{"id":33712,"date":"2023-10-27T10:01:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T17:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33712"},"modified":"2023-10-27T10:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T17:01:12","slug":"what-is-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-is-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Knowledge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a general hush over the room as our ultrasound technician took measurements for our first \u201cgrowth scan\u201d. The chipper answering of questions became a more muted \u201cwe\u2019ll have to wait for the doctor to answer that\u201d. We would discover in the following hour that the baby\u2019s abdominal circumference was measuring small, an indicator for intrauterine growth restriction and less optimal birth outcomes. One doctor was so worried they considered inducing at 28 weeks. And while this whole process has been scary and we were appreciative of the more attentive care we received, something didn\u2019t quite feel right. All other indications are that the pregnancy is progressing relatively normally: good umbilical blood flow, active movement, hitting all the biophysical profile points, and continued growth from month to month. As it turns out, the growth chart that doctors use is not standardized across different race\/ethnicities. In fact, 15% of non-white fetuses are identified as growth-restricted.[1]<\/a> Fetal weight for Asians were generally 10% lower than standard growth charts would indicate at 39 weeks.[2]<\/a> This phenomenon isn\u2019t isolated to fetal weight. Across medicine people of color are often misdiagnosed or have lower than expected outcomes often because of the historical use of Whites as research control groups.[3]<\/a> Thankfully, as medical education has included discourse on shortcomings in the medical field, there have been physicians and caregivers who have accounted for and helped us navigate potential mischaracterizations. Without the contemporary push for skepticism in established science and \u201cfact\u201d, I wonder if our experience would be drastically different.<\/p>\n

Stephen Hicks\u2019s Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucalt<\/em>, set out to get to the historical and philosophical roots of the postmodern era. At the heart is how Hicks defines Postmodernism: \u201ca metaphysically anti-realist, epistemologically skeptical, and politically collectivist movement that rejects reason, truth, and reality in favor of language, power, and social construction.\u201d[4]<\/a> For someone who is woefully unread in philosophy, I appreciated the ease of reading Hicks\u2019s writing. And yet even as I play philosophical \u201ccatch-up\u201d, two things quickly became clear with this book. First, it\u2019s notable that even in the premise of the book, Hicks is likely hitting a nerve with Postmodern thinkers by abstracting principles, categories, and definitions from Postmodern thinkers.[5]<\/a> Second, Hicks seems to go to great lengths (and some might say too far[6]<\/a>) to make his points and critiques of Postmodernism. Hicks comes to the conclusion that Postmodernism is destructive as \u201ca counter-Enlightenment movement that rejects the core values of Western civilization, such as reason, science, and individual freedom. Instead, it promotes relativism, nihilism, and collectivism.\u201d[7]<\/a> Ultimately, what I found disappointing was Hicks\u2019s lack of nuance in acknowledging things to learn from Postmodernism even as an aide to inform the Enlightenment ideals that Hicks hopes to return to[8]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What I was struck by, as I was reading the book and as I perused reviews, was the tendency to either love the book or completely disagree with it. I\u2019m curious if this question that\u2019s being posed, \u201cis Postmodernism right or wrong?\u201d, is the right question. Perhaps the right question is \u201cwhat can we learn from Postmodernism?\u201d Could it be possible to maintain both the values of reason, science, and individual freedom while also supplementing them with healthy doses of relativism and collectivism? I\u2019m unsure if solely pursuing Western philosophical ideals is the best way to move forward. I think it\u2019s important to note this because it bleeds into our theology as well.<\/p>\n

Yung Hwa, in his book Mangoes or Bananas<\/em>, noted that when \u201cthe social location of theology switched from the church to the newly emerging universities, theology increasingly became separated from its pastoral and missiological roots.\u201d[9]<\/a> I resonated with what he follows with, that \u201cthe proper study of theology is not God per se, but rather the relationship between God and humanity.\u201d[10]<\/a> I found this to be particularly compelling in light of Jesus\u2019s summing up of all the laws and prophets as \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u201d[11]<\/a> Two things to note. The first commandment, rests on your relationship with God. All the of the law and prophets that were to reveal God\u2019s nature are summed up in our relation to God in love. The second law is like it. The word translated \u201clike\u201d is the same that is used when Jesus opens parables. \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is \u2018like\u2019\u2026\u201d It denotes similarity and connection. It\u2019s almost as if Jesus says, Love the Lord your God and this is how you do it, \u201clove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d It seems important to note that Jesus most likely did not follow Western philosophical ideals. Perhaps then, it is important to continue learning from non-Western philosophers.<\/p>\n

I want to leave you with one quote from the Chinese philosopher Ch\u2019uan-shi Lu. In contrast to our categorizing knowledge as right or wrong, or as basic or complex, he says that \u201cknowledge is the crystallization of the will to act and action is the task of carrying out that knowledge; knowledge is the beginning of action, and action is the completion of knowledge.\u201d[12]<\/a> If that\u2019s the case, my hope is that our knowledge isn\u2019t gauged by whether we\u2019re right or wrong, what degree or titles we end up holding, who we reference or who endorses us, but rather by how we love. As we reach the latter stages of our program, I am grateful for all of you in helping to grow my knowledge in this way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Azanna Ahmad Kamar, Chuan Nyen Liew, Mei Cee Lim, Chu Kiong Loo, Rahmah Saaid, Shier Nee Saw, Sofiah Sulaiman, \u201cThe accuracy of international and national fetal growth charts in detecting small-for-gestational-age infants using the Lmbda-Mu-Sigma Method\u201d, Frontiers in Surgery<\/em> 10, no.1123948 (April 2023), https:\/\/doi.org\/ 10.3389\/fsurg.2023.1123948<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Germaine M. Buck Louis, et al., \u201cRacial\/Ethnic Standards for Fetal Growth, the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies\u201d, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology<\/em> 213, no. 4 (October 2015), 449, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016%2Fj.ajog.2015.08.032.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ruwaiijah Yearby, \u201cRace Based Medicine, Colorblind Disease: How Racism in Medicine Harms Us All\u201d, The American Journal of Bioethics<\/em> 21, no. 2 (2021), 19-27, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/15265161.2020.1851811.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Stephen Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault<\/em> (Ockham\u2019s Razor Publishing, 2014), 17.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 6.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Matt McManus, \u201cA Review of Explaining Postmodernism by Stephen Hicks\u201d, Areo<\/em>, October 17, 2018, https:\/\/areomagazine.com\/2018\/10\/17\/a-review-of-explaining-postmodernism-by-stephen-hicks\/.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism<\/em>, 212.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism<\/em>, 213.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Yung Hwa, Mangoes or Bananas?: The Quest for an Authentic Asian Christian Theology<\/em> (Fortress Press, 2014), 21.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid, 22.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Matt 22:37-39 (ESV)<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Yung Hwa, Mangoes or Bananas<\/em>, 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a general hush over the room as our ultrasound technician took measurements for our first \u201cgrowth scan\u201d. The chipper answering of questions became a more muted \u201cwe\u2019ll have to wait for the doctor to answer that\u201d. We would discover in the following hour that the baby\u2019s abdominal circumference was measuring small, an indicator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2889],"class_list":["post-33712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hicks-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33712"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33713,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33712\/revisions\/33713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}