Gui_Souza

Can we have beliefs or knowledge which are independent of our culture?
Humans are all unique. Each person has its own traits, abilities, DNA, fingerprint etc… These qualities are very important in order to differentiate us from one another. Along with the physical characteristics, Knowledge is also an important feature which helps to make us unique. The most important way to gain knowledge depends a lot in many things, culture being one of the most important. According to Dictionary.com, Culture is “the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group”. Culture appeals mostly to the emotion of people. You are patriotic and attached to your country, so your **emotions** make you feel that whatever your country or culture tells you is correct, but is it always like that? Is there any situation where people, independent of culture, put logic ahead of emotion? Can they **reason** something out and come into a worldwide conception? Therefore, **TO WHAT EXTENT IS KNOWLEDGE INDEPENDENT OF CULTURE?** This question arises when we think of general theories specifically in the field of **natural sciences** and **mathematics.** Different countries have different laws, different views over issues, and different ways of acting in various situations. The culture surrounding you will have an immense effect on your beliefs and behaviors. All of the citizens in a particular culture share, some way or the other, the same beliefs, and act in a similar manner. Hence, your habits, your beliefs, and some knowledge you have are “hereditary” and are passed on new generations in a given culture. I am from Brazil. We are a democratic country, therefore I always act in a democratic way, where majority rules. If most of my friends want to do something, I think that the most reasonable thing to do is to satisfy the majority. Another example has been presented to us by a Chinese exchange student. She showed us how China had to adapt in order to protect itself from being taken over by Britain in the past. She said, “We had to act and learn the western ways”. This means that they wanted to gain knowledge about the British, about their culture, and their way of doing things. As she said, “this was a slow process. First the Chinese government started to eliminate some of its own culture in order to be able to accept the western culture. They had to cut their long hairs, let woman to study, create a parliament in government, etc...” Hence, China’s culture was in their way of learning new things. Their culture was a barrier which prevented them from learning new things, so they had to make changes in their culture and habits in order to gain knowledge from the British. Therefore culture has a big impact on people’s ability to gain knowledge. The world is constantly changing, but change has to be a slow process. Any change which is immediate could have chaotic consequences. This is why, for the safety of people, any change has to be a gradual, slow-pace process, so that adaptation can be easier. This is why countries prevent other cultures from "taking over". A good example of society trying to prevent its citizens from gaining new knowledge was when the church had complete control over people. In the past, the church had its own theories, and beliefs about how the world works, and how it has been created. As time went by, scientist came up with theories, which disproved the theories given by the religious authorities. Such scientist were imprisoned, or convinced of not telling the society about the (to be continued....)