6.

"Humans are pattern seeking animals and we are adept at finding

patterns whether they exist or not" (adapted from Michael Shermer). Discuss

knowledge questions raised by this idea in two areas of knowledge.

The human brain seeks coherence, structure and order in the information that

we receive from our senses. In order to make sense of the world around us, we seek

to establish patterns that is to become recognizable to us. Intuitively, we believe that

the collection of knowledge must have had some sort of pattern and the ability to

seek these patterns is fundamental to our ability to learn from the knowledge that we

have acquired. However, how certain are we that these patterns actually represent

the knowledge that we are looking for? Michael Shermer said that the patterns that

we find are often real, while at other times, they are just mostly manifestations of

chance. This has therefore raised the question, To what extent can the creation of

patterns truly assist us in acquiring knowledge of the world around us?

Patterns often give the meaning of something typical that can be repeated,

something capable of repetition into smaller copies (Grenader, 1996). To explore

whether these patterns that we find really do assist in giving us knowledge, it is vital

for us to specify the kind of knowledge that we seek for in terms of the Areas of

Knowledge. An area of knowledge that we tend to see patterns in is history, which

studies about the recorded past. George Santayana, a prominent figure in Classical

American Philosophy once said that, those who do not learn history are condemned

to repeat it. The words quoted from this famous philosopher indicates that human

behaviour tends to repeat itself over time and in history this is known as historic

recurrence. The repetition of similar events in history can facilitate us to identify

patterns of historical events and these patterns can be used to infer about uncertain

events or simply to make conclusion to predict the outcomes of problems occurring

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in current events and propose solutions to solve it. For instance, the current political

scandal in South Korea has been compared to the political scandal that led to the fall

of the Russian Empire in 1917 1. The president of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye was

revealed to be consulting a daughter of a cult leader, a shaman regarding official

duties similar to how Tsar Nicholas II of Russia confided with Rasputin, a mystic

monk. Tsar Nicholass actions led to the enragement of the royal family and the

citizens alike which caused political parties calling for the downfall of their emperor.

President Park Geun-Hyes similar actions also led to a similar response from the

citizens, calling for the impeachment of their president. The pattern that can be

identified in both these situations will help us identify the actions that we could take

to solve the current political scandal in South Korea based on what had happened to

the Russian Empire.

However, when making decisions based on history, it must be noted that there are

uncertainties that come with it. The question of Is knowledge of the past ever

certain? comes to light. Knowledge of the past is never certain and this is due to the

lack of complete certainty of evidence there is to support historical claims. When

there is lack of complete certainty of the evidences provided, it is hard for us to come

up with patterns from it. An example where there is not complete certainty in the

evidence provided is the debate of the existence of Hang Tuah 2. Hang Tuah is

known as a prominent figure in Malay history due to his loyalty to the king and his

bravery. However, a debate sparked in the year 2012 where authorities had

1 Monitor, T. C. S., & Rosen, B. (2016, October 31). Rasputin-like scandal in South Korea
echoes of dictatorial past. Retrieved December 21, 2016, from Asia Pacific,
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2016/1031/Rasputin-like-scandal-in-South-
Korea-echoes-of-dictatorial-past
2 Bedi, R. s. (2012, January 22). Is Hang Tuah fact or fiction? - nation | the Star Online.
Retrieved December, 2016, from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2012/01/22/is-hang-
tuah-fact-or-fiction/

2
disagreements of whether this man was simply a myth or not. The argument of him

being a myth came from the uncertainty in the evidences that proved his existence.

The lack of certainty in the evidences provided causes it to be difficult to identify the

patterns in the historical events because people were unsure whether these events

really happened and to make decisions on current events based on the uncertain

events would most likely produce the unwanted outcome.

Natural Sciences also provide an interaction as to why humans seek for patterns.

Natural Sciences is a branch of science that deals with the study of the physical

world3. To understand how the world works, we tend to ask new questions about the

things that are occurring around us and by using patterns, we can answer our

inquiries. To identify patterns in natural sciences, experimentation is used and this

will help refine the old patterns that we have employed which would make the

patterns more general or specific. Experimentation is understood as the components

of the traditional scientific method. Scientific method is important in order to explain

the phenomenon in question as this is done through a series of process that begins

with the hypothesis, experimentation, analysis and back to the prediction. From the

results of the experiments that we have done, we can identify patterns and compare

it with our hypothesis. The identification of pattern is crucial for scientists to use in

their analysis in order to arrive at a valid conclusion. For instance, Sir Alexander

Fleming discovered penicillin by incident due to him detecting an unusual pattern

that he found in his experiment through his observations. Sir Alexander Fleming

compared the pattern that he found in his experiment on influenza virus to the

pattern that he found from his experiment with lysozyme. From the patterns that he

3 theoryofknowledge. The natural sciences. Retrieved December 22, 2016, from

http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/areas-of-knowledge/the-natural-sciences/

3
compared, it has led to the discovery of penicillin which was then used to treat

infections caused by bacteria such as pneumonia.

Some patterns in natural sciences, however, have long been accepted and this may

be more difficult for us to disprove of, especially since they are widely accepted in

the shared-knowledge community. This raises the question, To what extent is the

knowledge in the area of natural science conceived from pattern creation open to

change? Scientific knowledge is known to be durable since it is based on empirical

evidences, it strives for objectivity. However, as it is a human endeavour, the

process, the methods, and the knowledge relating to science all include subjectivity

as this involves the creativity derived from the imagination of humans and discovery.

For instance, a new study in 2015 discovers on how blood is formed affected the

knowledge of how blood was made 4. The new research suggested that blood in the

human body is formed a few steps earlier than what is previously believed. This has

led to the opening of a new door that allowed for new studies and treatments relating

to blood cells.

In conclusion, patterns do give us valuable knowledge of the world surrounding us as

it could be used to justify the phenomena around us and to predict our future

movements. Since we are humans, we live each moment receiving massive

amounts of sensory data and given our limited abilities as humans, the process of

analysing and interpreting the moments we are experiencing as well as predicting

our future movements may be exhausting and is almost impossible for us to do. We

do not have immediate access to the reality surrounding us. Therefore, what us

humans attempt to do is create a net of life models and knowledge that resembles

4 Nield, D. (2015, November 9). New discovery changes everything we know about how
blood is made. Retrieved December 22, 2016, from http://www.sciencealert.com/new-
discovery-changes-everything-we-thought-about-how-humans-make-blood

4
the phenomena we observe around us almost similarly. However, not all knowledge

we receive from the creation of patterns are perfect as the patterns themselves are

sometimes not real. Therefore, as human beings it is important that we identify

whether the patterns that we seek for is real for a better interpretation of the

phenomena that is occurring around us.

(1348 Words)

5
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