"Knowledge within a discipline develops according to the principles of natural selection." How useful is this metaphor? Many times questioning existing knowledge leads to new evidence that either supports the knowledge or proves to be wrong. Thus knowledge that is preserved is based on natural selection. However how does natural selection determine the value of knowledge? In History, natural selection determines the value of knowledge through the use of memory and belief. Whereas in natural science the value of knowledge is determined by using sense perception and reason. Therefore, the metaphor of natural selection works well within the structure of knowledge in the areas of history and natural science as the areas of knowing use the ways
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Based on past experiences sense perception can evoke various emotions that lead to different ideas. These ideas then can create new perspectives and eventually may result with new knowledge if proven to be true. For example, the Faraday's Law which explains the idea of electromagnetism. Prior to the discovery people observed lightning and though it was God who sent the lightning bolts in anger. In the 19th century Michael Faraday observed that if a wire is placed in a magnetic field the electrons will get pushed creating an electric current (Rivington). Thus new knowledge of particles colliding together and eventually resulting with an electric current replaced the old knowledge. With the different use of sense perception Faraday was able to gain new perspective which allowed him to reason a different knowledge. The same way much of the knowledge forms. People look, taste, touch, smell, or hear things and because of their past they obtain the knowledge in a different way allowing them to some up with new ideas. In the same way one may use his sense perception to confirm already existing knowledge by obtaining the similar results as predicted by the current knowledge. Therefore the natural selection of valuable knowledge in natural science is based on sense perception and its
Based on past experiences sense perception can evoke various emotions that lead to different ideas. These ideas then can create new perspectives and eventually may result with new knowledge if proven to be true. For example, the Faraday's Law which explains the idea of electromagnetism. Prior to the discovery people observed lightning and though it was God who sent the lightning bolts in anger. In the 19th century Michael Faraday observed that if a wire is placed in a magnetic field the electrons will get pushed creating an electric current (Rivington). Thus new knowledge of particles colliding together and eventually resulting with an electric current replaced the old knowledge. With the different use of sense perception Faraday was able to gain new perspective which allowed him to reason a different knowledge. The same way much of the knowledge forms. People look, taste, touch, smell, or hear things and because of their past they obtain the knowledge in a different way allowing them to some up with new ideas. In the same way one may use his sense perception to confirm already existing knowledge by obtaining the similar results as predicted by the current knowledge. Therefore the natural selection of valuable knowledge in natural science is based on sense perception and its