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To what extent do the Ways of knowing rely on each other to give us reliable knowledge? Discuss with reference to 4 Ways of knowing.
Everyday, we communicate, express emotions, think, memorise and use our imagination in so many different situations and ways that, we never stop to think about them. This shows us that we have mostly, gone through our lives, without knowing any of these experiences, that one goes through everyday, without ever acknowledging or fully questioning, how we know what we know.It can be considered that, without any regard to where you live on the planet, we gain our knowledge as human beings in very similar ways (“Dombrowski 9”). However, do all these similar ways of knowing somehow hold a significance in
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our lives? If they do, then how do we interpret them and how do we eventually know? Right now you are reading this Tok essay of a grade 11 student. In terms of TOK language, how do you really know you are reading a TOK essay?(“What are the four ways of knowing”). By clearly using sight to detect the essay title, the name of the student and the grade that is in on top of the page, you then get to know that you are reading a TOK essay of a grade 11 student. This shows us that sense perception allows us to gain knowledge about the outside world i.e the title, name and grade on top of the page through our sense of sight. The same goes with communicating or eating. To some extent, we do know that food is in front of us(sight and smell), we are eating food(taste), someone is talking to us(hearing,sight) or even, that the page in front of us, is a TOK essay(sight) however, this does not exactly make it the most reliable way of knowing. Every sense that we have in some way deceives us into knowing something completely different. In this case it limits our understanding of the world as we rely on them by trusting what we see, touch, taste, hear and smell.Sense perception varies from person to person(Dombrowski 25) within our species as some may have diseases or weaknesses when it comes to the five main senses that we use everyday. For example a condition affecting sight can be night blindness or cataract causing significant reduction in one’s ability to see clearly. So, the person with this condition will see something slightly different compared to a person with no such condition depending on how severe the disease is. Another such neurological condition is called synthesia(Dombrowski 25), and can ‘smell’ colours and ‘feel’ taste. Similar to the case above, one produces a different response and notion towards that particular food item they are eating, compared to a person who does not have the disease and produces a different response. Another such example can be about mirages and optical illusion( Dombrowski 27). A mirage is defined as something that is illusory, without having any substance or reality(“Mirage”). Not being a real image, our senses deceive into believing this supposed illusion to be true. This shows us that although most of us possess all of the five main senses it is still very much possible that they cannot be deemed as reliable or very much trusted. When it comes to language, using the same above example of the TOK essay, you know that you are reading a TOK essay of a grade 11 student because of the sense of sight. This shows that language in one way relies on sight as you need to understand the language that the essay is written in, in order to interpret that as a TOK essay in the first place, by reading the content that is in the essay and then reading the name of the student to show that he or she in in the 11th grade... This essay was in a way used to communicate knowledge through a language thus becoming a way of knowing. Language can consist of not only words but also gestures, images and even objects thus becoming a crucial part of our daily lives(“Introducing the ways of knowing”) However to some extent there is chance that language cannot be considered reliable. Language is also filled with potential problem areas such as ambiguity and translation issues. This means inexactness in a certain topic or the quality of being open to more than one interpretation(“ambiguity”). For example Shakespeare has written many such plays using language that is very different from that of today. This shows ambiguity as many may interpret a certain scene or word differently as that of what others may say. This is also linked to translation issues as many words from plays may mean something else in contrast to modern day english. We cry, laugh, feel happy, feel sad, fear and regret along with so many other such emotions that are expressed occasionally. Generally, these emotions are regarded as physiological and therefore anyone can express such emotions(“Introducing the ways of knowing”). On one hand, they may be reliable as we respond to the particular situation at that very moment without applying any logic. Applying the above ways of knowing, for example if you meet a person for the first time, you may express emotions of being uncomfortable by your body language using your five main senses. On the other hand, emotions as a way of knowing in the modern day is regarded to be very fickle.
Most of the time, this way of knowing is known to cause reckless decisions based on the person who is making the decision. Movies, books and even personal experiences can cloud over unbiased judgements over this way of knowing. Coming back to the example on Shakespeare's plays, most of his characters make decisions based upon their emotions which may be good or bad.
Reason, being the exact opposite of emotions, is about using your five main senses by thinking immediately with logic by deducing valid conclusions to a particular situation. (“Introducing the ways of knowing”). Using reason has always come a long way into mostly making the right decisions. Supposing, we believe the tale of Archimedes and how he thought of upthrust, he definitely used reason and in that sense logic to think about upthrust and how the problem was connected to question the king had presented him
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with. However it is often said that reason is thought of without including emotion. As said before, it may cloud judgements and so thus becoming one way that the ways of knowing do not necessarily rely on each other to give reliable information. Many business decisions made by top multinational companies are issued without any regard to emotion but this may cause dissatisfaction among employees and their consumers. Thus reason may not be reliable in this case. Lastly, all these ways of knowing play a huge part and are very significant in our lives.
They are intertwined in many such cases giving us very reliable information but differ completely when it comes to such a situations, where it really depends on how valid the statements are that are presented in each case. In my opinion, knowledge is power but reliable knowledge is what really counts towards our own success.
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Works Cited
Dombrowski, Eileen, Lena Rotenberg, and Mimi Bick. IB Diploma Programme: Theory of Knowledge Course Companion. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.
Kim, Oliver. "What Are the Four Ways of Knowing(WOK)?" Tok talk. N.p., 6 Dec. 2009. Web. 26 Sept. 2015. .
"How the 5 Senses Change with Age." The Davis Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015. .
" Mirage." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015. .
Introducing the Ways of Knowing. Singapore: OFS, n.d. PDF.
"Ambiguity." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2015.
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The story I chose for this analysis is “Why, you reckon?” by Langston Hughes. IN this analysis I will be focusing on how the great depression in Harlem had effect on the story, how racism played a part, and how or if the characters were justifyied in their actions. During this time period the intense racial divide combined with the economic harships that plagued the U.S. during the 1923’s makes for an interesting story that makes you think if the charaters were really justified.
Perhaps the most ubiquitous quality shared between humans is the capacity to know. The English language seems stark and stale when considering a definition for the word itself that encompasses the various feelings that can be summoned in knowing something. John Farella examines the inequality that exists in the relationship between the West...
How we approach the question of knowledge is pivotal. If the definition of knowledge is a necessary truth, then we should aim for a real definition for theoretical and practical knowledge. Methodology examines the purpose for the definition and how we arrived to it. The reader is now aware of the various ways to dissect what knowledge is. This entails the possibility of knowledge being a set of truths; from which it follows that one cannot possibly give a single definition. The definition given must therefore satisfy certain desiderata , while being strong enough to demonstrate clarity without losing the reader. If we base our definition on every counter-example that disproves our original definition then it becomes ad hoc. This is the case for our current defini...
s the notion that humans have introspective knowledge as a given. His interest in the matter arises when one attempts to "explain how we come by such knowledge and what gives us this first-person authority"(p. 40)
Scottish philosopher David Hume is amongst one of the most influential empirical philosophers to date for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion. As an Empiricist Hume claimed that the only way we can obtain knowledge is through our senses however he argues true knowledge is unattainable for all intent and purpose, due to the problem of induction.By briefly examining Hume 's problem of induction and it 's dependancy to of the so called principles of Uniformity of Nature we could come to a conclusion that Hume 's is correct. In this paper I would like to argue in accordance to Hume 's statement that we cannot have access to true knowledge. By reviewing the definitions of induction, deduction, and the principles of uniformity of nature and examining the possible problems they inflict on the idea of knowledge, we will come to agreement with Hume 's that the idea of knowledge does not simply exist.
"All statements are true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense" — Malaclypse the Younger. Truth is a fact that has been verified. There are many procedures that must be completed for something to be considered truth. Truth in its full extension is an intellectual aspect of reality that is unchanging, internally harmonious, universal and without error. However false is something that cannot be proven but, instead false can be debated. In this Theory of Knowledge essay it will be shown that there are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false.”
van de Lagemaat, R. (2011) Theory of knowledge for the IB diploma, Cambridge University Press.
I feel that the nature of knowledge is relative, constructed differently according to person, place and time.
There is a statement that is applicable to any person in the world nowadays and this fact is that there are some things that we know and that we don’t. Several questions may arise from this statement and they are: What does it take to know something? And how can we be sure that the things we know aren’t actually wrong? And in this case and at this time the role of uniform knowledge takes part (Uniform knowledge is base knowledge). And without acceptance of informal knowledge or base knowledge, we cannot create a knowledge claim( something that is believed to be true but its also open for debate or discussion. In other words its something that is right in our minds and we just want to assess how valid this knowledge is).
Lagemaat, Richard Van De. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. Print.
The fundamental knowledge question posed in this statement is “To what extent is the systematic organisation of facts reliable in the acquirement of knowledge?” Knowledge provides us with an understanding of the world we live in, thus contributing to the advancement of our world. By considering this knowledge question, we are able to assess the strengths and limitations of categorising knowledge systematically. This can then provide us with a broader understanding of knowledge, encouraging further discoveries and inventions. The Tripartite Theory of Knowledge states that three aspects- belief, truth and justification- constitute knowledge. Knowledge is typically divided into three categories: personal knowledge, procedural knowledge and propositional knowledge. Personal knowledge is knowledge obtained through personal experience, procedural knowledge is the knowledge of knowing how to perform a specific skill, and propositional knowledge is the knowledge of facts that can be declared. Knowledge is accumulated through a variety of ways, the most salient being experience, perception and reason. Facts are statements proven to be true through observation and investigation. The systematic organisation of facts implies a methodical approach towards knowledge, which is most commonly achieved through following the processes within the scientific method. This systematic organisation requires the extraction and categorisation of supposed facts. Although this allows for convenience, this can be a reductionist approach towards the acquirement of knowledge, potentially disregarding extraneous variables. Math...
Question No. 5 “No knowledge can be produced by a single way of knowing.” Discuss.
...ntrol plays an extremely important part in the process of chasing knowledge. It takes a great deal of self control to admit to yourself that you do not know something. It is a common human characteristic to assume that you know a certain piece of information and you need to restrain yourself and at least double check the validity of the statement. It is also very important to remember how you came to “know” the information. Many people claim to know things that they have learned in class, from parents, or in church. However, none of these are valid avenues to true knowledge. Just because another individual says something that makes some sense doesn’t mean it’s correct. The individual needs to be wary of believing that they know things. It is one thing to believe in something but it is a far greater commitment to say that you know.
Knowledge can be defined in a number of ways, but its most intrinsic form can be fundamentally broken down as the entire collective of truths, information, and principles as obtained through education or experience. Moreover, according to a general philosophical consensus, knowledge is further defined as something that is true, something that a person believes is true, and something that the person is justified in believing to be true. In essence, this addresses the validity and verification of the knowledge that is acquired, the relative uncertainty of the knowledge, as well as the justification between the validity and belief of knowledge. Validity is the extent to which something, such as information or principles, is true, and verification
The concept of ‘knowledge’ is infinitely broad, but there do exist three subcategories in which a majority of knowledge is encompassed. The knowledge contained within each category carries with it different characteristics, different applications, and certainly varying amounts of weight from the perspective of any individual. The three categories are religious, mathematical, and scientific knowledge. Many questions arise when examining this system of partition. Should knowledge from one category be trusted over knowledge from another? Is one type of knowledge more easily verified than a different type? What exactly are all the differences between religious, mathematical, and scientific knowledge? Reasonable answers to all these questions could not responsibly be answered in this, or any single paper, however, there is one question that can be answered to a reasonable degree of certainty. Which type of knowledge is the most applicable to the real world? Despite the mass appeal of religious knowledge and the arguable purity of mathematical knowledge, it is the tangible scientific knowledge that is most useful and most applicable to the real world. In order to justify this, it is necessary to present at least a brief investigation into each type of knowledge, noting its origin, appeal, and other unique characteristics.