“Knowledge takes the form of a combination of stories and facts.” How accurate is this claim in two areas of knowledge?
Prescribed Title #2
Amy Wu
St Cuthbert’s College
Candidate No. 003886-0020
Session – November 2014
Word Count: 1587
Fact is objective information that is regarded to be correct due to the ability to prove that it is true. In comparison, stories are narratives of what has happened in the past, or hypothesized ideas. For the purpose of this essay, knowledge is defined as “true belief”, or statements that have been accepted to be the truth and thus it cannot take the form of a combination of both story and fact due to the fictional aspect that storytelling involves. However, it is arguable that facts are found through the existence of stories and accounts of past incidents. History and the natural sciences are differing storehouses of stories and facts. Each, in their own system, takes up a combination of stories and facts and are rarely found to consist of only one or other, however the strength of each in these respective fields varies because these areas assert knowledge in different ways.
To begin, the most noticeable area of knowledge that is centered on the telling of stories is history. It could be argued that knowledge in the field of history is predominantly stories. The Choctaw tribe tells a story of creation in which two brothers, Chata and Chicksah led the original people from a land in the far west, guided by a magical
Prescribed Title #2
Amy Wu
St Cuthbert’s College
Candidate No. 003886-0020
Session – November 2014
Word Count: 1587
Fact is objective information that is regarded to be correct due to the ability to prove that it is true. In comparison, stories are narratives of what has happened in the past, or hypothesized ideas. For the purpose of this essay, knowledge is defined as “true belief”, or statements that have been accepted to be the truth and thus it cannot take the form of a combination of both story and fact due to the fictional aspect that storytelling involves. However, it is arguable that facts are found through the existence of stories and accounts of past incidents. History and the natural sciences are differing storehouses of stories and facts. Each, in their own system, takes up a combination of stories and facts and are rarely found to consist of only one or other, however the strength of each in these respective fields varies because these areas assert knowledge in different ways.
To begin, the most noticeable area of knowledge that is centered on the telling of stories is history. It could be argued that knowledge in the field of history is predominantly stories. The Choctaw tribe tells a story of creation in which two brothers, Chata and Chicksah led the original people from a land in the far west, guided by a magical