This need for order has even surpassed the need for answers. Even if something cannot be explained by natural science we find our order by assuming someone else will find it when science has developed. An example could be that it is known to scientist that a neutron in the atom can turn into a proton and an electron, although they do not know how this happens as they are aware of that the reverse is impossible since a neutron is not made up of a proton and an electron. This has simply been explained by stating something as unscientific as that the neutron can turn into a proton and an electron much like the frog turns into a prince in the fairy tales. The point of this example was to show that instead of accepting “chaos” people seem to be able to find order in anything, much like the theory of confirmation bias. People wanting, probably because of their need for it, to find order will find it in every example even when it is not there. On the other hand if confirmation bias is what rules the people the general assumption would be that everything always would be in order- which it of course is not.
We human beings cling to life through things we know and understand. But understandings and knowledge are ambiguous. The fact that there is right and wrong knowledge implies that those believing in the wrong knowledge are living with the wrong assumptions and things are out of the ordinary. But these people however do seem to manage life and blend into the mass of people who are “ordinary” (I do not like to use ordinary in this context without the citation marks since it is a very clear case of relativism). An example would be a scientific experiment that was carried out where people believed they were receiving a remedy for their illness when it in fact was something else, yet got cured.(ref) This implies that maybe we do not need real order to live but that the belief might be enough.
We can on the other hand not state that the knowledge claim is true for everything and that it will explain everything, which it almost seems to entitle itself with, because using falsification we can apply what Karl Popper (1902-94) thought about this. Doing that we notice that the knowledge claim probably is not some sort of universal truth but it seems it is applicable to what seems to be most cases.
So are there no cases of where we do not need chaos or that chaos is good? Has it not brought anything but destruction to the people? Well, there are cases in natural science where chaos has brought us something positive- some may even go as far as claiming that we need chaos from time to time. If order is preserved, the human beings do not have any reason to develop. After all, why would we need to improve our understanding and knowledge of a matter when there is nothing else to understand about it? An example would be that scientists do revolutions usually when they are dissatisfied with the current paradigm, where the faulty paradigm represents chaos. 1 Because of this faulty in their knowledge they will have to make progress and find a whole new way to see things. This theory could even be developed into the statement of that no revolution or even further knowledge can be gained without chaos in our environment. In a way this would go against the knowledge claim of that we would need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events since we would very well be able to survive and manage quite long without making a scientific revolution even if we would desire one.
In order to see how applicable the knowledge claim is in the area of knowledge of history there is a need to slightly further define the word “order” whereas the word “disorder” will also be redefined. If order yet again is connected to the word “normal” then normal for people would in this case be when having a sense of direction, sort of having something to live for and knowing what we want. 1 The word order would also mean when things are in order or in other words, when things are sorted and one is able to make sense out of things. 1
We can learn more about the human nature by looking at history. There are two main ways we can do this. One is by receiving our identity from our own or the human beings history1 and the other way is by sorting and making order of the events of history into different groups so they give us some sort of information . In a way, both of these are ways to avoid chaos and our need for order. Planning our life and thinking a step ahead, which would be hard with no direction or history, seems to be a need we have which without we would not last long in this life.
History is also sometimes used to find patterns and being able to predict the outcome of an event which in many ways is like finding laws in the natural sciences. As already discussed, people tend to find generalizations in order to escape the otherwise chaos of events that the life would have been filled with.
Much like the natural sciences, there is a slight “need” for chaos in history for people to realize they are not bound to the self-realizing expectations, meaning they could break out and change the paradigm and “laws” created for predicting the result of events. The chaos contributes to people having to think again and differently which then leads to development, which is something positive. So if a revolution is desired then people need to believe that chaos can be glimpsed in order.
To conclude we have seen that the knowledge claim of that people need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events is applicable to both natural sciences and history when looking at most of the aspects. This implies that the knowledge claim is true to a quite large extent in both of the investigated areas of knowledge, but there are exceptions that are not too vague that we should know about. Because of these exceptions and because the word “need” is so strong there might be disagreements about suggesting that the knowledge claim is true in most cases, but I am safe in claiming that people do need to believe that chaos can be glimpsed in the chaos of events- at least when applying it to history and the natural sciences. Also, be aware next time you are finding yourself in chaos of events that it just might be for your own best and the beginning of a revolution within yourself.
Word Count: About 1520
Richard, V.D.L, 2005. Theory of Knowledge: for the IB Diploma, 1st ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005.
Bad Brain Punk, 2009.Yahoo Answers: “People need to believe order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events”? [Online] (Updated October 2009) Available at: [Accessed 11 January 2010].