To what extent do personal attributes affect Ways of Knowing and why, if at all, does answering this question matter in the first place?

Essay by KeirHigh School, 12th grade November 2005

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We receive knowledge through 4 ways which are emotion, reason, language and perception. Yet these ways of knowing are highly effected by the knowledge which is gotten through them since personal attributes which have been gained prior to now filter out the knowledge which is fed to us now. I personally am a Ukrainian who has been living and studying in an International school, in China for my whole life as well as a strong patriot of Communism and an atheist! These personal attributes makes it hard to perceive the knowledge which is given to me for example the information which is given to me by someone who is strongly religious and strongly anti-communist.

I don not consider that I have a first language since I speak English and Russian yet I am not fluent in either of them. This is my personal attribute yet it is also a large barrier which constantly affects the knowledge which I gain through the verbal language which is presented to me.

An example to show this is the fact that when I get a text for my English commentary which I have not seen before I am unable to receive the deepest meaning and hence I have problems with commenting on the meaning of this passage. Yet once again language does not only consist of verbal output it also consists of body language and images. Although body language and images are not as contradictive and are more widely understood then verbal language but still their interpretations vary alongside with cultural and historic background.

After being bitten by a dog, at the age of 2, my friend has always been scared of dogs. This serves as an emotional boundary to what ever she perceives. She finds it very hard to communicate with people who...