7. “We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.” Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing.

This refers to how everyone has different opinions on things, all shaped by factors that surround us such as culture, religion, family influence etc. Growing up with different experiences and beliefs can give people different understandings of things. In relation to ways of knowing, the two most likely to be included in this statement are perception and reason. Perception would influence the way we see something which could be different to someone else's perception. Reason would relate to the cause for why this person believed what they did.

In order to answer this question I would go in depth into why perception and reason would influence the statement "We see and understand things not as they are but as we are."

6. All knowledge claims should be open to rational criticism. On what grounds and to what extent would you agree with this assertion?

I believe that this statement is true. If one is willing to make a knowledge claim they must be able to receive rational criticism that may agree or disagree with the claim. Being able to support the claim with evidence and understanding is a way of making the claim stronger. Because knowledge claims are not always proven, being able to criticize a statement should be seen as a way of testing the claim, thus making them stronger or weaker.

In order to answer this question I would find examples of knowledge claims and explain how being able to criticize them is a way of proving if they are correct or incorrect.

4. How can the different ways of knowing help us to distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true?

Through using the different ways of knowing, we are able to find differences between things that are true and things that are believed to be true. Things that are true can be found through ways of knowing that are different to those of things we believe are true.

In order to answer this question I would use examples of things we know to be true and things that we believe are true and analyze them through the different ways of knowing.

I don't know if mathematics is a language. Everything that you would connect to language is incorporated in Maths. But what you would express in Maths is completely differnt to what you would express in a spoken laguage. Maths is used to express formulas and structured work but spoken language can be used to express emotions and creativity. If maths were a language then it would be considered seperate from all languages. It doesn't have language barriers when it comes to understanding in different countires. It is sometimes known as the universal language but this could be a factor as to why it could not be considered a language similar to others. Maths may be too different from languages to be considered a language. If you catch my drift... : )

Language is used all across the world to communicate with others. Over the years language has changed from being a way of communicating to much more than that. It is now used to express creativity, emotion and knowledge. As language has evolved so have its uses. People have now begun to use language as a reinforcement of social distinction and ethnicity. A clear example would be of the cartoon we saw earlier in TOK. The cartoon of what we assumed to be a black man saying “This soup is fly” to his ‘white’ waiter. The waiter appears to be looking down on him, questioning what he is saying. This would be a clear example of how language has stereotyped black people into using a more slang, street styled language. Language has created a strong distinction between certain classes as well. For example, in England, the high class Brits would be stereotyped as talking with a very posh accent where as those from the poorer areas of England would be stereotyped as having more of slang way of talking. This has created a distinction of class without it possible being correct.

I believe that Santa Clause doesn’t exist anymore. When I was younger it was a very strong belief that Santa was real. Surrounded by people who supported my belief in him and didn’t tell me otherwise helped to maintain this belief for years. But as I got older, I was able to pick up on small details that pointed to Santa not being real. My belief gradually changed from thinking that he was real to believing that he wasn’t.  After being told for certain that Santa was not real my belief instantly changed and I now had no belief in him at all.

I know that I don't want to break my leg. I know this because I have done it before and know that the pain I went through when I did is something I don't want to ever feel again. I have learnt from when I was young that breaking a bone is painful and something we should avoid. I know that I don’t want to break my leg because the pain is horrible and a feeling that I don’t want to feel again. Seeing other people break bones makes me know that I don’t want to break any bones in my body.