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A Subjective Look on Objective Knowledge

Science has fascinated the human race since the dawn of time. It intrigues, manipulates and formulates our understanding of our world around us. It grows, expands and then adds to the collective work of what already is carried on the giant shoulders of scientists. Then, once accredited and accepted as plausible, it advances the stockpile of human knowledge through the dispersal of academic essays. Unlike science, the personal and subjective approach to essay writing entertains the reader, which adds little in comparison, to the attainment of human knowledge. This essay analyses these characteristics and why the personal essay isn’t beneficial to human knowledge, and is a form of entertainment, rather than an educative medium.

The personal essay is best described as a representation of who the author is and why they have come to the conclusion of where their ideas now are. It balances their personality, written expression and their own ideal qualities in an entertaining and persuasive manner. Joseph Epstein describes this type of essay as “a happy accident of literature. I call it an accident because it seems to have come into the world without anything like a clear line of descent”, his quote furthers the creative manner of the personal essay . The move away from academic papers was to target a wider audience. Due to the casual approach of the personal essay, the boundaries are limited only to the imagination of the author. With the lack of cohesiveness and requirements, the overall product which often appears after writing these reflective pieces, gives a wider view of the individual properties and thoughts of the author, rather than an objective thorough essay often seen at university levels.

Considering this, the personal essay builds to improve knowledge in small substantive steps. It weaves its way through a boundless gorge, comparable to a small river weaving around rocks and fallen debris. It intrigues the reader by targeting emotional hot spots and individual points of interest. In turn, this is an interesting and entertaining way of manipulating the reader to accept the authors viewpoint. By delivering only the slightest amount of credibility, an author of the personal essay is limitless in the amount of detail and evidence they place within their written confines. Due to this, the personal essay is often considered imprecise and overly ‘personal’ in its approach to writing. Though, the generalised idea of the personal essay is not to appeal to academia. It aspires to attend those seeking limited knowledge and who wish to acquire entertainment and pleasure, rather than pragmatic responses which could have taken a life time to comprehend.

Academic essays are regarded as having “high level learning appeal”. They profess the authors arguments in a structured and ordered fashion which delivers a diverse and constructive essay. Although there are certain similarities between the personal and academic essay, they differ greatly, particularly due to the intended outcome. On one hand, the academic essay approach strives to attain a collusive, distinct and direct reasoning behind its purposeful meaning. There is no elaborate, or opinionated language to bias the reader, rather it manipulates through external sources distinguishing its findings and basing the underlying conclusion upon the collective information of others. Comparably, the personal essay envisions to entertain in a limited and exponential way. It reflects the authors views and beliefs in a personal way and considers a broader audience by entertaining and sharing knowledge through this mode.

Both types of essays encompass the ideology of attaining a certain knowledge from the author. Whether the paper is a philosophical exposition on Plato’s Symposium, or an essay on car engine performance, both could be considered to be encouraging the attainment of knowledge . Yet, this draws on the question, what is knowledge? Could it be a simple expression of how the author feels. The reader gains understanding and further awareness of information they readily do not know nor could have perceived. Whether or not this is adding to the stock of human knowledge is debatable. When it comes down to the basic structure, it is often considered that to advance the stock of human knowledge there is a requirement to be integral and have the ability to measure in appropriate proportions. Which is much unlike the pitiful dilemmas that may be plaguing the author.

Human knowledge, or the attainment of it, can be represented by looking at sciences advancement through the academic essay. As academic journals and essays were rotating and read, the overall level of knowledge of science expanded rapidly . If scientists were to publish there scientific documents in personal essay forms, then there was likely to be a greater level of ambivalence, and a lack of cohesiveness within the field. For a document to benefit the stock of human knowledge, there must be substantive information presented with credibility. An example of this would be Stephan Hawking’s publications, about time and space. Many articles were produced criticising and encouraging his ideas, all of which were academic.

Through the use of the personal essay, an author has the ability to describe and express there feelings, emotions and personality more intimately. Although this can be argued as negative, it is possible that people could benefit from this type of approach. It has previously been argued the stock of human knowledge is beneficiary to society, and that it was once possible that people who originally read these personal essays for entertainment, might have been inspired to pursue further careers from them. This argument, however, seems fictitious in regards to what could have happened if they had started furthering their knowledge through academic mediums.

The academic essay adds scope and validity to much of what has been learned. It encourages and increases the stock of human knowledge. It essentially intrigues, manipulates and formulates our understanding of the world around us. There is incomprehensible amounts of knowledge on the shoulders of scientists and only through the dispersal and transfer of ideas and academic essays is the expansion of knowledge able to proceed. Unlike science, the personal and subjective approach to essay writing entertains the reader, which adds little in comparison, to the attainment of human knowledge. The personal essay and subjective approach isn’t beneficial to increasing the stock of human knowledge, and is a form of entertainment rather than an educative medium.

References

FUMERTON, RICHARD (1998). Knowledge by acquaintance and description. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved June 12, 2008, from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/P003

JOSEPH EPSTEIN’S, The Norton Book of Personal Essays. http://www.mrbauld.com/epstessa.htm,l Accessed 10 June 2008

KLEIN, PETER D. (1998). Knowledge, concept of. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved June 12, 2008, from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/P031

LUPER, STEVEN (1998). Belief and knowledge. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved June 12, 2008, from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/P051

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