“There are only two ways in which humankind can produce knowledge: through passive observation or through active experiment.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
To initiate the investigation , the key components should be defined: the terms passive observation and active experiment. Passive observation can be defined when the individual makes no impact on the phenomenon they are studying. Active experiment is when the individual interacts with the experiment in order to influence the outcome of what they are studying. Although these two terms are very well rounded ideas of how people arrive at knowledge, they do not work dependently.When looked at the key words “only two ways”, we can understand that the prompt is asking not to compare these two methods, but asking which way would be more effective in creating knowledge, and if there are other possible ways to create knowledge. But both active experiment and passive observation are used to produce new knowledge, but they cannot be used simultaneously as using one would negate the laws that define the other. Knowledge is not restricted to being discovered through observation or experimentation as can be understood when delving into a much more holistic workings of previously accepted phenomenon.
In terms of passive observation, knowledge has to already be created to produce knowledge. Passive observation is about interacting with what is already in front of you. An ideal example of this would be the act of looking at a work of art. This is significant to me personally based on my own knowledge, my experience as an IB art student has allowed me to gain knowledge through the observations of many great artists of our past and present. When one observes a work of art, their individual approach to knowledge was based on their visual approach; color, texture, etc. It is not about how the artist was able to create the piece. The act of looking at the work of art helps us understand how the artist may have created the piece which helps us gain our knowledge.I know when I create an art piece for someone to look at, it is all about the outcome and not the process of making it. My goal is not to produce art solely for aesthetic purposes but much more innate emotional connections. The main thing to look at is that the audience interprets the art piece through emotion. This however brings us to the knowledge question: how can observations be regulated? Passive observation is defined as not making an impact on the phenomenon that the audience is studying but the emotions that we feel from day to day. Emotion is an aspect of knowledge that differs from every individual. This unique result of stimuli created various formations of knowledge, which can help us understand how two individuals who view the same object may come to different conclusions. The emotions that the audience could feel have a positive or negative influence on how they create new knowledge about the art piece that they are viewing. Passive observation is innate to the evolution of human beings as well. For example, our identification of danger was based of another individual mistakes. Our observations of others failures helps us arrive at knowledge for ourselves. This lack of interaction, or in this case experimentation, aids in our process of gaining knowledge. An ideal representation of this is movies, which depict acts of valor, or horror of other individuals which then leads us to form similar situations within ourselves. Overall the act of passive observation is essential for the evolution and creation of knowledge.
When looking at active experimentation: knowledge is accessed through interaction. The ideal area of knowledge to look through would be the natural sciences. Natural sciences involves a lot of experimentation done to come to an fact or idea that needs to be investigated. For example, was a child, a lot of my arrival of knowledge was based on my ‘experimentation’. I burned myself as a
