The Importance Of The Pursuit Of Knowledge

1361 Words6 Pages
Whilst the knower’s perspective is always essential in the pursuit of knowledge, it’s essence is greater in some areas of knowledge than others. Perspective shapes both what we pursue in knowledge and it affects how we interpret pursued knowledge. Whilst the latter has greater influence over subjective areas such as the arts and history, the former affects even the pursuit of knowledge in more objective areas such as the natural sciences and maths. What’s more, for knowledge to be knowledge, there must be a knower. Each individual knower gains knowledge through the ways of knowing reason and emotion (amongst others); these ways of knowing shape and are shaped by our perspective. More often than not, the knowledge that we pursue has been given to us by another knower, especially in areas of knowledge like history; in this case the previous knowers perspective also shapes our pursuit of knowledge. Thus, in areas of knowledge where shared knowledge is pivotal we draw upon a shared perspective, not just that of the individual knower. Due to perspective affecting knowledge in such a magnitude of ways, it is essential in all areas of knowledge. Through exploring the pursuit of knowledge in three different areas of knowledge: the arts, history and the natural sciences, it becomes apparent, that although to different extents, perspective is essential in shaping each. The Arts is considered a subjective area of knowledge and thus meaning is derived heavily through the perspective