Why do we seek knowledge?
Object 1. New Year scroll
This is a New Year scroll that I made in 2021. New
Year scrolls are used by celebrators of Chinese
New Year to bring good luck for the new year.
They contain single characters or messages on red
paper; the one I made has the character 福, which
roughly translates to “good fortune”.
I chose to include the scroll in this exhibition
because it connects the seeking of knowledge to
values and culture. As a Taiwanese living overseas
since kindergarten, I haven’t received the cultural
knowledge of Chinese calligraphy, Taiwanese
customs, or simply Chinese language as part of my
education. However, I deliberately sought out this
knowledge (from my mom) because my
family—and thus, my Taiwanese culture by
extension—is a part of my values.
While words can be translated and customs recounted, there is no perfect translation and being
told an experience is not the same as living it. So in order to feel a sense of belonging to my
family and the wider Taiwanese community, I ask my parents and read about Taiwanese culture
during my free time. I used to be reluctant whenever my mom wanted to teach me Chinese, but
over time I’ve realized that as a member of Taiwanese culture, I have the responsibility to seek
and know knowledge specific to my culture because otherwise, how can I justify my claim that I
am Taiwanese?
This scroll suggests that we seek knowledge in order to feel a sense of belonging, to enrich us in
what we value, and to fulfill our responsibilities. The knowledge we seek doesn’t have to be
cultural or linguistic knowledge—it can be any type, any that we feel would fulfill our personal
well-being by allowing us to educate ourselves about what we value. The responsibilities we
wish to fulfill when we seek knowledge serves to our identification with a culture such that our
individual identities are strengthened.
Object 2. My night contact lenses
These are my Ortho-K contact lenses that I got and started wearing
in 2019. Ortho-K lenses are worn at night by people with myopia
to temporarily reshape the cornea, so that they don’t have to wear
glasses during the day.
My lenses belong in this exhibition because it is an invented
technology that solves a problem. We seek knowledge, particularly
scientific and technological knowledge, to improve lives or simply
to make the world a more convenient place. While the issue that
my lenses solve is a minute one compared to issues like climate
change, it is still representative of issues that can be solved from
the seeking and attainment of knowledge. Moreover, for some who
have the ability to do so, they feel it is their ethical responsibility
to seek knowledge and help others. They don’t want to wait for the
knowledge to just “dawn up” on them, because that might take an indefinite amount of time and
keep people’s lives unpleasant for longer. For example, I aim to become a physician. I am also
lucky to have parents who support my seeking of knowledge in higher education, and thus, I feel
I have the responsibility to use my education and seek knowledge to help people in the future.
Even without feeling this responsibility, I would still seek scientific knowledge because I am
interested in and value the natural sciences. When I received my lenses, I didn’t just accept that
they worked; I did lots of research on how they worked and found it fascinating. Hence, my
lenses demonstrate that we seek knowledge because we want to know the truth about the world.
Other than being able to make the world a better place and being inherently fascinated, my lenses
also suggest that we seek knowledge to gain power. The manufacturers of my lenses hold the
knowledge of how to produce it and know that many people are reliant on the technology. They
have the power to charge a significant amount of money for each pair, or to choose to
discontinue its manufacturing and withhold the technology. Thus more generally, those who hold
knowledge (from seeking it) hold power and can influence the lives of others. Why the seeker of
knowledge wishes to gain power—whether the knowledge is used for good or bad—is dependent
on the knower themselves.
Object 3. My Sonata Pathétique sheet music
This is my sheet music of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata
No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as Sonata
Pathétique. The original music was published in 1799
(this edition in 2007) and is one of Beethoven’s best
known sonatas.
I began using this sheet music in May of 2022 in
preparation for my piano exam. However, I first
heard the sonata in 2019 and loved it… hence my
choosing it as the piece I’d be devoting time into
learning. This sheet music was thus included in this
exhibition since it shows that we seek knowledge
because those who hold knowledge are respected.
One of the reasons I started to learn piano was
because I felt that being able to play an instrument
was respected, and since then I’ve sat in piano
exams to demonstrate and to have evidence that my
seeking of musical knowledge is successful.
I began seeking musical knowledge in second grade because of wanting to be respected, but
eventually I found that I am genuinely interested in music. In music (and the arts in general),
there is never a single interpretation; everyone has different perspectives, perhaps based on their
culture or their values. For example, while there is only one music notation (this sheet music),
I’ve heard many interpretations of this sonata. Musicians are valued differently based on how
they interpret music… so each seeks to gain the most musical knowledge such that they can
interpret music in the most accepted way possible, such that their music has power when heard.
Hence, this object demonstrates that we seek knowledge because we are intrigued by knowledge
and wish to turn our interest into something we can use for a living—by seeking knowledge to
the extent that we become experts.
Another link of sheet music to the exhibition is that it suggests we seek knowledge to share with
others and to form connections. Art can certainly be enjoyed alone, but it also is in our nature to
share art—as is all forms of knowledge. We seek knowledge to have conversation to talk about, a
hobby to enjoy with others, and to meet new people.
Works Cited
Image 1: personal photo of a new year scroll, March 2023
Image 2: personal photo of a pair of Ortho-K contact lenses, March 2023
Image 3: personal photo of Sonata Pathétique sheet music, March 2023
(Word count: 1059)