Christo: The Floating Piers
8 years ago
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A blog for my Theory of Knowledge class
I think that, personally, the presentations I had the chance to see were particularly enlightening. I think that it was a great building experience both in the knowledge I gained form making my own presentation and also the knowledge I gained from watching. This knowledge is also internal. I learned a lot about my opinions personal preferences as well as issues in general. I think the presentations, due to the particular context of TOK, were great at opening up different perspectives. Nuria, for example, opened my mind to the variety of languages. Although we had already discussed the variances in language such as the words for snow in languages such as Eskimoo, I did not realize the true knowledge potential of languages. The presentation sparked a reflection that led me to pointing out not only the differences between the ways I speak but also my tendency to switch languages when talking about different emotions. There is, I find, and incomparable set of words in each language that are all suited to express different feelings. Also, Nick’s presentation on humor really put my perspective of comedians back into perspective. I think that as a result I realized that we tend to prefer to take serious issues in a light hearted manner. But, there seems to be a thin boundary between what is acceptable and what is perhaps not. There is also a question of intrinsical human rights that was very interesting, questioning where my liberty starts and where that of others really begins. I think that TOK, as a whole, not just the presentations, has opened my mind to a world that has so many more opportunities. I personally love to debate and TOK has allowed me to take a varied and different outlook on every issue allowing for a greater variety of debate. These presentations both made my knowledge of the IB areas of knowledge and the world better suited to a world that relies on subtleties but has aslo helped me shaped better backed and more clearly defined opinions on subjects such as language, humor, and ethics.
ReplyDeleteThe tok presentations have addressed a variety of knowledge issues, so it is quite difficult to talk about everything I learned from the presentations. I think what stands out the most, both because of the number of presentations talking about these issues and how hard-hitting the questions the knowledge issues raised, was the question of how can we know what is right by ethics? A fair few presentations addressed this, and each in a slightly different way. For example the presentation on psychopaths examined ethics in a different way from how the presentation on giving those across the globe aid examined it. Both had some good insights into what we should consider right and wrong, approached in different ways. Carl and Julius took on the angle of whether it was right to change our perception of someone through our labelling of them, and whether that affects society, while Nathan spoke on the concept of it being imperative that we help those in need, regardless of things such as distance, culture or race. About myself, I learned of just how differently people can perceive things that are presented to them. While one person may see the point of view of those presenting and agree with it, someone else may completely disagree, as they bring something new to the discussion, as to build on and contribute to our knowledge of the knowledge issue. Its only when these things are said that we can expand our knowledge on these issues.
ReplyDeleteThe main learning effect I experienced was the furthering of the fact that everything is interconnected. All themes can be related to each other, areas of knowledge overlap to an extent. Every way to know relates to the other ways of knowing, every area of knowledge shares at least one or more themes with another, making up the complete human knowledge.
ReplyDeleteA common topic to several presentations was Kantian ethics or simply Kant’s ideas. I did know limited information about Kant and his theories and ethical rules by previous knowledge and more from what we talked about in class, but I only had the full realization of how dry and strict Kant really was. Part of this realization occurred in the presentation about offensive humor, in which deontological ethics were touched upon. The concept that something universally accepted as offensive should not be the subject of humor is a very dry concept. It may be true, considering the historical perspective, that some concepts should not be used in humor when they hurt great numbers of people and the event is not long enough back in the past to be joked about. However, that a concept should simply not be part of humor is limited. As the presentation outlined, the implications of an “untouchable topic” are that the fear/anger/prejudice about the topic are increased, and that the right to freedom of expression is also undermined. Kantian ethics are an important part of ethical theory, however not my personal ethical basis.
Another highlight of the presentations that evoked a strong response in me was the Sapir-Whorf theory in the presentation about endangered languages. I had never heard about it before, and learned that there is a fundamental truth in the claim that language determines reality. In daily life, the language spoken is viewed only as a general tool of expression, not as a way of knowing. This particularly developed my understanding as a knower. It is easier to follow why perception brings knowledge, but language containing information about nature, humans and general meaning is a concept that in some ways enlightened me as a knower, realizing definitely that I can know simply by speaking or writing in a language.
From the presentations I have learnt various knowledge issues pertaining to real life situations. Each presentation related a knowledge issue connecting to different areas of knowing and to different topics. For instance: human science, ethics, natural science, art, history and math. I have learnt to make in depth connections and arguments between topics in order to fully grasp the content and ethics behind real life issues and significance of the topic. In the presentation that talked about whether we have an obligation to help other human beings; several subsequent controversial issues were discussed. Such as that we are morally obligated to help people as long as it doesn’t compromise ourselves and that we should sacrifice our morals to help someone. Also I have learnt the psychology behind why we feel obliged and why it is moral to do this. From my own presentation and from observing others, I have learnt to consider issues from different perspectives and relating it in different topics. For example in my presentation we looked at the perspective of society, parents, children and contrasting views such as those in science and religion. From challenging what we know, it also helps with other subjects. In the IB we cover a lot of the same topics in different classes. However, we don’t usually cover the topics in depth and take the time to question our knowledge and the ethics behind what we are learning. So the TOK presentation also helped with making connections between the subjects.
ReplyDeletePenelope
The presentations that I witnessed in class were truly thought provoking. Starting with Nick’s presentation on offensive humor, this made me think many times about the extent to which we use humor. Whenever I heard a joke since the day of his presentation, I have always been thinking about the offence that a joke could have on certain people. Additionally, when I saw Orpa, Sarah and Penny’s presentation, I had the opportunity to think about their use of statistics. It was very interesting to see, after my presentation where I talked about the frequent use of statistics in our society, their use statistics to make the figures look more dramatic. Indeed, many people do not understand the full meaning of statistics and those are often used to mislead us. Tim’s presentation about emotions in financial transactions also triggered some thoughts in my mind. I was thinking retrospectively about purchases and transactions in which I have taken part, and the reasons for why I did so. This made me realize that we often make irrational decisions, and that under the influence of emotions, we are often unable to control our actions. This clearly shows the limitations of the study of economics, since the main assumption states that we are all making rational decisions.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the TOK course, and particularly through the presentations, I think that TOK has allowed me to gain the ability of making connections to other areas of knowledge. These connections have made me think in many different ways and have enlightened my thoughts.
The TOK Presentations were in my opinion all very good and they all got one thinking about various aspects of certain situations, the topics were controversial and though provoking. The content was interesting and well thought out, the first presentation, by Nick, was about the use of offensive humor, this got me thinking about things I say on daily basis, and I began to question if I always understood the impact my words could have on others, even if my intentions were not to offend anyone. Nathan R’s presentation also got me thinking about how I react to people in my immediate area when they require help, I found that I generally though it was my obligation to help them, however I also found there were certain times I would think twice about it as well. Also his concept of if we are obliged to help our friends and family we are obliged to help strangers in the same manner, was interesting as I had never thought about it in such a manner. Another Presentation by Nuria, about endangered languages was another fascinating one, before the presentation I did not completely understand the importance of an endangered language, I knew that knowledge was lost but I did not realize the impact this could have. Nuria brought up the example of the Amazonian languages that are being lost, and with it all this different medical knowledge that could help our current society further its medical understanding. After this presentation I found I truly believed that we could not take the loss of a language as easily as I once thought we could. Over all the presentation in our TOK class were very interesting and I enjoyed the thought provoking aspect in all of them.
ReplyDeleteThese are fantastic, thought provoking reflections folks. Thanks a million. I think the presentations were of a fantastic level this year; I do not know if I have ever had a class where the presentations were consistently of such a high level and the class was so engaged in actively listening to the presentor. Obviously you have gained a lot from this exercise. Nuria gave her reflection on paper, and six of you here on the blog - so where are the other six???
ReplyDeleteEven though I was not able to listen to every presentation, the presentation I heard clearly addressed my thoughts in terms of how I think about different topics like the use of statistics in papers but also addressed simple everyday routine such the use of specific language while telling jokes. I was surprised into what depth Nick was able to analyze the use of humor from different perspectives, and it definitely rearranged my thoughts about some comedians which I found extremely amusing before the presentation, however seemed less funny when they were viewed from a different angle or a different perspective. I found Nick’s presentation very suitable to Nuria’s topic, since Nuria’s presentation really helped me to open my mind towards the use of other languages in order to express different emotions or how languages are able to express emotions more deeply than other can. A suitable example for this would be the large variety of words Eskimoo uses for snow. Reflecting on my own presentation, I was very lucky to hear Alex’s presentation before I gave mine, which allowed me to gain another different view of how emotions might have an impact on the way we think and take decisions. I was able to agree with Alex’s thoughts in most of my points; however I had to take a distance from Alex’s point when I referred to the idea of morality under the influence emotions. During the time of my presentation, I was able view topics such as economics from a very different point of view and participate in many interesting conversations and debates with my economics teach Mr. Welker. Looking back on the presentations, I have to say that I was seriously surprised by the high level of the presentations, however all of the presentation connected very well to real life issues and I enjoyed the provoking aspects in all of them.
ReplyDeleteThe TOK presentations were a very unique and enlightening experience. I never thought that every single thing we experience each day can be related to so many different causes and have such a large impact on those around us and the world. Nick's presentation, for example, made me reflect completely about jokes and humor, which I did not think had such depth to it. Thanks to his presentation, Nuria's and then later my own, I came to realize that language and how we use our language can have a large impact on what we know and on how other understand and receive our words. The idea of how we are viewed by others and what we do to make it so also tied in greatly with Carl's and Julius' presentation about psychopaths, in which they touched about labeling and its impacts. Nathan's presentation regarding moral obligations also touched upon the idea that not only words can affect people, but our actions too (whether we are doing it for ourselves or for someone else).
ReplyDeleteOverall, the presentation that we listened to expanded and widened my view regarding certain topics, especially that of language and its use. It was enjoyable to listen to my classmates' opinions and reasoning, and thanks to them, I feel like I have more knowledge about certain topics and also a wider range of opinions, taking into account different philosophical, social and scientific views.
The real life issues were easy to relate too, and no one failed to make great intellectual comments and TOK moments out of them. I was especially intrigued by the IVF presentation, being one myself. I did not know that there were so many different views regarding that scientific method, and now I feel like there is so much more surrounding my birth and many other children's'.
Thank you all.
Thank you Tim and Mathilde. It is amazing how much students got out of listening to and interacting with other students. It was a terrific way of finishing our one and a half years together as a class. Well done ye all.
ReplyDeleteThrough the TOK presentations, I realized that TOK is present in everything. Whenever, a topic comes up, TOK is present and can be discussed. In my opinion, Carl and Julius' presentation was something which really caught my attention. When do you call someone a psychopath? and How does a person have to act to become a psychopath? What really struck me was the real life example. A man tried to be psychopathic in order to avoid going to prison. However, after a while, he wanted to persuade everyone, that he isn't a psychopath but instead was declared one because he tried so hard and wore a suit. This also occurs in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. McMurphy tries to be a psychopath and ends up in the ward of nurse Ratched. However, the question that stayed with me and I still think about is How can one say that someone is a psychopath? With the aid of the TOK presentation, it really helped to understand questions one has and helps to understand that everyone is different, which is also the topic of Nick's presentation about the humor. A joke might be offensive to one person but to another it might just be a joke.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the TOK presentations.