Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. (Albert Einstein) Do you agree?
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Introduction
Joshua Garfield TOK Essay First Draft Josh TOK essay ?Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.? (Albert Einstein) Do you agree? Imagination and Knowledge are two unusual concepts to compare, as they both define and represent not just different things, but contrasting ideals. Knowledge, as the name suggests, is the definitive act of knowing something through familiarisation with facts, information, descriptions or skills acquired through experience or education. Knowledge is universally regarded as truth as it has been tried and tested, anything recognised as knowledge has rigored through a variety of scientific, intellectual and practical tests to ensure its title as something generally known, is in fact a truth. Imagination, somewhat like knowledge is an abstract concept to define, it is personal and subjective. ...read more.
Middle
Until the 18th century it was considered true knowledge that the earth was a flat surface, this knowledge was questioned by scientists with conflicting theories and proved to be wrong, we now know the earth is round. Does this means the earth being flat was never knowledge since proved untrue? How can something be considered knowledge if there is no evidence to support the theory? Furthermore, how can evidence be found for something that is untrue in order for it to earn the title of 'knowledge', surely it remains a theory, which stems from imagination. For centuries people were believing a theory based on imagination. Thus, doesn't this prove imagination is far more powerful than knowledge? Contrary to knowledge, imagination doesn't only lead to belief, it doesn't require proving. The fact that knowledge isn't believed until proved, surely constitutes a weakness, proving Einstein's belief that imagination is more important than knowledge. ...read more.
Conclusion
Imagination is dependent upon perception, emotion and language and they all interact and thus, enrich our imagination.nMoreover, not necessarily all people have imagination. For instance, scientists undervalue it, and instead emphasise on their ability to explore new facts, given pre-existing ones. Hence, the relevance of being imaginative is negligible seen through a scientific perspective. In comparison, all arts wouldn?t survive without imagination. This makes the role of being imaginative too subjective. In this respect, imagination can be treated as a form of a well-developed associative memory, which doesn?t occur in all people. With all these factors taken into account, I fully agree with Albert Einstein. Ironically so considering his position as a scientist and loyal physicist, Einstein was able to recognise the importance of imagination when finding knowledge to prove. I concur with him on the understanding that knowledge is temporary until factually disputed whilst imagination cannot be, and therefore overcomes the importance of knowledge. One which cannot be fought, doesn't have to fight and therefore always comes out on top. -Joshua Garfield June 2012 ...read more.
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