Knowledge issues
Questions, ramifications, and problems raised that we refer to our understanding of the world when we try to make sense of a piece of knowledge.
Ways of knowing
The four ways of knowing are emotion, reason, perception, and language.
Connection, Observation, Wondering (COW)
A relation or an association between things or events, the act of paying attention and making a judgment, showing curiosity by having a desire to know something
Areas of knowledge
A classification of knowledge into subject areas, and the six subjects are natural sciences, mathematics, ethics, the arts, history, and human sciences.
Knowledge claim
A piece of knowledge that you believe is true
Empirical
Something that is obtained from experience, observation, experiment, and not by any scientific methods nor theory.
Rational
The ability to use reason, logic, and good sense.
Solipsism
A philosophical idea that the only thing that exists is one's mind and others are just creations of the mind.
Skepticism
The questioning behavior of doubting the truth of something.
Relativism
The idea that knowledge, truths, and concepts are not absolute but depend on the are subjective towards the people holding them.
Prejudice/Certainty
A preconceived opinion formed without the support of knowledge, thought, or reason.
The state of having no doubt.
Pragmatic truth
A proposition that is true when acting upon it yields satisfactory results.
Coherence truth
A proposition is true to the extent that is agrees with other true propositions.
Correspondence truth
A proposition is true when they correspond to the reality.
Sources of knowledge
- Faith/revelation
The confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of an idea, person, or thing.
- Print sources
Sources such as book, newspapers, journals, magazines, etc.
- Live sources
Sources such as human.
Reliability
-Valid
The state of being acceptable, having truth, and corresponds to the real world.
Perception
The process of attaining and understanding information.
Justification
The action of reasoning or explaining something.
- Pictorial
Relating or consisting pictures.
-Authority
One who has control over others and whose views are respected and taken as definitive
Plato's cave allegory
A group of people who has only seen shadows in their life mistaken shadows as the reality of life until they are released and allowed to explore the real world.
Elephant and Blind Man allegory
A group of blind men touches parts of an elephant trying to understand what an elephant is. They then compare their experience and ended up with arguments. All of their descriptions of elephants are true but only partially true.
Knowledge by description
A piece of knowledge that one knows what it is without having any experience of it.
Knowledge by acquaintance
A piece of knowledge that one knows how it is because of experience and sometimes it is not easily expressed.
Belief
A mental state that accepts something to be true.
Knower
A person who has a certain level of understanding of a subject.
Common knowledge
Information that is generally known to everyone, does not require specific training, and can be defined by a large number of people.
Justified true belief
The state for someone to know knowledge for something, it must be true and believed to be true, and the belief is justified.
Truth
A statement that is verified to conform to reality
Logic
The sound judgment or persuasiveness of principles that is applicable to any branch of knowledge.
Reason
The explanation or rational thought for a belief, event, or action.
Trust
To have complete confidence or faith in a person.
Mental construction of reality
The link between perception and reality.
Sources of definition from Dictionary.com, thefreedictionary.com and handouts given in class.
October 6, 2010
October 5, 2010
Memento
Memento was listed as one of the TOK related movies that was given to the IB Diploma students. I chose to watch Memento because the plot interests me. The movie basically is about a man who started to suffer from short-term memory loss on the day his wife was killed. His wife was killed by two burglars who broke into his house and he suffered from short-term memory loss because one of the burglars hit his head against the mirror. Then, he wanted to revenge for his wife but because of his memory, he had to use notes and tattoos in order to find the murderer of his wife.
As I watched the movie, I felt pity for the main character, Leonard, because some of the people who knew about his condition (the way Leonard addressed his problem of short-term memory loss) took advantage of him. For example, the main female character in the movie, Natalie, criticized Leonard's beloved wife causing Leonard to be in rages that he punched her. Then, Natalie went out of the house, bringing all the writing utensils at the same time so that Leonard wouldn't be able to write down what had happened. She came back in 2 minutes with blood on her face and when she slammed the door shut, Leonard forgotten what the argument between him and Natalie. Natalie acted as if another person had abused her and asked Leonard to take revenge of that person.
The ending of the movie is the shocking part. After Leonard kills the murderer of his wife, John G., his friend Teddy tells Leonard that actually he has already killed the real John G. Teddy explains that Leonard continues to find a new John G. because he does not have a motive to live after killing the murderer. Leonard was so angry by that piece of information that when Teddy tells him that his initials are also John G., Leonard decides to make Teddy as his target, the John G. who killed his wife.
I think what's scary about this movie that facts can be manipulated when one is emotionally unstable. For example, Leonard knows that if he writes down a characteristic of Teddy as the murderer of his wife, one day he will kill Teddy. What are the knowledge issues? Leonard trusts only the tattoos on his body and the note cards that he keeps in his pocket because those tattoos and notes are written by him. Just because he was angry at that moment, Leonard created a new "fact" for himself to believe, that Teddy is the murderer who he is supposed to kill.
Watch the trailer if you haven't watched the movie: (CAUTION: there is swearing in this trailer)
Source of image:
Note: The director of Memento, Christopher Nolan, is the director of Inception and The Dark Knight.
Language and Thinking
20 September 2010
In our IB English class, we were asked to read an article, which as titled "Does Your Language Shape How You Think?"
In our IB English class, we were asked to read an article, which as titled "Does Your Language Shape How You Think?"
In this article, the writer discussed about the misunderstandings of the limitations that language present to its speakers and that if a language does not have vocabularies for certain concepts, it doesn't necessarily mean that the speakers of that language do not understand those concepts.
An example in the article used by the writer is use of tenses in languages. For example, in Chinese language, there is no past nor future tense. In order to express an action that happened in that past or an action that is expected to take place in the future, the speakers simply add words such as yesterday or tomorrow to show the time of the actions.
One interesting example that I want to talk about is the directions that we use in daily life. When we give other people directions, usually we express ourselves in saying words such as, left, right, in front of, and behind; but a remote language spoken in Australia uses north, south, east, west. An explanation in the article is presented here: "To tell you where exactly they left something in your house, they'll say 'I left it on the southern edge of the western table.'" In my opinion, this is a strange way for me to give directions because most of the time I don't even know where north is!
Language is one of the most common devices that we use in our daily life to express ourselves. I speak Chinese and English fluently, I can communicate in Cantonese and Malay, and I have been learning Spanish for two years. I think it is interesting how sometimes I want to express myself but only one language can express the certain idea that I want to talk about. For example, when I speak to Joseph, who also speaks fluently in both Chinese and English, we usually speak in English because it is more convenient due to the fact that the subjects that we talk about mostly are about the events that happen in school. However, sometimes we express certain ideas in Chinese because Chinese was able to serve the purpose of expressing that particular idea than English.
Although the author of the article does not think that one's mother tongue prevent the speaker to think certain thoughts, I believe that the more languages that a person knows how to speak, the better the person is at expressing himself.
Source of image:
October 4, 2010
Sightless Experience
20 September 2010
How does it feel to walk through a site without your sight?
Today in class we had to pair up with someone to experience blindness by blinding folding ourselves. Our mission was to walk through a park nearby our school blindfolded and our partner, will be the guide, giving us directions such as, left, right, straight, up, down, straight, etc. After we succeed in walking through the park, we then change positions - the blindfolded becomes the guide and vice versa.
Below are my reflections of both roles:
Blind role
As I navigated the park without sight, I felt as if the only things that existed were my guide's, Phil, voice and the park. Other people and their voices did not matter. They were distractions that will take my focus away from walking through the park. It wasn't frustrating relying on Phil and I did not feel helpless. I trusted Phil. However, I think the frustration, helplessness, and trust are very relative because it depends on who is my guide. If I did not have a chance to choose my guide, and I was assigned a person who I didn't know, my trust for that person would not be as much as I had for Phil. In the beginning, I wan't able to walk at my open space because I felt unsafe. Although I knew that I was "safe" because Phil was giving me directions to walk in the right way, I didn't know exactly where I was going. Later, my pace sped up as I felt less insecure but still not at my normal pace. I think the most difficult part of the journey was when I had to walk on the pathway. The pathway was made up of stones, so it wasn't really flat, which makes me feel unbalanced as I walked. If I was not blindfolded when I walked on the pathway, it would just be a piece of cake because I know what to expect and my body involuntarily balances myself as I walk on the pathway.
As I walked through the park, I did not really use my "mind's eye". I wasn't trying to walk through the park by remembering how the landscape of the park was. I couldn't really visualize where I was except where I was stepping on because I could feel the touch of the grass or the pathway. The other sense that I used while I was blindfolded were mainly my auditory perception, because I had to listen to Phil's direction in order to go through the park. If Phil wasn't guiding me, I might be relying on my cutaneous perception the most to feel where I was going. I think the statement "Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes" means that we "see" and understand things through our knowledge. Although we actually look at things through our eyes, it's our knowledge that is processing what we're seeing at the moment and helps us understand what we see.
Guide Role
As I helped Phil walk through the park, the only concern that I had was that my directions were correct so that Phil wouldn't bump or hit into anything. So other than keeping an eye on Phil, I also had to pay attention what was in front of him and where I should direct him to. It wasn't really frustrating to explain the directions to Phil even if I knew that it would be so easy if he could only see, but I think this is relative because Phil is a good friend of mine. If I were to explain something as easy to a person who I didn't know and I was busy at the moment, I would be frustrated. In addition, Phil listened to my instructions and he trusted me because we are good friends. I think the most difficult part in helping Phil was giving the right directions, because I used the method of clock, such as 12 o' clock is to go straight and 3 o' clock is to turn right, etc. It was difficult for me because sometimes I was confused with 11 o' clock and 1 o' clock so there were times when I directed Phil in the wrong way. I think he would be able to walk through the park without my help by feeling the objects around him, such as the grass and the trees. However, it would be a difficult and long process.
I did not find myself in any dangerous situations. However, if there were any and Phil had been able to see, it would be less dangerous because Phil can avoid the dangerous objects as he sees that he is going to bump into the objects. Seeing is critical to knowing and understanding because seeing gives us a more vivid image of what we're supposed to know and understand. In addition, some things are difficult to be known or understood by not seeing especially with things that one has not seen before. For example, if I had not seen blue before and I am not able to see it, I cannot feel, smell, hear, or touch blue. It would be very difficult for me to know and understand what blue is. To describe a cat to a blind person, I can say that a cat is a smaller version of a tiger but it is not as fierce and it is a pet that can be kept at home. Instead of roaring, a cat meows. Riding a bike is like riding a motorbike but we have to pedal in order for the bike to move. A sunset is the opposite of a sunrise. The sun looks as if it is descending and the color of the portion of the sky looks dark orange as the sun sets.
As I walked through the park, I did not really use my "mind's eye". I wasn't trying to walk through the park by remembering how the landscape of the park was. I couldn't really visualize where I was except where I was stepping on because I could feel the touch of the grass or the pathway. The other sense that I used while I was blindfolded were mainly my auditory perception, because I had to listen to Phil's direction in order to go through the park. If Phil wasn't guiding me, I might be relying on my cutaneous perception the most to feel where I was going. I think the statement "Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes" means that we "see" and understand things through our knowledge. Although we actually look at things through our eyes, it's our knowledge that is processing what we're seeing at the moment and helps us understand what we see.
Guide Role
As I helped Phil walk through the park, the only concern that I had was that my directions were correct so that Phil wouldn't bump or hit into anything. So other than keeping an eye on Phil, I also had to pay attention what was in front of him and where I should direct him to. It wasn't really frustrating to explain the directions to Phil even if I knew that it would be so easy if he could only see, but I think this is relative because Phil is a good friend of mine. If I were to explain something as easy to a person who I didn't know and I was busy at the moment, I would be frustrated. In addition, Phil listened to my instructions and he trusted me because we are good friends. I think the most difficult part in helping Phil was giving the right directions, because I used the method of clock, such as 12 o' clock is to go straight and 3 o' clock is to turn right, etc. It was difficult for me because sometimes I was confused with 11 o' clock and 1 o' clock so there were times when I directed Phil in the wrong way. I think he would be able to walk through the park without my help by feeling the objects around him, such as the grass and the trees. However, it would be a difficult and long process.
I did not find myself in any dangerous situations. However, if there were any and Phil had been able to see, it would be less dangerous because Phil can avoid the dangerous objects as he sees that he is going to bump into the objects. Seeing is critical to knowing and understanding because seeing gives us a more vivid image of what we're supposed to know and understand. In addition, some things are difficult to be known or understood by not seeing especially with things that one has not seen before. For example, if I had not seen blue before and I am not able to see it, I cannot feel, smell, hear, or touch blue. It would be very difficult for me to know and understand what blue is. To describe a cat to a blind person, I can say that a cat is a smaller version of a tiger but it is not as fierce and it is a pet that can be kept at home. Instead of roaring, a cat meows. Riding a bike is like riding a motorbike but we have to pedal in order for the bike to move. A sunset is the opposite of a sunrise. The sun looks as if it is descending and the color of the portion of the sky looks dark orange as the sun sets.
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