The Imprint of Business Norms on American Education By Dameon V ...

that is true, then the educational community may actually welcome the Imprint with open arms, although it will radically alter the traditional knowledge-production processes.

Popper (1994) connected Plato’s overall philosophy with his belief that the world cannot be known. Popper referred to Plato’s view of the world as “epistemological pessimism” and observed that Plato supplemented it with an “unequalled” view which Popper labeled “epistemological optimism”—the philosophy that the world can be known, but only by some people. The implications of this philosophical thought can be seen today.

During the Renaissance period, this Platonic philosophy ignited European industrialism, science, and civilization. It evolved into a new “epistemological optimism,” a peculiar variant of the Platonic idea (i.e., philosophers should rule and wield totalitarian power). The implication was the “knowledge is power,” or “power over nature,” philosophical campaign (Popper, 1994).³ This is the crucial point.

Through this vision, the Industrial Revolution progressed simultaneously with European and American science. Popper (1994) argued that the visionary philosophy of Francis Bacon (1597–1620) was instrumental in creating the “knowledge is power” ideal, and that this intellectual slogan began to “advertise knowledge” as something to be controlled and with which to control things (i.e., society). It is here that my broad theme of controlling the knowledge processes is essential to consider, because knowledge is seen by some people as being relational to power, and therefore, controlling the (re)production of knowledge equals attaining an aspect of power.

Popper (1994) critiqued this philosophical vision, arguing that knowledge is much more than power, but that it has value in and of itself. Moreover, the ideas of industrial rationality and the pursuit of freedom of thought are actually built upon this idea of “epistemological optimism” where the mastery (control) over knowledge is the aim. Although scientific pursuits have tried to retain rational autonomy (seeking a reason for things), industry has expanded into every aspect of people’s livelihoods, attempting to create an industrial utopia, a universal way of doing things