Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Essay 4 / Mari
- "Without application in the world, the value of knowledge is greatly diminished"
- Key terms
- Diminished = Decreased
- Application = To put something into use
or operation / links to relevance (but
don't focus on that!)
- Value = Importance, worth or
usefulness of something
- The value of knowledge = if the
knowledge generated leads to the
production of reliable knowledge
claims that can be accepted as 'true'
- Knowledge
- 2 types
- Personal Knowledge: How does
the non-application of personal
knowledge impact its value?
- Shared Knowledge: Does the nature of
shared knowledge already mean that it
is applied? What's the value of this?
- What is the value of these two
types of knowledge?
- What does knowledge mean in the title?
Does it explain the physical world? What
about the world that we know as humans
(including intangible things?)
- The meaning of diminished is
further pushed forward because
it is "greatly diminished" which
shows how important the term
is in the title
- Potential AOKs to be
explored
- The Arts (Literature)
- Reflects the society
of the time that it is
created
- Can be subjective
- Can be inaccurate
or exaggerated
- Example: The Handmaids
Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Can be created by
anyone - an
expression of inner
self/emotion
- What is application of art?
There are many viewpoint in
the arts, and not everyone
shares the same outlook of
something. It's an area of
knowledge where the
methodology is very
subjective
- MAYBE USE THIS AS A DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE AT THE END OF THE
ESSAY!
- How much is the arts 'applied' in
the world? Does it have relevance
in the world??
- Maybe the arts are
useful just because they
are?
- Natural Sciences
- Seeks to explain natural phenomena
- Methodology: Scientific
method, peer review,
repeatability
- Flaws in these
methods?
Subjectivity
involved?
- Who is paying
for the
research?
- Statistics? They
be manipulated!
- Knowledge in the NS seeks to
answer 'how' questions of the
world, therefore almost all of
the knowledge is generated
to explain some sort of
phenomena
- (mostly) objective
knowledge
- What about disproven
theories? Are they still
relevant?
- Theories are and always will be relevant until they are
disproven. Theories today might be disproven in the future,
but until then they are relevant to the real world because
the knowledge that exists within them corresponds to
reality and can widely be accepted as true
- The theories in natural sciences aren't used by everyone though
right? Because there are individuals that have almost no
interest in the theories that are presented in this area of
knowledge. Therefore these people do not apply the knowledge
in the natural sciences to the world that they know, because
they have not been exposed to these theories. Therefore, it is
not applied? The knowledge then has no value to them?
- KQ: To what extent does the value of knowledge
in ethics and the natural sciences depend on the
application of it in the 'real world'?
- KC1: The value of knowledge can be largely
dependent on what an individual perceives as
'useful' (personal knowledge)
- Ethics - People have different ideas of 'truth' and different
ethical values. Pragmatic truth can probably be the most
subjective form of truth because it explores what is most
useful to an individual (include other truths) also what
about the ethical theories?
- Example:
- Counterclaim: The judicial system has a set of laws
(rules) it abides by and when it comes to court
cases, individuals' ideas of truth in this case are
irrelevant because the final judgement comes from
whether the persecutor has gone against the law
- (diff. perspective) KC3: Some shared knowledge offers
subjective viewpoints of the world which can be valuable
as it offers perspective
- Counterclaim: The subjective viewpoints may
not be valued by a vast majority of people
- Example: The Arts (Literature)
- The Arts have value because it
shows the qualitative values of
the world and shows the many
many different ways the world
can be viewed by different people
- KC2: Knowledge is created to explain
the world (shared knowledge)
- Example: Natural Sciences - Pea
plant experiment by Gregor Mendel
- Shows how simple things
can explain a bigger picture!
- Shows how Mendel applied the results of
his experiment to a larger picture - Prime
example of how knowledge is generated
to explain the world therefore all
knowledge that makes sense scientifically
can be considered to have value
- Counterclaim: Some of these
'explanations' (theories) can be later
disproven, so the accuracy and
relevance is then limited. (Include
example of a disproven theory)
- What is explained? Why do we want to explain
it? Who is 'explaining' it? To what extent can
we trust the claims made by the 'experts'?
- Conclusion
- All knowledge offers value of some kind, as
frankly, knowledge would not exist had it not have
a purpose. There are theories and knowledge that
has been disproven, but until they are disproven
they have value because it can be accepted as
true. There are
- History
- Methodology: Primary sources (historical
documents, pictures, interviews),
secondary sources (interpretations of
events etc.)
- History helps in improving the future,
making sure that the mistakes made
in the past don't happen again
- Revisionism - New evidence being
discovered in order to evaluate what
happened and hypothesise what it all
means and incorporates current events
- Questions that arise from this
- How frequently do we have
to apply knowledge for it to
be considered valuable?
- What kind of
knowledge is
considered 'valuable'?
- What kind of
application does this
question mean?
- To what extent
is personal
knowledge
more valuable
than shared
knowledge?
- To what extent is knowledge
valuable in the arts and in
ethics? What about ethics and
the natural sciences?
- To what extent does
the value of
knowledge depend on
the application of it?
- Do we have to apply
knowledge frequently for it to
have some sort of value? What
type of knowledge is this?
- Simple terms: The value
of knowledge depends
on the relevance of it in
the world, and without
relevance, the
knowledge has little
value