“Areas of knowledge are most useful in combination with each other.

” Discuss this
claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.

Knowledge is typically acquired from a multitude of personal experiences through a number

of ways that form a person's understanding. All areas of knowledge when compared have
their similarities and their differences, they have their concepts that overlap and complement
each other. This is something that can be different for every area of knowledge where the
existing shared knowledge aids us to produce knowledge in the corresponding area of
knowledge. This is when areas of knowledge could be most useful in combination with each
other, but the term “Most Useful” can differ in interpretation in every area of knowledge and
by every person. For example in the arts, some people might argue that “most useful” is when
an artwork addresses the social issues faced in the domestic society whereas another art critic
or artist might say that “most useful” is when an artwork is aesthetically appealing.
Therefore, this term is very vague and could be interpreted in several different ways across
different areas of knowledge. The whole basis of the title that is prescribed is that, in any real-
life example, a single AOK could allow the production of knowledge, yet both AOKs in
combination that are relevant to the real-life situation will enable the production of
knowledge to be efficient and enhanced.

Both areas of knowledge, history and the arts are usually at risk for being unreliable or biased
area of knowledge. In both cases, it is clear that each area of knowledge helps the other to
prove or enhance new knowledge produced in the corresponding area of knowledge. The arts
have long been a wide area of knowledge that expresses knowledge by influencing a person's
sense perception that enables us to feel experiences with all of our five senses. History, on the
other hand, is an area of knowledge where knowledge production includes the research,
description and in-depth examination of historical events in order to convey those results with
the help of language as the way of knowing. Inconsistencies and biases in these areas of
knowledge are largely due to pre-established views and principles which influence how the
artist or historian chooses to communicate a clear meaning to others. Any historian who
argues that an incident was triggered by a certain set of factors without evidence of the same,
might have been influenced due to cultural or social biases. Therefore, most reliable
historians use art in order to support their claims about a specific event that might have taken
place in the past. The artwork allows the readers and the viewers to see the events that
actually took place and provide them with an alternative account of the event. This results in
the knowledge produced to be enhanced and backed up by a different perspective/view. In the
same way, artists try to make use of our sense perceptions in order to communicate a message
through an artwork, the features of art that they use to manipulate the viewer's cognitive
process usually affect the viewers perception about a piece of art right away. This shows us
that sense perception in the arts and language in history are essential aspects of their
knowledge development. This begs the question, “To what degree does art provide historians
with a deeper and more accurate perspective in order to create reliable accounts of historical
events?”

Art usually requires more than one way of knowing in order to produce knowledge. When
humans observe a piece of art, our prejudices and perceptions often guide us to incorrect
conclusions and result in the inability to understand the message that the artist might wish to
communicate through the work of art. While empirical information can only be obtained from
sense perception, the knowledge acquired appears to be biased and skewed. Nowadays as art
appreciation has become increasingly contextual, it is clear that accurate interpretation by
sense perception is possible but rather difficult due to pre-set perceptions and values that
impede a person's desire to acquire information. That's why the brain is sometimes called the
"true organ of sight" instead of the eyes. The subconscious decides what it needs to see and
what it wishes to disregard. That is one of the key reasons why observing art by
understanding/knowing the historical details of the artist or the period in which the works of
art were made is important in order to obtain objectively reliable insight into the artists mind
by analysing the work of art. This means that it is necessary to consider the history of the
artist or the art period/movement in which the piece was produced, it allows one to
understand the potential thinking process of the artist when creating the resulting work of art.
So, I don't think that sense perception allows art to be the most useful on its own and I think
that when analysing artworks, it is important to look at various viewpoints and also to
consider the context of existing shared knowledge that has been produced by historians of the
artist or art movement/period by historians. This will enable interpretations and knowledge
production in the arts to be enhanced and will open up a variety of new fields that may be
explored by artists or art critics.

Language, on the other hand helps historians to produce knowledge in order to communicate
about historical events. All historians tend to use evidence to back up their claims/theories.
This encourages them to document events in an objective manner by looking at the facts and
finding continuity in it. That is why historians need to consider the situation and need to
understand the case in depth and maximise their evidence in order to minimise the subjective
knowledge of the event in focus. If performed successfully and systematically, it would
enable historians to drastically reduce bias and have reliable results. The knowledge produced
by the historian would often be influenced by the cultural and social context of the historian
themselves, which is usually evident in the language used to explain the historical event. This
results in an inherent uncertainty in the account of the event being considered and will result
in the increase of the subjective knowledge being shared at this point. Although knowledge
can be produced by language as a way of knowing in history, it is difficult to escape biases in
the language used by the historian to explain the case under consideration.

Additional knowledge is then necessary by more than one way of knowing, in order to gain
less subjective knowledge of history as an area of knowledge. Thus, the use of ancient art
styles and works of art from the respective time periods can help historians to understand the
specifics of the event by using sense perception as a way of knowing in this case. Language
in history simply helps one to produce knowledge, however it may aim to glorify or explain
the actions of one side and should therefore be used in combination with works of art which
would serve as proof of a historic occurrence.
We may deduce that the development of knowledge in each of these areas of knowledge
alone may have an effect due to prejudices and pre-set beliefs. This knowledge produced
would be constrained in its integrity by having only one way of knowing. It is also clear that
knowledge from art and history as areas of knowledge balance each other and make for the
most useful production of knowledge in their respective area of knowledge. While these areas
of knowledge are more valuable when combined, it is clear that history plays a much more
crucial role in shaping knowledge of the arts to make it more accurate as opposed to the effect
that art may have on the reliability of knowledge produced in history as an area of
knowledge.
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