Theory of Knowledge- To what extent does the vocabulary we have shape Essay

Theory of Knowledge- To what extent does the vocabulary we have shape what we know - Essay Example g with the first years of our lives we use words to express needs, dangers, feelings, to discover the use and practicality of the things surrounding us as well as to dive into the study of intellectual and scientific thought that has been developed and passed on to us for generations. Our vocabulary is not a simple collection of words and their meanings; it is also a complex tool that can shape what we can know through different areas of knowledge. Some may say though that words are unnecessary and of little importance in subjects such as mathematics, which expresses its reasoning through symbols, or the arts, which captures and conveys human feelings beyond verbal expression. However, I strongly believe that our vocabulary is an instrumental tool that shapes what we know and what we can know about the world we live in because it facilitates communication and it incorporates more meaning into our lives. I will discuss this statement in relation to three areas of knowledge: mathematic s, history and the arts. Mathematics is probably a subject that is least associated with the use of vocabulary. This is primarily because its core consists of developing certain ideas and principles through the use of numbers that connect though formulas, and which, at their turn, relate to one another in order to portray a logical picture of a certain phenomenon. Advanced mathematics can rarely find a direct application into the real world and it is mostly used for scientific development, because without the use of formulas and numbers we wouldn’t be at the technological level we are now. Some say that mathematics is a language by itself that claims universality. Therefore, one might state that our vocabulary has no power to shape what we know in this area of knowledge, that mathematics has made words obsolete and has raised above them. However, I believe that words are of outmost importance for children that learn basic mathematics. They learn how to add, subtract, multiply and