A well-known saying goes, "Nothing lasts forever." A lot of knowledge, although is widely accepted today, might be discarded tomorrow. This is not just an assumption since examples of discarded knowledge can be found in many areas, especially natural science and human science. This elimination can be due to various reasons, such as the knowledge being falsified or being proven ineffective at the time period. Here, this action is necessary for advancement in the pursuit of knowledge. My essay will consider the knowledge issue of the circumstances under which knowledge that was once commonly accepted, is later abandoned when it is proven wrong or ineffective. The abandonment of knowledge also concerns another issue: to what extent is the knowledge removed, has it been removed completely or some elements are changed to transform this knowledge to a new one? Through examples in physiology and economics, both of these knowledge issues will be examined in order to explore the act of discarding knowledge. .
Knowledge that used to be commonly accepted is sometimes discarded in natural and human science when it's proven to be false or no longer considered the best explanation of the matter. In a certain time period, a scientific idea is generally accepted as no one can show its flaws and there are no better alternatives. As time goes by, technology keeps improving, giving people opportunities to do more reliable researches and further their understanding on many phenomena. This enables scientists to falsify the common theory and establish a more advanced theory. As a new theory is formed and accepted, the false theory has to be discarded for the aim of achieving a correct or more sophisticated knowledge.
While searching for an example of discarding knowledge in natural science, I remembered the concept of the four humors that I had learned in my biology class. The four humors (fluids) is an ancient theory of the makeup of human bodies, proposed by a Greek physician Galen.
