What Do We Know? Universities and The Sharing Of Knowledge

Many of us are all smart. We can claim that we know many things, especially those who know trivia. I do, mostly on railroading and computers. Everyone is strong and weak on certain facts and skills and that's OK, since we need diverse minds in order to run the world we live in today. Yet, it's possible to run into arguments over what is right or what is wrong. One part of this problem lies in the fact that "knowledge" is different in each and every person, based on their ideologies and the entire concept of "truth."

First, the basics. Knowledge is any information that is processed by the human mind. This means that we, the people, create knowledge.

The whole idea of knowledge is studied in "epistemology," or the study of knowledge (of course). Epistemologists have found that "knowledge" is not uniform. Our understanding is based on our experiences. We have different experiences, so each one of us will interpret things differently each way.

For example, in a dictatorship, they could make 2+2=Fish. I'm not giving any specifics here, but here, it's 2+2=4. But think about this: what if the people living under this regime are brainwashed? I remember watching

This is why the university exists. We need to discover and spread information known by intellectuals. Here, critical thinking that can shape how we view our world can occur. This makes us aware of limits to our claims and gives us a sense of what is known by humans. With this, we can evaluate our knowledge and rectify any errors and prejudices made in the course of gaining knowledge.

We used to believe that the world was flat, and that was accepted as the truth, so much so that anyone who objected was executed! Today, we know our planet Earth is round. But if it weren't for academic discourse, I could still believe Earth is flat too!

Without the university, we would probably live without the things we take for granted, such as computers, and governments would be allowed to run amok, destroying its own state. Progress of humankind has been made possible by research and discussion, or, the thought exchange. Knowledge, as a result, always changes.