Literature and Natural Science have Brought New Knowledge into My Life

It is a natural instinct for humans to know and accumulate knowledge. Engaging in both literature and natural science subjects in IB, I have brought different aspects of knowledge to my life. At a glance, we tend to believe in scientific journals more than fictional literatures because we can prominently see facts organised into schematic structure. Natural science uses reason, evidence and strong logic to support the theory. Due to its consistency, scientific knowledge is often disagreed. On the other hand, inconsistencies and independence in art make it to be an area of knowledge with controversies in interpretations. However, we do not disregard the values of art. There are people learning Shakespeare’s poems that do not seem to convey what we know as facts. Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle insists: “Indian Empire, or no Indian Empire we cannot do without Shakespeare!” If we only consider the facts that can be seen, Indian Empire seems more promising. But why do we still value Shakespeare highly? Through this essay, I want to explore what aspects of ‘systematic organisation’ support the creation of knowledge and how ‘facts’ attribute as well.

Natural science is a structured, reasoned, and organised field of knowledge. Through schematic processes, scientific theories are proposed. Scientists impose self-censorship to support the studied ideas. By observation of the natural phenomena, scientists come up with a question. The question is reformulated into a hypothesis that is ‘falsifiable’. Falsifiability opens to a possibility of controversies to the hypothesis. For example, if a scientist question: “Does God exist?” then this question never is a hypothesis because it is an idea that can never be disproven. After selecting a ...

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...ries is where something beyond facts is needed. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing,” said by Socrates summarises what we need to understand about the nature of knowledge. The openness of knowledge is compensated by imaginations and ideas that ponder to something new. The more we know, the more we realise there are more to be discovered. Ironically, knowing that we know nothing stimulates advancement.

The potential and depth of knowledge is more than what we can fathom. Systematic organisation of facts gives good grasp of what knowledge is. Good reasoning and logic upholds representation of the knowledge in the areas of knowledge. Nonetheless, one must acknowledge that understandings of knowledge can go beyond that. Knowledge can derive from what seems to be disorganised and personal. Interpretations and imaginations can hold meanings in knowing.