2.

THE KNOWER AS A
MEMBER OF DIFFERENT
COMMUNITIES
‘You can`t be a self by yourself.’ Hazel Rose Markus (1949 - )

a. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the quotation? Explain

b. How might you challenge the quotation?

c. What assumptions underlying the quotation can you identify?

d. Does the quotation challenge or affirm your own perspective on how

you think real knowledge is formed? Write an example.
Each of us is a member of multiple groups. The groups that we identify
strongly with are often known as our ‘tribes’. Tribalism is the behaviour
and attitudes that we exhibit as a result of belonging to those tribes.
Tribes can be bond by ancestry, friendship, political or religious beliefs,
common interests, etc. They typically demand loyalty in return for the
security of belonging, and can sometimes do your thinking for you, in
that your allegiance to your tribe may cause to you repeat the tribe`s
position on an issue.
For example, if you identify strongly with a football team, and a member
of the team you support commits a foul against the opposing team, your
response to that foul is likely to be very different to your response if a
member of the opposing team commits a foul against your team.
We cannot avoid belonging to tribes, but we can try to be more aware of
the way in which our tribalism shapes our perspective on the world
around us, and tempts us to form blind allegiances, even when our tribe
may be wrong.
Knowledge communities are groups of people with common interests and
shared knowledge. They do not need to be informal organizations (i.e.
your family, your school, your TOK class), but they can be formal
(Chinese Chemical Society, British Medical Association). It is largely
within knowledge communities that knowledge is shared, and they act to
preserve, challenge, communicate and grow knowledge through the
actions of their members.
Knowledge communities and tribes often overlap. For example, if you
are participating in inter school sports, you might identify strongly with
your school, and adopt a tribal attitude. You may similarly support
members of your family to an extent that others may find unreasonably,
such as by taking the side of a family member in a dispute even when you
know that family member is in the wrong.
Knowledge communities are essential for the development or
construction of new knowledge. Often they have a specialist language,
their own sets of rules which may be written or unwritten, and their own
assumptions.
Even the most solitary of thinkers are dependent upon knowledge
communities for the context in which they work, and for the language
that allows them to think and explore their disciplines. Also, any
discoveries they make are subject to the scrutiny of their knowledge
communities before new claims to knowledge are accepted.
Shared knowledge is all knowledge that can be communicated between
people. Knowledge communities, particularly academic knowledge
communities, are large contributors to shared knowledge. A great deal
of our general knowledge was produced by specialised knowledge
communities.
However, contributions to shared knowledge are not limited to
knowledge communities. Individual knowers also contribute to shared
knowledge whenever they pass on new knowledge that they have
discovered or created.
Shared knowledge is something that we all rely on. Almost everything
we own and use is the product of the collective knowledge of many
people.
REAL LIFE SITUATION

● Can you think of any examples of knowledge that can only be

personal, and is not - or cannot - be shared by other people? Specify
and explain.
● Can you think of any example of shared knowledge that has been lost?
Specify and explain.
VOCABULARY
TRIBALISM