Essay Sample on Knowledge Acquisition: Learning, Experience, Beliefs and More

Introduction

Human beings acquire knowledge through various means such as learning, experience, and the senses, which is a product of intellect. However, knowledge acquisition is not limited to those methods alone, as some people have been known to be knowledgeable through revelations of belief (Kvanvig, p.13). This form of knowledge acquisition has proved to be relevant to many people and forms an integral part of their lives and knowledge-base. The length of knowledge has also established a connection with the spiritual world where the mind is drifted to process visions in the world of the spirit, and they believe in God. This paper will look at the events or experiences that helped shape the perspectives of knowing, how his perception differed from the perspective of various characters involved in the writings, in what ways the view of revelation change, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the values of knowledge.

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Revelations

Revelations are perceived as a perfect way to acquire knowledge in The Old Man in “A Christmas Story” by Annie Dillard as he draws out a degree of knowledge that a group of party attendants did not portray. The rich and the wealthy owner of the party are astonished, “how everyone ate and drank, but none could perceive the excellence of the soup." The same action is viewed as intriguing by the old man and sleeps for a glimpse of a more profound revelation of the soup mystery (Ruskin, p.78). He has an outstanding viewpoint as he does not make the soup without inner questioning that drives him to the vision. The old man's way of thinking is a source of strength as he can give the situation an unusual approach but equally with a risk of weakness if he carried a wrong interpretation of the surrounding. The Old man's way of knowing things is clearly from the point of revelation.

Experience

Experience is a clear depiction that through consistency of events in “The Day Knowledge Came into My Life” by Helen Keller that an image of confidence can yield to knowledge and bear fruits. At a young age, Helen Keller lost her eyesight and hearing, which ultimately left her desperate with life and in a wilderness of total darkness, thus acting as a life shaper for brighter days (Gabriel, p.25). Helen has a diverse opinion of how she views things as she creates interest to learn from her teacher on several things that she had no idea about. Her teacher was with her several when "she understood everything had a name." The moment she learns the beauty in names and that all things had names, she finds no better place or something to do than memorizing what she had learned. The taste of viewing items through trial and experience creates a lasting condition of knowledge but with weakness of a character ever learning a wrong concept of expertise and sticking it in mind. Helen's ability and strength in knowing is entirely dependent on experience.

Reason

Reasoning emerges as a diverse way of acquiring knowledge as in "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia as people have a conflict of opinions and perceive each to be true as there is no measure of truth in reasoning (Keller, p.279). An old man appears with “unintelligible language and wings" and puts the whole village in the conflict of ideas and thinking as one has to air what they think of the strange old man with the beautiful image. Father Gonzaga, the priest chooses to discern by himself if the old man was a real angel. On the other hand, Pelayo’s neighbor, in her wisdom she that the man is a disabled angel, and the view of everyone remains that the man is a fallen angel. The strength of reasoning is that eventually, someone is right about the situation at hand, but the most significant weakness is that there is never coordination of ideas. The conflict comes in the sense that everyone wants to express the level of integrity and knowledge and lack a common ground of agreement to solve a case. Through the events in the scene, its evident the knowledge transpired through reasoning.

Comparison of Characters

The characters on each reading have shown that knowledge is a diverse topic in which the involved individuals have varied experiences in seeing and solving a situation. The 'Christmas story' makes it clear that people receive more profound revelations on daily lives that relate to current events and are acceptable. On the other hand, 'The day Language came into my Life' shows us that there is more exceptional communication used to transfer knowledge. Through the experience, they can address the target (Kvanvig, p.12). Lastly, 'The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings' has proven how reasoning is a root of knowledge by every member of a discussion airing their views with hope to solve the situation.

Conclusion

Knowledge has values and positive ways of impacting people through experience, visions, revelations, and even reasoning. All these forms are acceptable, and peace can only be reached through acceptance and listening.

Work Cited

Keller, Helen. "The Day Language Came into My Life." Corbett and Finkle (1999): 279-81. Kvanvig, Jonathan L. The value of knowledge and the pursuit of understanding. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia, and Fernando Birri. A very old man with enormous wings. Fox Lorber Home Video, 1988.

Ruskin, John. Christmas story: John Ruskin's Venetian letters of 1876-1877. University of Delaware Press, 1990.