Isabella Fulford

Theory of Knowledge Essay

Prescribed Tittle:
How do historians and human scientists give knowledge
meaning through the telling of stories? Discuss with reference to
history and the human sciences.

Word Count: 1,588

Student Code: hqn516
May 2022
Isabella Fulford

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the
vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come”. Words once said by
debatably one of the most successful business magnets known to have existed, Steve Jobs.
The claim made in the tittle is reasonable as we tend to depend on visual aspects to
understand and relate to certain events. When we were kids, our parents used to teach us
moral codes and to distinguish good and bad by telling us stories such as “Little red riding
hood”. Does the same learning method apply to us as adults when understanding bigger
ethical dilemmas?

To analyse the claim, it is important to settle the area for deliberations. I define
knowledge as “Justified, true belief”. I consider “meaning” to be communicating a message
of something not so explicit. I also define a story as a way of showing knowledge and/or
past events that leads to a moral closure.

My thesis is that the telling of stories gives knowledge meaning as it gives a moral
message. To prove it, I will refer to history and the human sciences, specifically
psychology. Analysing examples and factors that demonstrate how the telling of stories can
be a method to give knowledge meaning.

On one hand, through history the telling of stories helps the reader engage in what is
trying to be taught. Yet, I consider its main intention is making that story meaningful. Thus,
leading to the arrival of a moral conclusion, for people to know what happened in the past
and avoiding something un-ethical to happen again. When a historian begins to explain a
class by simply stating dates, when, where, and what they fail to engage emotionally with a
reader, in other words, they tend to get bored. There is the unknown, gaps in history that
limits people from knowledge. So, historians tell stories that we can relate to and
understand. For example, British historian James Burke wrote a book in 1985 called “The
Day the Universe Changed” (Burke, J. 1985). He uses language that engages with the
reader, as in the first sentence he says, “Somebody once observed to the eminent
philosopher Wittgenstein how stupid medieval Europeans living before the time of
Copernicus” (Burke, J. 1985). He uses literary techniques in writing. In the first instance,
using common language “stupid”, which are words that people use day to day. The writer
uses narrative for the reader to use imagination to see the event as they read. There is a plot
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as the writer talks about the changes throughout history that determines the way we see
ourselves and perceive everything around us.

The way historians share a story is also an implication that gives knowledge
meaning. A professional literate that is writing their own story has only one beginning and
one ending, but can the same historian give you different ways to start or finish events?
Looking at World War II, some historians say it starts with the German invasion of Poland,
others say the war started due to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, or the assumption that
Stalin in Russia initiated it all. All of this being possible outbreaks of WWII that Charles
Rivers mentioned in various of his books called “The Nazi Invasion of Poland”, “The
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria” and “Absolute War: Russia in the Second World War”
(Rivers, C. 2017). A historian can tell stories with many beginnings. Since we have a need
to say everything as a narrative, some students might not like history when historians only
say, “this is the beginning and this is the end”, different perspectives are considered better.
It permits the reader develop their own points of view towards a historical event yet were
not denied a certain type of knowledge.

Although, one may argue that story telling in history is not the only way that
historians give knowledge meaning. For example, primary sources such as physical objects
can help people understand a certain historical event. Observing the Chinese Cultural
Revolution from 1966 to 1976, one can read Mao´s “little red book” (Zedong, M. 1964),
which shows quotes from the authoritarian leader about what was happening in the
moment. Someone with no historical knowledge (despite the book not having a plot) can
still gain knowledge from reading Mao´s quotes about the historical event. To illustrate,
Mao says “The force at the core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist
Party” (Zedong, M. 1964), leads to knowing that Mao was a leader that believed that
Communism was the ideal system that would lead China to success. Seeing the propaganda
of the Chinese public holding the little red book everywhere, does not tell a story but does
give knowledge. When people see this, the assumption of brainwashing and developing
Mao´s cult of personality can occur just by visually seeing what happened in that moment.

Another AOK I want to refer to in my argumentation are the human sciences and

focus on psychology. The telling of stories is also important for psychologists as they use
Isabella Fulford

this method to learn from un-ethical experiments previously made. For example,

psychologist Kendra Sherry shared in her article “The Little Albert Experiment” (Cherry,

K. 2019, December 7), the story of a baby that behaviourist John B. Watson conducted. He

wanted to understand why humans develop a fear over something. So, the experiment

consisted of placing a rat in front of little Albert and seeing how he acted. In the beginning,

the baby barely noticed the rat, as it was harmless and simply coexisted with him. Then,

Watson started to introduce the rat and make a loud noise, which scared Albert and made

him start crying. The behaviourist repeated the experiment various times until he could

place the rat in front of the baby, and he would start crying even without a noise. When this

story was told, many psychologists claimed that this was completely unethical. Sherry says

in her article “Little Albert was harmed during this experiment—he left the experiment

with a previously non-existent fear” (Cherry, K. 2019, December 7). Thanks to the telling

of this story, the ethical implications of psychological trials have been looked at. Thus,

today, they are banned from occurring. Independently from bringing knowledge about

human behaviour, it is unethical as the patient could end up harmed, like Little Albert did

when the behaviourist caused his fear over rats.

Another way we can look at the telling of stories through psychology, is how the

emotional impact of personal and social storytelling influences beliefs and behaviours. An

inspirational story is used as a tool to initiate valuable personal and/or social change. To

give an instance, psychology professor Pamela Rutledge talks in her book “Everything is

Story: Telling Stories and Positive Psychology” (Rutledge, P. 2016), about the use of

telling stories in changing personal and social behaviour. One example she gives is the

illegal substance use problematic in Latin America´s youth. There is a program called “The
Isabella Fulford

Storytelling for Empowerment Program” that occurred in Mexico. Rutledge explains that

the program uses fotonovelas, comic books and other tools to share stories of other young

teenagers that had problems with the use of illegal substances in order to help initiate a

conversation about the subject. The program´s results showed that the use of illegal

substances decreased a 30% in the students talked to. This demonstrates the impact of

storytelling in the youth the gives knowledge meaning. The students did not get bored nor

felt like it was just adults “making rules”. They were engaged emotionally through stories

from other teenagers that opened their minds to the problematic.

cultural empowerment, cognitive

skills,
storytelling and the arts in a
school-based, bilingual
intervention for substance abuse,
HIV and other
problem behaviors.
cultural empowerment, cognitive
skills,
storytelling and the arts in a
school-based, bilingual
Isabella Fulford

intervention for substance abuse,

HIV and other
problem behaviors.
cultural empowerment, cognitive
skills,
storytelling and the arts in a
school-based, bilingual
intervention for substance abuse,
HIV and other
problem behaviors.
A counterclaim about the telling of stories in psychology is the perception of

problems. Sometimes in psychology the telling of stories does not work. As proof,

psychologist Oliver Sacks committed an error in therapy. He used the letting of a story

from a patient he once had to treat another. The issue is that his first patient was from the

United States, and she thought that she saw her husband when looking at a coat rack with a

hat. She had serious issues of perception and gave her a treatment for the particular issue.

Later, Sacks had another patient that was presenting similar symptoms but came from a

different context, the patient was a Latino who came from a rural area, the way they

developed the perception problem was completely different than the American woman he
Isabella Fulford

had initially treated. Yet, he told them the story of the woman and started treating them the

same way, which did not work due to their different contexts.

To conclude, I believe that my arguments demonstrate how stories give knowledge

meaning. With the use of literary elements and engaging language, the reader learns a

moral as they are interested. The human mind needs to visually engage with knowledge to

fully comprehend and be interested in what is trying to be transmitted. Some people fail to

do so, and do not engage properly with the audience, that is why people tend to lose

interest. That being said, the use of stories is not the only way we can give knowledge

meaning. So, I think my thesis concerning the tittle, the telling of stories gives knowledge

meaning as it gives a moral message is fully justified.

References:

Burke, J. (1985). The Way We Are. In The Day the Universe Changed. essay, Hachette
Book Group.

Cherry, K. (2019, December 7). What was the little Albert Experiment? Verywell Mind.
Retrieved January 28, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-little-albert-
experiment-2794994

Rivers, C. (2017). WWII Series. Charles Rivers Editors.

Rutledge, P. (2016). Everything is Story: Telling Stories and Positive Psychology. In

Exploring Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Well-Being. essay,
ABC-Clio.

Zedong, M. (1964). Mao’s little red book. Little Red Book, 285–302.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183q69h.21