Natural Sciences: Lack Of Shared Knowledge

1479 Words6 Pages

As Linus Pauling said “You aren’t going to have good ideas unless you have lots of ideas and some principle of selection” (Linus Pauling, 1901–1994). To have lots of ideas from different Areas of Knowledge by learning how things are done is the gain of shared knowledge, but the ability to select good ideas using different ways of knowing such as emotions, faith, reason and sense perception is personal knowledge because it is acquired by an individual. Shared knowledge is the product of a group of people working together. It evolves over time; this is because of continued application of methods of inquiry (IB TOK Guide, 2013:17) and changing scientific theories. On the other hand, personal knowledge is described as the work of a single individual …show more content…

In contrast, I will also show that personal knowledge can also shape shared knowledge. The question will be discussed with reference to natural sciences and religious knowledge systems using language, reason, sense perception and faith to describe how knowledge is gained. This raises a knowledge question; to what extent is knowledge dependent on previous discoveries and inventions in natural sciences? While looking at natural sciences and religious knowledge systems, personal knowledge of individuals is more because of shared knowledge that has been shared using language and reason. Shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge because it uses reasoning. This means that to pass information to the next generation, there have to be reasons given for convincing and understanding …show more content…

Using faith, which brings about intimate relationship with God, differs from individuals. This means the understanding beyond sense perception, such as experiencing miracles in Christianity like getting healed by a priest and for a Muslim to understand the importance of Mohammed’s vision; about Allah and Islamic religion. Experiencing miracles comes with faith, which is personal and not shaped by shared knowledge. Muslims in the same religious groups may have different faith. This does not mean they have received different shared knowledge but their faith used to interpret shared knowledge is different. Therefore, not all personal knowledge is shaped by religious teachings. However, I still argue that if it was not of being raised in a certain religion, an individual would not develop solid understanding of a certain religion. For example, if a Christian prophet was never taught of God through Jesus, he would not have the ability to reveal things from God. This proofs that a personal relationship with God is the result of shared knowledge from religious

Open Document