My Individual Knowledge example essay topic

Soc 380 Final Essay Topic 1: Postmodernist vs. Modernist vs. Personal position on Faith Topic 2: What did you learn in this class? Written By: Angela Gonzalez Topic 1: Postmodernist vs. Modernist Position on Science and Religion We have all at one time or another asked ourselves the question "Should I believe this?" Doubt is simply another part of the human experience. When we doubt our faith, however, it can be more crucial than many other doubts we have, because of the believed consequences that come along with it. Where there is doubt people begin to look for ways to rationalize whether what they believe is more right than what someone else believes. Science and religion, two means in which knowledge is obtained from the world, are used by post modernist and modernist to justify faith or lack there of. In this paper I will discuss the contradicting views postmodernist and modernist have on the separation and overlap of scientific knowledge and religious knowledge.

Whether you believe one view over the other boils down to personal choice and acceptance of the idea based on ones experiences, therefore I will also discuss my opinion on the connectivity among faith, rationality, objective truth and ways of gaining and testing the truth of knowledge for both science and religion. Let's begin by discussing the Enlightenment thought of modernist's that only that which can be scientifically measured and quantified and reasoned through logically is true knowledge. We can have true knowledge about time in space, fitness, age or the power of your punch, but what, about things that can not be scientifically measured such as beauty, morals, and other matters of the spirit. It does not seem right to say that we can not obtain true knowledge of such things so we have inherited the modernist belief that such things are matters of opinion. In other words, they are subjective matters having only to do with the individual's experiences and preferences.

This modernist scientific mindset is devastating for religious beliefs. Though some religious beliefs can be empirically tested there are others, such as the nature of God and justification by faith which cannot be weighed or measured. These central elements of religious knowledge can therefore be said to be matters of personal opinion, or worse figments of imagination. This contradicting relationship between the scientific and religious approach of knowledge can have a tragic effect on a believer of faith because it is very easy for the individual to get caught up in providing for themselves the kind of impossible logical certainty for their beliefs a nonbeliever might demand. On the other hand, there are postmodernists who deny the very possibility of true knowledge at all. Postmodernists believe that truth is made up of our own imagination and desires.

They believe there is no single account, or meta-narrative, of reality that covers everything. Instead they believe that there is no way to know definitive truths at all. Therefore, our own realities are created for us partly by our society and partly by our own exercise of power. Since postmodernists say evidence means nothing regarding the truth value of our faith, the idea that truth is found in many different religions is now valid. This non-scientific approach to knowledge also causes problems with the religious approach to knowledge because it leaves believers wondering why they should hold to their beliefs when others might be more attractive to the lifestyles they wish to live. On one hand there are the modernists who believe that reason is the only truly reliable source of knowledge and on the other hand there are postmodernist who seem to believe in anything, everything, and nothing.

I personally do not swear by one or the other when it comes to my position on faith, truth and knowledge. I can not completely disagree with modernist about the value of scientific and mathematical reasoning. Scientific analysis has proven that the world is round and physics can tell you how fast you can drive on a curve without tipping over; however, the immeasurable knowledge of the spirit I feel has more importance than that of the external nature. Without individual spirits a human is merely a robot. I also feel that an individual's faith cannot be rationalized but the need for faith in society can be because if faith did not exist people would live in misery of the unknown. However, doubt and worry I feel is sometimes a good thing because it acts as a jump start to new knowledge by encouraging critical thinking.

The problem with doubt is when to stop searching for the answer (s) because there might not be one right or one wrong way. This is where I support the idea that individual's faith is a subjective matter having only to do with the individual's experiences and preferences. I believe this because in today's society religion is a choice. When people select a religion based on the faith that this will add benefit to their lives it is truly a decision made from personal observations and experiences. Although knowledge comes from data received by ones senses interrupted in ones minds there are still biases and prejudice's that skew individual's interpretation of knowledge.

Yet that knowledge they received is real and true to them even though it may not be true to others. Individuals must have faith that what they are feeling, observing and understanding is true so that they can make the best decisions in their everyday lives. Therefore, no knowledge could be overall true knowledge because the objective of dealing with facts apart from values or biases is impossible. I believe we are never truly purified in our thinking... As a result, if faith is based on belief which developed from personal observation, an individual's faith can find truth in any religion if they choose to believe it.

So postmodernists are on the right track when they say evidence means nothing regarding the truth value of our faith. For example, when a great thing happens in someone's life they can call it either a coincidence or a miracle. A miracle results from faith and belief in a higher being who is watching over you. Your senses cannot observe God's physical but it can observe his spiritual through miracles which transform into knowledge then belief and heighten and individuals sense of faith.

Others who choose not to believe look at miracles as coincidence or simply dumb luck; it all depends on how one chooses to experience the experience. What we see is what is there and no one can tell us otherwise. There is other scientific and religious knowledge outside of what we have observed and that is pre-recorded data. This pre-recorded data however has already been interpreted before it was recorded, unless it is straight written dialogue, which even then can be skewed with incorrect punctuation.

I have a postmodernist viewpoint here because I believe that we can never know the truth about reality, we can only know our own constructions of it. We can hope to convince others to join our beliefs, because there is no rational argumentation. In summary, knowledge in science is based on data collection, but knowledge that is part of faith is tied to knowing. I personally believe that internal spiritual sense that something is true, real or impacting is not for anyone else to say but you. Even doubt must rest on personal beliefs which are not themselves doubted. This is because one doubts something because it conflicts with something else one already believes.

The validity of faith is challenged in the modernistic ways of thinking by need for logically certain proof and the postmodernist way of subjective matters. In the end "Should I believe this?" Topic 2: What did you learn in this class? Choose approximately 10 key points, issues, problems which you will take away from your readings and class discussions. List these and explain them in your own words.

Below I will discuss my individual knowledge gained from the Drexel University ten weeks Soc 380, "Sociology of Knowledge", course and how it has presently and will continue to provide value to my everyday life. First I would like to discuss the online encyclopedia "Wikipedia". Believe it or not, before this course I did not know that such an online encyclopedia existed. The value of knowledge that it offers is unlimited since the articles can be edited by anyone with their interpretation. As a result "Wikipedia" is a storage place of knowledge for anyone who wishes to contribute.

I added this site to my favorites and now when I have questions about certain concepts I check the encyclopedia along with my other references. When I look up one word I end up searching through the encyclopedia for some time because of the many related links that "Wikipedia" provides that take you to so many interesting places. As of yet I have not found an article that I would like to contribute to but I am sure I will in the near future. Secondly I will take with me the principle of the power of public opinion. In class we discussed how individuals fail to realize the power that citizens collectively have over the government. The majority of the time we are persuaded to look at ourselves as individuals or small groups who have little power because we have to answer to our dictator (a. k. a boss).

Masterminds such as Isam a Bin Laden, Hitler and Bush for that matter realized this power of public opinion and used it to there advantage to persuade a whole nation of individuals to act in the way they wanted them to act. I will not use this knowledge for such practices but I will apply it to the workforce where I am a manager over older white women and men in the IT field who find it hard to accept duties from a 22 year old minority female. I am working on obtaining the majority public opinion that I am a great manager from not only my immediate peers but also those that are higher than and lower than me. Third the idea of "false consciousness" from Mannheim's book "Ideology and Utopia".

We were discussing in class the different perspectives individuals have on the world based on their economic and social position in society. What really stuck out to me is the fact that people have a particular view of their own group's best interest that is really in the best interest of the other group. This is called "false consciousness". For example, the people who live in poverty think that the harder they work the higher up in society they will move, but in all actuality all they are doing is making the rich richer. Social positions of the groups you are in determines what you can see and what you cant see therefore I know that I need to be in the highest social position possible and I am not going to be able to do that working for anybody else but myself. Fourthly, American Ideology is another point I will take with me.

We discussed the characteristics of Americanism being self-benefit, individualism, "$ = self-worth" and the idea that what's good for the USA is good for others. We also discussed how the American democracy is not so democratic because we do not have parliamentary, since winner takes all in elections. I will always be proud to live in my country, but I refuse to blind myself to things that need improvement and this course reinforced for me just how far away we are from true equality among all races and classes. Fifthly, I will remember and continue to pass on the way in which the questions are chosen for the SAT's. I had no idea that the questions on the SAT's included culture words for the elite based on the practice questions given to the college bond kids. This does not settle well with my conscious and I will be planning how I will petition a change in this process to give the younger generation a fairer chance to attend Ivy League Universities.

Sixth, the memory of my personal Linguistic Intelligence journey will stay with me for the rest for my life. I was never forced to look back on my life and see where I began to develop my use of language, words and syntax. After I wrote my paper for the midterm, I realized, once again how important writing was to my life and I began writing in my journal again. By the end of next month I want to begin another poetry book for the new chapter in my life after graduation. Seventh key point will definitely be the similarities and differences between humans and machines. I never realized the many similarities I have with the computers that I work with everyday.

I almost find it unbelievable to know that I have so many similarities with these machines yet no emotional connection with them besides disappointment and anger when they fail and content when they do what they are supposed to do. This could be due to the main differences between the two which is spirit, free will, motivation and intent. (Joke: Sometimes I wish my boyfriend was domain specific!) It will be interesting to watch as these differences slowly become differences no more. The eighth point will be postmodernism vs. modernism. I think I pounded on this topic enough in the above essay but I will definitely remember the key differences between the two.

Modernism deals with rationality, reason, logical thinking and scientific method, whereas postmodernism is about immediacy and the complete individual experience. For the ninth point I will discuss the design of the Panoptic an. I am going to remember this idea of the prison where every prisoner can be seen by the guard at all times from everywhere, because I work with iris scan recognition on a daily bases developing new cameras for identity theft security. We at OKI-America call our camera "EYE-witnesses".

The panoptic al position for our cameras will provide the best performance for optimum security. The final key point I will discuss is the idea that faith is based on core beliefs and there is a protection belt surrounding it with additional arguments. I never realized how much time out of the day I spend justifying to my friends, family and peers about why I feel the way I feel and believe what I believe, when in all actuality I believe in the postmodernist way of faith being a subjective matter. Therefore, I'm slowly learning how to lean on my own faith completely and not worry about others perceptions in matters I believe require faith. In closing I would like to say Dr. Kutzik that the amount of knowledge about this subject you have shines through in every class discussion which makes all of your lectures intriguing and enjoyable.

I wish I met you earlier in my Drexel University years but it is always a pleasure to graduate after meeting such a student-oriented professor as yourself. It was truly a pleasure taking your course. Thanks for the knowledge I will be sure to keep the chain going.