Einstein Brain Teaser

The German Keeps the fish!!

What is knowledge?

Truth
Truth is what differentiates knowledge from belief. If you know something then what you claim to know must be true. Truth is traditionally understood to be independent of what anyone happens to believe is true, and that simply believing that something is true does not make it true.
Think of an example to justify this last statement.
Just because one believes something to be true, does not make it a fact or a certainty. It simply means that they believe it. It something said is not true, it does not make the person who believes it a liar; they aren't lying because they truly believe it. A schizophrenic person, for example, could have hallucinations and see things that they believe are actually there, if they tell this to someone, it does not mean that they are lying as they believe it to be true, although it may not be true.

Belief
If you know something, then it must not only be true, but you must also believe it to be true. If you have no conscious awareness of something then you cannot say that you know it.
As technology develops, do you think it will make sense to say that a computer knows things?
No. I believe that a computer may hold a lot of information but not know anything as it is not a living being and has no 'beliefs'.

Rather then seeing knowledge as completely separate from belief, try to see them as both being part of the same continuum:


Impossible Unlikely Possible Probable Certain
Belief Knowledge

Where on the belief/knowledge continuum would you put the following:
Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 - possible, most people believe it to be true, but I don't know that for a fact. It could be a conspiracy. It's not like I was there.
If A is bigger than B and B is bigger than C, then A is bigger than C - certain knowledge
Human beings are descended from apes - possible, it's debatable. I don't know enough about the matter to believe it or judge it.
Murder is wrong - probable belief
Aliens have visited earth at some time during history - unlikely
All metals expand when heated - certain knowledge. If a metal did not expand when heated, it would not be classified as a metal.
Human beings have an immortal soul - probable belief
It is possible to construct a square with the same area as a circle. - possible

"There was Once" by Margaret Atwood - Language

1. What does the conversation tell us about the opening phrase, "There was once a poor girl, as beautiful as she was good, who lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the forest"?
The descriptions of the girl are stereotypical and exaggerated. It's very fairy tale like with a clear protagonist that's "poor" and an antagonistic "wicked" stepmother.
2. What sort of things does the second speaker object to?
Sterotypes, biases, descriptions - anything subjective
3. What is the principle behind the objections?
To write an objective piece, with no descriptions that discriminate, or no descriptions in general.
4. Is the principle reasonable?
No, because most things are subjective, and without detail there is no story.
5. What would happen if the second speaker applied her own principle to her own speech?
She would have writer's block if she were writing, and would not say much if she were speaking since she finds fault with everything that the first speaker says.
6. What can we learn about language from this dialogue?
Language is subjective. The piece also highlights the importance of diction, or word use and the importance of being politically correct. It also tells us a lot about positive and negative connotations to words chosen.

Week of December 6th 2009

Aside from looking at language and how it relates to cutlure (see Language post for answers to questions), we also looked at the phrase "Time flies like an arrow"
We had to add punctuation to it to get different meanings.
2 of the meanings mentioned were that;
time flies, like an arrow. Hence, time passes fast
time: flies like an arrow.
time flies; like an arrow. This one was suggested to mean timing flies.
An interpretation that I came up with was that time flies like an arrow in the sense that you can't go back in time, as arrows aim ahead. So all there is is the present, moving in the direction of the future. However when I said this, people gave me weird looks since it was a different/weird interpretation, but I still stand by it and hopefully someone else will eventually see the phrase the way I did.

Week of November 22nd

This week we recieved a worksheet on language and what it's used for. We also had to evaluate a source, find a biased article, and invent an English word. Language is a way of communication, to communicate thoughts, ideas, feelings, or send messages. It's used everyday, all around us, by people through speaking, or writing. The biased article that I found was one on mobile phones and it stated that a certain brand was 'better' than the rest. The next TOK lesson, we were supposed to discuss language and its impact on society but I was sick/absent.

Language

What is language?

To me, language is a means of communication. It is also a way of expressing oneself through spoken words or writing. It can be used to communicate, or persuade people to do something like in advertising. Language is used all around us by everyone. It can also reflect one's culture. Language can determine the meaning when answering a question. It can direct one's thoughts.

List the different ways in which language is used for the purpose of communication.

• spoken words (talking, speaking, saying a speech, advising, socializing)
• writing (e-mails, poetry, novels, books, articles, advertising, blogging)
• body language (actions and the way one acts or does things)
  

Language and Values - Objective or subjective?

Language can be both objective and subjective. When personally answering a question, writing, or expressing oneself, language can be considered subjective. In many cases, choice of words is crucial. Language is also subjective in the sense that some languages don't have certain words, which direct the ways one speaks or thinks. Like Mandarin, that does not have a word for 'no'. I would consider language to be more subjective than objective, but it could be considered objective by stating facts, or inventing new words to suit one's thoughts as thoughts are limitless and language should reflect that.

The writer of the piece on the Texan revolution supported the Texans. This is evident as he writes from the Texan perspective, and says that "Sam Houston led a surprise attack.... securing victory for the Texans". The word victory is used instead of saying that the Texans simply 'won'.

Select a newspaper article that has a biased slant. The article I chose was an analysis and comparison between the iPhone and the Blackberry. Although the writer stated the advantages and limitations to each phone brand, at the end of the article it said "posted from X's Blackberry", which not so subtly shows a bias as he prefers blackberry since he typed the article from his phone and posted it. Also, the article gave alternatives to the limitations of the blackberry and hinted at the fact that there were more advantages than limitations, while not doing that for the iPhone.

Languages often reflect the culture from which they are derived. When bilingual Japanese people living in America were asked the same questions in English and Japanese, their responses in English reflected their thoughts through the American culture, whereas when they responded in Japanese, their responses seemed more family oriented, reflecting their culture. Language and thought are linked as a language makes you think in a certain way, depending on the culture it comes from, and the words and terms that are commonly used. If I were to answer a question about morals and ethics in English, and about how people would act in different situation, I would focus more on freedom, and feel more sympathetic. In Arabic however, I would probably link morals to religion, and what's considered right or wrong in the society I live in or by religion. I have actually had conversations with siblings in English about cultural boundaries, and how someone could follow a religion without restricting themselves to the boundaries of their culture, but in Arabic my conversations on the same topic seem to take a different direction, by focusing on religion and cultural values. In Arabic, thoughts usually revolve around what other people think while in English the conversations are more open; this could be due to the fact that I can't say everything in Arabic that I can say in English since English is my first language and my Arabic vocabulary is fairly limited in comparison.

My newly invented words:

Flurbishness: Saying the first thing that comes to mind in a situation where the comment may be inappropriate.
Spinduptuality: The ability to read someone’s mind while in a déjà-vu

Week of November 15th

This week in TOK, we were split up in groups and had to choose a question from the "Knowledge Issues" paper and had to decide how we would structure the presentation if we were to do it and tell the class. This also had to include examples of things we have done so far in TOK. My group chose to do the question on culture and how that affects perception. We decided that we would structure the presentation by having a powerpoint. The example that we thought clearly showed how different backgrounds affects perception was the meat story, as the protagonists had an objective view of humans and saw people/analysed the race in a completely different way than people see themselves. We thought it would also be a good idea to have a video showing an interview of 2 people from completely different cultural backgrounds and show their view on a subject.; or act out the interview ourselves and writing a script before hand. Other groups thought it would be relevant to add optical illusions to their presentations but they did another question about sense of perception.