Epistemology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Epistemology - Essay Example More often than not, when people think about acquisition of knowledge that they possess, their attention is drawn to school or college as the source of that knowledge. However, these are not the only existing ways of acquiring knowledge. For example, the process or onset of acquisition of knowledge is way before school when one is a baby or a toddler. When a baby cries, he gets the attention of the parents or caregivers who seek out what the problem is, and a toddler touching something hot immediately feels the pain. Deviant behaviors exhibited by children are met with punishment while good deeds and manners call for praise and reward. All these examples form parts of the knowledge equation despite the fact that the toddler or the child might not be aware of what is happening in his or her life. As the children grow up, there is more knowledge being acquired as they later learn how to dress themselves, tie their shoes, to talk and read. They also acquire knowledge about social aspect s of life like family life and relationships. In general, everything and all spheres of life including work life is knowledge (Cooper, 1999; Feldman, 2003). Individuals who are interested in acquiring knowledge about certain aspects or subjects can do so through schooling or through acquaintance. The concept of individual epistemology as they are developed and enacted in professional paid work can be elaborated by looking beyond the present ideas of epistemological beliefs (Hofer & Printrich, 1997), and positioning individual epistemologies as being dynamic, deliberate, and derived in individual-specific means through a unique set of socially-derived experiences that are a consequent of a person’s life history or ontogeny. Considering their dynamic and constitutive nature, it is imperative to centrally place these epistemologies in the dual processes of individual development and reshaping of socially derived norms. An illustration of these propositions can be made by drawing upon situations in which a worker, in this case, a GameStop manager, learns through paid work and how the work is remade, in conditions of greater and lesser close social guidance. In essence, personal epistemologies are considered as the primary basis for instigating, monitoring, and evaluating the process and outcome of these enactments. Therefore, it is important to elaborate individual epistemologies in order to understand how people engage in and learn through paid work and their reshaping and alteration of their work activities in certain circumstances and at certain instances. Studies of acquiring socially derived knowledge have often taken place in situations that provide strong direct social guidance and mostly through appraisal of dyads for example expert-novice. Therefore, current understanding about learning through work situations is largely premised on richly social affordances, including the availability of more informed social partners An Account of individual epist emology In my profession, in regard to outside support, trust is the most important factor when making a judgment of the support being offered as valued. Therefore, a lot significant consideration is put on my part on the basis of on which the support is provided. Furthermore, the judgments on the value of the different kinds