, it is believed that the discovery of the Higgs boson will help science to unveil many mysteries surrounding evolution of the universe and the secrets of life and death. Moreover, this discovery may help science to explain many other inexplicable ‘broken symmetries’ in the universe such as: Why is electricity so different from gravity? Why is our universe made of matter but not antimatter, even though the two appear to be created in precisely equal amounts? If there are really 10 dimensions of space – as popular theories suggest – why are only three large enough for us to perceive? (Cole, 2000) In short, the discovery of the Higgs boson is giving plenty of hopes to science in explaining some of the unanswered questions. Science does believe that it can explain the evolution of the universe and life logically with the help of this discovery. However, it is totally illogical to put blind faith in this discovery and try to find answers to unanswered questions. For example, science still firmly relies upon the Big Bang theory to explain the origin of this universe. This theory assumes that the ‘universe originated sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at extremely high density and temperature’ (WordNet Search – 3.1, n.d.). It is possible for the Big Bang theory to explain the evolution of the universe logically once it starts from this small volume of matter. However, this theory failed to explain from where this small volume of matter originated. In other words, the explanations of the Big Bang theory about the origin of this universe are not faultless. Similarly, scientists believe that the discovery of the Higgs boson might help to explain the secrets of life. Science does claim that the Higgs boson is the particle which gives energy or life to living things. If that is true, science should explain what happens to this energy after the death of a person. It should be noted that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, according to scientific principles (‘The Law of Conservation of Energy’, n.d.). At the same time, energy can be transformed from one form to another. If this energy transformation occurs at the time of death of a person, science should explain it clearly to substantiate its arguments about life and death. In short, neither scientific theories about matter nor the discovery of the Higgs boson would help Science to create an absolute knowledge about matter or life in this world. These theories would help science to explain many things at present. However, these theories may change in future when science advances further. There is no guarantee for the validity of the theories of matter or Higgs boson theory. Until another enters this world, these theories may exist. The Changing Knowledge about Ethics Morality and ethics played a huge role in shaping human life in the past. Philosophers and religious scholars worked hard to educate people with respect to the needs of observing ethical principles in life. According to Aristotle, Irwin and Fine (1995, p. 350), ‘most people agree that the good pursued in all action is happiness, i.e. everything we do is for the sake of happiness. But most people disagree about what happiness is. The majority think that happiness is pleasure, wealth, or honour’. Different scholars and philosophers have defined a happy life in different ways. In The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle claims there are two happy lives: the life of understanding (or contemplation) and the life of practical reason (virtue of character). While both lives are happy, the life of understanding is happier out of the two, according to Aristotle. A virtue can be defined as a quality or behaviour which is morally good. Virtues promote happy life not only among individuals but also among groups. In other words, a quality or a trait can be labelled as a virtue only if that quality helps the individual and the groups to lead a happy life. Life of practical reason revolves around the question of what one should do to promote happiness individually and collectively. However, the above mentioned ethical principles about life and happiness are changing day by day. For example, nuclear power has constructive and destructive power. Some countries use it to solve energy crisis whereas others use it for destroying other countries. India is a country which is using nuclear power to solve the energy crisis. On the other hand, America used nuclear power to destroy Japan during the Second World War, even though they also use it for many other constructive purposes. In short, it is illogical or impossible to label nuclear power as a good thing, or to state that the activities related to the development of nuclear power are good. America and Israel are currently trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear power. They label Iran’s nuclear experiments as an effort to develop nuclear weapons. At the same time, they themselves believe that their nuclear energy development programmes are ethical since they use it only for constructive purposes, even though history never agrees. In the same way, some people believe that killing of enemies of religion is ethical whereas other people hold that even death penalty to criminals is unethical. Earlier, same sex marriages and abortions were considered as unethical behaviours; at present, however, these things have legal protection in some countries. In short, the principles of ethics are getting changed as time goes on. The norms and values observed in human life in the past are getting changed at present. Conclusion Knowledge is highly dynamic and unstable. It gets changed as time goes on, because of the rapid development in science and technology. Human intelligence has some limitations in understanding the secrets of life and this world. It is a fact that humans are a kind of creation, even though they are superior in terms of intelligence compared to other creatures. At the same time, a creation can never be superior to the creator. For example, a computer or robot can never dominate human intelligence since they are only creations by the humans. Humans are responsible for giving intelligence to computers or robots. Similarly, the intelligence of humans is given by the creator, and hence human definitions and understandings about this world need not be faultless. It should be noted that the creator might have plenty of intentions while creating this universe and life forms. Humans cannot grasp such intensions fully. What humans know about this world is negligible compared to what they do not know. Our earth is only a planet. The sun has a number of other planets. Moreover, the sun is only a star among millions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. This universe consists of an infinite number of galaxies and stars, and it would be difficult for human intelligence to know about all such things. It should not be forgotten that humans are still struggling to send a satellite to the moon or Mars which is located nearer to the earth. Under such circumstances, how can we think about sending an artificial space expedition satellite to planets of other stars to know more things? It is evident that the capabilities of a human are limited, and hence the theories and principles formulated by him need not be correct at all times. In short, ‘that which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow’. References Aristotle, Irwin, T. and Fine, G. 1995. Aristotle: selections. Hackett Publishing. Cole, K. 2000. One thing is perfectly clear: nothingness is perfect. Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2000. Kim, S. and Lee, H. 2004. Organizational factors affecting knowledge sharing capabilities in e-government: an empirical study. [Online] Available at: http://dgrc.org/dgo2004/disc/presentations/sharing/kim.pdf [Accessed 26 December 2013]. The law of conservation of energy n.d. [Online] Available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/2745/data/lawce1.htm [Accessed 26 December 2013] The Large Hadron Collider 2013. [Online] Available at: http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html[Accessed 26 December 2013] WordNet Search – 3.1 n.d. Big Bang Theory. [Online] Available at: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=big+bang+theory&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&h=0 [Accessed 26 December 2013]. Read More