Imagination as a Fifth Way of Knowing.

by sc_rahulgrah (student)

International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge

The traditional TOK diagram indicates four ways of knowing. Propose the inclusion of a fifth way of knowing selected from intuition, memory or imagination, and explore the knowledge issues it may raise in two areas of knowledge.

In this quest of knowledge man has to rely on the four conventional ways of knowing: reason, emotion, perception and language. These ways of knowing are highly commendable as it is with their help alone that we are able to find solution to every problem, question and riddle. But have they really done so? Can they provide one with the answer to the question: what happens when one dies? Is this the end or a rebirth? I think the power of our imagination and our beliefs have more to do than the ways of knowing while we are contemplating such questions. On a personal note, I don’t think that knowledge, which is endless and immeasurable, is confined to these ways of knowing. I use my imagination to think if there can be any knowledge, which can be attained without the support of these ways of knowledge.

We have to use the power of our imagination at every turn and corner. Before going to a new place or meeting a person for the first time, we use our imagination to think what kind of a place or a person we will accost. I cannot say about others but whenever I talk to a person first on the phone, I make his or her image in my mind. We fill colors and contours in everything unseen and unmet with the power of our imagination. Don’t we? Have you not heard of first impressions? No human being can deny the power of his imagination while living in this vast world where we don’t know what is going to happen the next moment. Einstein once said, “” His claim gives rise to a question if imagination can be used as a fifth way of knowing? This essay will discuss the role of imagination at large in our search for knowledge with respect to the areas of knowledge such as natural science and literature.

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I consider God as the first scientist and the first architect. Could He have made this beautiful world, swarming with beautiful life and diverse colors, without his imagination? I hope not. Every model, every object that we wish to create has to pass through the imaginative process in our brain. The words of Michelangelo resound in my ears as I write this essay,” ” And no wonder that I can feel him sculpting his beautiful carving through my power of imagination. White marble, a chisel, the sculptor, Italy, the renaissance and thousands of other things come to me within the twinkling of a second. And I am sure that these things if properly analyzed can certainly pave the way of becoming a sculptor to an amateur painter. We imagine the things and we are able to give them a shape through our power of imagination. But I am not of the opinion that imagination is the only key to knowledge. What would have happened if Michelangelo had not modeled and remodeled the piece of rock, and had not used his reason to give it a proper shape. I think imagination gives us a platform on which we can realize and achieve our objectives with the help of other ways of knowledge. Imagination without the other ways of knowledge may be compared to “making castles in the air.”

A few months ago Swiss scientists declared their revolutionary finding of a particle, which plays a pivotal role in the formation of galaxies. Known as God particle or the Higgs Boson, this particle is the last missing link to “the Standard Model that has honed our knowledge to understanding the basic building blocks of the universe.” Is it not with the power of their imagination that the scientists made a movement in the scientific world that had long turned stagnant since the theory of Big Bang? According to me unless a scientist imagines, he has nothing waiting for him but the dead end. And this imaginative power embellished by his memory and experience is the major factor that paves our way to the quest of knowledge. I do not intend to say that reason and perception did not play any role in the discovery of the God particle, but what I insist is that the role of imagination in this revolutionary discovery is indubitable. Had there been no imagination of “The Higgs field, a theoretical and invisible energy field that pervades the whole cosmos,” there would be no knowledge of it.

“Imagination rules the world” when it comes to art and literature. Let me remind you of the famous novel,” Hard Times” written by Charles Dickens. The novel is exemplary in that it shows the plight of the children of a schoolmaster who bereaves his children of imagining things, and forces them to study facts and only facts. The result is self-evident: Louisa becomes a derelict woman while Tom dies a criminal. Thus imagination is crucial to human existence as it endows us with the power to see the unseen, feel the intangible, and explore the unexplored. I think of myself as no other than them if there were no power of imagination working in my mind even tough I am writing this Tok essay.

Many times I use the words if this had been done, I would have got different results. The “I “ clause brings the possibilities of what could have happened instead of what has happened. Although “done cannot be undone” yet my mind explores the various results that could have arrived if my action had not been what it was. For example after my IGCSE I opted forcibly for Math HL. I worked hard put everything to my utmost efforts. But today I imagine that if I had taken math SL as my major I would have been getting good grades. Today I feel that this was a mistake, and this imagination makes me closer to reality that I should choose only such subjects where I am confident enough to perform. To the contrary is it not possible that if I had taken math SL and some other subjects as HL my results would have further suffered. I might have failed in Spanish or English HLs. Thus imagination helps us and at least prepares not to do the mistakes that we did in the past. It checks us! And when combined with experience it is certainly an efficient way of knowing.

While trying to gain knowledge, I certainly have to use the conventional ways of knowing such as language, reason, emotions and perception. But I feel that these four ways of knowing are not complete in themselves unless I use my power of imagination. While reading about the things that are beyond my comprehension such as shape ad image of God and aliens, I use the power of my imagination. I all of a sudden feel that they are also cast in my image. I cannot see them in any shape other than anthropomorphic. Whether I am right or wrong, I can visualize a number of things with the eyes of imagination only. And I think the same applies to everyone. Isaac Newton must have imagined the reason behind the fall of the apple before postulating the law of gravity.

I have discussed the proposition that imagination can be considered a fifth way of knowing. Does it give us knowledge? Yes it does. It creates new colors new shapes and new venues before us. But one must not forget that the world of imagination is the polar opposite of the real world. In my childhood days I wanted to be bitten by spiders in order that I too become a Spiderman. And if it were not my reason and perception, I would have me bitten by them. Today I still think of the conundrum: if I may have a rebirth or this life will be the end of everything. But I don’t get any answers. I explore different possibilities but I think that I am searching for a needle head in a haystack. Imagination does not necessarily give us knowledge. I am waiting for the 21st of December waiting for what will happen according to the Mayan prediction. I imagine binary opposite things, and make plans if I survive this doomsday. But I cannot find any answers through the power of imagination, as sometimes we believe what we see only. To conclude I think that imagination as a fifth way of knowing can be highly conducive to our knowledge provided it runs hand in hand with the other conventional ways of knowing.

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