What is 在り方 used for?

Question

Consider the extracted original Japanese text from the translation attempt in "Why is 知りません the negative form of　知っています？" :

これは「知る」という動詞の"意味特徴"と、私たちが「知る」に抱く"イメージ=認知の在り方"に原因があると考えるのが妥当だと思う｡

Also consider this proposed translation:

"Regarding this fact, I think it is appropriate to think that it is due to the 'semantic features' of the verb '知る' and the image (= the way we perceive) that we have against '知る'.

Isn't "the way we ～" for する-nouns expressed using ～の仕方? How is it different from ～の在り方?

Can the same difference be reflected in other verbs?
I.e. if for する-nouns there is a "pair" like 認知の在り方/認知の仕方 then is there a similar "pair" concept for verbs like 書く? If 書き方 is analogous to ～仕方, what form of 書く is analogous to ～在り方?

What is ～在り方 used for?

Answer 1

I think the literal idea of 在り方 is 'the way it came into existence', 'the way it should exist', and it is concerned with the meta level of the way of doing something. As opposed to 仕方 'way of doing', 在り方 may be translated as 'the way it is designed to do', 'the way it should be done', etc.

For verbs not derived from suru-nouns, you can add -方 to their stem: 書き方. If you want to use a counterpart to 在り方, you would have to find a noun with the corresponding concept. You may not be able to find an exact counterpart, though: [書]{しょ}の在り方 'the way calligraphy should be', [書]{しょ}[物]{もつ}の在り方 'the way books should be'.