Knowledge Making and Acquisition
Knowledge making and acquisition remains an integral part of humanity as it defines how it's established, made and transferred from one person to another and also through the different available medium. Over the decades, there has been continual evolution regarding how people acquire or rather make knowledge in which they survive on. It matters greatly as to how people make the experience as it directly impacts the ideologies adopted in life. With the existence of different epistemological sources, the impact varies from source as well as from person to person (Hsee 138). Whether it is through perception, reason, introspection, memory, and testimony, the way one makes knowledge matters. This essay discussed sources of energy and why it matters how people make knowledge.
The Impact of the Internet
Today, one of the significant sources of knowledge among people is the internet. With more and more people accessing the internet, they actively depend on online libraries as a source of energy, more so, the digital age has become actively involved with what is happening via the internet. Today, there is endless information over the internet, and almost in every field. Drawing from the article ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid,’ I do agree with the author on the idea that, the internet is in a great extent impacting people able to read as well as stimulate their thinking. Despite its vast wealth with valuable information on any topic or specialization, the internet has had a negative impact on its users. For example, the users become more dependent on the source hence making it hard for them to reason independently. Carr explained how the internet changed his reading habits as he couldn’t concentrate on an extended period or even read long texts. Source of knowledge impacts an individual study culture (Carr). Carr identified that the use of the internet influenced his retention rate due to increasing the presence of distractions and interruptions, an aspect that is making people superficial thinkers and scattered people regarding self-thinking. It is merely when one pays attention to a fresher piece of information is when one can refer to it “meaningfully and systematically with information already well-grounded in memory. These connections are important when it adds up to complex mastering ideas and critical thinking. The internet as a source is making people meta-ignorant, or else people being unaware of what they don’t know.
Methods of Making Knowledge
Knowledge being facts or information that can be passed on makes it matter how it is made. There are different ways in which knowledge is created. One can make it through sensing. There are two different methods of sensing knowledge. One is observation and secondly experience. These are not sophisticated methods that range from direct sensation to instrument sensation and lastly to experimentation. So it matters how we make knowledge as well as how we pass it. Reasoning or use of logic is the other way in which knowledge is made. Taking and synthesizing data allows a person to get logic inferred. This happens to be a pragmatic approach that is mostly employed in computer programming (Pearce 35). Another way in which knowledge is made is via testimony. This is based on accepting what others say. It is a standard way of acquiring knowledge, but philosophers consider it problematic, since it does not allow testing what is allegedly correct by others but instead sees one as accepting everything including the faulty. Authority is also a manner of acquiring and passing knowledge. The authority may rely on a past reputation hence affecting how knowledge is made. Examples of authorities that affect how knowledge is made as passed are Philosophers like Aristotle. Institutional authorities can also fall into this category such as The Roman Catholic Church authority or Cambridge University. However, the authorities adopt this knowledge by voting, peer reviewing or perhaps on a political basis, though regardless of means of acquisition, the institutions must be respected.
Rationalism and Acquisition of Knowledge
Rationalism has been one of the adopted views or ideologies into how people acquire knowledge of something. According to MacDonald (245), rationalists hold the idea that, at least some of peoples’ knowledge is derived from reason alone. The ideology stresses the important of reasoning as a critical source and acquisition of knowledge. However, concerning this ideology, it is believed that there exists a limit to what people can learn through their abstract thought. To understand the reason of power behind every action, there is room for people to learn new approaches as to why things occur the way they do. However, the reasons behind a move may vary or instead may be infallible hence bringing people to the collision as to what purpose should they adopt. Rationalism also referred to as intellectualism is attributed as the basis of extended knowledge acquisition among people as people try to find the already existing general principle behind every phenomenon in their life. Behind each phenomenon, which is independent of each's perception of knowledge. The result is undisputed theories explaining the laws of the universe surrounding us.
The Rise of Anti-Intellectualism
Concerning Grant Penrod’s essay, “anti-intellectualism: why we hate the smart kids,” he states that anti-intellectualism is on the rise. By comparing academics and athletics, he argued that academic excellence ought to be recognized more or same as athletic recognition. Drawing from his argument, people's source of inspiration, knowledge greatly impacts the way and what they glorify over the other. “While the intellectually skilled individuals get left on the sidelines with little recognition for their accomplishments ("Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids" By Grant Penrod)." “It seems to me like the distaste doesn’t even necessarily come from the fact that these individuals are genuinely intelligent, but just from the stereotypical image of them, that be locked into the brains of many people. Whatever the cause of anti-intellectualism, Penrod hits the nail on the head by saying that the ultimate result of it is that “society looks down on individuals who help it to progress, ostracizing its best and brightest” (Penrod 692).”
Conclusion
In conclusion, the source or how people make knowledge matters to a great extent as it influences peoples' way of responding to issues, problems, and even decision making. As identified in the use of the internet to make knowledge, it can result in disruption and overreliance hence the inability of people engaging in active knowledge application. However, availability dictates, to a great extent, what source do people draw knowledge from. It, in turn, matters as to what is the source of knowledge as it directly influences their way of life, what is regarded as necessary, and how they react to different aspects of their life.
Works Cited
"“Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate The Smart Kids” By Grant Penrod." ariana's blog ☮ ✌. N.p., 2018. Web. 8 Apr. 2018.
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?." The Atlantic. N.p., 2018. Web. 8 Apr. 2018.
Hsee, Christopher K., et al. "Lay Rationalism: Individual Differences in Using Reason Versus Feelings to Guide Decisions." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), vol. 52, no. 1, Feb. 2015, pp. 134-146.
MacDonald, Dany J., et al. "Understanding Sources of Knowledge for Coaches of Athletes with Intellectual Disabilities." Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, vol. 29, no. 3, May 2016, pp. 242-249.
Pearce, Lynne. "Empiricism Vs Rationalism." Nursing Standard, vol. 19, no. 35, 11 May 2005, p. 35
