Personal Exploration of Knowledge
Darchelle Mitchell
University of Phoenix

Personal Exploration of Knowledge What is epistemology? Simply put, it is the science or study of knowledge. It is curious that often human beings do not question the origin of knowledge, especially concerning common-sense beliefs and practices, taking on the notion that having been there always, it is tested, established, and proven to be true over practice. If knowledge is socially created and structured by man, it will also be subject to the flaws and fallibility and human thought. Epistemology addresses this by asking questions like - how is knowledge acquired and established, how do we know what we know, what is knowledge? These are basic and intriguing questions about knowledge that is not often addressed by us human beings when confronted with new or ordinary ideas and knowledge systems. They are important to ask however simply because human society's bedrock is knowledge; we live our lives influenced by systems of knowledge that control our ways of thinking, doing, and living from our simplest to most complicated tasks. Epistemology To truly understand epistemology as the philosophy and science of knowledge, it is important to understand what knowledge means. Knowledge is the knowing and familiarity of a skill, a person, an event, of facts, of descriptions, of abstract concepts. Acquiring knowledge can happen by exposure, by experience, by familiarity or as we are familiar with - by education. For example, if we want to learn mathematics - we study mathematics wherein we become exposed to, and learn mathematical principles. As for skills, consider for example ballerinas. Granted, a young girl has the innate talent to dance. Ballet has certain principles and skills that can only be acquired by regular learning, guidance, and practice. Over time, constant practice of the body and the mind gives a person the knowledge of the ballet and the skills to become a ballet dancer. Foucault (1987) calls these constant practice technologies of the self - employed overtime, constant practice becomes ritual that in turn becomes an established way of doing that cements a particular learned skill or knowledge as part of the individual who has come to master it. Whether or not a particular learned skill or knowledge is universally true, to the person who sees it as tried and tested sees that particular knowledge as justifiably true. If this is knowledge, then we are exposed to, acquire, and learn knowledge through perception, through our senses. When exposed to systems of knowledge, we retain it through memory. When confronted with events or situations when such knowledge systems apply, we reflect, we go through some form of introspection and using reason and motivations and influences that come with our own unique experiences, we decide. At the same time, however, as Feldman (2003) has explained, we live in a world whereby science has become the main arbiter of what is established to be valid knowledge, to be true, following the scientific method. As such, when offered expert testimony, as in a courtroom setting, (e.g. forensic experts) the respect garnered by experts in such a field often lead opinions to favor that of knowledge that can be validated over knowledge that cannot, possibly based only on hearsay and fraught with bias. Still, Feldman (2003) offers the importance of maintaining a healthy sense of skepticism when confronted with certain bodies of knowledge; claiming validity and truth is not enough to establish a particular system, it has to stand critical analysis of field experts or stand the test of time as when theories can remain relevant over time without facing what Kuhn calls paradigm shifts (1977) - if paradigms are ways of thinking, then a shift of paradigm is about shifting a way of thinking because the old paradigm cannot explain or solve certain problems and issues, thereby proving its limitations. Applying in Real Life The discussions about the importance of critically studying a knowledge system is understandable in the field of the sciences, for example. Can critical study of knowledge systems, including thinking paradigms and practices, improve our day to day life? I believe it could. In our lives, we live by certain beliefs and certain established practices that we have either learned from others or have built up over time. An important example in my own life can be quite easily seen in the way I do my groceries. I grew up in a home where my mom did her groceries every day, after work. In my childhood years, fresh markets and small grocers were still the mod, unlike the big malls and discount stores we have today. To get fresh products, the routine was to go to the bakers first thing in the morning before breakfast and to prep the sandwiches using previous day’s groceries for everyone's lunchbox. At around four pm, my mom would end her shift at the nursing home, she would pick us children up and we would troop to the high street where the baker's, the butcher's and the grocery shops were. As such, it has been my practice ever since I have been independent to do my grocery shopping daily, buying only what I needed for the night and for morning of the next day. I also do weekly shopping but for non-food items generally. This always had been my practice and my routine. These last few years because of the economic crisis, I have come to believe that much of my income is spent on daily trips to the store but because it is an established practice in my life, I just worked harder to make more in order to keep my daily purchase routine. An Epistemological Questioning I currently question this knowledge system. Doing my grocery run yesterday, I took note of the time it took me to get to the store and the fuel I used up to get there. I multiplied this task seven times to note my weekly consumption. I also took note of how much I bought and what I bought. As Feldman explained, often we are swayed by expert testimony. I bought green products even if they were much more expensive because experts say they are much more helpful to the planet. I bought teeth-whitening toothpaste overpriced by two dollars over its competition because it had a dental association's stamp on it. I also observed that I usually had a budget in mind when I would enter the store and spend about 15 dollars to buy what I will need for the night and the morning. I came out spending over my budget, with the reasoning to me that I needed this product or choosing one product over the other either by expert testimony or by my own emotional cues related to want and need. The next day, I resolved not to do my daily run and right away I felt bad, as if I were questioning the ways of my mother. I came to realize that daily groceries were a system of practice that I have acquired from my mother and was the path she took because it suited our needs then. It is not a paradigm that best suited my own needs. The time I sent on it daily can be better spent studying or working; the money I waste on fuel and on unnecessary items bought could have either gone to my savings or could have gone to cover my loans. I realized further on that my financial issues were part and parcel caused by my daily trips to the store, although I could get my daily sustenance, not all of the items I bought were strictly food - they fed a habit of buying and perusing store stock daily that allowed me to escape from my own daily challenges at work and at home. One can even consider it a “me-time”, an unmanaged, unrecognized “me-time” as my own further introspection and reflection has come to show. Conclusion Feldman (2003) was explicit in saying that knowledge is a social construct. In my case, the way I perceived my daily ritual, the way I reflected upon the products so that they end up in my cart, the manner in which I reasoned out purchases and motivations brought on by expert testimony; all these contributed to a problematic knowledge system that depleted my bank account, leading me to financial issues I should not have. Epistemologically studying my daily run showed me that I did what I did for not applicable reasons and showed me that the structure of my thinking is rooted in causes not related to my food needs but related to practices and belief systems acquired from childhood that were not applicable in my personal present-day context.

References
Feldman R. (2003). Epistemology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Foucault, M. (1987). Technologies of the self: A seminar with Michel Foucault. London, Tavistock.
Kuhn, T. (1977). The Structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press.