Theory of Knowledge

“The knower’s perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.” To what extent do you agree?

Paper details:

The International Baccalaureate (IB) Theory of Knowledge essay is a 1200–1600 word essay on a prescribed topics or titles created by the IB. As the name suggests, your Theory of Knowledge (TOK) essay should focus on knowledge issues (what is knowledge? why and how do we know things?) and link to other areas of knowledge as well.

Solution

The knower’s perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.”

In both the Natural Sciences and Arts, the knower’s perspective seems to be essential in the pursuit of knowledge. I interpreted the knower’s perspective as the “experts” of certain Area of Knowledge (AOK), which the people has some kind of background knowledge of a specific field. For these two AOKs, experts are usually researchers for the Natural Sciences and artists for the Arts. However, there are differences in how we pursue knowledge between these two AOKs. For example, the level of acceptance of what we consider knowledge is much higher in the Natural Sciences than the Arts. In addition, there could be other factors that are essential in the pursuit of knowledge in these two AOKs, such as the results of experiments done by researchers for the Natural Sciences and the environment around the artist for the Arts. In the Natural Sciences, there is a constant discussion of how knowledge forms based on the people’s perspective. In the Arts, artist and audience argue about what to consider as knowledge for an artwork.

            In the Natural Sciences, it is the researchers are the ones who create shared and personal knowledge, which is essential in the pursuit of further knowledge. The researchers usually use language and reason to create their knowledge. This is because, in order to pursue knowledge, researchers need to create their personal knowledge and share it with the wider scientific community, and thus it becomes shared knowledge. An example of this was determining the “Cause of Tides” by J.C. Sambile.^[1] He was a physicist who discovered that tides are caused by the gravitational force of the moon. When he first discovered this fact, it was still his personal knowledge. When the community accepted this fact, it became shared knowledge. Therefore, this suggests that experts like J.C. Sambile are the main people who convert personal knowledge into shared knowledge, and in order for the pursuit of knowledge to take place, it needs to be set in motion by these experts in advance. Hence, the knower’s perspective, if the knower is an expert of the field, is essential in a pursuit of knowledge in the Natural Sciences.

The Arts are very similar to the Natural Sciences, but the experts who create personal and shared knowledge are the artists. Artists use imagination and language to create the knowledge we know. This is because in order to create knowledge, the artist usually needs to create art, which is based on the artist’s personal knowledge. When the audience of the artwork considers the artwork as a piece of art, then it becomes accepted by the community as a art piece. This will then become shared knowledge, and hence not only experts but also anyone can pursue knowledge. An Italian humanist called Filippo Brunelleschi, who developed linear perspective and was the first to use it in his artwork in the early 15th century, demonstrates this.^[2] He initially created two panels, but these were not accurate depictions using linear perspective. However, his panels created in later years focused on “realism” and allow the three dimensional effect on a two dimensional surface. This new knowledge created by Filippo was his personal knowledge until the community accepted the linear perspective. Once it became accepted, it became shared knowledge and amateur artists started to use linear perspective as well. Therefore, this suggests that experts like Filippo Brunelleschi are the ones who use personal knowledge to mould shared knowledge, and in order for the pursuit of knowledge to take place, it needs to be led by artist’s perspective in the Arts.

However, there is a difference between the two AOKs in terms of what is more essential between the knower’s perspective, or results in the Natural Sciences and environment for the Arts. In the Natural Sciences, knower’s perspective and the knowledge created by experts may not be the preliminary components for the pursuit of knowledge. This is because the results the researchers obtain can also be essential to the pursuit of knowledge. The results obtained are neither personal nor shared knowledge because it is just an outcome of the experiment. By having results, the hypothesis of the researchers can be either proven or not proven. This generates knowledge, which is first personal and then shared. An example that demonstrates this is my experiment on enzyme activity for my extended essay. The experiment looked at pepsin digestion of the ovalbumin in certain temperature. Since I had conducted in-depth research, I became somewhat of an expert in this field. I gained results that showed that at 36.0°C, the pepsin digests ovalbumin the most. This proved my hypothesis and created my own personal knowledge. If there are no results obtained from the experiment, then the experts cannot create knowledge. Thus for this case, the knower’s perspective might not be the first priority in the pursuit of knowledge.

These are my results from my Biology Extended Essay. Until these results came out, I, as an expert, was not able to create my personal knowledge that 36.0°C was the best temperature for digesting ovalbumin. Thus, results are more essential that knower’s perspective because experts need the results to create knowledge.

^[1] Anonymous. “Is the Moon Moving Away from the Earth? When Was This Discovered?

^[2]  Anonymous. “AAM—The Renaissance Connection: Lesson Plans: Discovering Linear Perspective.”

Temperatures (0.5℃)	Average percentage of absorption of light (0.001nm)	Standard deviation
25.0	0.231	0.001
32.0	0.232	0.001
34.0	0.234	0.003
36.0	0.242	0.003
38.0	0.238	0.001
40.0	0.235	0.001
42.0	0.231	0.003

“Table 1: The average absorption of light at 565nm for all temperatures.”

 “Figure 1: Average absorption of light for all temperature at wavelength of 565nm.”

            In the Arts, the environment is more essential than knower’s perspective. This is because in order for artists to generate ideas, they rely on the environment such as the nature. A personal example is a piece of artwork I made. I have drawn excessive amounts of plants for my IGCSE exam 1 coursework using different media. Since I did an in-depth observation of  plants, I became somewhat an expert in drawing plants. Using my sense perception, I was relying on the observations of plants more to create my artwork rather than basing on my own personal knowledge of a plant I already had in my mind. However, it is difficult to separate the environmental influences from the knower’s perspective because the environment is one of the factors that affects the knower’s perspective. Therefore, to pursue knowledge in the Arts, we need to focus on the environment more than knower’s perspective, but also acknowledge that the environment does affect the knower’s perspective and the creation of art.

“Figure 2: One of the photos I observed for m6y artwork I created.”

In addition, the level of acceptance, as well as the criteria for the acceptances, of knowledge is different between the two AOKs. In the Natural Sciences, the scientific community needs to accept the researcher’s results and personal knowledge in order for it to be considered shared knowledge, which then contributes to pursuit of knowledge. The discovery of sickle cell anemia for example, demonstrates this. Sickle cell anemia is a disease caused by genetic mutation and the red blood cell sticks to the walls of the veins and arteries, which causes symptoms similar to anemia. Dr. James B. Herrick discovered this disease. At first, this finding was not accepted to the science community and as days passed, slowly but steadily, the concept started to become accepted. Therefore, in the Natural Sciences, it takes time and effort for the researcher’s knowledge to be considered knowledge and makes it harder to pursue knowledge.

For the Arts, the level of acceptance needed by the artistic community is much lower than the Natural Sciences. In the Arts, once one audience accepts an artwork as a piece of art, it will be considered as knowledge and allows the pursuit of knowledge. An example of this is the artwork created by Yayoi Kusama.^[1] Her artwork is mainly composed of different sized dots of different colors. Her artwork might look as if it is just filled with dots and to some audiences, it might not look like an artwork.  Nevertheless, other accepts her artwork audiences and therefore, her artwork is consider “art”. In reality, she has collaborated with other brands such as Louis Vuitton to create a design for a bag using dots. However, it is hard to tell when and how an artwork will be considered as “art”. Therefore, in the Arts, it is much easier to create knowledge once one audience thinks a piece of artwork is “art”, but is hard to tell when and how this occurs.

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^[1] Anonymous. “Yayoi Kusama and Her “Infinite Obsession”

“Figure 3: An example of Yayoi Kusama’s art that does not have a title and was exhibited using small lights as dots and mirror to reflect the dots.”

            By looking at these two AOKs from the aspect of knower’s perspective, I found some similarities, as well as some differences. In both AOKs, experts are essential in the pursuit of knowledge because they are the ones that shape their personal knowledge into shared knowledge, which leads to the pursuit of knowledge. However, the differences are the type of experts and the level of acceptance of knowledge between the two AOKs. In the Natural Sciences, the experts are researchers and it is hard to pursue knowledge because the knowledge of it is more difficult further researchers is harder to be accepted by the community than in the Arts. In the Arts, the experts are artists and the pursuit of knowledge is much easier because although it might be hard to tell when and how the audience consider what art is, the audience only needs to accept the artwork for it to be considered “art”. In conclusion, I agree that, although other factors can be essential in the pursuit of knowledge, knower’s perspective is the experts from certain AOK and they are the only ones that can pursue knowledge. Therefore, this conclusion is suggesting it is impossible to separate the knower’s perspective and other factors and as a whole, it leads up to the pursuit of knowledge. This is because the examples such as results and environment always make knowledge for the knower’s perspective.

(1582 words)

Reference

 Anonymous. “AAM—The Renaissance Connection: Lesson Plans: Discovering Linear

Perspective.” AAM—The Renaissance Connection: Lesson Plans: Discovering Linear

Perspective. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.

Anonymous. “Is the Moon Moving Away from the Earth? When Was This Discovered?

(Intermediate) – Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer.” Is the Moon Moving　

Away from the Earth? When Was This Discovered? (Intermediate) – Curious About　

Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer. N.p., 18 July 2015. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.

Anonymous. “Yayoi Kusama and Her “Infinite Obsession” in Mexico City – ARTO.” ARTO. N.p.,

29 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.Winter, William P. “A Brief History of Sickle Cell

Disease.” A Brief History of Sickle Cell Disease. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.