Saturday, September 21, 2013
More Than a Feeling
Greetings, Knowers. As we begin to build our TOK vocabularies, we're developing a list (and understandings of that list) of ways of knowing. To date, we've discussed Sense Perception, Language, Reason, Emotion, and Faith, along with the beginnings of an exploration of Intuition and what that might mean. I respectfully submit that the list may be incomplete at this time. I also want to share with you all Cynthia's astute observation that there seems to be a lot of overlap. Yes! It is often very difficult (perhaps at times impossible?) to draw clear distinctions between the ways we know certain things. That said, for Tuesday morning at 8 am, I would like you each to identify two moments of knowledge (two things you know) and the ways of knowing employed for each. Employ two different ways of knowing (one for each) and, as best you are able, identify one discreet way of knowing for each moment. Identify what you know, the context of the knowledge, and how you know (the way of knowing). Take a risk--try to use the way of knowing that confuses or confounds you most. If you feel your brain begin to melt, don't worry: the nights are getting cooler.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I know how to communicate: Language
ReplyDeleteI know I believe in God: Faith/Emotion
For starters I know that I know how to communicate because of language. I know how to communicate because I learned and still have been learning since I was an infant. Reading and learning how to speak also help me with communication because it teaches me how to speak so that I may be able to converse with someone. Without language nothing would be said and nothing could be expressed. Communication is the basis for a society (not necessarily for me) because it helps a society to understand each other which will create less conflict. Communication is how words are relayed from one person to the next.
I know I believe in God because I know in my heart that he is real. I know this because of the faith I have in the Bible and the faith I have in God. I have also have been taught by my parents to believe in God no matter what, but I believe that I am at the age that I can make the decision for myself and my decision is that God is creator of everything. The amount of faith that someone has to put into believing something that they can not see is incredible. However, sometimes my faith does elude me, because at times I doubt God is real. However, faith is so strong that unholy thoughts are pushed away. Faith plays a huge role in belief, but also ones own opinion and ideas contribute to the reality of God. I think that if someone is not dedicated to God and the bible, then it will be difficult for them to even think of God as their creator. Personally, I know there is a God because I trust in Him.
The first thing I can say that I know is that I have a deep love for my mother. I say this is the first thing I know because it was one of the first things I was sure of. This way of knowing was by perception and emotion. As soon as a baby is born it has a a love and attachment to its mother even in the first two seconds of life without learning anything as yet. As it grows a bit older, the infant usually cries when it's taken from its mothers arms or the mother leaves the room. I use this knowledge of my love for my mother because I think it's one of the few things that I'm sure that I know and no matter what logic, debate or form of interpretation that I come across I am still sure that I love her. It's one of those things I know, have always know and will always know. As to how I know it, it's hard to explain because I can't think of a time when I didn't know that I loved my mother. I think the two most important are perception and emotion when it comes to love because those are one first two ways of knowing after birth.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I know is that there has to be some super being out there. This knowledge is simply a result of logic and reason. My flow of reasoning is simply taking a look at the human body. It is so complex that our immune system attacks any other type of blood other than our blood type, the female body is designed to carry a living thing for nine months and after giving birth it still lives, our hypothalamus is triggered to give off chemicals that cause the body to react to emotions. The complexity and perfection of the human body I am sure that there has to be some form of greater intelligent or super being that made this come about. It could not have been started because of a 'bang'. While I'm still searching for who or what that supreme being is. I know there has to be something far greater than human intelligence out there. While there is no concrete evidence that convinces me of this, as a result of making observations and using logic and reasoning I have come to this conclusion. There is something out there that is greater than humans.
One fallacy I found in my argument is a slippery slope. I assumed that since the human body is complex and perfect a higher intelligence had to create it. This is a slippery slope because not because the human body is complex means that an intelligent being created it.
DeleteAnother possible fallacy of logic is appealing to emotion. This is because I talk about how perfect the human body which is something most people can agree on and almost everyone can relate to a mother-child love.
From my emotion, I know my grandfather is my favorite person in the world. He guides me to the every good part of life and brings me comfort and sense of security. It was September when I was about to come back to school. I was really depressed because I did not want to go to school and be away from home again. That evening, my grandparents invited me to their apartment for dinner. My grandpa cooks the best food in the world. After dinner, my grandpa told me that he could feel that I was not happy about school. Then he talked to me about his experience when he was at school, how he got rid of the negative attitude, and what he hoped I would be able to achieve. Everything he said was so reasonable and convictive that I felt relaxed and confident about my new school year. There have been so many examples like this happened since I was young. My parents even always ask me to remember what my grandpa tells me. Yesterday, I called him and told him all that happened these days. The way he talked to me is so special that it made me miss him even more. I cried so hard afterwards. My emotion tells me that I can not live without my grandpa and I love him so much.
ReplyDeleteLanguage enables me to gain more information through more media. As for me studying abroad, it was a great challenge for me to face everything which is in English. After two years, I strongly feel that language is just a small obstacle but the most important element on the way of knowing. Once I am able to master basic English, everything I read, hear, speak and write still means the same thing as that in Chinese. However, if one completely do not understand one language, he would never know anything in that language so that language is the basis of knowing.
For my knowledge that my grandfather is my favorite person, I know it by my emotion. I used a really common incident that my grandfather soothed my pressure. This may happen in everybody’s life and probably everyone around her can be the one who comforts and supports her. Additionally, everyone is unique and talks differently, not only my grandfather does. As I used these examples, that probably mean that one can become my favorite person if he cheers me up and is different from the others. The logical fallacy here can be “the texas sharpshooter”. The reason is that a lot of other elements have much more important role in making my grandfather my favorite person. Emotion is so complicated that it can not be elaborated through one or two examples.
DeleteThe second thing that I know is that language is the basis of knowledge. Actually, I solely explained why language is crucial for knowledge but intentionally ignored the importance of other ways of knowing. For example, if one does not have any perception, being in a vegetative state, he can never gain new knowledge. Hence, there is another basis of knowledge.
The "through more media statement is not clear to me.
DeleteI think she used an anecdotal because her story is mainly of personal stories and not much sound argument or evidence.
One thing that I can say I am 100% sure of, is purely emotional. In this case, emotion is the only way of knowing it. My love for my family, is not something learned, perceived or backed by logic. I solely know from my emotions. I feel as though all, or almost all humans, are born with this feeling and compassion in which somewhere throughout their lives they are compelled to feeling a strong emotion such as love, towards a given person or item etc. It is within our nature to be both protective and loving of our closest bonds. My family is the most important thing in the world to me, and I know this without a doubt. I believe this is a matter of emotional ways of knowing because it is not related to communication or language, perception of my family, or even logic. This knowing comes directly from the heart that feels this untouchable and unconditional love that cannot be explained by any words except “I just know”.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing I believe I know is the saying we discussed in class, “Cogito ergo sum” by Rene Descartes. I believe in his statement and philosophy because of logic. His theory of “I think therefore I am” is a simple way to understand that once you realize you are thinking in anyway, you are living. I think this makes sense, and that he used his logic to come to this conclusion. I also used my logic to come to my agreement with his thinking.
Maybe not everyone is born with such an attachment to another person (they could be orphaned), therefore their family wouldn't be of such importance to them. There is a generalization in saying that everyone is born like this. Furthermore, "just knowing" is not a possible answer. It is impossible to just know that you love someone. You need a logical way of knowing to know why you love that person, an emotional way of knowing, because you feel it with your emotions, and language knowledge will come in to play to, because without language you would not know the word love.
DeleteThis is a very black and white example. It seems like you either have to agree or disagree, which is not the case. Someone can use language as a way of knowing, to determine a different meaning of this statement. "I think therefore I am" may mean that if you think you're something than you are that something for example. It may not mean, in everyone's mind that if you are capable of thinking, you are existing.
Yasmin says that she knows her family is the most important thing to her purely by emotion. The conclusion can not be drawn if she only uses her emotion. Maybe Yasmin’s mom supports her all the time, if Yasmin does not have the ability of reasoning or perceiving, she would not know that is the love. So the statement of knowing that family is the most important thing in the world only by Yasmin’s emotion does not stand. Also, in the middle of the paragraph, Yasmin says all the people are born to love their family. She generalizes every person, which is “the gambler's fallacy”. Probably most people value family, but it does not mean it will absolutely happen.
DeleteFor “Cogito ergo sum” by Rene Descartes, I believe that Yasmin know it not only by her logic but also by language.
I believe the only thing I'm completely sure of knowing is my sense of compassion. Throughout my life I've slowly realized that I have strong empathic traits. I can feel people's emotions as if they are my own. For example, if I see someone struggling and they come crying to me, odds are I will cry along with them no matter what the situation is (an example of this would be me sitting in front of a tv crying along with a serial killer being interviewed). Emotion can take me over and I can't explain it, but I do know that it's a characteristic of myself. Although I cannot explain how these emotions work, I know that they are in fact real and that everyone has them.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing I know is real would be God. I grew up in a religious family (aka my dad is a priest) so obviously I was taught to follow the Bible and believe in God. Although my family pushed this on me, I still think I would believe in God even if they hadn't mentioned religion. It's just a part of me that I know is a fact. Along the lines of what Maah said, I think it's amazing that so many people believe in God even though they have never seen him. Many people center their lives around this belief. If I had to choose a trait that lead me to believe in this it would firstly be emotion, but secondly language simply because these stories of God have been told to me through language.
Maybe, your emotions are not a way of knowing in this sense; but your sense perception is telling you that someone is sad, by seeing it. Thus, you may feel sad because you see someone sad.
DeleteIt is hard to question faith or God, but maybe this is not a question of language or emotion. Without language, would anybody still believe in a superior being? Or, do you feel an emotion such as happiness or anger, etc. that tell you God is real. Or, is it your sense perception, from what you see and hear; your faith from solely what you believe; and your logic, for combining your faith with your sense perception, that makes you believe God exists.
I know I really love my mom through the way of emotion. When I was in Holy Cross High School, the previous school that I transferred to, I lived with a nice host family. But we only had half day of class, and rest of time, I did not have people to talk to. I communicated with my host family, but maybe because of the cultural differences, I did not think they could really understand me. I got really bad homesick, and I talked to my mom, she really understood me, so she came to the United States, and helped me transferred back to Stoneleign Burnham School. She respects and supports every decision that I make. In this spring, I was really depressed, and my mom took a bus from New Jersey to New York, then from New York to Springfield. She rented a car in Springfield and came to my school. What's the most important was that she did not much English, and she even could not pronounce "travel" correctly. I was so moved, and felt she gave up so much for me. I appreciate to have her as my mom.
ReplyDeleteI know I like art through the way of intuition. I think this is the ability that given by god. I feel relax and enjoy when I doing the art work. I am willing to spend my spare time to study art or go to museum. Although I have pressure, but I feel that the motivate to push me to do better work. I feel proud when I finish a piece of work. However, I could not spend my free time to dance, even through I can appreciate a ballet show, I do not really have a sense of balance.
I stated that I love my mom through the way of emotion, and gave two examples to show how my mom loves me. I totally disguised replacement of concept, and my correct statement will be I know my mom loves me. More over, I did not only use the way of emotion to know that my mom loves me, but also the way of communicate which reference to the language.
DeleteFor the second one, I try to use the example of I am not good at dance to prove that I like art, and that is "burden of proof". I should not equalize not good at dance with like art.
I am positive that Beijing is the city that I love the most. I love it in all its aspects, with consideration of all its good and bad. I know that by reason, by comparing it to all the other cities that I have been to, and not finding one that I love more than Beijing. Other than using reason, I also know that by emotion, and a sense of self-identity. Emotion is how I know, because there are a lot of meaningful memories that rooted there. Beijing is something that defines me, not only is it my home. Whenever I think of Beijing, a strong surge of pride fills my heart, although that might be homesickness, but even when I am in the city, thinking of it makes me proud that I am from there. I know that my love for Beijing isn’t only because it is a big city, because I have visited Singapore, and realized that Singapore is a better-managed city, and, is in a sense, better than Beijing. However, that did not change Beijing’s ranking as number one in my heart, although it did knock all the other cities down a rank. Beijing was a starting point for me, because that is where I was born and raised, it has also become my goal. Beijing has always been a part of me, but now I want to work to become a part of Beijing. How much of knowledge is dependent on personal values? And how do people know how they came to value what they value? Is it how they were brought up? Do I only like to live in cities because I was born in one? Is that also the reason why I become attached to it? In movies, people who were born in small towns have always wanted to get out, but there are also some people who get attached to their hometowns. I think it has to do with the culture and habitat that different people are born in. This makes me rethink an old Chinese proverb that I was taught when I was a child. The proverb states that all people are born to have the same personality and values. I have never thought about how quickly they start to develop values and personalities.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I know is that I don’t know. A lot of times, I think that I know something will happen for sure (by all ways of knowing), and have excluded/invalidated all other possible outcomes to save myself from getting too excited, but they almost always turn out to be not what I expected. I have made inference to the past, reasoned by logic, and sensed by perception, and felt by emotion. These are cases were outside sources of influence cannot be ignored. There are things that are beyond our control, hence, exceeding our knowledge. This shows that even with the combination of all these ways of knowing, we cannot know anything for sure, except maybe in cases where only pure reason and logic is used, like in mathematics. This is why I think reason and logic is the most dependable and universal way of knowing. It is amazing how ignorant humans are
The first logical fallacy that I committed was Black-and-White; I did not draw a conclusion from a complete set of evidence. I wanted to prove that Beijing is my favorite city, so I made an overstatement in saying that I love all aspects of Beijing, with concern to its downsides. I did not consider its bad sides, in fact, there are many bad sides that I neglected to think about. For example, I forgot how impolite people in Beijing could be, the air pollution, and the traffic that turns Beijing into a parking lot, making it impossible to travel. Keeping these things in mind, I may have to make new comparisons, and question what I know and how I know. After comparing again my favorite two cites (Beijing with Singapore), I no longer know by reason and logic that Beijing is the city that I love the most. I made the same mistake in the second moment of knowledge, I had not thought about all the other times where I was right. I also ignored a very important piece of common sense, and it is that we, as human beings cannot predict the future, we can make efforts, but unless based on extremely solid and concrete facts and evidence, there are only guesses. Maybe I had not gained enough evidence to make the previous predictions so they weren’t deductions, they were only inductions.
DeleteQianqian stated that she like Beijing, but Qianqian could not predict that if there is any other city in the future she will be like. In addition, Qianqian said that she likes all the aspects of Beijing, but she did not mention the negative aspects of Beijing which must exist few. In my opinion, I think the logic should be Beijing is Qianqian's hometown so that Qianqian has a great impression of Beijing. Moreover, Beijing is a advanced metropolis, so Qianqian likes Beijing even more.
DeleteI believe that there is a super natural force that exists and that God has. I believe that there is a creator of the universe who has the power and ability to do anything. I believe that he is like the King of kings and Lord of Lords. It is very hard for many people to believe this because most of them dought in the existence of someone or something that they have not seen. I do not blame them in any way because it is hard for me to believe that something exists without having any sensory perception. I have never seen nor touched God but by faith, I believe that he is was and will always be there. Nobody can change my mind on this.
ReplyDeleteI am that person who loves and extremely adores young children or babies. When they get hurt, I feel more hurt in some way. When they are sad, I feel sad. When they are happy, I become happier. Whenever I am with children, I develop all of a sudden, emotions that I can't control. Children are the greatest joy in my life. I believe that emotion can be one way that a person can tell who or what they like from experience.
Is there another way that you know that a super-being exists? I think you made a black or white fallacy. Super natural force, includes god, along with many other things. Why do you exclude all other kinds of super natural forces? Faith can prove that you believe in a super natural force, but the God part is a little bit shaky. You also went back on yourself when you said, “it’s hard for me to believe…I believe”. What you are implying is that although it is hard for you to believe, and have no reason to believe, yet, you still believe in God.
DeleteIn your second moment of knowledge, you are absolutely sure that you adore young children. I think you are over generalizing here, and is making an overstatement. I did the same in my moments of knowledge. Did you think about how you would feel about a certain child if they are extremely bratty and violent? How would you feel about Augustus Gloop? Or Violet Beauregarde? Or Mike Teevee? Or Veruca Salt? These obnoxious characters are children too. Would you feel sad if a room full of children started crying and wailing and screaming? Or would you feel annoyed and angry? You can know these feelings by emotion too. Is there a specific child that you love and have a strong connection with?
One big fallacy that I made, is saying that I can't control my feelings. Everybody can control their feelings in one way or another. I just meant that, my feelings are hard to control when I am around children, By the way that's true Qianqian, I love kids. Coming back, I realized that I argued that there is a super natural force that exists. Their might be many super natural forces that exist but I was trying to refer to the universe's greatest power. This includes that of creation.
DeleteIn my opinion, there are very few things in life we can be absolutely certain of. I know for a fact that I am sitting here (in the library), thinking about how I can be certain of being in this time and place. To use Descartes logic, I am thinking and therefore there is some part of me that is here in this moment. I know this to be true. The problem is that every way of knowing we have come up with somehow proves to me that I'm here. For example, I may reason that because I am thinking and breathing in this moment that I am here, but am I not also perceiving that this moment is happening to me right now? And do I not feel confused about how I am reasoning that this moment might be here? and then if I'm confused (whether it's an emotion or me reasoning that this entire subject seems impossible to contemplate) than is it faith that leads me to believe that I am sitting here in this moment? Based on this argument, you could say that anything that confuses you you can believe due to faith. Then the issue becomes that if faith is a valid way of knowing, reason becomes illegitimate compared to an argument based on faith. Does that mean some ways of knowing are more valid than others?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I think I got a tad off track.I started with something I knew to be true and then found ways to convince myself that I don't really know it to be true at all. Hm. Confused.
The second thing that I think I know to be true is that I love my horse, Blue. I know this because I have faith, sensory perception, reason,emotion, and language backing me up. When I go down to the barn and I see my horse, I feel the excitement and happiness as separate forms of sensory perception and emotion. Then I reason that because my horse makes me happy, and I can devote myself to his well being, that I love him. (Is that a valid way to reason? Ah. I have no idea.)
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMaybe Faith as you said, might be the only way to believe that something is happening when you are confused. But do you think that faith is what tells you that you are getting confused? Of course not. When you are confused, that simply means that you are having a misunderstanding or things are not clear in your mind. You might end up finding a way to get out of the confusion. This means that believing or having faith is the not the only way to get yourself out of the confusion. For example, you might use your sensory perception to help you see where you are, maybe in the library as you said. You might as well use logic and reason to recall or see that you are surrounded by a bunch of books, and you will definitely know that you are in the library. I believe that faith is caused by another understanding. You might reason, apply language or sensory perception and then come to your conclusion. See! It's somehow connected. Faith is the belief that appears as a result of another way of knowledge application such as reason,... In that case, faith is not the only way of getting your self out of the confusion. It is a coordination of the other ways of applying knowledge but not really, the most valid way of knowing.
DeleteFor the past couple of days I have been wondering what I know and how I know it. It is a very tricky question. I asked myself over 20 questions about what I know, but more importantly how. That was the hardest part. How do we know anything! However, I went back to our very first class where we all went into seperate sides of the class room to a different way of knowing. I chose language and emotion. I beleive that these two ways of knowing are the most important. I believe that we are all born with the ability to feel emotion, understand emotion, and more importantly know from emotion. Emotion is given to us when we are born. We do not have to learn it or even live more than a minuet to learn it, like language, logic, reason, sense perception, and faith. Those other ways of knowing come from experience or other people explaining them to us.
ReplyDeleteThe second most important way of learning in my opinion is language. There are over 6.7 billion humans on the earth right now. I believe that in some form of language we can all communicate. That language doesn't have to be spoken. It can be body language, written, drawn, or even sung. Some form of communication can be a way of knowing. So after I thought about two different ways of knowing and how i knew them, I realized that I use emotion and language everyday.
One thing that I am 100% certain of is I love my parents. My mother and father are the most important people on this earth to me. FIrst of all they brought me to life, but for my sake as well as yours we don't have to get into that...they love each other and they love me. I know this because of emotion. Emotion is one of the hardest ways of knowing to analyze. First of all, love, is impossible to explain. I believe it is a feeling with no definition and no explanation. This is how I feel about my parents. No words can describe how much I care about them. How much they mean to me. And how much I truly love them. They are my teachers, my role models, and the best warm hug you could ever ask for during a mental breakdown. They are home; a feeling of complete comfort. I feel like I can really be myself with them. They know me better than anyone else and they believe in me more than anybody else. For all those reasons and more, I am sure that I love them.
The second thing I am sure of is that I know how to ride horses through language. For people that do not ride it is hard to explain. The relationship between horse and rider is one of the strongest bonds that there could ever be. One that does not need a translator. This bond, unlike many others, can be formed in less then two minuets or in a span of 4 years. It can be tough, very tough. But it can also be the best thing in the world. The entire bond is based on a language, created by the horse and rider themselves. Each duo has their own way of communicated. Whether it be that something is wrong, uncomfortabe, correct, exciting, or graditude. It is an unspoken language that only that duo understands. I know that I can create this language with horses and they can communicate with me. I know what I know about horseback riding through language.
Personally, I believe that emotion is the most reliable way of knowing. I feel that emotion comes from within yourself so it is the most pure and honest way of knowing. In my life there are many examples of knowing through emotion. My love for my mom is one of them. I know I love my mom because I feel at home in her arms, her happiness makes me feel warm inside, our laughter is contagious, we argue about nothing but make up in a second, I trust her sometimes more than I trust myself, and partly I love her just cause she's my mom. As a single parent, my mom has been my rock through everything that has happened in my life. She does everything that she can for me no matter what. Without her, I honestly have no idea who or where I would be today. She is my everything. I feel like emotion is the only way to know something like this. I know from within myself that I love my mom more than anything, there is no other way to describe other than that I just know. It's like the feeling when you're heart sinks to the pit of your stomach when your teacher hands back a test that you scored bad on or, or when you feel a rush of anger and frustration because the dinning hall ran out of bacon; through emotion you can discover how you honestly feel and know what you know.
ReplyDeleteFor me, another important way of knowing is faith. I am catholic, so I guess you could say that I do believe in god. Honestly, I just believe that there is definitely a higher power, I don't know if that power is god, but I do believe that there is something. Along with this I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. I think that everyone has a path set out for them in life (determined by this higher power) and everything happens for a reason and it will all fall into place. I think that this is a way of knowing because it is a way of understanding why things happen the way they do. For example, say I failed a history test, like no worries, it obviously happened for a reason; it was totally fate and everything is gonna be all good. No but seriously, I think that sometimes there are just somethings that I can't be explained through logic or language or anything and it's just life and things happen. I feel that there are lessons to be learned from every moment in life and they all happen for a reason. You just need to have faith in life. It is really hard for me to explain, but in short, faith plays a role in every decision that I make in my life and without faith I feel like I would pretty hopeless and I wouldn't have learned many of the things that I have learned. I hope this made sense.
The fallacies that I committed in both of my paragraphs was using my opinion rather than giving more evidence of why I think these ways of knowing are ways of knowing. I talked more about personal experience and thought rather than facts I guess. My paragraphs were not as convincing as they could have been.
DeleteI am comfortable with perception and reason as ways of knowing. The other two still confuse me a little, but I hope they will get clearer in the future. Today, I used both reason and perception as a way of knowing. The First, time, I was riding my horse, and tightened by curb rein while we were cantering. She immediately tensed, threw her head up, and grunted. I loosened my curb rein almost on instinct, and set her back up to canter nicely. I did this all without thinking. Looking back, I believe that I knew what to do because of reason, and perception. First, Reason, because the other times I have done this, she has reacted the same way, and I have solved it the same way (the real question here is why do I continue to tighten my curb rein, It's really going to end up the same way). Because of all the times I have experienced it, it has become and instinct to loosen my rein, because of reason. The Perspective part of it was how I know it worked. As soon as I loosened my rein, she loosened her body and relaxed, therefor telling me I had reversed the problem. My sense of touch, hearing, and sight all told me that I had found the solution to the problem.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I know is that I just communicated with my mother and she told me "Grace Powers if I am not able to see the floor of your room tomorrow you will not be happy". I know what I must do tomorrow, and I have some sense of what the result will be if I do it, and if I don't do it. I know this through language, and my sense of hearing. However, The way I understand language is through teaching. The way I understand teaching is through language. They're so interconnected that there is no break in the circle, no starting point of knowledge. For instance, I picked up on the fact that my mother hinted there would be a consequence. I knew that through the tone of her voice, and the look in her eye. I know that's what happens through personal experience. What if, however, we interpreted tones of voice differently. The whole sentence would have a different meaning. That's why It's so hard to teach language, because you use it to teach and everyone has a different understanding. Still, I know what I must do, and I know that through language. I'm still not quite sure how, and I don't know if I'll every be able to wrap my mind around the concept of language and the truths and lies that lie in that category, but I do know that this class will definitely help me with that.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteA Fallacy that I committed was in my 2nd paragraph. I used "begging the question" which involves a circular argument. I got trapped in a circle when I said "The way I understand language is through teaching. The way I understand teaching is through language." The "answer" to this statement is the question, and it is unable to progress. I should not have trapped myself in a box.
DeleteOverall I thought that your explanations of these ways of knowing were great and very understanding. Although, one thing that caught my attention in your first paragraph was your use of the curb rein as your example. If I was not a rider I don't think that I would fully understand it, which leads me to think that if you don't have the knowledge of how to use a curb rein than you wouldn't have the reason to loosen it. I guess what I'm getting at is what is really just reason and perception that got you to loosen your curb rein or maybe communication as well because you had to be taught? or maybe another way of knowing? Or maybe it's not actually a fallacy and I'm just over thinking it.
DeleteI also really like your 2nd paragraph, but I guess it is true that the circle reference is like trapping yourself. I still thought it was great to think about though.
One way of knowing is reason, or logic. The most common example, and also the only one I can think of, is mathematical calculations. Although I don't believe that reason is the best way of knowing, this is obviously a clear option, and one way, for knowing. If the equation is 5x=10 and each number is in base 10 we know through reason and logic that x=2. There is no way that one could argue that their emotions told them that x=2, because although they may know off the top of their head that this is the correct answer, they know it because they logically, divided both sides by 5 to get 2. No other way of knowing can be used to come up with this answer.
ReplyDeleteAnother way of knowing, and one which I believe is most reliable, is emotion. Emotion cannot always be described, but the person feeling that emotion knows that it is true. Emotion tells a person what makes them happy and sad or what makes them angry or in love. I think the most amazing emotion one can know is love. It cannot be described in language, and often it does not have a reason. Love is only known by the knower who is feeling the emotion. No equation or dictionary will ever describe how it feels. Only the feelings of the knower can show how powerful and amazing the emotion is.
A logical fallacy that I found in this post was in the first paragraph. When you stated that "no other war of knowing can be used to come up with this answer" I believe that you said a composition/division fallacy. You isolated Reason as the only way to solve any mathematical calculation ever. Because it is true for the question you provided, it is true everywhere else. I do not think that is true. I personally think that math is a mixture of language and reason. You cant know mathematical reasoning without it being taught to you, or having a perspective and/or physical sense (like being able to see the apples and count how many you have). Math is a mixture of things, and can always be interpreted differently.
DeleteOne way of knowing that we have not discussed in class is through habits. This may overlap with other things like emotion, logic, and instinct. When we grow up in this world, we learn a lot of things unconsciously for the reason that it is the only way that we are exposed to. For example, we very quickly learn that things fall because it is what we experience from the time that we are born. It is said that people learn the most when they are young, because that is when we learn the general habits of the world. It is amazing that after a short period of time, we ‘know’ the habits of the world. Another example is that most people wake up, and then step out of bed; it is a part of their daily routine. We ‘know’ that this is normal, or the right thing to do because that is most likely what we have been exposed to all our lives.
ReplyDeleteIn the process of trying to think of things that I am 100% sure that I know, I noticed that everything that I thought of was based on what other people know or claim to know. My first idea was that I am sure that I am a living being, and this is proven by the logic of other people. Then I thought about scientific laws, but they were all proven by people. Even the understanding of human emotion have been researched and developed by humans. So this leads me to say that everything that I know or I think I know is based on what everyone else thinks. For example, most people agree that gravity exists, and people who do not are considered wrong because they do not agree with the general idea that people have, which is considered fact.
In your response I found one logical falacie in the second paragraph. You explain that you know things based on what everyone else thinks. I believe this is personal incredulity because you are saying that because someone believes something and you agree, you know it is true. However, what may be true to you may not be true to someone else. And also, it is possible to make your own interpretation or equation without using the knowledge of others. How do you think people become firsts? They think outside the box and try to push away the knowledge someone else claims is true.
DeleteThere are two ways of knowing that I am sure of. The first is the idea of language as a way of knowing. I know how to use my native language, English to communicate most effectively. However I also learn new ways to communicate effectively every day. The idea that something can be learned and used to communicate with others gives assurance as to being a way of knowing.
ReplyDeleteI also strongly believe that emotion is a way of knowing. Everyone is born with emotion and is therefore gifted with the most natural way of knowing. One does not learn to express their emotions, they are able to through instinct. I believe emotion is the most complex form of knowing, and therefore can be difficult to go by. However, the fact that emotion is so complex is what makes me trust in it the most. I find that reaction by emotion is the best way to reveal your true identity and stay true to yourself.
I can't seem to reply to specific comments so I'm just going to post it down here.
ReplyDeleteFor Yasmin: I think for knowing you love your family, it's possibly done through perception. You used the word perception once, but I think that seeing those people since the day you were born is something you perceived and learned to love. That may be going out on a limb, but that's the only other reason of knowing I could relate to emotions.
For Suki's: I think the sense of accomplishment you find when you do art is emotion as you said, but I think it's also perception like I said above. Emotion is tricky to describe but I think through logic you also came up with the conclusion that it took a lot of work for your mom to come and see you.