KNOWLEDGE AND THE KNOWER

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE?

“Isaac Newton's Apple Tree Is Still Alive after over 400 Years.” Fact Source, 19 June 2020, source

My first object is a representation of Isaac Newton's famous encounter with an apple falling from a tree. Knowledge includes a lot of application, and taking proper action in our day to day life based on what we already know, observe and experience. The best knowledge we can have is the one we experience, since it leaves marks on us that are more efficient at understanding what is going on. The experience Newton had at watching the apple falling straight to the ground instead of falling upwards or sideways is what made him invent the laws of gravity. The personal experience he had by watching the attraction of the apple and the ground, expanded his knowledge in a way he started questioning what he just experienced. Along with this, Newton had a base of previous knowledge before discovering gravity, which helped him with his discovery. In other words, Newton had theoretical knowledge that explained his affirmation as verifiable. It was this personal experience that advanced knowledge in the field of science by discovering the laws of gravity. This is what personal experience and knowledge is about. Newton could have chosen to not share his experience and the knowledge he gained with the world, but instead, he shared what he went through, for people to react and add more possible knowledge to the original event, creating the best usefulness of the experience. As a result, Newton had a moral responsibility by knowing what he just discovered, since he could decide what to do with this information. We can conclude that the apple that fell on Newton's head is the basis leading to research and discoveries that lead to the establishment of modern quantitative science in relation to gravity. Newton’s expectations and assumptions of the apple falling off the tree impacted how he perceived this, since anyone else could have seen a simple apple falling from a tree, but Newton questioned this, and later developed his laws of universal gravitation.

O’Brien, Liam. “German Publisher Reprints Mein Kampf, Which May Be Illegal.” Melville House Books, Liam O’Brien, 21 May 2021, source

To better understand my second object, it is necessary to give some context of what is being presented. “Mein Kampf” is the autobiography that, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler wrote on his time in Landsberg prison in 1923. The book outlines his political ideology and future plans for his government. Most importantly, Hitler, in his book, wrote about the reason for his hate for the jews, and much of it came, because of some personal experiences he had with jewish people. In the book, he blames Jews for Germany's loss in WWI, which also added more trauma and hate since in this war he was traumatized by a poison gas attack led by Jews. Before being a politician, Hitler was a painter. His art was rejected by many painters and art academies, many for which the Jews were behind. He created myths that railed against modern art, which he called a “degenerate” product of the Jews and a threat to Germany's identity. Hitlers perspective as a knower was shaped by his involvements with jews. Adolf Hitler gained knowledge in antisemitism that came from all of his bad interactions with Jews. He blamed wrong about the world to the jews and this information he aquired thoroughout his years led to world genocide. The more knowledge Hitler gained by his experiences the less knowledge he had, since he was blinded by only one version of what he believed the Jews to be. Everything Hitler went through in his life, expanded his knowledge in a bad way, and it eventually shaped his personality and perspective as a political leader. In contrast with the fist object, in this case, gaining this knowledge from personal experience was not good as if Adolf Hitler would have gained knowledge from someone who values different religions and treats people the same, no matter what race/religion. In conclusion, we can say that most of Hitlers knowledge came from his interactions and experiences with Jews, since if he would be isolated from this kind of people, he probably wouldn't have implemented his political ideologies against the jews.

“Information Is Not Knowledge. The Only Source of Knowledge Is Experience.” AskIdeas.com, 28 Feb. 2016, source

Lastly, my third object is a mix of things that the well recognized German physician, Albert Einstein said. Einstein based the majority of his discoveries in experiences he had by being curious of how things work. Firstly, his encounter with a compass made him wonder how invisible forces could move the needle. This was one of the things that “deeply affected him”(Einstein, age 5). This was one of his first experiences that made him gain knowledge in scientific inquiry. He also got involved with close people that encouraged his love for science and maths. These people lended Einstein their math and science books, which led the brilliant Einstein to teach himself from these books. In this example, personal experience is involved because he gained the knowledge by learning from an electric engineer and a medical student. Being influenced by this specific community of knowers and material marked Einstein greatly at shaping his knowledge. Einstein preferred gaining knowledge through experience than from learning information, and this is what stuck on him forever, since what he lived in his curious experiences is the most valuable information and knowledge he could gain. By stating “information is not knowledge” Albert Einstein is saying that information is everywhere and “knowing things” is not enough until you apply what you already know. In other words, what Einstein is trying to say is that when information is linked with experience, only then you are gaining knowledge. Similarly to the previous objects, Hitler and Newton’s personal experience and Einstein's logic that also came from experience, formed their respective rational decisions and answers to knowledge claims, which explains how knowledge does not always require some kind of rational basis.