1. What prescribed title have you chosen?

“Present knowledge is wholly dependent on past knowledge”. Discuss this claim with

reference to two areas of knowledge

2. Explain the titles using your own words. Think of the key terms and how these

terms are relating to each other?

Key terms: Present knowledge, wholly dependent, past knowledge

Present knowledge : The knowledge that currently used by people or knowledge

exists at this time.

Past knowledge : The roots of current knowledge

The question is focus on the interdependency of one knowledge to another. In this

case, how past knowledge influences present knowledge and vice versa. However,

the problem arises when we talk about the line between past or present knowledge.

How do we know that knowledge is categorically past knowledge or present

knowledge? How can we make it clear the difference between this type of knowledge.

If for example, the definition of past knowledge taken into account, I can put

experience as past knowledge and the knowledge I am using now is the

accumulation of experience. Charles Lindberg said, “​Life is a culmination of the past,

an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that

gives a touch of divinity to matter” ​ iving the matter of present knowledge as

g

accumulation and culmination of ‘the past’.On the other hand, the counterargument

because in the sense, yes, present knowledge is dependent on past knowledge but

also present knowledge not necessarily the accumulation of experience but it can be

inferred that present knowledge is the end result after being influenced by objects or

events
3. List three KQs that your title may suggest you to work with. Write them all here

● What is the nature of past knowledge?

● To what extent does the present knowledge differ from past knowledge?

● To what extent is the present knowledge independent from past knowledge?

4. Possible exploration of two of your KQs. You can follow the following

questions to organize it.

a. KQ1:

What is the nature of past knowledge?

b. What is this KQ asking about?

The key term of the question is the nature of or the origin of past knowledge. Where

is the past knowledge come from?

c. What knowledge issue or AOK gives you a good context for your exploration?

Justify this area of knowledge would be?

If the present knowledge is the accumulation of past knowledge, how do we

know the origin of past knowledge? If for example, past knowledge was built upon the

accumulation of experience, it raises a question mark because maybe we can say

that past knowledge is also present knowledge. Therefore, I will use religion as my

AOK to explore this question.

d. Could you justify your exploration of your KQs by giving any particular

example in your analysis?

 Religious: Adam was the first human-based on the holy Quran. This book tells

the story that when Adam born to heaven, he did not know anything. Then, Allah with

His power told His angel to teach Adam the name of objects surrounding him. Its

inferred that there is no direct communication between God and Adam and the

important thing is that the knowledge that Adam gets is not dependent on past

knowledge. Also, the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit where we

believe that Eve did not know that the fruit is not forbidden and suddenly she ate it

and both of them were ‘kicked out’ from the heaving. The story gives an idea of how

the present knowledge is not wholly dependent on past knowledge.

a. KQ 2:

To what extent is the present knowledge independent from past knowledge?

b. What is this KQ asking about?

The key terms: the independency of present knowledge

Asking whether present knowledge can be independent from past knowledge or not

c. What knowledge issue or AOK gives you a good context for your exploration?

Justify this area of knowledge would be?

I believe history can be a good example to explore this question because history is

built upon the accumulation of primary and secondary sources.

d. Could you justify your exploration of your KQs by giving any particular

example in your analysis?

History defines as a study of the past about the event happened in human affairs. For

the definition, I believe that in order to study the past, we have to collect primary and

secondary resources to get ‘present knowledge’. Therefore, I believe the historical

 knowledge we have today is dependent on past knowledge. Historical knowledge is

very much dependent on evidence that the historian collected. Because if there is no

evidence of historical theory, the theory itself can be questionable and vague. The

particular example is the history of Stalin. We know the complete history of Stalin now

after the USSR declined. The historians collected a lot of historical sources and they

make a theory about Stalin based on the evidence. Or for example, in Indonesia, we

have 7 theory about who was the mastermind behind the Communist revolution in

1965 or we have 5 theory why Indonesia became the largest Muslim country in the

world. This is evidence that history is dependent on past knowledge.

5. Provide a preliminary outline of your exploration

Opening : My statement that not all the present knowledge is dependent on past

knowledge

Claim : Religion, the story of Adam. Maybe I will explore the story of Adam from

Jews and Christian so I will have a different interpretation

Counterclaim : History, about why Indonesia has 5 theories regarding the origin of Muslim in

Indonesia

Conclusion : Same as opening