In our daily life we experience the world as a structured, organized environment within which we go on living, pursuing our affairs. The structure of the world appears obvious to us, we take it for granted, we do not even notice it unless it is somehow disrupted, unless the world fails to conform to our expectations. Our experience of the world as a structured environment is of course the expression of our knowledge, of our ability to perceive and act in this environment. This knowledge and ability, which we have acquired through socialization into our community (Knowledge, ability, discipline), constitutes our own structure, the structure of the knower, it amounts to who we are. And, as discussed previously, the structure of the world and the structure of the knower reflect each other (Compass).
The previous postings (Knowledge and Interests) however have also pointed out that knowledge is interested, is always associated with specific interests. Knowledge has to be of use in order to be developed, be maintained, and be transmitted across generations. Interests drive the tremendous effort required for developing the knowledge, the knowledge that underpins our experience of a structured world; interests also drive the tremendous effort expended for transmitting knowledge across generations.
Because the development, maintenance, and transmission of knowledge require effort, the structured, organized ways in which we experience our world reflect this effort and the interests that drove and drive it. So, our experience of the world reflects interests that guided — and continue to guide — the knowledge that this experience is based on. The maintenance and transmission of knowledge also maintains and transmits the associated interests.
Taking a look at how these considerations play out in our everyday life nowadays, most of us, for example, do not grow our own food. In order to obtain food, we depend on the knowledge of the ones who produce it, as well as on that of the ones who transport and distribute it, not to mention the ones who regulate and check its quality. The knowledge that food production is based on has developed over thousands of years and continues to be developed, offering a wide range of choices in terms of diet and lifestyle. Nowadays, depending on availability and access, one can be vegetarian or vegan, limit oneself to ‘organic’ or non-genetically-modified food, food processed in a manner consistent with certain religious customs, food of a range of qualities and tastes, prepared at home or at a restaurant, and so on. Our interest in nourishment, along with our interest in particular lifestyles (including, for example, ‘healthy living’ or adherence to certain religious practices) guides the development of our own personal knowledge for seeking and obtaining food. These interests and knowledge of ours coordinate with the interests and knowledge of those who maintain the networks that make available to us the food we seek.
We can approach in the same vein our health, for example, whether we strive to develop a ‘healthy lifestyle’ in terms of diet, exercise and daily activities, whether we depend on mainstream medical experts for advice and treatment, or whether we seek the advice of non-mainstream alternative medicine experts. We can also look at our communication with each other and our use of different communication media and gadgets, or our movement from place to place and our use of different means of transportation… And so on, and so forth…
The structure of the world we live in, the structure we experience, is organized by interests: interests that structure our environment in specific ways, guiding our perceptions and behavior; interests associated with the knowledge imparted to us during our socialization in particular communities. And along with these, there are also our own interests that drive the development of knowledge through our own individual efforts and experience.