Weekly Blogpost #28

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014

The world in slow motion

Do you remember when we talked about humans having a number of filters that allow perception?

Well, I was wondering whether you've ever had a time when you felt that everything, you and the people around you and the world, seemed to be moving in slow motion. I am not sure why it happens, but it sometimes occurs to me. I seem to hear things (or is it that people seem to talk?) in a slower manner. It is as if all my senses have been put on a slow motion, everything going in a ritadando, and I do not understand why. But thinking about it along the lines of the time filter, maybe it is because that time filter of mine has been "ticked" momentarily for some reason. 

It also made me think about the question "Is there a moment more significant than another?". I mean, even though the moment that seemed to be going more slowly did not seem important in any way, and was pretty random actually (unless someone thinks watching someone charging bought goods at a supermarket is fascinating), yet maybe something was going on in my subconscious mind that kept me from speeding in the "real", conscious world.

Oh well, I do not know anymore. Anyways, the random speed-changes in my life, though pretty rare, seemed to be significant enough for me to share on my blog today.

BBT 28

Friday, March 28th, 2014

What makes a claim "scientific"? 

Is there something different about a scientific knowledge claim that makes it distinguishable/distinct/unique from other types of knowledge claims? 

A claim that is "scientific" is proven "true" by a scientific experiment following the scientific method. It is one that has undergone the correct processes of a scientific experiment, with hypothesis and variables and controls and so on and so forth. Scientific knowledge is part of the "universal" knowledge that is accepted as true, that is not questioned often. And this is probably because they have not been proven untrue. Most, if not all, scientific knowledge has been accepted because they have not been proven false, instead of having been proven true. 

Weekly Blogpost #27

Saturday, March 22rd, 2014

Reflections on SAAC Fine and Performing Arts 2014, at Nido, Chile

Well, talking about art in ToK. I am back from the trip, and am very exhausted (excuse any incoherence in my thoughts, if there are any). But I thought that the connections between the two, trip and subject of discussion in class, so great that I decided to talk about it.

The theme for this SAAC was "Otredad." Now, what does it mean? The only "guidance" we received was the expression "I am me because you are you." Then, the phrase was left for our own interpretations. The diversity of interpretations was most obviously noticed in the art students' works, as they had to paint benches in groups of four to five in response to the theme. However, even in the other realms of art such as Band, Choir and Drama, the theme was reflected. We were all different, pertaining not only from different schools but also different backgrounds, yet we were all striving towards a common goal: to create art. Whether painting a bench, or singing, or performing a play, or playing a song, we were all working towards the goal of creating art. And the result, the reception from the audience, depended on how well we managed to work together, help each other out, to achieve this goal.
Therefore, I think that in any time, the way that art is "evaluated" is by how well it manages to connect people. Because that is what art is for. To express and leave an impression that allows space for more expression and interpretation. 

Weekly Blogpost #26

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

The Illusion of Language

Dear Mr Koss,

I say that you make the 11th graders read Heart of Darkness if we talk about Language in ToK. As I prepare my research paper for English and read many, many sources, I cannot help but imagine conversations that could rage in the class on the theme of language.

According to the essays of literature experts I have read, language is a paradox in itself. Language has the power to create, is a medium to communicate past experiences, yet it has so many limitations. Language, though attempting to emulate reality, can never reflect past events with the same exact details. Europeans had embarked upon the Congo River and "civilized" the Native Africans there, enforcing their language and hierarchy in the silent, disorderly wilderness. For example, Europeans referred to Africans as "fiends" and "enemies," to which Marlow commented with much sarcasm that the Africans were barely more than shadows of humans. Even though language attempts to enlighten truth, it can ultimately cover the truth and lead to a d greater darkness.

And then, even when the truth is covered, the external surface of words is pierced to the core of truth, there may lie "a horror," as declaimed by the dying Mr Kurtz and later Marlow himself. Marlow had initially revealed his distaste for lies, a sign of mortality; Europeans relied on language, therefore implying that European lives were an illusion, a lie, the exact thing that Marlow dislikes so much. Although this is according to a number of sources only, Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness is a criticism of imperialism, of the imposition of Western ideals that are all illusions and lies of civilizations.
I have not formed my stand on Conrad's position on imperialism, not just yet, but I've got to say that the points made on language were all very interesting. Language can be a liberating yet binding way to retell stories, to recount true events. After all, the only people who know the truth, reality, are those that assisted the actual scene. Even then, different perspectives will create different realities for the actual observers as well. There are always filters, because humans have reason and a mind filled with their personal knowledge. But there is nothing wrong with that. We may all have different realities, but that doesn't make one reality less real than another, right?
I didn't fully study and understand the principles of Kantian transcendentalism, but I think that I agree with this philosophy the most. It is true that people formulate their knowledge, their thoughts, based on different ways of knowing, using different "filters" such as time, space and causality. Even language. The speaker and the audience are all under the influence of these filters and of the personal knowledge to recreate the told tales.
All in all, the power and limits of language are a contradiction that would be interesting to touch upon in our ToK class, don't you think?

BBT 26

Friday, March 14th, 2014

If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

If a tree falls, it will make a sound, whether a person is there to hear it or not. For me, a sound is any kind of noise that occurs, ignoring the presence of an audience for it. There are many things that go unnoticed in the world, but that does not mean that they do not happen.

Homework from Week 25

Thursday, March 13th, 2014

"Allegory of the Cave," from Plato's Republic

1) What does the cave represent, and what does the outside world represent?

The cave represents one's own reality, the world one creates with only the knowledge has acquired. The cave is the world that is shaped by one's perception of the world, by the external stimuli detected by one's senses and thus drawn into one's consciousness. On the other hand, the outside world represents "reality," encompassing all the "information," "stimuli," and so on, that exists in the world. 

2) Socrates says that the reality of prisoner who is let loose from the cave is "more real" than the prisoners who are left behind. Do you agree with him?

If we defined the term "real" as containing more information from the external world, if "real" referred to more exposure and experiences in the outside world filled with infinite sources of stimuli, then I would agree with Socrates. The reality of a prisoner who is let loose from the cave would be more real than those of the prisoners left behind because that prisoner would have faced a wider variety of external stimuli. He would have been exposed to another perspective that would help him in redefining and reshaping his own, drawing him somewhat closer to the external reality. It doesn't really matter what initial reaction the prisoner may have. He will somehow adapt the "new information" to redraw his reality, molding it closer to his updated perspective, perception, of reality.

3) To what extent is perceiving always believing?

Perception defines each person's belief, because it is through perception that one registers external information into one's reality, one's world. What one cannot perceive, one will have difficulty believing. Many people might scoff at the possibility of a pink unicorn because they have never perceived such a creature in  this world, in their reality. However, I am pretty certain that were a pink unicorn to appear in the middle of the school tomorrow, many people in our school community at least would change their minds, or have a shaken certainty on its existence. Perception is the identifying and analyzing of the stimuli our senses capture. It is the way for our minds to collect information, either in the conscious or unconscious minds, and therefore creates and shapes our view of the world, our perspectives, our realities.

Weekly Blogpost #25

Saturday, March 8th, 2014

Singing along

I was walking along the beach with my sister. We were playing a game where one would begin singing and the other would join in, and vice versa, and so on. There were moments when I would not recognize the song (as in artist and title), yet I remembered the lyrics and rhythm and everything and would be able to continue the game. This made me think about the relationship between perception and interpretation, and the force of the unconscious. Apparently, sometimes, the unconscious can really play a more vital and active role than its misnomer may imply. Maybe the unconscious actually is more dominantly in our perception of the world, though the interpretation seems to rely more on the conscious.
For me, perception means the taking in of the stimuli raging around us, in the environment. It is the information, the knowledge, that we pick from around us, that we may or may not necessarily be aware of. Interpretation, on the other hand, is the bringing into consciousness of the stimuli that we collect. Even though I could not recognize the song, I knew somewhere deep inside what it was. 

BBT 25

Friday, March 7th, 2014

Are all moments equally significant?

I believe this depends on the person or people we are talking about. Any moment can become significant to the person or people involved. The audience determines the significance in a moment, or moments. For example, in order for a moment to become significant in history, it would most likely have to have an impact upon a vast number of people, or several nations. A moment that was significant for the US might be different from a moment that was significant for Kenya, as an example. The moment the Civil War began in the US might not be as significant for an Australian. But then, how important is the moment of Jeanne d'Arc's death for Americans? In both cases, not as much for the people not involved as the people from that nation.

If that could be categorized as a shared significant moment, it would be different for a personally significant moment. A personally significant moment would be one that has had an impact on us, one that has some kind of meaning that attached it deeply in our memory. The significance detached it from the rest of the moments in our life, becoming a bookmark in our stories. Personally significant moments might have importance for one individual only, yet they would be the ones that are treasured the most by anybody.