Knowledge is acquired by the knower. This makes knowledge subjective as each individual will accept or reject knowledge in multiple different ways due to their different perspectives. This makes defining what counts as knowledge an incredibly difficult task.  

In this exhibition, I have used and highlighted the image of onion cells under a light microscope of x100 magnification. This image was taken from my IB biology class while we were examining cells. In today’s science, this image is presented as a form of knowledge because scientists (the knowers) have found this out and accepted (acquired) it. From their perspective, it’s true that onions are made of cells and that these cells look like the image above. However, scientists before the cell theory believed in the spontaneous generation theory (the idea that living organisms came to life out of non-living matter). This theory clashes with the cell theory therefore this image may not have been enough to be counted as knowledge for those scientists as it goes against their truth. This emphasizes the idea that knowledge (and what counts as knowledge) is subjective and depends on the individual’s values and whether the knowledge is true to them.  

This implies that anything could be knowledge even if it’s not true to an individual because it could be true to another individual. However, could false knowledge count as knowledge? For example, a lie could be counted as knowledge because the person who believes in the lie thinks it’s true therefore it’s knowledge to them. However, the person who told the lie knows it’s not true so they will have a different view on the situation. Perspectives could also change. For example, the person might find out their knowledge was false, causing them to reject the lie. This might make them stop counting the lie as knowledge as it no longer corresponds to the truth. A knower could also reject knowledge even if it still counts it as knowledge. For example, the person who was lied to finds out the truth but refuses to accept it as the truth. This could be the person rejecting the knowledge even though it very likely counts as knowledge.  

Overall, knowledge could be true, false and rejected and there are numerous ways to count knowledge. It could be just about anything.