Epistemology In Tom Stoppard's Arcadia

The earliest stone tool, created in Ethiopia 2.33 mya , marked the beginning of the struggle for control within mankind (Kimbel and Johanson 449). Born with an innate knowledge, and from “the beginning […], knowing almost nothing” (Arcadia,1.4. 47), human beings’ blissful ignorance of reality limits knowledge. With the opportunity to discover new knowledge one is able to gain experience from both the self and the universe. Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, is a colourful comedy with dreary undertones. Arcadia explores the formation and circulation of knowledge. Almost every character in Arcadia is in pursuit of some type of knowledge. Bernard and Hannah are proceeding towards knowledge of the humanities. Septimus, Thomasina, and Valentine are hunting …show more content…
The source of understanding enables us to distinguish between the different types of propositional knowledge. Epistemology is the way things are known, when ontology is the way things are. Ontology is the natural way of things, how life actually runs its course. Epistemology, comprised of many different types of knowledge. A master list does not exist, however, the primary concern of epistemology is propositional knowledge. It incorporates a number of matters, to name a few: geographical knowledge, scientific knowledge, mathematical knowledge, romantic knowledge, sexual knowledge and self-knowledge. Arcadia presents a strong conflict between scientific knowledge and self-knowledge. Based on the source from which the knowledge manifests, allows one to distinguish between the following two types of propositional knowledge. A priori knowledge, also known as universal knowledge, is arrived at independently of all particular experiences and held universally; a posteriori knowledge derives from the experience. According to Aristotle, human beings have a natural desire and capacity to understand the truth and to represent their ideals in the world with action. Thomasina is an example of a character driven by scientific knowledge, she yearns to acquire new knowledge. Flemming states in his book, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, she was an intellectual mastermind who laid the foundations of the second law of thermodynamics but lacked the mathematical knowledge to explain