Evolution Of Knowledge Essay

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Over time, many theories have been introduced in order to explain the world around us and throughout the course of history; theories have been accepted and then subsequently rejected. However, the question that arises from this evolution of knowledge is this, should the knowledge considered then be discarded totally? Do the older theories become completely useless once new ones are invented? We gain knowledge through the roles of sense perception, reason, emotion and language. These factors differ from person to person across the world as they are influenced differently between individuals due to the roles of their own personal background. To claim that we know something is that we consider it to be true and thus we believe it due to our own reasoning. However, because of the fact that knowledge is constantly evolving and changing, knowledge that was once considered to be fact is disproven creating a scenario where the theories that we accept today are waiting to be proven wrong in the future due to advances in areas such as technology. This is demonstrated by the changing in understanding surrounding the atom. Ideas have constantly changed surrounding the shape of the atom. This can be seen by John Dalton who in 1803, built upon previous interpretations concerning Proust’s Law by determining the Law of multiple proportions . This would have made previous scientists using the older model question what they knew was actually true and that their theories had been proven wrong and so should be discarded. From this stems an issue whereby there are factors hindering you to accept new knowledge, one may believe that we can have solid facts but by time progressing, perspectives change and with that facts can become reinterpreted due to ... ... middle of paper ... ...hey may be true for the current world, there is the definite situation where in the future, they will have the capability to explore areas of science not discovered as of yet. However, technology is not the only factor that influences how we assess knowledge. Everything we use to access knowledge (e.g. history, ethics) is constantly changing. As a result, we should not completely discard an old theory when a new one is introduced as it may still have some value. Old knowledge just may be general and not as specific as the new one as shown by the evolution of the atom where new ideas were built upon the olds. Therefore, the extent to which we can discard knowledge varies; if the knowledge still has some applications then it cannot be discarded. Knowledge can only be discarded when the general facts are false and so cannot aid the learning of the knower in the future.

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