Unit 2: Part Two: There is no ignorance, there is knowledge
To complete this assignment, I was asked to define, in my own words, what knowledge is and ways that Jedi can use the Force to gain knowledge.
Discussion answer:
A text book definition of knowledge would be that knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, including facts, descriptions, information, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can further refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject; which can be implicit or explicit.
In the field of Epistemology; knowledge and its nature continue to be a subject of debate. Plato’s famous definition was "justified true belief."; however, I feel the conclusion reached by Wittgenstein is possibly correct. He saw knowledge as a case of a family resemblance. If we follow and accept this conceptual conclusion, "knowledge" is a reconstruction of a cluster concept that points out relevant features yet one that is not adequately captured by any definition.
My personal definition of knowledge would be that it is understanding; divided between subjective knowledge and objective knowledge. Knowledge derived from a partial understanding and knowledge that has no claim to certainty respectively.
I consider the concept that a Jedi can use the Force to gain knowledge bemusing on some levels. The Force itself is a concept that has no defined characteristic; however, if we consider the Force to be life and thus our own inherent potential then the concept of intuition comes into consideration.
In psychology, intuition encompasses the ability to know valid solutions to problem. For an example; Gary Klein found that under time pressure, high stakes, and changing parameters, experts use their base of experience to identify similar situations and intuitively choose feasible solutions. Thus, demonstrating that the recognition primed decision model explains how people can make relatively fast decisions without having to compare options. Intuition is a pattern-matching process that quickly suggests feasible courses of action. The analysis is the mental simulation, a conscious and deliberate review of the courses of action.
It should as be noted that Intuitive abilities were quantitatively tested at Yale University in the 1970s. While studying nonverbal communication, researchers noted that some subjects were able to read nonverbal facial cues before reinforcement occurred. In employing a similar design, they noted that highly intuitive subjects made decisions quickly but could not identify their rationale.
If we consider the Force to be life and thus our own unconscious nature an expression of the Force, then intuition is a further expression of this. By learning to trust their intuition a Jedi can thus gain knowledge from the Force.