Is_Knowledge_of_the_Philosophy_of_Knowledge_Important_for_Teacher_Students_to_Study

Is Knowledge of the Philosophy of Knowledge important for Teacher/Students to study' In Ireland we have a Government which we believe to be truthful and honest with us. This Government was elected by us the people and entrusted to see us right. We put our faith in them to make sure we gain the right sort of information and knowledge so as we can best live our lives. We have put our faith in them to be knowledgeable about the state of the country and what is best needed for Ireland to progress and be prosperous. It is a system set up to guide us through our daily lives to a certain extent. This information which comes to us through different media outlets seems to be of true worth and value. For decades, we all followed along believing the truth about this fair and beautiful nation of ours. Believing in our wealth, or genius to grow and be an economic power house in Europe and the rest of the world. However over the last couple of years it seems that not all was right with the country and that there was some underlining deceptiveness, disloyalty, deceitfulness, which just about held us above the cold harsh waves of reality which kept on bombarding our shores for years. We were certain in our knowledge that Ireland was an economic powerhouse and in knowing that we were a world leader and a big time player. We knew that our financial system was one of the best regulated and one of the foremost thinking and cunning in Europe. No way was it at all going to collapse like a dilapidated house on a ghost estate. No way were the Developers of Ireland plying the Irish Media with False Knowledge/ Information. For if they were the Irish would know, Right' For we knew we were the most knowledgeable of consumers in Europe and that our System would not lead us down the garden path. We truly believed that no matter what, our Government would do us right and not let the financial institutions run amuck and fail. We had the sure fire knowledge that we as a country would stay afloat on the tidal wave of financial despair and still have a sure footing in the world. So this knowledge and knowing which was given to us, that we believed to be based in reality and to be true did not turn out to be that way at all. This is one of the major draw- backs of what is knowledge and thus leads us to question the term itself. So how does this relate to the teacher in the classroom and their understanding of the word and what knowledge is. It is not so much the word itself but the concept behind the word. That is to ‘know’. To know what and what we truly know, for this in itself has many different levels to it. Who knew that with these simple phrases so much could be learned about the world around us and what it is to truly pass on true knowledge and information to others. So we have to start at the beginning rather than the end and why being knowledgeable about ‘knowledge’ is important to teachers. For the majority of people they would think that they would have “knowledge” and be knowledgeable about certain things in their own lives, however most philosophers would “all agree that knowledge is valuable, but agreement about knowledge tends to end there. Philosophers disagree about what knowledge is, about how you get it , and even about whether there is any to be gotten”( Lehrer. K, 2000, Pg. 1). So this would mean that even though we think we know, do we really know, for what is knowing' We can be left with more questions than we originally set out with on the quest to gain an insight into knowledge and what it is. So why look at either epistemology or methodology to gain a better understanding of what knowledge is, is it because one deals in reality and the other solely in knowledge and the theory of knowledge. Both Plato and Aristotle came to it from different points of view and could not work out what knowledge was and how you define what true knowledge is. Both seem to be contrary and the same in one, metaphysical epistemology ( Lehrer. K, 2000). However, others still took the notion of knowledge further and began to look at in a sceptical fashion. “Rene Descartes, turned tables on the metaphysical approach by insisting that we must first decide what we can Know about what is real and must remain sceptical about what is real until we have discovered what we can know” (Lehrer, K. 2000, Pg. 2). This view then will lead the financial analyst (philosopher) to look at their own accounts in a state of financial ignorance not being able to distinguish between what is reality and what is not. You cannot start off looking for the answer to what is knowledge in a state of ignorance for knowing we are ignorant is knowledge itself. Just as the analyst begins to think that they have a grip on their accounts they may begin to lose sight of what they are actually trying to find out. This it seems has happened in Ireland today with the current state of affairs we see ourselves in, we knew what we knew or so we thought, but we did not truly know what we thought we knew to be sound knowledge. This is what can happen with the study of knowledge itself, thinking you know something but not truly knowing it at all. This knowing and not knowing is a ponderous thing. For if we are trying to find out what knowledge is and what it means to people when they have knowledge we also have to look at what is knowing. Consequently “we must first sort out the different senses of the word know. Then we may ask our question again, once the word has been disambiguated” (Lehrer. K. 2000, Pg. 5). With the word know we see that it can be ambiguous and have many different meanings. “To know means to have some special form of competence. Another sense of know means to be acquainted with something or someone. The third sense of know as that in which to know means to recognize something as true” (Lehrer .K. 2000, Pg. 5). Even with these three simple meanings of the word ‘know’ we can see that it is still difficult to come to grips with that in which we need to know to have an insight into knowledge and what it means to the intellect of humans. When looking at knowledge you will see that one of its most important uses to humans is in the way in which it can be employed to grasp at and formulate hypotheses and refute other ideas which may come to some. (Lehrer. K. 2000). It is from this notion of usefulness that we as teachers should find thought-provoking as correct and true information is both necessary and essential to the way in which a teacher teaches and the way in which humans may possess such informative knowledge. Conversely, “this sort of knowledge is something beyond the mere possession of information, since one must know that the information one possesses is correct in order to attain knowledge that supplies one with premises for reasoning” (Lehrer. K, 2000, Pg. 6). It is from this understanding of the concept that should interest us as teachers and the way in which we understand what is knowledge and how is it best delivered to our students, for it is this reasoning and this conceptual ability to think and use the ‘knowledge’ gained in the classroom which will best enable the student to develop a further understanding of their true knowledge and question those around them on their own supposed true knowing. Form this questing and questioning does an inquiry into what is known and what is knowledge helps a teacher best define his/her role in the imparting of impartial knowledge onto the students in their care. It is “what beckons the attention of philosophical inquiry” (Yazdi. M,1992, Pg.1) into what is known and into what is knowing a subject or otherwise linked to an external object as the subject known (Yazdi. M,(1992). It is this link between the supposedly known and the knower which can lead to the very foundation of the human intellect and where the human is going with the use of his/her knowledge. This to a teacher should be at the topmost of importance as it is the information that we hurl at our students which can be a leading light in their own formation of inquiry and development of what it is to have true and sound knowledge. For without the understanding of knowledge we are only passing on a baton of light which does not actually light the way in front of the student. This lack of understanding and inquiry into the thought of what is knowledge can clearly be seen in the delay it took for the people of this fair land to question the government and to question their own knowledge of what truly was happening in the financial sector. It is as the financial analyst taking stock of his accounts and suddenly realising that what he thought he knew to be true was actually a false perception of reality. It therefore is the task of the teacher to best understand what it is to question knowledge and information that comes their way so as they can best pass on this wisdom onto their own students. For if you have knowledge of a subject matter then you can best understand that subject matter thus allowing you to transfer it onto others in the best possible manner. It is through the linguistic art of communication that a teacher is able to pass on knowledge to his or her students, so once again the inquisitive mind of the teacher who has undertaken the errand to deliberate on and question what is knowledge is best placed to actually succeed in the succession of knowledge form them to their students. It is “ only through communication can human life hold meaning. The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the students thinking. The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them” ( Freire. P, 1970, Pg. 77). This is what the transference of knowledge is all about not what we have at the moment and that is the Banking system. This is depository system is one which is fraught with inaccurate transference of supposed knowledge from the teacher to the student. It is a system which does not allow for true knowledge to be gained by the pupils in the class as they are unable to quest into their own futures and see what may lie ahead of them. They are unable to do this as they are unwilling and unable to ask just some of the simplest questions. Why have they lost this ability, when you consider the fact that as young children they were able to question everything around them' It is due to the fact that too many teachers rely on the verity that their students only need to hold information rather than use the knowledge which they truly need to develop. In the banking system’ knowing’ is a gift which is bestowed on to those who are less knowledgeable and ignorant of what is true reality, “ the teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence” ( Freire. P, 1970, Pg. 72). Thus the true fact that teachers and students are both one in the same is lost on many of those who call themselves teachers. For it is the knowing that you as a teacher can gain knowledge as it “emerges only through….hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” ( Freire. P, 1970, Pg. 72). In other words it is through the pursuit of what is knowledge that the teacher in the classroom best understands what it is they are looking to perform and communicate to their students. For information is only that unless it turns to knowledge through the questioning and adaptation of it by the students who truly understand what it is to inquire. No longer will, as Paulo Freire stated (1992) a fragmented view of reality be deposited into the student as they begin to see and understand the reality of the true world around them. It is through his view that students are best served by their educators/teachers that they understand what it is to hold onto true knowledge and thus transmit it forth through a media which allows for the best possible transmission of the ‘knowing’ which is being studied and looked at under a microscope. “There is the Platonic view in which intellectual knowledge is an intellectual reflection by the human mind on unique, simple, universal, immutable, and immaterial objects. In this view intellectual knowledge is, in fact, an intellectual vision of these, transcendent objects” (Yazdi. M, 1992, Pg. 6). Thus it allows us to separate that which is real from that which is not and therefore we are able to decode that which is knowledge and that which is not true but just basic binary information. Knowledge is the currency in which the world is driven forward by. If this is to be the truth, than the school is the bank in which this currency can be deposited into and transferred around to all the customers/students. However it is not a bank in which the banker does not dole out false information and lack of true knowing to his/her customer. It is a bank in which all information is found to be true and fair thus allowing for the correct transference of knowledge from banker to consumer. This is why teachers should look into that which is knowledge and try to understand it as they will be best able than to service their customers in the bank. They will be able to communicate in a linguistic fashion which will allow for the best possible balance in the black rather than in the red. Hence knowledge and knowing do in fact become the true currency of the world and that of education. It is the paper in which we are able to deliver a true meaning to ourselves. Is