Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues

raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
In what ways do the characteristics of the areas of knowledge
affect the discarding of knowledge in seeking the ultimate truth? The
characteristics and qualities of 2 areas of knowledge, history and natural
science, affect the discarding of knowledge in seeking the ultimate truth.
Discarding knowledge is when knowledge is no longer useful, desirable,
hence rejected. It aids with the revision of knowledge, leading to the
alteration of existing knowledge, making it one step closer in the process
of reaching the only and absolute truth. History explores the phenomena
of past human activities. Knowledge in History is not completely
discarded; instead, is used to deepen the understanding of the subject.
But Natural Science explores natural phenomena, a hypothesis is either
accepted or rejected and unwanted knowledge is rid of. Thus, the
differences in the characteristics of these 2 AOKs lead to different ways of
discarding knowledge. This essay will see why the process of discarding
knowledge in these 2 AOKs is very different.
History is the analytical study and recording of past human
events 1and has been rewritten many times throughout the course of
man-kind. History as a discourse is an artifact, something produced by
human beings. Knowledge in History generally arises by emotion,
perception and reason. Humans do not simply reason and are not

history. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved March 11, 2014,

from Dictionary.com
website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/history
1

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
completely rational2; they experience different emotions and perceive
things differently, these different experiences will affect their reasoning.
There are therefore many different versions of one truth- but this means
that it allows greater insight to the understanding of one situation as I
believe that a historical event is not one persons viewpoint but the
collective experience of a group of people so knowledge in History is not
discarded but rather, is used to build up ultimate truth. A friend of mine
shared an intriguing online article on Facebook some time ago. From it, I
learnt that Egyptologists have been researching on Thonis and Heracleion,
ancient Egyptian cities that were sometimes mentioned in ancient texts
and inscriptions, such as the Decree of Canopus honouring Pharaoh
Ptolemy III and from knowledge passed on from ancient historians like
Diadorus.

That was all that was known about the cities. These legendary

ancient cities shared many common features such as their wealthy status.
However, recently, I came across an interesting article about
archaeologists diving deep into the seas of Egypt, revealing a big
discovery. The archaeologists uncovered Greek and Egyptian statues, gold
coins and tablet engraved in ancient Greek and Egyptian language4. From
the artifacts, it was evident that to the Ancient Greeks, this city was called
2 Rationality. (2014, February 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=Rationality&oldid=596366148
3 Heracleion. (2014, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Retrieved 11:25, March 11, 2014,

from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Heracleion&oldid=594331568
2

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
Thonis, whereas to the Ancient Egyptians, it was called Heracleion.
They were simply in different languages5. Moreover, the excavations
revealed that the Greeks and Egyptians did perceive this city as a highly
regarded one because a large temple of Khonsou was located at the heart
of the city and that it was perceived as a wealthy heart of trading. We can
see that the different types of knowledge, in the form of language,
perception and reason, allow greater insight to the understanding of the
city. As proven by joining the pieces of the puzzle together, historians now
know that Herecleion-Thonis was one city and was the heart of trading 6.
The idea of the city being two different cities was no longer valid.
However, it cannot be said that this knowledge is discarded because this
piece of information was useful in leading to the new discovery. This
shows that knowledge in History is not completely discarded but rather
takes new forms through adaptation and alteration, and builds up greater
insight in seeking the ultimate truth.

4 R. Gray, (28 April 2013) Lost city of Heracleion gives up its secrets. The

Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2014 from:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost
-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html
5 Franck Goddio (n.d) Sunken Civilizations: Heracleion. Franck Goddio.

Retrieved 19 February 2014: http://www.franckgoddio.org/projects/sunkencivilizations/heracleion.html

6 R. Gray, (28 April 2013) Lost city of Heracleion gives up its secrets. The

Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2014 from:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost
-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html
3

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
On the other hand, the variety of WOKs that are involved in
History might hinder the discarding of knowledge when we want to judge
whether particular knowledge should be discarded or not. I recall watching
a news report years ago that sparked anger among the Hong Kong
community. A textbook, New History Textbook, was approved by the
Japanese Ministry of Education in 2001 and was published for Japanese
high school students. The textbook whitewashed Japans military
aggression in the First Sino-Japanese war and World War II, just to name a
few. I researched more on the issue and found out that since 2002,
Chinese textbooks have emphasized the retelling of the Rape of
Nanking. Likewise, in South Korea, some textbooks emphasize the
sufferings of Korea under Japanese rule, downplaying the involvement of
collaboration7. Emotion affects the way humans deal with situations. From
the example it is clear that emotion such as patriotism for ones country
has led to the manipulation and the masking of truth. Although it was
mentioned that collective experiences of people can bring greater insight
into the truth in History, it can also present some obstacles as knowledge
affected by emotion are prone to one-sidedness and bias. It makes it
difficult to judge whether knowledge should be discarded as its validity is
questionable. Therefore the characteristics of History can adversely affect
the discarding of knowledge.
7 Japanese history textbook controversies. (2014, February 7).

In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11:43, March 11, 2014

from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Japanese_history_textbook_controversies&oldid=594337819
4

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
Natural Science is the systematic study of the physical world
such as biology and chemistry

by experiments and observations. The

ways of knowing involved in Natural Science is most significantly

reasoning and perception during experiments. As opposed to History, it
does not deal with human events and attempts to maintain objectivity.
Gaining knowledge in Natural Science is a negative endeavor, it is about
falsification. Hypotheses must be based on things that are refutable 9, thus
discarding knowledge in Natural Science is a healthy and straightforward
process. For example, in general terms, the Phlogiston theory from 1667
states that substances that burned in air were rich in phlogiston; the fact
that combustion soon ceased in an enclosed space was evidence that air
had the capacity to absorb only a finite amount of phlogiston. This theory
was slowly proven wrong as scientists slowly conducted more and more
experiments. At present, what we understand of this theory that it was
simply an attempt to explain burning processes such as combustion10. This
example shows that the characteristics of Natural Science, which require
8 natural science. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete &

Unabridged 10th Edition. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from Dictionary.com

website:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/natural science
Falsifiability. (2014, February 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Falsifiability&oldid=595943978
9

10 Phlogiston theory. (2014, February 27). In Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2014,

from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Phlogiston_theory&oldid=597430012
5

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
the rejection or acceptance of a hypotheses, allows a healthy and
straightforward discarding of knowledge that brings us closer to the
ultimate truth in Natural Science.
But this might not always be the case. I have learnt from my
human physiology classes in Biology that in the past, it was believed that
emotional stress contributed to stomach ulcers. In 1982-1983, Dr. Barry J.
Marshall and Dr. J. Robin Warren, two little-known scientists, put forward a
theory that ulcers were caused by infection in the stomach by
Helicobacter pylori. Despite finding ways of curing patients with stomach
ulcers inexpensively, it took until 1994 for a consensus to be reached. This
was because existing beliefs made doctors, drug companies and policymakers believe that they had already knew the cause of ulcers. Moreover,
pharmaceutical companies were making huge profits for putting ulcers
into remission; they would not invest in new research that would only lead
to inexpensive treatments11. Despite the fact that scientific knowledge is
often based on reasoning and perception, it is also true that it can be
influenced by other WOKs such as emotion as pointed out in the example.
Scientists emotions might cause them to act in self-interest and
confidence, causing a hindrance in the discarding of knowledge in Natural
Science, thus slowing the process of getting closer to the ultimate truth.

11 Allot, A., Mindorff, D., (2010) IB Diploma Programme: Biology Course

Companion. (Second Edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

6

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
To conclude, from the exploration of History and Natural
Science, it is evident that the characteristics of History and Natural
Science can influence the discarding of knowledge. In History, a variety of
WOKs are involved in obtaining knowledge. It is crucial to look into all
aspects of humans, it gives rise to many different forms of a truth,
allows greater insight into the understanding of one situation as a
historical event is not one persons viewpoint but the collective
experience of a group of people. Knowledge in History is not completely
discarded but instead, takes new forms through for example, modification
and alteration to build up ultimate truth. On the flip side, emotion can lead
to the manipulation and the masking of truth. It could present some
obstacles as knowledge becomes prone to one-sidedness and bias. It
makes it difficult to judge whether knowledge should be discarded as its
validity is questionable and no one would know which knowledge is
accurate. Hence, the characteristics of History can adversely affect the
discarding of knowledge. In Natural Science, obtaining knowledge is
primarily done by reason and perception. The negative endeavor is about
falsification. Hypotheses must be based on things that are refutable, thus
discarding knowledge in Natural Science is a healthy and straightforward
process. However, this is not the case when emotions cause scientists to
act in self-interest and confidence, slowing down the discarding of
knowledge in Natural Science. If this conclusion is accepted, it implies that
the discarding of knowledge in all other AOKs will be influenced by its own
characteristics. This implies that since the characteristics of other AOKs
7

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
such as Art, Human Science and Ethics involve the exploration of the
human experience, the way knowledge is discarded would tend to be
similar to that of History. Likewise, since Mathematics is generally about
logical reasoning, the discarding of knowledge would be similar to that of
Natural Science. It is important that we know this because both AOKs
play a big role in our everyday lives; it reminds us that we should
scrutinize the validity of discarding knowledge to ensure that it
corresponds to the requirement of the characteristics of a specific AOK.

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.

Bibliography
Books

Allot, A., Mindorff, D., (2010) IB Diploma Programme: Biology Course

Companion. (Second Edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Websites
Falsifiability. (2014, February 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Falsifiability&oldid=595943978
Franck Goddio (n.d) Sunken Civilizations: Heracleion. Franck Goddio.
Retrieved 19 February 2014: http://www.franckgoddio.org/projects/sunkencivilizations/heracleion.html
Heracleion. (2014, February 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 11:25, March 11, 2014,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Heracleion&oldid=594331568
history. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from
Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/history
Japanese history textbook controversies. (2014, February 7). In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11:43, March 11, 2014,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Japanese_history_textbook_controversies&oldid=594337819
natural science. (n.d.). Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged
10th Edition. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from Dictionary.com
website:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/natural science
Phlogiston theory. (2014, February 27). In Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2014,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Phlogiston_theory&oldid=597430012

Prescribed Title 4: That which is accepted as knowledge today is

sometimes discarded tomorrow. Consider knowledge issues
raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.
Rationality. (2014, February 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Rationality&oldid=596366148
R. Gray, (28 April 2013) Lost city of Heracleion gives up its secrets. The
Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2014 from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost
-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html

10