9/10

Title No. 2
“The production of knowledge is always a collaborative task and never solely a product of the
individual.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.

We may all have heard this quote by Helen Keller: “Alone we can do so little; together we can

do so much.” It claims how important it is to collaborate with others. The essay title states that

knowledge can only be produced through collaborative work but not individual work.

Collaboration can be referred to as teamwork, combination, and joint efforts. This essay will

compare the collaborative or individual production of knowledge in the areas of natural sciences

and arts to examine the claim in the title. In the field of natural sciences, I think the production of

knowledge often refers to as coming up with a new theory, inventing a new technique, producing

a new model, that was previously unknown. On the other hand, production of knowledge in the

field of arts can be producing new artwork including music, dance, and drawing. The way that

these artworks are produced mainly based on the individual’s intuition and creative mind that is

not related to shared knowledge. Therefore, the production of knowledge in the arts is mostly

referred to as individual work.

Assuming the claim in the title to be true, which means that the knowledge can only be produced

through collaborative work. Isaac Newton once said: “If I have seen further it is by standing on

the shoulders of giants.” This suggests that all the new discoveries established by the scientists, it

is because that the former scientists have already accumulated a certain amount of knowledge in

a specific field of study so that the new findings can be based on the same. Take an innovative

and important model in biology for example, the structure of the DNA double helix. This model

was established by James Watson and Francis Crick, to work with the model, they had to have
previous knowledge about molecular biology. This is an example of using the previous

knowledge to establish a new finding, which is a form of joint efforts that the previous findings

are combined with new claims to produce new theories. The establishment of the model is a

collaborative work not only because it was done by two scientists, but also due to the fact that it

used an X-ray diffraction image taken by Rosalind Franklin. Since Franklin took the image of a

DNA molecule by X-ray diffraction, Watson and Crick could prove their model to be accurate. It

was a shred of decisive evidence for the establishment of the model. When we go deeper into the

context, we can also notice that the production of the image is also based on the invention of the

diffraction technique. However, is the use of prior knowledge truly collaboration? Or is it more

of a contribution? It is not necessary that when an individual produce new knowledge depended

on previously established knowledge to be a collaboration. When we refer to the knowledge that

was produced by the earlier generation, we are only referring and still producing new knowledge

on our own. Then the previously established knowledge contributes to the production of new

knowledge rather than collaborates to the same.

Conversely, can production of knowledge in the field of natural science be solely individual

work? What if there was only one scientist that published the work or the theory? It is known

that Darwin is the one who came up with the theory of evolution by observing organisms while

he was on a trip of travelling around the world and he found that there are some significant

relationships between the anatomy of the organisms. However, his theory was not accepted at

that time because no one could actually observe and verify his point of view. At this point, we

can say that the theory was solely produced by him. However, later in time, when other scientists
from different fields of study found different pieces of evidence to support Darwin’s theory, it

was accepted by the public and became one of the most evolutionary findings of all time. That is

when his personal knowledge started to join the public shared knowledge. The evidence that was

from different fields of study includes anatomy, molecular biology, biogeography,

palaeontology, and embryology. Although Darwin’s theory might have been a product of

individual work, true validation of the theory was achieved through collaboration. This raises a

question that, is the production of knowledge defined as when an individual produces a work, or

when the work is accepted by the public and join into the shared knowledge?

Collaboration does not only happen in natural science but also in the field of arts. Take a simple

example: dance production. Dance production is not only about the choreographers designing the

dance moves, but they also have to cooperate with other dancers to actually establish their work.

Also, music comes in the way of producing dance work as dance cannot be presented without the

presence of music. Other than dance, in the area of visual arts, collaboration can also be seen.

For example, a collaborative painting by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Olympic

Rings (1985). Warhol was good at pop and modern arts, whereas Basquiat mastered in

neo-expressionist and primitive style. In this artwork, we can see Warhol's variation of the

Olympic five-ring symbol, which was in their original colour (yellow, green, black, blue, and

red). Basquiat then responded in his own style of drawing to the artwork, a dark, mask-like head,

which was said to be the symbolism of African-American star athletes such as Jesse Owens. In

this artwork, the two artists combined their different styles of drawing to create new artwork.
 Figure 1. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Olympic Rings” in 1985

However, does it mean that all the artists produced their artwork by collaboration? What about

those artists that created artwork alone?

Most of the time, production of knowledge in arts are widely recognized as individual work. This

is due to the fact that art is a field in which the artist express their feelings and thoughts in the

form of artworks. Their background knowledge is normally not taken from shared knowledge but

rather from their personal knowledge such as their life experiences. Take Vincent van Gogh for

example, he decided to become an artist at the age of 27, after that he started self-teaching

himself how to draw using books about the drawing techniques, perspectives, and anatomy. He

created many well-known artworks including The Starry Night.

 Figure 2. Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” (1853 - 1890)

However, as it seems like it is a solely individual work, he also copied a range of other artists’

artwork to polish his own painting skills. In this context, the concept is similar to that of natural

science as he took in the previously established knowledge of the arts and used them to produce

his own new work. Which derive a similar conclusion about whether a contribution is a kind of

collaboration or not. In this sense, even though it seemed like Van Gogh had created his artwork

on his own, it can still be a collaborative work due to its joint effort nature.

From the opposite perspective, what will be produced solely by an individual in the field of arts?

Johann Sebastian Bach’s had composed Brandenburg Concerto, he is the one who wrote and

plotted the entire concerto on paper. It seems that it is a completely individual work since he did

not need anyone else to create this piece, all he had to do is note down his notes on the sheet
paper. However, is this really a solely individual work? Then we may have to look into if

plotting the music piece down is all for producing a new piece. We all know that other than the

composer creating the piece, there is always a demonstration of the piece. When it comes to the

demonstration, no matter if it is an orchestral piece which requires the contribution of the entire

orchestra like the Brandenburg Concerto, or a solo piece which requires a single performer, there

is always a relationship between the composer and the performer. The composition of the piece

might be solely individual, but when it comes to actually produce the work to the audience,

collaborative work is indispensable. The same can be applied to William Shakespeare’s plays as

he wrote the play’s script, but the actors are the ones that are actually producing and

demonstrating the work.

To conclude, sometimes even if we think knowledge is produced solely by an individual, it is

always possible that there are parts of it which were completed due to the joint effort. When we

say we are standing on the shoulders of the giant, we refer to the previous knowledge as the

shoulders of the giant, it makes us able to see further than before. When it comes to the previous

knowledge that scientists or artists base their new work on, it is normally in the form of shared

knowledge. Scientists and artists take in the shared knowledge and use them to produce their

personal knowledge which may be published to be the shared knowledge again and may or may

not contribute to the future findings. Therefore, we can say that the production of knowledge is

achieved when one’s personal knowledge joins the shared knowledge of mankind as a whole. By

comparing the production of knowledge in both natural sciences and arts throughout this essay,

we can come to the conclusion that the claim the title is true since in every production of
knowledge, there is always a role for the shared knowledge to play, which then makes the work

collaborative. Therefore, this assumption can be true in both natural sciences and arts.

Word Count: 1587

Bibliography

1. “#2/125 Did Van Gogh Study Art?” ​Van Gogh Museum,​

www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/125-questions/questions-and-answers/question-2-of-125​.

2. “Andy Warhol Overview and Analysis.” ​The Art Story​,

www.theartstory.org/artist-warhol-andy.htm​.

3. “Evidence for Evolution.” ​Khan Academy,​ Khan Academy,

www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/her/evolution-and-natural-selection/a/lines-of-ev

idence-for-evolution​.

4. “Jean-Michel Basquiat Overview and Analysis.” ​The Art Story,​

www.theartstory.org/artist-basquiat-jean-michel.htm​.

5. “Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol: Olympic Rings, Davies Street, London, June

19–August 11, 2012.” ​Gagosian,​ 12 Apr. 2018,

gagosian.com/exhibitions/2012/jean-michel-basquiat-and-andy-warhol-olympic-rings/.

6. Siegfried, Tom. “Top 10 Revolutionary Scientific Theories.” ​Science News​, 13 Nov.

2013, ​www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/top-10-revolutionary-scientific-theories​.