That Which is Accepted as Knowledge Today is Sometimes Discarded Tomorrow

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In the world we live in, there are constantly new experiences under investigation, for which previous knowledge may not explain in our pursuit of absolute knowledge. From previous knowledge of a similar experience we attempt to understand the new experience, however our previously understood knowledge may not explain the experience, and therefore is discarded for new discoveries. In the natural sciences, there are many theories and models, which are created to explain experiences, that become redundant. These theories and models are not able to explain new experiences and therefore must be supplanted by new discoveries, which are able to explain the experience. This may be due to the knower not being able to formulate a theory or model because of an experience, which had not yet been observed. In human science, experiences play a large influence on the knowledge available, as it is largely based on trends from various sources, if the trend experiences a change in the future, the knowledge becomes false and muse be repudiated. I believe that old knowledge is often replaced by new discoveries. However, it does not always directly replace old knowledge and may use it as a stepping stone, or just replaces old knowledge. Argument 1: The use of inductive reasoning in the natural sciences means that, through the scientific method, a general case can be defined from a specific case. This often leads to knowledge being discarded, as the knowledge does not fully describe the general case. In physics when learning about astrophysics, and models of the universe, we learnt about Newton’s model of the universe and Olber’s Paradox. I found it particularly interesting how the knowledge was being changed, and what was believed to be true was pro... ... middle of paper ... .... Our knowledge does not allow us to predict the future (although Halley was able to predict the coming of the next passing of the comet). This means that we don’t know whether the phenomena, which has been modelled, will be relevant in the future or whether it’s only applicable to current experiences (the Malthusian model). In the natural sciences, we can only assume the knowledge we have found to be a true generalisation for previous experiences, and true for future experiences until proven false after which it is supplanted by a new theory. In the human sciences, it is possible to obtain knowledge from truths from various sources to predict a reason for the occurrence, however it is only applicable until the sources are shown to be false or the experience has been altered, from which a new model must be obtained for the new experience and the old model discarded.

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