“Are some types of knowledge more useful than others?

The usefulness of knowledge is subjective because value of knowledge varies based on different
experiences, interpretations, backgrounds, and biases. This exhibition explores the role context,
situation and individuals play when exploring if some types of knowledge are more useful than
others.

This object is an ancient fishing gear artifact from underwater explorations along the Israeli
coast. It reflects a prehistoric time when survival was essential and technology for survival was
relatively new. It is interesting for this exhibition because it displays a completely different
context than the one we are accustomed to. The circumstances you are subjected to plays a huge
role on which knowledge is more useful. Since we all view knowledge from different
perspectives, usefulness can never be the same universally. In this context, knowledge of survival
is based on their location. In this era of early humans, these fishermen had no access to external
help, only their survival instincts. These prehistoric fishing gears represent a legacy left behind
on how to collect food and sustain human life. It can be said that mankind in its original state,
away from technology, prioritizes the knowledge on how to survive and try to improve their
acquired skills to survive. Without the knowledge of this fishing gear, it is quite possible the
people in this region could go extinct without the means to gather food. There are two concepts
which further prove that in this context, the knowledge of survival is more useful than others.
The first is human instinct which is defined as “natural tendency that a person or animal has to
behave in a particular way” In this situation, it translates to hunting for food as it is a basic
instinct of survival. Another concept which explains the importance of survival is self
preservation which is defined as “a behavior or set of behaviors that ensures the survival of an
organism. It is universal among all living organisms.” This instinct of self preservation is shared
throughout all human's and becomes a priority when in an unfamiliar environment.
 The chosen object is a dream catcher which is a handmade willow hoop. Used in some
cultures, to trap horrid dreams and prevent them from occurring in real life. These cultures view
dreams as a crucial source for knowledge about the future and the spiritual world. Therefore, the
knowledge acquired from their dreams are extremely useful for dictating their life. This type of
knowledge is considered personal knowledge. Personal knowledge is the knowledge that is
particular to an individual based on their experiences, bias, and interpretations. Personal
knowledge varies from an individual to another making it the most useful to the individual that
contains it and completely useless to the individuals that are completely unrelated to them.
I believe that the knowledge acquired from my dreams is important as it helps give my life
direction. Dreaming can shape my life choices because it allows me to envision my goals and
build towards a better future. This is why I use a dreamcatcher, as I believe that it helps prevent
nightmares from occurring and it allows me to focus on making my dreams a reality.
Furthermore, psychologists have concluded that dreams are crucial to our mental health and they
play a major role in the ability to function psychologically. This information is considered shared
academic knowledge. Shared academic knowledge is the sum of communicated knowledge on
education. Academic knowledge tends to be more general and targets the education of a variety
of people, while personal knowledge targets a specific individual. Therefore, shared academic
knowledge is more useful to a majority of people in general, while the personal knowledge and
its specificity is more useful to the individual. Shared personal knowledge, like dreams of a
certain individual is not useful to everyone, but academic knowledge that dreams correlate with
mental health makes it useful to everyone. Thus, not all knowledge is applicable to everyone's
life which creates usefulness for some while it remains irrelevant to others.

My selected object is my yoga matt which I use every morning to meditate. I find that
incorporating meditation to my morning routine has allowed me to get rid of my anxiety through
evoking feelings of calm, balance and peace. Meditation allows me to start my day in a more
relaxed state and prepare for the hardships of the day. This object represents mental health and
inner peace, it is a moment of my day to take care of any emotional pain. Overall, meditation has
improved my quality of life and has taught me how to strengthen my conscious mind and further
understand myself. This object is interesting to the exhibition prompt because it demonstrates
that the usefulness of one type of knowledge over another can only be determined by what the
individual categorizes as important in their daily life. Personally, I prioritize my mental health
over anything whether that be school, my family or friends. Which is why I have acquired this
personal knowledge that has taught me how to take care of myself. It can be said that, without
this knowledge I would not be able to acquire academic knowledge in school. As a student, I am
required to further my studies. However, without taking care of my mental health I would not be
able to focus on my studies as efficiently as I do with the help of meditation. Therefore this
proves that this type of knowledge is more useful than others as it facilitates my daily tasks and
fuels my motivation to work hard and better myself. Thus, once again the usefulness of
knowledge can only be measured by the importance acquired by the individual.

950 words
 Works Cited

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