Imagination: The Fifth Element of Knowing, Essay Example

Introduction

Knowledge is always understood as a condition of understanding that produces results of new discoveries which often becomes the base of establishing new sources of development in the society. Through the years, the utilization of knowledge as an effective tool of development has created a sense of confidence among individuals as the new age dawns to expanding the living status of humans towards being more developed, advanced and progressive especially in the aspect of improving life procedures of the society. Science for instance, and its many branches, rely on knowledge and its capability to introduce something new to the society in order to establish development and create new waves of definition on how the different elements making up the said form of study would impose a sense of positive change for the people.

True, modern living depends on the capacity of individuals and founded institutions to use newfound knowledge into practical application. Such assumption of using knowledge is strongly defined as the processing of knowledge thus making it more useful than being just the ‘idea’ that has brought about a sense of realization on the people who have discovered its components. In the traditional principles of the theory of knowledge there are currently four specific factors that contribute to the development of an established knowing. Such elements include sense perception, emotion, reason and language. Notably, such factors define the being of knowledge and how it is introduced as a sense of understanding matters that exist around the society and the environment that coexists with it. Utilizing an established knowledge produced based from these four specific foundations is believed to have a strong impact on how the people would accept such knowing thus specifically accept the fact that it could be utilized accordingly for better social progression (Byrne, 2005, 67). There is however the desire to expand such factors into adjoining the fifth element of knowledge which is considered as the essence of ‘imagination’. In the following discussion, the assumption of knowing based on imagination shall be further established in this discussion as possibly the fifth most useful tool in improving the utilization of the four other factors used to establish knowledge in the traditional TOK diagram.

What is Knowing?

Knowing is basically the state of understanding. Being able to know is being able to understand matters that are often related to the condition of living that humans are involved in. through the utilization of established theories, understanding the conditions of opinions from the society and its people and implicating the assumptions of human dedication to understanding the different matters existing around them, knowledge becomes the end-product of the correlation of the elements mentioned (Egan, 1992, 45). Along with established theories and newfound understanding of matters in the society and in the environment that they are living in, new assumptions spur out. This is the primary reason why it is often assumed that ‘imagination’ as a source or as a factor of establishing knowledge could never be considered feasible. This is because of the idea that imagination comes from baseless assumptions of situations from individuals who are seemingly understood to have specific visionary conditions of thinking. This particular definition of imagination however is separate from the kind of imagination that is suggested to be understood and accepted as part of the four concepts of establishing an essence of knowing. In this case, it is proposed that imagination be understood and viewed based on a different perception and definition of the said element of ‘understanding’.

How Does Imagination Fit in the Picture of Knowing?

Imagination is basically described as the capacity of the mind to visualize something that has never existed before. It is the capacity of the human thinking to make use of stock knowledge and established expectations to form new visionary presentations of what a person or the society as a whole might perceive to be needed or essential in the modern ways of human living. At present, there are several points of discoveries based on imagination that has specifically come from imagination. This form of imagination is considered to be more than just baseless. It constitutes an understanding that is more than just a production of visionary thinking based on ‘nothing’.

Instead of basing the visions to nothing, the form of imagination referred to herein is the process of the mind to collaboratively use stock knowledge alongside the conditions of expectations that the society has. The development of such visual thinking is considered as the core source of discovery. Often, discoveries are considered to be more than just assumptions, in fact, they are relatively becoming the sources of new inventions and definitive categories of progressive innovations in the field of technology and social sciences. For instance, the creation of subways have never been considered possible if it was not for the imagination of the engineers who have pitched in the idea of creating a mass transport system that would be able to go through all the different areas of particularly urbanized cities around the globe. Today, subways take an important role in developing particular regions towards the kind of advancement that they desire to embrace. What of computers and the featured functions it entails? Never was it considered in the past that the majority of the operations that human individuals contend with in the society could be controlled through a single form of operation that is centralized and is operated by no more than a hundred people.

True, the advancement of the modern society could be better assumed to have been possible due to the existence of ‘informed imagination’. Informed imagination is basically the kind of thinking that is based not only on one’s desire to create and introduce new waves of knowledge, but also from the status of knowledge that one has incurred in the past (Frye, 1993, 122). The people who thought about the creation of computers and transport innovations are not to be called ignorant in their field. Instead, they are considered knowledgeable of the most basic foundations of their works which include the theories that constitute the development of understanding that the said individuals needed to be able to create new assumptions of thinking. They are learned and experienced in the field that they are working in. The only difference they have with the others is that they are not afraid to stretch what they know far towards the possibilities that are seemingly impossible’ to conquer (Harris, 2000, 126). They are willing to bend the basic theories they know and are relatively able to welcome the possibility of creating new theories through the process of experimentation and testing. It is through this process that the creation of new innovative designs on communication and transportation has become possible and is now benefiting the human society and the kind of living that most people want to embrace.

What Constitutes the Involvement of Imagination in Developing Knowledge?

As repeatedly mentioned in this discussion, imagination referred herein is more than just the wishful thinking that others may perceive ‘imagination’ is. More than just an understanding based on ‘nothing’, imagination herein is considered to be informed, knowledgeable and at some point ambitious. Making the impossible to become possible is the primary aim of the form of imagination that is presented in this discussion. Through the years, imagination has created a sense of longing to see the real results of possibilities among human individuals as they enter the new age of modern living. It could not be denied that it is through this aspect of development that the new-age cities have been born (Leahy, et al, 225). Relatively, new assumptions of progress have been given way thus creating a new sense of control on how modernization could be better induced especially in welcoming new age ideas that are beyond the control of what established knowledge may impose on applying.

Many critics say that imagination is more powerful than knowledge as it is (Norman, 2000, 331). However, ‘knowledge’, being the base element in developing an understandable knowing is still considered to be the central point of the system (Sutton-Smith, 1998, 43). Hence, in this case, imagination could be assumed as the forging power that pushes knowledge to its farthest. Imagination challenges the different possibilities to which established knowledge could be better subjected to hence creating new possibilities and introducing new discoveries that could produce a new sense of understanding development and progress in the society that humans are living in.

Conclusion

Living in a world where there is no boundary to all the possibilities that are being introduced to the human society, imagination becomes a base source of inspiration among creators and inventors alike. Knowledge, being the central force that drives possibilities could both be challenged and supported by imagination as described in this discussion. Understandably, people are more able to introduce new waves of conditional thinking especially when they are allowed and encouraged to do so. Imagination produced from informed thinking and strong source of experience becomes the base source of inspiration for many creators and inventors today. Bringing forth the birth of new inventions in the field of communication and transportation, the imaginative conditions of thinking of these creators provide more than just a new sense of living, but improves the kind of life that humans are living in at present. As the mind perceives more than what the reality may instill to be possible, the creation of new forms of developments have become possible especially in this modern society that the world currently evolves with.

References:

Byrne, R.M.J. (2005). The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

Egan, Kieran (1992). Imagination in Teaching and Learning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Frye, N. (1993). The Educated Imagination. Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Harris, P. (2000). The work of the imagination. London: Blackwell.

Leahy, Wayne; John Sweller (5). “The Imagination Effect Increases with an Increased Intrinsic Cognitive Load”. Applied Cognitive Psychology 22: 275.

Norman, Ron (2000) Cultivating Imagination in Adult Education Proceedings of the 41st Annual Adult Education Research.

Sutton-Smith, Brian. (1998). In Search of the Imagination. In K. Egan and D. Nadaner (Eds.), Imagination and Education. New York, Teachers College Press.