ToK Essay Topic

The essay topic that I picked is…

#3: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” (Albert Einstein) Do you agree?

I picked this topic because I think it sounds very interesting. I love imagination. Imagination is something so vast and universal that the different “imagination” possibilities are endless. With imagination, comes creativity and I admire people who are creative. Straight off the bat, I’m just going to say that I agree with this quote but that is all I am going to say for now. Imagination is fun while knowledge can be boring. When you’re just sitting in a class, learning about facts and history and math, it can get pretty boring. With imagination, you can spice things up and let your mind wander. You can create your own little world and be as creative as you want. You think of as many fictional things as you want; things that doesn’t exist in the real world but yours. I also picked this topic because I probably can come up with some pretty good examples supporting why I think imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is the reason why we have all these entertaining movies and video games. Someone had to come up with these different concepts and plots.

Thought Log #4

Yes, I believe reasoning can minimize mistakes because I think as long as you can back it up and make sense of it, then you are right. When you reason, you are trying to convince people to think a certain way or at least sway their opinions a little about something with the information and knowledge that you present to them. These information can be facts, logics, and/or opinions. For example, when I try to convince someone that there are extra-terrestrial life out there in space or aliens. I could say there are sightings, pictures, and actual cases (even if I’m not sure if they are real/true) and that would be facts. I could say “We live in such a big and vast universe, there’s no way we are the only ones out there” and that would be logic because with something as big as space, we can’t be the only ones living. I use reason whenever I believe something is right so it’s like defending your opinion on something. I use facts only when I know they are true and can back up my reasoning. I use logic when I think something is common sense or there’s a better explanation for something. I don’t use these when I agreeing with someone unless I am also backing him/her up. When I know I am wrong, I just keep my mouth shut and not say anything. So to sum up this paragraph, I think reasoning can minimize mistakes because even if you are wrong, at least you had valid points to back up your argument and that made it less of a mistake. If you just state something and not give any supporting details, then you would be completely wrong.

If reasoning brought certainty, the costs and trade-offs for trying to know knowledge claims this way is that then we wouldn’t be open-minded anymore. We won’t hear other people’s opinion and view because now we know we are right and so therefore, they are wrong. We just block out what other people have to say and accept our own views. Another cost is that you are still using reasoning so it could still be a mistake. You could have used your own biased opinion and not realize it. Reasoning is based on an individual’s personal opinions and views . Anytime something is based on an individual, it can’t be trusted 100%. Other than that, I can’t find any other costs and trade-offs of reasoning bringing certainty. Reasoning bringing certainty is a good thing because now you found your answer. Now you know which/what is more “true” and “right”.

Thought Log #3

Perception is an individual’s standpoint on something and how they view it. With perception, we use our 5 senses- sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, and cognitive thinking to interpret it. Currently in Psychology class, we are also discussing about perceptions and also, perceptual illusions.

Perception plays a huge role in knowledge because I believe perception is how we learn. By using our 5 senses, we are making a meaningful connection to everything we see, touch, hear, smell, and taste. Our brain organizes everything we do and most of the time, it does in a way that actually make sense to us and way that we can relate to. Every time you experience something new, you will most likely make a mental note of it and by that, I mean you will store that new information based on what it looked like, smelled like, feel like, sound like, and taste like. So next time, you will know what to expect. This creates something called a schema or prototype, a general idea or knowledge of something. Everyone perceives things differently and that’s what makes us all unique. For example, one day in class, we were shown pictures of optical illusions that actually had a double image. One of the pictures asked ” Is this picture a picture of a old woman or a young woman?” You can actually see both the young and the old lady depending on how you looked at it,  but in the very beginning, not everyone saw both. Some saw the young lady and couldn’t see the old lady and others saw the old lady but couldn’t see the young lady. Sometimes, it is easier to spot something because you can relate to it or have some sort of connection. Eventually, everyone saw both images when it was pointed out.

Perception and mistakes… I believe perception is what causes the mistakes. A misunderstanding of the 5 senses and the way it is used can lead to a mistake. Since no one sees things the same, that can also lead to an argument and then cause trouble. For example, for hearing, you may not have heard the teacher give out a homework assignment or you thought you heard one thing and it wasn’t that; that’s a mistake due to misconception. There are situations where misinterpreting something can be very critical. In Psychology, we talked about the different ways we look at things and why they happen including: monocular cues and perceptual constancies. Back then, when technology just started to bloom and we had airplanes, there were many accidents due to misinterpretation. Many of these accidents happened at night. When pilots are flying at night, it is hard to judge distance, for example, the lights on the ground for when they are landing. They either will fly too low and cause some damage to the landing gear or they will fly too high, thinking they are on the ground, and run out of runway space. Now, they have people monitoring all this from the control towers and such. Our senses tend to deceive us at times and that is what causes these mistakes.

Thought Log #2

In life, we all make mistakes. That’s because we’re only human and no one is perfect. Mistakes can actually be a good thing because you can learn from your mistakes. If you do something wrong, you know not to do it again or you know to improve on it. But to do that, you have to first identify the mistake and know what the mistake is. The definition of mistake is an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, or insufficient knowledge.

The TOK ways of knowing include: sense perception, reason, emotion, authority, language, tone, etc. So in order to minimize and rectify a mistake, we can use our emotions, reasoning, and sense perception. Our emotion and sense perception might be “off” and that can get to us. How one individual think or feel towards something may not be the same as how another individual would. Our reasoning may also be distorted and this kind of go with the “opinion” part of the definition of a mistake. I don’t think an opinion is a mistake at all. An opinion is just how someone feels about something and is not proven. So everyone has a different way of reasoning which led to their opinion.

The most simplest way to minimize a mistake I believe is to think before you act. Think about what it is that you are doing first, then determine if that is right or wrong. For the most part, if it is wrong, it is a mistake. I like to think about the “what ifs” and the consequences or events that can happen if I do something but sometimes, I hate myself for that because that could be a lack of confidence or something. To correct a mistake, you have to see if you can actually make things right again. One thing’s for sure though, after the error, you can’t make everything normal again. It won’t be like it never happened even if you corrected it. Some things are impossible to correct and that could have been prevented if you thought about what it is that you are doing. For things that can be corrected, come up with a practical solution. Do something you can actually do or else you’re just going to make yourself look bad again.

Things we should do or know to make less mistakes to stay in school. Don’t drop out and actually try to learn because the more you know, the less errors you make. Most troubles and disputes come from misconception and misunderstandings. If we have knowledge on something or at least knowledge on how to solve problems, then we wouldn’t have all these troubles which means we’re making less mistakes. Sometimes, we really don’t know who is at fault. You could be just reporting something but you are not the main source or you could be reporting something and other people could be spreading it. In these cases, I would suggest to not blame anyone yet but to gather more information. That way, we aren’t making false accusations or jumping to conclusions.

Podcast

Listening to this podcast right now while doing some homework 🙂

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/457/what-i-did-for-love

ToK Knower Project…Progress 3

I am finally done with everything!! It is currently being uploaded to Youtube and link will be provided later. Here’s a little background info. on it

Explaining your Knowledge Project

1. Our answer to the EQ is that TOK helps us to show compassion to others who are different from us. By being in TOK and IB, we learn more about other cultures so we gain more respect for them. It’s all about interconnecting and creating cultural understanding. It can unite everyone. Student will think, believe, and know more (deeply) into/about the world.

2. We answered it by creating a rap. We remixed a song. We put more emphasis on different cultures and connection, benefits, and expected things to see in IB and TOK.

3. We used my iPod to record the lyrics (parts) and I put it together using Audacity and Windows Movie Maker. It was pretty fun though it took pretty long.

4. I think our end product reflects our EQ. We used rap because people may find it catchy, therefore, actually analyzing the lyrics.

5. I think our final product is pretty good. It was my first time using Audacity so I think editing were not bad. So far, TOK and IB is a lot of work and this is only junior year.

UPDATE 2:45 AM- Here’s the link:

ToK Knower Project…Progress 2

Soo lyrics and recordings are done and now for the hard part…. editing and putting it all together. There were some change in plans such as roles. A lot of files to crop and stuff. Hopefully it’ll turn out great.

UPDATE 5:45 AM- Well, that’s end Day 1 of editing. Really tired and I think I’m gonna hate this song from now on from listening to it all day. Might go deaf too because I was using earphones 🙂
First time using Audacity, kinda got the hang of it now. Day 2 coming up….for now… good night…or should I say good morning?

ToK Knower Project….Progress 1

We are currently writing up some lyrics. Along the way, I will be modifying the lyrics to fit the song instrumental. Recording, editing, and putting it all together will be our task throughout the week.

Thought Log #1

What is a knowing, thinking, and believing? How do we know we exist? How do we define existence? These are some of the questions in life that we don’t think about and that’s what TOK is about. TOK challenges us to use our brain and knowledge to its full capacity. It will help us to better understand the world and everything around us.

This is what I think each word means. When you “know” something, you are 100% sure it is correct. Knowing means that it is a fact; it was somehow proven beforehand. For example, “I know two plus two equals four.” When you “think”, you are unsure and it is merely a feeling of uncertainty. For example, “I think the party will be on Friday.” When you say you “believe”, it is an opinion. It isn’t proven, yet, you have a feeling it is true or right. For example, “I believe there are other forms of life out there in the solar system.”

In my book, to exist, you have to be able to think and make decisions or take up physical space. I believe that everyone has a purpose in life and it is up to them to find that “purpose”. They also have the choice of taking or passing up on this “purpose”. When you make decisions, you are affecting everything around you; whether it’s the people, the environment, etc and that’s how you know you exist. When you’re that homeless person down the street and everyday, people pass you by, you feel like you don’t even exist; as if you were invisible. Everyone exist, it’s just the level of “existence” varies. Aside from living beings, objects exist too because they take up physical space. If it’s there and you can see it, then it exists. Objects have matter and they are like obstacles. For example, a wall, you can’t just walk right through the wall because the wall has matter and is solid; therefore it exists.

My sources come from biology itself and scientific research. Psychology proves that we have a brain and different parts of the brain have a different function. Biology is a source because this is our biological source. We are born with natural instincts and biological traits; mentally and physically. There are things that are beyond our control and that is what biology is.

Referring to the TOK diagram, I think that is how knowledge is obtained. The knower, you, in the middle; then, followed by the internal (biological) things such as emotions, language, sense-perception, and reason; finally, the external factors such as math, science, history, etc. By using your internal qualities, you take in the external factors and mold them into knowledge. Use what you have and work your way from there is basically what I think the diagram is trying to convey.

I don’t think anything is ever a “justified true belief” because it will always lead to the “why?” and the “how do we know ______ is correct?” Eventually, it will get out of control and it’ll be impossible to come to a conclusion.