“That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow.” Consider

knowledge issues raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.(Question #4)

Technological advancements and increasing globalization in our world have led to vast improvements in

the access and diffusion of knowledge in almost every single society. The statement, “That which is

accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow.” raises certain issues about the

nature of knowledge and the implications of knowledge as we know it. Hence, it will be my aim to

explore whether or not knowledge can be the same for everyone, and to investigate the timelessness of

knowledge, questioning if it is actually possible to discard knowledge. The scope of this essay will focus

on the natural sciences and human sciences in terms of Areas of Knowledge (AoK), and reason,

perception, and language within the various Ways of Knowing (WoK). Whilst I realise that perhaps any

AoK could have been utilized to explore the extent to which knowledge is personal or shared, the

natural and human sciences lend themselves particularly well to this investigation due to the prominent

role of inductivism in both these AoK. The five key steps to inductivism; observation, hypothesis,

experiment, law, and theory require the use of perception and reason to validate knowledge in these

AoK, and hence the aforementioned WoK become distinctly useful in the analysis of this knowledge

issue. Moreover, due to the abundance of new research occurring in many areas of the natural and

human sciences, these AoKs are appropriate in order to probe the timelessness of knowledge itself.

In terms of epistemology, knowledge itself is misconceived to be overly broad, with many people

confusing knowledge with information. We often take for granted what the true nature of knowledge

actually is. We repeatedly assume that knowledge is simply a justified true belief; however this must be

explored in more depth. Firstly, the knowledge in question must not only be true, but it must also be

justified. In the realm of the natural sciences, inductivism can validate knowledge; through the

justification of said knowledge, then the notion of belief arises. Whilst belief is relatively subjective, if

there is concrete evidence and justification for knowledge, then this belief becomes more widely

accepted, leading to belief of knowledge beyond a reasonable doubt. Hence, knowledge becomes

more widely tolerated. Our knowledge of the radius of the Earth will demonstrate just how complex

knowledge truly is. There are a variety of levels of knowledge associated with this particular piece of

information. If I take my brother, who has never studied physics, and tell him that the radius of the

Earth is 6378 km, and he chooses to believe that this value is true, then he will only have a superficial

grasp of the knowledge concerning the radius of the Earth. I have communicated to him a certain

amount of knowledge through language, and he now knows that the radius of the Earth is 6378 km. If

he decides to share this knowledge, then he will utilize memory to do so, but because his level of

knowledge is only superficial, he cannot draw upon reason to explain the significance of this knowledge

to another individual. I, on the other hand, have studied Physics within my IB diploma. As a result, my

level of knowledge concerning the radius of the Earth is of a relatively good understanding; I can draw

upon reason to justify this by explaining how the use of trigonometry and mathematical formulae enables

us to measure the radius of the Earth, and I can understand how the final answer is obtained. This level

of knowledge pales in comparison to Eratosthenes, the Greek mathematician, known to be the first

person to calculate the radius of the Earth. Being the first individual to calculate the radius of the Earth,

Eratosthenes utilized sense perception, reason, and imagination to understand how to measure the radius

of the Earth using basic trigonometry.

Therefore, his level of knowledge can be expressed as a level of true mastery. A counterclaim could be

that because my brother, myself, and Eratosthenes all know that the radius of the Earth is 6378 km,

therefore knowledge is the same for everyone. Whilst it is true that we all know that the radius of the

Earth is 6378 km, this is an ostensible claim because it fails to appreciate that knowledge carries with it

such differing levels of understanding; it could even be argued that this counterclaim fails to differentiate

between information and knowledge. Whilst everyone can be in possession of a certain amount of

information, knowledge cannot be the same for everyone. Hence, by utilizing the premise that

knowledge is different for everyone, then for knowledge to be discarded, the level of belief in the “new”

knowledge must be higher for each corresponding level of knowledge. However, I do appreciate that in

some cases knowledge can be discarded for everyone. This was particularly poignant when Einstein

released his theory of relativity; transforming our knowledge of physics and superseding Newton’s 200

year old theory of mechanics.

Psychology, the scientific study of the mind, is a discipline in the human sciences which aims to explore

the mental processes and behaviour of humans. Despite homosexuality being present across all corners

of the Earth for thousands of years (the Ancient Greeks, the Aztecs, and the Romans were all tolerant, since the Middle Ages, homosexuality has largely been condemned.

Due to an abundance of research in the realm of psychology, through scientific trials utilizing reason and

perception, in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental

disorder. Since we know that knowledge is different for everyone, it is interesting to look at the effect

of this change in classification on different parties. From the perspective of homosexuals, and in terms of

knowledge, this change in classification did not cause knowledge to be discarded. Even when

homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder, homosexuals already considered it to be a sexual

orientation; hence the declassification of it as a mental disorder did not alter their personal knowledge.

However, the declassification did discard previously shared knowledge about homosexuality on a

societal scale. In Western culture, this declassification, shared through the use of language, altered the

way in which we perceived homosexuality, spearheading a global campaign for increased equality and

rights. During my upbringing alone, I have noticed the increased tolerance towards homosexuality occur;

recently, a friend of mine became the first openly gay Eagle Scout within the Boys Scout of America

association; this would not have been possible thirty years ago. Whilst I appreciate the positive effect of

the declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder on a societal scale, it would foolish to believe

that this has caused everyone to discard their previous knowledge of homosexuality as a mental

disorder. Homosexuality is bound by the constraints of moral relativism; certain individuals/cultures will

continue to accept homosexuality as a mental disorder because they exhibit radically different moral

values than the rest of society, perhaps due to differences in religious beliefs. Consequently, whilst

knowledge cannot be timeless because it will inevitably evolve and be discarded amongst certain

individuals/groups in society, we can appreciate that for knowledge to be discarded in the future it must

first be accepted in the present. In many cases, the acquisition/acceptance of knowledge is bound by

moral relativism, meaning that the diffusion of knowledge will therefore be constrained to cultural

boundaries.

In summary, whilst is inexorable that some knowledge which is accepted today will be discarded in the

future, this is not always the case. As this essay has made apparent, knowledge cannot be the same for

every individual simply due to the complexity of knowledge itself. Accordingly, knowledge can therefore

only be discarded when new knowledge is deemed to be more true and justified beyond a belief

proportional to the level of knowledge understood by the individual. When comparing AoKs, the use of

inductivism makes it extremely difficult for knowledge to be discarded in the natural sciences, especially

since the level of knowledge acquired by an individual can be so complex; for this complex amount of

knowledge to be discarded, a proportionally high level of new knowledge must be presented that is also

a justified true belief beyond a reasonable doubt. In the realm of human sciences, knowledge can be

discarded slightly more freely because there is a tendency to make large generalizations. This means that

similarly, it is easier for new knowledge to be supercede antecedent knowledge; however, in the area of

human sciences, as portrayed through the example of homosexuality, there is no guarantee that

individuals or societies will chose to discard knowledge in the future due to the existence of moral

relativism.

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