Tok exhibition. What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge?

by efikithagmailcom (student)

International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge

TOK Exhibition Knowledge and Interpretation

What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge?

Every single day, each of us learn more parts about ourselves and those around us. It is everyone’s goal to acquire as much knowledge as they can because it generally leads to satisfaction in their life. Experience allows to better understand oneself and the surrounding world. This theory is constantly being proven from different sources. One can be a toy , for instance Rubik’s cube; a puzzle where its goal is to much the same-colored blokes in each side of the cube. Another are the numerus published works such as novels and movies representing the relationship between the two.

My first choice of object will be the second in series book of John Locke “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’’. In this work he states that our brain is similar to a blank paper and it can be filled up with only one value and that is experience. Our understanding of the world and the way it works is corresponding directly with our senses and the way we as humans observe it. What he claims is that by analyzing our experiences we can seek the root or them and gain the knowledge of other related situations. There examples where simple ideas cannot be understandable in any way other than experience. To buttress his argument, he gives a simple example of a man who has never eaten a pineapple but wants to know what one tastes like. No matter how much research will he make or his teachers’ abilities and skills he will never know and fully understand the taste of the fruit. Because experience is the first step towards knowledge any source that is stored to our brain and we are able to use and analyses must have been entered by a way of sensation or reflection. By sensation I mean the all the senses of external objects convey into the mind and by reflection the notice that the mind takes of what it is doing, and how. To conclude we break down our experiences in to part to simplify them and take their beginnings from those two sources - external material things as objects of sensation, and the operations of our own minds as objects of reflection and convert it into knowledge

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I always had high respect for people who could solve the Rubik's Cube. It can be extremely hard to solve it without having any experience upon it. Having the cube to your hands for the fist time can be an unfamiliar situation because is no like common puzzles. To gain the knowledge of how to solve the cube, people must have some skills such as problem-solving and think practically. Rubik’s Cube has gradually been taken seriously in the field of education because it contains rich scientific knowledge. Many of us prefer, for numerus reasons, to seek help on solving this puzzle. This can ither be someone experienced on solving or even the internet. To master a new craft, you should spend time to understanded and make it your possession by constantly practicing it. Rubik’s cube makes us more patient, repeating a task till is done correctly is a value to our everyday lives. Once you have experienced the same task over and over again till meet its condition you have successfully gain its knowledge and the next time you will have to repeat it you will be ready to face it quicker and smarter. Thought out Rubik’s cube it is highlighted how lack of personal knowledge can be a problem when you face an unfamiliar situation but at the same time, we are thought that to learn the quickest and smarter way to solve it we must experience different ways of meeting its solution.

The third item of my choice is a movie called “the giver”. This film is about a young boy, named Jonas, who lives in a utopia society with no room for crime and sadness. At the age of 12, children are assigned their jobs, which they will train for and do for the rest of their lives. Jonas is assigned as the keeper of the memories that have been erased from his world to acchives equality and justice. This is both bad and good for the inhabitants because, although they are protected from harm, they are also not exposed to the wonderful aspects of life. In this society the elders are desperately trying to deprive their citizens from collecting knowledge and that is done by having no experience. In the book, it is clear that no matter how wonderful an experience is, one cannot truly value it unless he or she also has the knowledge or memory of its opposite. In the Giver, we learn that choices about the future cannot be made without the knowledge of previous experiences that tell us how a situation must be handled. Having knowledge about the world and gaining experience to do certain things allowed Jonas to stand for what he believed and bring restore all the memories to everyone. The world without the memories of happiness and sadness, color and feeling would be robotic and dull. I believe that is the best way of accumulating knowledge and so does the author. All our experiences, all the life that went through, everything we do is teaching us something. An integrated training system without, however, ever turning a page of a book. Everything was done by us. One by one became our knowledge.

Knowledge and experience can both be encapsulated in the word wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, common sense, understanding, and insight. Therefore, this term encloses both knowledge and experience within itself, emphasizing not only the difference between the two words but also their mutualistic relationship.