Imagination and Theory of Knowledge - Essay Example

Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Theory of Knowledge (TOK) helps in identifying relationship between knower, way of knowing and knowledge issues; the main aim is to allow people to understand what they mean by term “know” i.e. do they know about it, do they believe they know about it, what does the person know about it, what do they perceive to be reality and etc. Everyone associates different meanings with their perception of knowledge; it offers knowers the option of looking at how knowledge and beliefs fit and what form of knowledge is created (Woolman, 14). Source: “TOK Diagrams: The traditional TOK Program”, 1 In TOK, being critical is often referred to as interpreting in negative ways; when engaged in public discussions, the main aim is to help knowers to ask questions that do not presume answers to be in a negative version and critical analysis does not imply identifying faults in behaviors (Darwish, 4). By undertaking examination and evaluation exercises, knowers do reflective activities to recognize any form of uncertainties and different point of views so that knowledge is viewed as an achievement. When people engage in discussions, they are able to share their knowledge and viewpoints which helps them in understanding how various things are perceived by everyone and the ways that should be followed to enhance their knowledge base. The factors that tend to surpass ways of a person’s knowing and areas of knowledge are as follows: 1. Nature of knowing element – Is there any difference between faith, data, belief, opinion, wisdom and knowledge? 2. Communities of knowledge – In a community, what is taken for granted and how can it be decided about beliefs that need to be further monitored? 3. Source of knower and knowledge applications – What factors such as age, education, experience, culture and etc. are influencing sources’ selection along with development of knowledge claims? If as a knower, you know about something or aware about how to go about it, then do you believe you have responsibility for your knowledge usage? 4. Claims for knowledge justification – Why is there a need to do critical assessment of claims? Are revelation, faith, perception, intuition, self-awareness, consensus, memory and logic reliable explanations for ways and areas of knowing? Are coherence, correspondence, consensus, and pragmatism suitable to be used as truth criteria? In traditional TOK diagram, there are two main factors that are studied to understand knowledge sharing mechanism i.e. areas of knowledge and ways of knowing. There are four ways of knowing i.e. reason/logic, emotion, sense perception and language that provide explanation of knowledge that is gained about the world, what are merits and demerits of each of these ways by which learning takes place about the situation and the entire world. The areas of knowledge comprise of history, natural sciences, mathematics, ethics, the arts and human sciences which help in identifying varying methods and natures of knowledge gaining process, claims of each areas and issues that need to be considered such as the reason for gaining historical knowledge and its application or what is the evidence that scientific method is appropriate one for gaining knowledge and many more (Falchikov, 12). Inclusion of fifth way of knowing The fifth way of knowing that can impact knowledge gained by a person is imagination. When people learn something from their experiences or observe something in their surroundings, they create certain knowledge in their mind and with the help of that imagination, they respond to situations. For instance, they have certain beliefs about religion and they respond to them according to their own preferred set of knowledge gained and claims. The two areas of knowledge that will be impacted by inclusion with this new way of knowing are ethics and natural science. The ethics will tell them what things are to be perceived as right or wrong, reality or fake, accepted or rejected and many more; it will help them in determining what knowledge is gained and what needs to be restored in mind. Ethics will be impacted as imagination tends to create knowledge on the basis of one’s own beliefs. For instance, if someone considers lying unethical in any way, whether it will save someone’s life, then he will never imagine it to be right. Even if someone lies when joking, then it will create a negative image in the individual’s mind. Everyone likes to think things according to their own imagination, so ethics will be affected by this element. Imagination is considered to be belonging to be possessed by all and everyone forms this knowledge on their own. For instance, if a person is angry and has frowning lines on forehead, some people will consider him to be in deep thoughts on how to resolve the matter while others will consider it as planning to take revenge. Imagination tends to influence how things are perceived; for a person, fighting for his right is ethical and there is nothing wrong in claiming it, while, on the other hand, some other person will consider it misbehavior and will view it as an unethical activity. Likewise, if a person considers asking for a favor as a normal thing and views it as being empathic, then he will consider it to be ethical in every situation. When imagination is made part of knowing, then some questions will have to be answered such as what is its impact on already established values, what moral dilemmas will arise by this act, can an individual act morally within the context of any restricted corruption, choice or oppression, what impact will it have on individual’s beliefs and attitudes, will others be impacted by the person’s way of knowing and many more. Hence, imagination will definitely raise some questions in this area of knowledge as new additions will be needed in them to incorporate new way of knowing. Likewise, natural science will be impacted by inclusion of imagination as it is totally based on logical reasoning. When imagination is made part of way of knowing, it will affect this area as imagination is developed on one’s own way and it contradicts with logical answers to situations. For instance, if anyone imagines that his speaking power is excellent and everyone understands him easily, then he contradicts natural science as not everyone will be able to perceive his image in the same way. Hence, natural science will be impacted by inclusion of imagination in way of knowing. Natural science is based a lot on scientific methods so when imagination element is included in way of knowing, researchers will have to analyze the impact of imagination on it. Imaginations are based on person’s own beliefs and attitudes and there is no logical or scientific answer for it; researchers will have to study this element so that they can determine its impact on knowledge creation. For instance, if someone imagines that today will be a cloudy weather based on his intuition and not from weather forecasts, then how will this impact the natural science area and how will nature go against the prediction. Some of the questions that will be revealed to incorporate linkage between imagination and natural science are that what method will be used to gather knowledge about imagination formation, what steps will be taken to understand them, how can valuable information be gathered, will it impact other fields of natural creation, do experiments and methodologies being used have any impact on knowledge creation and many more. When imagination is included in way of knowing, researchers will have to study its linkage with natural sciences and there is a lot of contradiction between these two terminologies. Hence, natural sciences will be significantly impacted by introduction of imagination in this area of knowledge. Hence, with the help of including imagination in the way of knowing, people can enhance their knowledge base. Imagination does not have logical reasoning as it is based on personal experiences; it tends to have a close relation with emotions as people perceive things according to their own set of preferences. Intuition and experience tend to have some emotional element so it is better that they are not included as separate ways of knowing as they are already an integral part of knowledge gaining process. Therefore, imagination will have some impact on all areas of knowledge and people will create knowledge on their own set of beliefs and will respond accordingly as well. Works Cited Darwish, Bob. “Education as a political: Dewey, Freire and the International Baacalaureate: Theory of Knowledge Curriculum.” Queen’s University, Canada 2009. Web. 12 October 2012. Falchikov, Nancy. Improving Assessment through Student Involvement: Practical Solutions for Aiding Learning for Higher and Further Education. London, England: Routledge-Falmer, 2004. Print. “TOK Diagrams: The traditional TOK diagram.” International Baccalaureate Organization 2006. Web. 12 October 2012. Woolman, Michael. Ways of Knowing. Australia: IBID Press, 2007. Print. Read More