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Imagination and knowledge relationship
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Passive observation or active experimentation is not the only way to produce knowledge, they cannot be used per se; and they require other additional ways of knowing such as imagination and faith. “There are only two ways in which humankind can produce knowledge”. Just from this statement, numerous questions already arise. First of all, how do we define knowledge? Knowledge, at its core, is information we acquire through experience and education. But the “production” of knowledge is arguable, can knowledge really be produced by humans, or is it discovered?
I am of the opinion that humankind does not produce knowledge in the realm of natural sciences, human sciences, and history. We discover knowledge and our reach is limited. Aristarchus
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But for discussion, Passive Observation suggests that the knower does not manipulate variables, and makes no impact on the subject of study, and that the knower does not respond to phenomenons. While Active experimentation suggests that the knower is able to manipulate variables to their will. In the area of knowledge of natural sciences, passive observation would not be distinctly useful unless the knower actively uses the results to analyze conclude, to transform the data passively observed or collected into something significant and purposeful, or without comparison or study of other ideas and knowledge. It is not possible to rely solely on either passive observation or active experiment to produce knowledge - it requires more. The theory of triangulation is “used to indicate that two (or more) methods are used in a study in order to check the results.” In the scientific method, it is crucial to include both the manipulation of variables and integrate passive observation, to analyze the data collected in order to gain knowledge. If knowledge that is gained from a faulty experiment is not thoroughly analyzed, it will result in flawed pseudoknowledge and logic - such as that belief that the Earth was flat by Europeans, until Columbus traveled across the globe and proved the belief …show more content…
Imagination extends thinking and understanding for future possibilities, it extends experiences, and fills the gaps within our knowledge when we face ambiguous situations with insufficient information. It is the basis of producing new knowledge, since it initially drives the formulation of a hypothesis. Of course, without existing knowledge, it would be virtually impossible to produce knowledge exclusively by imagination, since there is no basis in the thinking. With imagination, paired with reasoning, comes mathematics. The area of knowledge of mathematics concerns abstract reasoning. Mathematics is deductive epistemology, where a hypothesis is tested by confirming and deducing primary principles of that particular hypothesis - it is intangible, and is not observed or experimented. Similarly, mathematics is a means of producing knowledge by deduction, it is described as Kant as “synthetic a priori”, latin for from the former, deriving knowledge with reason alone. A priori knowledge does not require “a special faculty of pure intuition” , and is derived from imagination. This method of producing knowledge is idiosyncratic to the scientific method, where a hypothesis is declared, variables are manipulated, and multitudes of tests are carried out in order to prove the hypothesis. Mathematics and deductive reasoning, in the same manner, can also uncover truths and information that does not require
This paper will be covering what knowledge essentially is, the opinions and theories of J.L. Austin, Descartes, and Stroud, and how each compare to one another. Figuring out what knowledge is and how to assess it has been a discussion philosophers have been scratching their heads about for as long as philosophy has been around. These three philosophers try and describe and persuade others to look at knowledge in a different light; that light might be how a statement claiming knowledge is phrased, whether we know anything at all for we may be dreaming, or maybe you’re just a brain in a vat and don’t know anything about what you perceive the external world to be.
Knowledge is defined as information and skills one acquires through experience or education. There is; however, a certain knowledge than cannot be certain and is unjustifiable from the scientific perspective. Karen Armstrong, Robert Thurman, and Azar Nafisi wrote about this type of knowledge in their essays: “Homo Religiosus,” “Wisdom,” and “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” respectively. Each of these authors has a different view of what knowledge is exactly, how it can be achieved, and what it means to have achieved it, but each author takes on the view that the concept of knowledge should be viewed from a social stance. Armstrong refers to this uncertain knowledge as “myth,” Thurman refers to it as “wisdom,” and Nafisi refers to it as “upsilamba";
In conclusion, the view of Chalmers would be falsified and against to Popperian's hypothetico-deductive method. I agree with Popperian's view and objected the definition of science which defined by Chalmers because science knowledge is not always reliable. Also, individual opinion and personal speculative imagining and have a place in science. Finally, the science should be partially subjective and partially objective.
In modern days, scientific discourse between ‘normal’ and ‘revolutionary’ scientists has raised questions about what they should or shouldn 't give proper attention and further study. One example of this, is the orthodox narrative of modern human history shared by geologists and archaeologists around the world, which tells us that the first technologically advanced human civilizations started in Mesopotamia around 3,000-5,000 BC. However, a series of evidence brought forth by two science skeptics and scientists suggest that the current narrative of our history could be inaccurate. They argue that it’s possible that a lost, technologically advanced ancient civilization mapped and explored the globe with great accuracy millennia before orthodox human history tells. From this debate arises a question: Should scientists focus exclusively on driving the current paradigm to its limits and not bother challenging it, even if other theories and scientific evidence defy the paradigm?
How we approach the question of knowledge is pivotal. If the definition of knowledge is a necessary truth, then we should aim for a real definition for theoretical and practical knowledge. Methodology examines the purpose for the definition and how we arrived to it. The reader is now aware of the various ways to dissect what knowledge is. This entails the possibility of knowledge being a set of truths; from which it follows that one cannot possibly give a single definition. The definition given must therefore satisfy certain desiderata , while being strong enough to demonstrate clarity without losing the reader. If we base our definition on every counter-example that disproves our original definition then it becomes ad hoc. This is the case for our current defini...
(q), his belief that he sees a barn, isn’t justified, though. Therefore, Dom cannot know (q). The internalism of my account is obvious. What’s required for justification of (q) is different for Henry and Dom because of each’s belief about the kind of environment he is in. It is the belief about the environment and not the environment that matters. In other words, two people could be in the exact same circumstances but what required for justification would be different because of the beliefs they have. Causal accounts of knowledge can’t account for why Henry is justified for (q), but Dom is not. My account is not a causal account; as is shown in the Dom variation above, my account has no problem accounting for the different justifications required for Dom and for Henry.
“Scientific knowledge is not inevitable” (Andrew Irvine). There is no guarantee that scientific progress would keep increasing. As long as people have the belief to live better, the scientific progress is not essential or necessary to exist. Progress of science and technology is a key factor in promoting the development of productive forces. The history of human civilization has fully proved this point. As research, ancient people to the natural forces that extreme lack of understanding, when they are faced the thunder lightning, floods, volcanic eruptions these natural scene, they are terrified. In order to find the strength to survive rely on primitive religion produced. Several of religious that domination of the human mind for thousands of years, which long confined ignorance of human wisdom. Scientific technology as a knowledge system is a powerful spiritual force, it helped people to keep the internal laws of the world know the real face and overcome to get rid of all outdated fallacious thing. It also does not worship any idols superstitious that always gifted elimination inferior and always full of innovation and creativity. This inherent ethos of science and technology would inevitably lead people to the way of thinking of
Question No. 5 “No knowledge can be produced by a single way of knowing.” Discuss.
Great change has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen as long as the ability to learn exists, organic or artificial. So when humanity reaches its climax and does end, it is known that it is not the end of knowledge, it is a new direction towards knowledge.
Before Kuhn’s book was written, the commonly held position by scientists and philosophers of science, such as Mach and Otswald , about the structure of science; was that it involved linear progression as a result of an incremental accumulation of knowledge from the activities undertaken by members of the scientific community. They thought that as generations of scientists observed more and more, their understanding of a particular scientific fact would become better refined through an ever growing stockpile of facts, theories and methods. The aim of the historian of science would be to pin point the man and the moment in time a further discovery was made; whilst also describing the obstacles that inhibited scientific progression.
This opens the possibilities for the historian to research and thus history can be considered as a ‘Human Science’ (Smith). The major difference between history and human science is the way in which the scientist uses tools while the historian uses facts and figures. Feyerabend explains that an allegory presented by the human scientist depends on egotism, ideals, and the perspective of other forms of knowledge, and is not enveloped by method, evidence, reason or argument (Anderson 259). There is a big debate about whether social science is actually a science. J.S.Mill believes that while we can justify and discover unpretentious regularities in the physical world, we can also explore the connections between actions and thoughts through Mill’s Method on causation (Salmon).
We gain knowledge in through our ways of knowing which are mainly perception, reason and language. We use them to find knowledge because we justify our claims and beliefs by their use, thus, our evidences, because they get us closer to the truth. To accept something as knowledge, it must be considered true, one must believe it and there must be justification why the person knows it, therefore these ways of knowing aid in the process for our quest for knowledge. In conclusion, in order to obtain knowledge all of these three attributes have to be integrated in some type of way, and due to the changing nature of all three of them, knowledge is always changing and it is dynamic, leading to the fact that knowledge can be discarded. The questions b...
Question 3: “imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will ever be to know and understand “(Albert Einstein) Do you agree?
When I think about knowledge the first thing that comes to my mind is education. I believe that knowledge comes to people by their experiences in life. In other words, life is an instrument that leads me to gain knowledge. Many people consider that old people are wise because they have learned from good and bad experiences throughout their lives. Education requires work, dedication and faith to gain knowledge. We acquired knowledge through the guidance of from parents, role models, college/University teachers and life experiences.
According to Lowe, knowledge requires a form of action to be accurate and precise. In other words, knowledge is created on the basis of a rationally conceived design such as an experiment. Experiments are a great example of how action is required to produce or replicate knowledge. Moreover, one necessitates research and a rational design to attain certainty in his or her knowledge claim. Generally, this certainty may be achieved with an experiment. Natural sciences may be referred to as a science of the physical world, whereas a social science may be defined as a branch of science dealing with human society and relationships. Furthermore, social sciences and natural science may be distinguished by the method of their creation. In general, natural sciences usually require a form of action (i.e. experiment) to provide justification for their knowledge claims whereas social sciences don’t require action to justify their knowledge claims. An example of a method that doesn’t require action may be a case study. One may wonder which method is more reliable and accurate. A knowledge questions that arises from this situation is: To what extent is action required to justify knowledge. In this essay, I am going to examine the extent at which action is required to justify a knowledge claim. By taking both natural and social sciences into consideration. By taking personal experiences and relevant knowledge issues into account, this essay will discuss several aspects regarding the knowledge question.