That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow”. Consider knowledge issues raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.

School Name: The International School
Candidate Name: Muhammad Jamal
Teacher Name: Syeda Sobia Haleem Candidate Code: 001307-0019
Session: 2012-2014
Word Count: 1234
“That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow”. Consider knowledge issues raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
If today, someone came up and said that the universe is motionless, he would be considered a lunatic. But in 1917, it was a common phenomenon widely believed that the universe was static. Until Einstein presented his theory and explained how the solar system worked. This example raises a knowledge issue: “Can we say that the knowledge attained through reasoning and perception is immutable”? Because the aforementioned example completely refuted this idea. What is knowledge? Knowledge is a combination of random information. This is systematically arranged through different ways of knowing specially reasoning and perception. Knowledge is classified as a factual belief. It is indispensable that the statement is considered to be true by all- which is objectivity. Having said that, we cannot ignore the role of Subjectivity in the formation of knowledge. After taking the limitations of ways of knowing into account it’s correct to say that mostly the knowledge that has been justified once before might be regarded as doubtful later.
Knowledge is formulated through perception and then refined through reasoning. For instance let’s take the Galileo theory of sun revolving around the earth. If Galileo never wondered how the system worked, why the sun appeared periodically and what moved how, he would have never formulated his theory, and thus the first step to knowledge would have never been made. It can be inferred that he based his conclusion upon his observation after seeing the circular movement of the Sun. Simultaneously reasoning is essential as well because if Copernicus did not question Galileo’s perception for the results, the current theories would have never been introduced. Scientists questioned Copernicus theory, inquired for flaws and based on valid reasons declared his theory to be false. Then again with more research and reasons, Copernicus introduced his theory of planets revolving around the sun. Just like the previous case again, Copernicus’s theory was questioned multiple times and when they realized that the theory just has minor flaws, they further reasoned and modified the theory. Therefore it can be said that the knowledge is improvable and thus mutable. It does not mean that whatever we believe in is to be refuted sometime in the future. There are many cases in which the knowledge of past still is considered plausible. However simultaneously many things which were believed to be true in the past have been discarded as time. But here the word discarded doesn’t have to really mean as we know it. It can be simply represent the refinement and the evolution of knowledge rather than rejection and abandonment. The previous ideals, philosophies and believes are worked upon to make changes where needed, in order to improve them and make them more effective. With surety it can be said that today’s answers are attained by inquiry of the flaws in the previous ones and the effort made to correct them. The previous answers are the first rung of this ladder of knowledge, today’s answers is the second rung; tomorrows answers will be the following rung and so on. Knowledge of all sorts has developed and taken a new turn, we can see numerous examples lying in our history, science and religion
Science is that one field where knowledge is not permanent. Every day, present theory are questioned and experimented in order to make new discoveries and acquire more knowledge. It is questioned and then based on rational answers it is enhanced. Many scientists themselves have said that the present answers are there to evolve and to open another door of knowledge. For example Karl Popper said, “Science is a history of corrected mistakes".
Another scientific theory being suspended was the Aluminiferous Ether theory. During the 19th century scientists like Robert Boyle had a firm belief that waves would only transmit through material medium because it was convenient to perceive and in this way he formed his knowledge upon his perception. All thou his belief could not support the EM wave theory which explained light transmission in vacuum spaces and discarded Aluminiferous Ether theory.
Science is not only the disciplines where we can see knowledge being questioned and examined. History and the change in facts all along the way also explain the discarding of knowledge. The most general example there is to give is of is the revisionist history. These historians do not rewrite or falsify any details and events. Instead they try to introduce a new perspective towards it. For example according to the history Crusades depicts the conflict between the two religions but the revisionist historians explain the political and the economic aspect of it. This is what enhancement is. Through reusing and perspective new possibilities are seen and this is knowledge takes another path. Another example would be McCarthyism where according to the history McCarthy was said to be a hero protecting his country from a communist threat but according to the revisionist historians his acts could be portrayed as a witch hunt as well. This explains how reasoning can introduce a whole new plethora of knowledge.
Knowledge is based on rational reasoning, which is according to me is a relatively efficient way of knowing. While identifying and developing, emotion plays a vital role in it. The reason behind this is that where there are emotions, there is bias which will lead to inaccurate results. Fact which might not be fully true and relative might be produced as a result of preconception. Perception plays a major role in decision making and developing knowledge, as without it, information can never be gained. Perception is the first step to the formulation of knowledge, without it there is nowhere to start. Rationally comes with reasoning which at last leads to somewhat correct results.
When I was in MYP- 4, I failed my all English monthly and midterm exams and taking that into account, my teacher predicted that I would fail my English final Exam, but surprisingly when the result came out, she was surprised to see my stellar results- I passed my English exam with flying colors. This example explicitly shows the limitation of reasoning I would further say it was a hasty generalization made by my teacher. Therefore, the knowledge formed – by her – was discarded later. Knowledge is mutable – it can be accepted today and refuted tomorrow- whether it is based on Reasoning or any other way of Knowing. However it should be based on reasoning, which according to me, is relatively efficient. That said, we also can’t blindly rely on it because reasoning is limited because human mind is limited – it cannot comprehend everything. If we say that the premises – on which our reasoned out conclusion is based – can be flawed by virtue of the dearth of evidential information, how can the conclusion be right? Analogously, Perception - for most of the people - is the most convenient way of knowing. For example, I just watched a movie on YouTube at 360 PX and, throughout the movie, mistook Cub for Cat. Likewise, who heard the Ultrasound before its discovery through scientific and thus mathematically reasoned out instruments? Some decades ago, sound was something that can be heard, which was later disproved. Likewise, today we think only things we can smell have an odor. What if tomorrow we find out everything object – living or non-living – has some sort of smell? I have a strong intuition in this regard. Conclusively, I can say that knowledge is changeable and modifiable.