TOK Essay

Prescribed Title #2
“The production of knowledge is always a collaborative task and never solely a product of the individual”

The basic definition of the production of knowledge can be defined in various ways. Although learning in class may also be the knowledge production, this essay will be focused on creating new knowledge as the production of knowledge rather than the acquisition. To be a production, it may need some of the individual’s intuition and imagination in the process. The type of the produced knowledge may also be divided into two categories which are ‘personal knowledge’ or ‘shared knowledge’. However, I have once heard from my school ethics teacher and agree with him saying that, ‘Shared knowledge is important because knowledge develops by sharing not saving.’ This means that for the produced knowledge to be valuable and relevant, it is essential to be shared even if it is initially built up from an individual’s mind. In addition, Fritz Machlup, an Austrian-American economist, states that “The production of new knowledge -in the sense of that which is known- is not really complete until it has been transmitted to some others so that it is no longer one man’s knowledge only.” in his book, ​The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States (​ Machlup 1972 14)​. I​ n this sense, completed production of knowledge is mostly a collaborative task. Yet, as I mentioned before, the production of knowledge may somehow need one’s intuition or imagination involved to come up with an initial idea. In order to explore this topic thoroughly, it is important to understand how knowledge is produced in different areas of knowledge. The way of producing knowledge manifests differently in the contrasting areas of knowledge such as natural science and the arts. By exploring these two AOKs, the topic will be additionally expounded…