Can Knowledge Be Valued Or Have A Point Without Providing Meaning Or Purpose

Upon reading the statement, my initial reaction was that of course the point of knowledge is not just to produce meaning and purpose. However, “our personal lives” may refer to each person as an individual and their life choices, which contribute to their personal identity, thus creating a different answer for each one of us. The fact we all interpret purpose and meaning in our own unique ways opens many different perspectives on this statement. It also leads to a knowledge question: “To what extent can knowledge be valued or have a point without providing meaning or purpose?” In this essay I will refer to religion, language and arts to show the way they provide meaning and purpose to the knowledge we gain. Before answering, however, it is

In arts, especially, many books, paintings, sculptures and dance are open to interpretations, which means that they can also be appreciated on different levels. An example of this would be Oscar Wilde’s “Importance of being Earnest”. At first, this novel seems like a book written for entertainment purpose only with nothing but witty situations and smart word play. However, after some research into the Victorian Era, I’ve noticed in how much detail the play describes the Victorians. Their absence of compassion, carelessness for religion as well as the class conflict show the political and social situation of those times through an allegory which can be used in our personal lives and apply to the situations we find ourselves in. In this case, the purpose of knowledge was the increased appreciation of the history, which was described as an allegory in the book and the meaning was changed substantially after acquiring additional background information on the topic. The knowledge I gained from the book did have both meaning and purpose as it encouraged me to research the setting of the play and thus gain more knowledge to appreciate Oscar Wilder’s play even more. All forms of art are a mean of self-expression. But in order to gain knowledge, purpose and meaning from art, it must be understood and appreciated. Paintings are a great example of that. Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci and the knowledge that it provides consists

The use of language in certain forms of government, such as a dictatorship, exposes people to false and biased knowledge. This leads to a question: “How does manipulation of language provide purpose and meaning?” After watching a documentary on North Korea, I noticed that every single person had a task and motivation to do it. People are determined to make their country better and please the Young Marshall, Kim Jong-Un. Their dictator is referred to as sun, credited for inventing music and described as the all knowing and eternal so people adore him and try to do their best in order to please him. In this country, people are manipulated through language and are surrounded by false knowledge. However, despite the fact that this knowledge is false, people have a purpose and meaning in their personal life. The whole point of the knowledge they gain is to support their country and their leader, thus giving them a goal and an aim in life. The concept of forced knowledge is also apparent in this example, as the people may not necessarily want it, yet they still obtain which leads to the diminishment of purpose. Personally, the purpose of the knowledge I gain from biology classes, which I was forced to choose, as I needed a science subject, are to pass IB exams. I do not plan to utilize the knowledge that I had gained in the future, which means that it serves no purpose for me later on in