Is Knowledge Individual or Social?

Is knowledge individual or social? I believe it is most likely is both, however I do think that knowledge is more of a social creation. I struggled a little bit with this week’s readings so when I went back to study the points that I highlighted during the first readings of Feminist Epistemology I approached the articles asking the individual or social knowledge question.  

This is something that I found:

“Despite the individualism of many naturalized epistemologies, a naturalized approach can operate as a very strong argument for a social epistemology: looking at how human beings know leaves little doubt that the vast majority of our knowing takes place socially. Even if the "socially" is understood in the minimal sense of individuals interacting with each other, exchanging information, the social interaction has the potential to be infused with the dynamics of gender, opening the door for analyses of how gender affects knowledge exchanges.”

(Grasswick, H. 2006, Feminist Social Epistemology)

This passage stood out for me because we spend a lot of time in class discussing articles and ideas with each other in small groups. It is understood that we all might come the conversation with our own “individual” knowledge and together we can grow from sharing with each other.

I feel that we are all different students with different social backgrounds and positions in society and that this affects the way we think, because society has shaped us to become who we are. So even though I am coming to my group with “my own” knowledge it has already been shaped socially by my previous experiences. Then my knowledge grows and reshapes when I am able to interact and exchange information with others. For that reason I value these group discussions because it helps me to see new perspectives, to understand more deeply, and to challenge my own ideas. Some days my group discussions are more valuable than others, for this depends if there is rich discussions happening and if there are diverse knowledge creators in the group, such as both genders represented. Although I used to groan at group work I now see the value in exchanging knowledge with others because others might approach information differently and come to see it in different and new ways.

-Week 5, Sarah