7 December 2015
"The knower's perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge." To what extent do you agree with respect to CAS & one other diploma subject you currently take?
As it is now, capitalism is viewed as being the first official economical structure, defined by John Adams in the 18th century. Soon after the public accepted this known system, Karl Marx presented his idea of communism, thereby challenging the previous conception of a societal system.
When personal knowledge is first introduced to the public, it is scrutinized and challenged due to the many different perspectives of the people. However if the information provided is more of a fact than knowledge it is bound to be accepted on a global scale and would become part of basic understanding.
Nonetheless if a different fact comes to light, which challenges the previous understanding, it will first have to be proven and supported to become shared knowledge. Therefore, how can we evaluate the reliability of personal knowledge when it challenges the current shared knowledge?
To understand this question, the difference between knowledge and facts must be distinguished. In this sense, a fact is agreed upon by most people and can hardly be argued, for instance that the German Income taxes average at 14 Percent. Knowledge comes into play when citizens would ask if the tax is fair or properly justified.
This is not merely a fact anymore, as the answer to this question becomes complex and contradictory. Many people would have different answers to this, even though they are basing their opinions on all of the same facts. Their facts may be true, however individuals value them differently.
They are acknowledged, yet filtered by each unique aspect of a person’s life that has an impact on them, which determines what they believe to be merit. This characteristic is what makes people human and allows diverse perspectives and opinions to arise and to be evaluated.
Every idea is judged by a number of sources, until it may or may not be agreed upon. Society relies on the individual perspective of each person and takes each idea into consideration.
Once an idea is agreed upon and accepted in a society, it is very difficult for one individual to present an entirely different idea, which is contradictory to the former. The reliability is put to question, as something that goes against what the public believes will initially be difficult to comprehend or judge.
The shared knowledge will have been more open to scrutiny and will therefore have a wider view of open-minded perspectives. Adam Smith’s model of capitalism had been taken in and understood when he expressed it in his book in 1776. On the other hand when Karl Marx introduced communism in the 1800’s, his personal knowledge was compared to the previous understanding.
This enhanced the area of knowledge by far, showing more than one concept and development in the pursuit of knowledge.
This idea was created in Marx’s imagination, as he felt that the previous systems were inadequate or unfair. But there are many ways of generating ideas that come from the different ways of knowing. When people come together to work on projects for charity in a third world country, most would expect to learn firsthand, manual craftsmanship traits or to experience the local culture.
However they would they would be surprised to find out what impact growing up in this culture might have and it reflects in each individual. This knowledge was not intended to be work towards, instead it happened just by chance. It was not pursued after, just merely by a series of unrelated factors was the knower able to acquire this knowledge.
Most of our fundamental was handed or forced upon us during school, however what makes the difference to distinguish humans from each other is how this knowledge was taken in and stored, from different perspectives. One can actively pursue knowledge by looking up shared knowledge or attempting to create their own personal knowledge.
In the upbringing of most first world people, they are filtered through a system in which knowledge is volunteered and voluntarily absorbed. However to understand abstract views, knowledge is bounced off an individual challenging the views of another individual. This does not essentially mean the knowledge is being purposely pursued, as some knowledge such as personal feelings can never be translated properly to other people.
Finally, it is important to include the knower’s perspective in their pursuit of knowledge. It is the essence of what humanizes individuals to be their own person. When personal knowledge come to be shared knowledge, the variety of perspectives make a concept less personal and more general, so as to appeal to a broader range of people and to be accepted by them as a whole.
No matter how the knowledge is gained and with any way of knowing, the personal perspective of each person should never be ignored or excluded, as it is essential in understanding their thoughts ideas.
Bibliography
Boundless. The Marxist Critique of Capitalism . 21 07 2015. 5 12 2015 <
What is the difference between communism and socialism? 2015. 05 12 2015 <
References & Links
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