Object 1: Easy German Book

Material tools aid the acquisition of knowledge by verifying hypotheses and appealing to
human emotion, which can help accelerate the acquisition of knowledge. However, they also
have limitations, which is why we have to understand the implications of the production of
incorrect knowledge. These aspects will be explored through my copy of the Usborne Easy
German book, Galilei Galileo’s telescope and my glass photography ball.
Object 1: Easy german book
Material tools aid the acquisition of knowledge because they can use emotion to motivate the
learner to acquire knowledge more productively. This can be seen by my first object, a book
called Easy German. This book is important to me because it is what I used as a beginner to
get to a B1 level. The main reason why this book was so successful at teaching me both the
german rules and how to use them in a real-life situation is because it employs a comic style
story, which makes the action of learning the language more interactive.
The emotional connection that the readers develop with the story and its characters and their
interest in understanding the rest of the story causes the learner to put greater effort into
understanding the rules, thus accelerating their acquisition of knowledge.
This object is linked to the prompt because its appeal to emotion enables the readers to
acquire the knowledge required to learn a new language. The book was much better at
teaching me the german language than what I would have learned without tools because it
combined an emotionally stimulating story with the rules which form the “backbone” of the
language.
Emotion provides the learners with motivation and without material tools, we would have no
way to connect to knowledge on an emotional level and therefore acquire it.
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Object 2: Galileo’s Telescope
Source: https://www.mpg.de/7913340/Galileo_Galilei_telescope
Additionally, material tools are useful for producing and acquiring knowledge because they
can validate ideas or hypotheses, which can be seen by telescope Galileo Galilei’s telescope.
Built in 1609, Galileo’s telescope was a groundbreaking invention for the time because even
though it wasn’t the first of its kind, its magnifying powers were unmatched. This made
Galileo’s telescope one of the most influential scientific tools to date.
Galileo was the first person to ever look through a telescope at the sky. This revelation is
what led to his refutation of the widely accepted geocentric model of the universe and his
later agreement with the heliocentric Copernican model of the solar system. This shows that
material tools and their development can not only help produce knowledge; they can also
help dispute incorrect knowledge and, with time, replace it. It also shows that even though
Galileo had a hypothesis that the earth revolves around the sun, it wasn’t until he used his
telescope to look at the sky that he could prove his hypothesis was true and therefore produce
knowledge.
Galileo’s telescope is an example of a material tool that aids both the production and
acquisition of knowledge because scientists can explore new aspects of the universe and gain
information that helps expand common knowledge. Since the 17th century, the telescope has
been one of the main tools that astrophysicists have used to produce new knowledge about
the universe, its structure and origin, thus creating new perspectives and possibilities for
science.
Even though the telescope is a great tool that aids both the production and acquisition of
knowledge, it has limitations. Scientists still haven’t solved all of the mysteries of the
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universe, mainly because of the limit of the telescopes’ magnification powers. Therefore, the
telescope can help people extend the scope of their knowledge, but only to a limit set by the
technological capabilities of the tool itself, at which point it will hinder the pursuit and
production of knowledge for the sole reason that we can’t question the unimaginable.
Object 3: My glass photography ball
My final object is my glass ball. This ball is commonly used in photography, as it reflects the
image that the photographer would like to capture “inside” the ball, making giant landscapes
seem tiny and appear upside down.
Even though the ball doesn’t reflect reality, it produces a completely different perspective of
the world, which can affect the way we acquire knowledge. Because the ball distorts reality, it
shifts and challenges our viewpoints. It also produces artistic knowledge, by condensing a
whole landscape into an image that can be photographed and shared.
However, because tools have a huge influence on the production of knowledge, this ball
shouldn’t be the only tool used to produce or acquire knowledge. Objects may sometimes be
flawed, and if used incorrectly, they might be used to produce false knowledge and support
false hypotheses. Similarly to Plato’s allegory of the cave, viewing the world upside down
through the glass ball may cause people to believe that this is the way it is meant to be, and if
they didn’t have the appropriate tools to understand that this isn’t true, they would keep living
their whole life based on that false belief.
This object shows the immense impact that material tools have in the acquisition of
knowledge and highlights how important it is that we are aware of their limitations.
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Material tools convert suppositions into knowledge by providing an explanation and external
validation to hypotheses. Since the production of knowledge also includes its communication,
material tools don’t only allow knowledge to be produced by one person, but also to be
acquired by everyone else. Material tools, therefore, although often limited in their abilities,
help us imagine the previously impossible, as long as we use them appropriately and
understand their capabilities.
Works Cited
Cohen, Marc. "The Allegory of the Cave." Philosophy 320 - University of
Washington, 25 July 2015, faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm.
Accessed 13 May 2021.
Valleriani, Matteo. "An organ pipe as a telescope." MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT,
11 Feb. 2014, www.mpg.de/7913340/Galileo_Galilei_telescope. Accessed 13
May 2021.

Object 1: Easy German Book

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Material tools aid the acquisition of knowledge by verifying hypotheses and appealing to

Object 1: Easy german book

Object 3: My glass photography ball

Cohen, Marc. "The Allegory of the Cave." Philosophy 320 - University of

Washington, 25 July 2015, faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm.

Accessed 13 May 2021.

Valleriani, Matteo. "An organ pipe as a telescope." MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT,

11 Feb. 2014, www.mpg.de/7913340/Galileo_Galilei_telescope. Accessed 13

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