Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Wherefore Art Thou Knowers?
Please begin your posts by explaining your two moments of knowing in Art from tonight's talk by Anna Schuleit Haber. For each moment, provide the knowledge question you've extracted, think through your
answer to your own question, and transpose the KQ to another moment from your own experience in a different area of knowledge. These are due by 9:30 Friday night.
Please read your classmates' work by Sunday 12/1, then post a second time, offering your own unique perspective and answers to two of your classmates' answered KQs (use two different people's work). This second post is due Sunday 12/1 at 9:30. Let's all come to class having read each other's work. If you need a break, check out this Art of Noise.
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My first moment of knowing in art is when Anna discussed how each of her projects began with a phone call. At these moments Anna did not know what was happening and so often they were such a surprise. All of her projects began with a phone call from different people who wanted her to do something. Anna said that she had not planned on doing any of them, but when she got the calls could not say no. One of the most important phone call was when she was notified that she was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. She told us that she initially thought that it was immigration that was calling ready to deport her, and that her entire morning was her planning on what to do if this was so. From these different moments the knowledge question I have extracted is: How does ignorance affect what you think you know? To what extent is one's success a determination of what they think they know?
ReplyDeleteThis moment can be transposed to the subject of history. On of the immediate causes of World War I was the assignation of Arch Duke Ferdinand. Because of this, the war immediately broke out after a lot of built up tension. This shouldn't have been the main reason for the break out of the war, but it was the cherry on top. Anna would be the other county's who weren't directly involved with the assassination but are taking precautions/steps to prepare for the worst. Anna make sure that she had an exact plan incase she was being deported. Obviously these are two different situations but the ideas are the same. The misconception of knowledge can force one to think in ways that are not necessarily their normal. From my experience I can extract this moment: For example being at a horse show in a class. In a flat class everyone rides at the same time and then you are pinned in the ring. This is sometimes hard because you may feel that you had a great ride but then you pin really poorly or not at all. While you are waiting for the results the anticipation kills you because if you are riding for your team then everything rides on that one class. This example is similar because with little knowledge and bias you have about your ride can make you think is unreal ways.
Another moment of knowledge is when Anna said that she loves it when people ask her questions because it is the most rewarding for her. At the end during the question period, many people asked the "traditional" question about how and why she does what she does. The most interesting questions were extracted from something she discussed in her talk. I feel that she appreciated these questions the most because it meant that people were genuinely interested in her work. The knowledge question I have extracted from this moment is: To what extent does background knowledge influence ones proclivity to want to learn.
The sciences have many examples of how the end results can be the most rewarding. This can really relate to any area of knowledge. The vast background Anna has, has made her career soar and what she feels is the most rewarding is when others appreciate what she has done. For many of her projects she spent years on it for it to only happen for sometimes only an hour. There was also always fear that no one would actually come and appreciate the hard work she put in. For my experience, Blue Key is an example. I have a lot of experience giving tours so I am confident. However, I always feel the best when the people I am touring either ask questions, or compliment me on how I did. I have not had a career like Anna but little successes gives me confidence in things I do. Being in Blue Key means that I am a good representation of the school and I believe it is rewarding because it is something I have been working with for a while.
Anna’s art is a bit different from the typical artist’s. When she was explaining one of her newer projects where she used an eye movement tracker to draw or create something she mentioned how the researchers she was working with have been looking into how our eyes can reveal our decision making. If our eyes and eye movements can communicate our decisions could it be another way to express ourselves/share knowledge? Body language is another way feelings and thoughts are communicated, so the KQ I drew from this was: is knowledge gained by using body language as valid as knowledge gained by verbal language?
ReplyDeleteWhen Anna was talking about the project where she covered the closing psychiatric hospital’s floors with flowers I thought about what it would be like recreate this idea in our school. I interpreted Anna’s reason for doing this as her way of honoring the dead people with living flowers, so the recreation would have a different meaning for our school since no one has died here as far as I know. If her concept was repeated over and over by others her idea would not seem as novel. From this thought I extracted this KQ: Is newly discovered knowledge more significant than knowledge we consider old or elementary?
New knowledge in the human sciences always seem to attract attention, but the most significant knowledge and concepts are those that have been around the longest. So in this area of knowledge my second KQ would definitely be relevant.
First off Anna’s presentation was phenomenal! She spoke clearly and with great passion. One moment that stood out to me was one of the questions that she was asked at the end of her presentation the question was “What do you do to get inspired to create art?”Her response was nothing. She did not force art of out herself and she did not ever worry about not being able to create something for a project. She mentioned how it was the location or the history of the place that gave her the inspiration, it was her intuition that told her what to do with the location. Out of this I xtracted the knowledge question: To what extent can institution be considered knowledge?
ReplyDeleteThis topic of intuition can be related to language. Personally, when I was little my mom would say certain words in spanish to me and I would recognize them and respond in the correct way. Is this considered knowledge or intuition? She never taught me what the words meant of how to reply it just happened over time. This could also be related to science. I believe that there may be other galaxies with organisms on them just like earth but, there is no proof of this, and therefore it is intuition that is creating that belief.
Another moment in her presentation that I found interesting was her project in the old Harvard hospital. It wasn’t so much the project that struck me as much as what she did with the flowers after the project was finished. When she mentioned how they brought all the flowers to hospitals where patients don’t usually receive flowers I was expecting her list to have Children’s Hospital of Bostn since it was right around the corner but when I looked farther down the list I noticed that the State hospital two locks from my house was on her list. I was surprised by this because I have lived by that hospital all my life and I have never thought of the patients like patients at a hospital for the ill. This hospital is rumored in my neighborhood to be for the crazies, and mentally unstable. I never thought of them not receiving flowers, or having their families visiting them. This moment extracted another knowledge question: To what extent is knowledge altered when shown through a different perspective?
This can be related to history and wars. The victors usually write the history, so the story is written in their perspective and most likely is written to glorify them. This can be related to an IEA show. When a rider goes in for their class usually they are positive and ready to win, and then they either do really well or they think that they epically failed. Their view on either of those rides may differ form the opinion of the coaches. Itmay have felt good for the rider but have actually looked really bad or may have felt horrible for the rider and looked excellent to the coaches. The knowledge of the ride is changed when other perspectives are shared. For example at on of our past IEA shows I thought that I rode really well and was going to place in the top 3 but I got 5th, which is still great however it made me feel like what I thought was a great ride really looked horrible. After this ride I did not want to see my coaches because I thought that they were going to be mad that I rode so poorly, but when I did go to see them they told me that I should have won the class, they thought that I rode beautifully. This changed my attitude about my ride and thus my perspective of the knowledge that what I thought was good was actually really bad.
The first moment of knowledge I encountered was the beginning of Anna Schuleit’s talk when she gave a bit of family background information. She said that most of her family was artistically inclined, citing her sister, a mime, and her mother, a sculptor, as examples. Anna said she grew up in what was practically her mother’s studio, with metal objects strewn everywhere and pieces of sculptures piled up around the house. Anna spoke fondly of this time, and she seems to have found her calling for art during her childhood with her artistic family. It is clear that it was easier for Anna to be accepted by her family as an artist, a profession that other families might look down upon simply due to the low success rates in the field. What is not clear, however, is how much Anna was influenced by her surroundings. This led me to wonder about how Anna came to discover that she loved art. My knowledge question then formulated itself: how much does one’s upbringing influence aptitude in a certain area of knowledge?
ReplyDeleteThis knowledge question can be applied to a variety of areas of knowledge, including, for myself, history. I was brought up by two parents who love history. As a child, I grew accustomed to their likes and dislikes, and may even have taken them to be my own. I received regular history lessons at bedtime day after day, growing more and more interested in the subject area. As I grew and am still growing, I still love history. My aptitude for history, influenced by my interest, was cultivated in the environment in which I grow up in. I do wonder, however, how much of this interest I would still carry with me had my parents been more interested in, say, math. In trying to answer this question, I think that it’s hard to dispute the fact that constantly being reminded or taught about a certain area of knowledge would result in an increased awareness if not appreciation for the said area of knowledge. I do also, however, doubt that just being around something for a long time can make you love it. I, for example, have taken math classes since I started school. Math and I have a long history together. Do I love it? I certainly don’t.
My second knowledge question came to me during the later part of her talk, the Q and A period. For most of the evening, Ann had not even acknowledged the fact the she was a MacArthur Fellow, a truly amazing accomplishment that one would expect to be bragged about. During the question time, someone asked Ms. Schuleit how the MacArthur Fellowship had changed her life, work, or her ability to do work. Half-jokingly, she replied “well people don’t think I’m that crazy anymore!” This was a humorous response but truly tackled a key issue. Before she had been recognized by a “valid” authority as a person whose work was of merit and worthy of such an enormous grant, people still questioned Anna’s talent. Art is such a subjective area of knowledge and so hard for people to judge that, until she was recognized by the MacArthur Foundation, some people still did not take her work seriously. Once she was recognized, however, she was seen by those same people as an artistic genius with unlimited potential. This was very interesting, and prompted the following knowledge question: How does the source from which someone gains knowledge change the nature of the knowledge?
I can apply this knowledge question to the discipline of history. When studying sources in class or for work, be they primary or secondary sources, a good historian must always take into account any bias or subjectivity in each source. The sources must be carefully evaluated so that only knowledge of whatever is being studied in its purest from is extracted. The elixir of truth in the source is evident only once the source itself has been assessed. This means, however, that depending on the source, historian can view evidence in different ways. This has occurred to me many times. For example, commentary by Reza Shah Pahlavi on the role of the clergy in Iranian society may be highly biased due to the relationship between the two, or may in fact be true, but either way a historian must not accept it as fact because of the bias associated with the source. In attempting to answer the question, I would have to say that the source of the knowledge alters the knowledge gained by the knower only if the knower has preconceived notions about the source which may skew the acquisition of the knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI found Anna Schuleit’s talk about her work, last weekend, very interesting. She talked about her home environment, growing up as a child, and discussed some of the various projects she had undertaken as an artist.
ReplyDeleteAt the Rhode Island School of Design, she spent time drawing architecture and landscapes. In an attempt to make some of her sketches abstract, she emphasized objects that are often in our peripheral vision and made them the main subject of her sketches. The picture she showed us featured a building covered with layers of foliage. Instead of drawing attention to the building she was drawing, Anna Schuleit focused the viewer’s attention on the foliage.
This prompted the knowledge question: How does awareness change the nature of knowledge?
In her sketches, we know that the foliage is there. However, we don’t think about it or really acknowledge it. By bringing the foliage to the center of our attention, Anna Schuleit is forcing the viewer to regard it in a different life; to think of it differently than we normally would have. How is the way we think about foliage different when we consider it as part of the background compared to when we consider it as a subject of a sketch?
I think that awareness forces us to evaluate knowledge and form an opinion on it. It may not always lead to positive or negative evaluations, but it increases the importance of the knowledge and allows us to make connections between the knowledge and our experiences.
I can relate this back to Emerson’s essay about nature which we studied in English class. In his essay, Emerson talked about how humans started taking nature for granted as they grew up. In a child’s eyes, nature around them is beautiful and an important aspect on their lives just like school and any other common daily object or occurrence. Adults, however, start taking certain things for granted and no longer stop to reevaluate the nature of their knowledge for these objects.
Another one of her projects Anna talked about was the ‘stereo’ she had created with the old abandoned hospital that was going to be torn down. As a farewell to the building and a memorial for all the people who spent time there, she blared out Bach’s Magnificat from the building, allowing the sound to reverberate inside the structure. This project took her four years to prepare, but only lasted for half an hour.
This led me to the knowledge question: To what extent is the acquisition of knowledge more important than the knowledge itself?
Was it really worth it for her to spend four years of her life on a project that only lasted for such a short time? Why didn’t she spend it on something else that would last for her entire life? I can only answer by saying that the process of creating art is more important than the final product. Process can often teach us important life skills such as perseverance, determination, and the importance of hard work. Although the final knowledge can be very important and teach us about the content matter, the process, at times, can be equally, if not more, important.
I can relate this back to the Internal Assessment we’re doing in History after thanksgiving break. It is a project in which the IB emphasizes process over content. As opposed to writing a paper and submitting it to the IB for grading, we’re required to complete a series of steps to show that we know how to recognize reliable sources and their limitations, conduct our research, synthesize our information, and compile it. In other words, the IB is regarding the process of writing an essay just as important, if not more, as the actual essay itself.
My first moment of knowing came from the art work she did about the sunshine. She created a scene of sunshine through the window onto a chair in a museum. The way she arranged the chair and the painting made the sunshine look like real sunshine. Thus, I came to ask myself that if we cannot tell the difference between a fake work and a real one, which one is real? This question can apply to various situations in my life when we try to tell the truths from others. From this discovery, I extracted a knowledge question: To what extent can lies become truths? If people cannot distinguish lies from truths, the lies can be considered as truths. Also, people may find difficulty to determine whether something is true or false, and it shows that the boundary between truths and lies may be vague sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I thought about this question, history came to my mind. We have studied Ataturk as the founder of Modern Turkey. When he came to power, he chose to change the history textbook, and took out all the parts related to Islam as he was trying to promote secularism and nationalism. He wanted the next generation of Turkey to focus on the new version of non-Islamic history. Although he did not technically “lied” to the public, he tried to hide some truths on purpose to enforce his revised “truths”.
When Anna Schuleit talked about her experience on a small island outside Boston, she told us that she had a Mongolian style tent where she had lived for three months on her own. However, her experience offered her another perspective to look at the other people. For example, she said that many men tended to stand still and stare at the sea. It inspired some ideas for her, and she was able to observe many people on this land. Thus, I formed a knowledge question from this moment: To what extent can isolation create knowledge?
It remind me of the time when I read a book by myself. Before discussing it with other people, I had a very different interpretation from those of the others. However, most people agreed with one key concept of the book, and I was too afraid to speak up my own idea. Thus, isolation helped me to gain the knowledge that I may not be able to get while I am with other people; it requires independent thinking and analysis to get something significant from the book.
To what extent is knowledge shaped by environment?
ReplyDeleteWhen Anna spoke about how being an artist was not surprising in her family, I recognized how significant who and what we’re surrounded by.
The answer depends on various factors, most importantly, the subject’s age. Children are typically much more impressionable than adults and thus the people the children grow up around can shape their knowledge of things like the human sciences such as psychology, how the world works through perspectives. Furthermore, the environment can in turn affect the areas of knowledge people will be interested in. All in all, people are almost completely shaped by their environment. Anna grew up surrounded by art. She was encouraged to be creative and now she is an innovator, a Macarthur fellow. Growing up as a Buddhist the life philosophy I was taught was to be compassionate because every one’s goals are happiness and to avoid suffering. And, since we all suffer, one shouldn’t add to another’s. This has influenced me to pursue knowledge of ways humans hurt and help each other, and why.
In what ways does imagination lead to knowledge?
Anna likes ruins and abandoned buildings. She said that historical photos help understand what is so fascinating about the places. I thought this connection between art and history was brilliant. Her project of installing a sound system inside an old building with a piece from Bach playing while attendees stood outside listening and judging. Her friends told her that she shouldn’t expect many people, or any body at all to show up. When the installation opened, thousands visited. She exposed her knowledge of the history of the building and she then knew how interested the German society was in her work as it was national news. In the natural sciences, any genius needs imagination because he or she tries to prove an abstract concept. For instance, the world was thought to be flat. The concept of the world being round was preposterous. However, using his imagination as opposed to conforming, Ferdinand Magellan proved the world was round.
Reading over my classmates’ posts, one knowledge question in particular caught my eye. Karen wrote in her post that Anna Schuleit’s explanation of her hospital “stereo” project in which Anna rigged an old hospital to project Bach’s Magnificat prompted her knowledge question: to what extent is the acquisition of knowledge more important than the knowledge itself? To me, this is a central and important question and has become even more relevant to my life since I started the IB program. Process over content. This is important in almost all of my IB classes. Not necessarily to drop the content as much as we do in TOK, but to deeply and fully delve into the method in which we gain knowledge. In the words of Miley Cyrus (or her lyricist) “ain't about how fast I get there, ain't about what's waiting on the other side - It's the climb” This impelled me to think about why we are encouraged to focus on the process of acquiring knowledge rather than the actual end result. I came to the conclusion that this question is somewhat paradoxical because the reason we are asked to focus on the process is so that we can gain the knowledge of the process. It is not as if we are asked to drop the content because we are not focusing on gaining knowledge, but rather that we are focusing on gaining a different type of knowledge. In TOK, we are learning about how to think about what we know. The extended essay is another part of the IB which emphasizes the learning of skills rather than content. The reason the topics and subject areas of our extended essays were not dictated, and the reason we had such incredible free reign as to what we wanted to write about is because it did not matter. Although we all chose unique topics to write our papers on, each more different than the last, we each had almost the same experience in writing said papers. The IB succeeded in its task of teaching us how to write a paper, which is a transcendental skill. Although the final result and the acquisition of knowledge were important to the extended essay, they were not as important as the actual process of writing the paper and learning the skills for ourselves. A different kind of knowledge, but valuable knowledge nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to Karen’s insightful question the acquisition of knowledge is to no extent more important than the knowledge itself because they are of equal importance and are, in fact, the same thing. The acquisition of knowledge and the knowledge itself are one. Knowledge is gained when in the process of acquiring knowledge; knowledge of the process. It’s not all about the final golden nugget of knowledge, but rather the flakes that you pick up along the way. “It’s the climb, yeah!”
My second knowledge question is Tina’s: To what extent can isolation create knowledge? Tina wrote that Anna’s stay in a yurt for three months made her think about what knowledge could come of it. Tina related this question to a time she read a book alone and formed a very different interpretation of it from other people she later talked to. Tina believes that the isolation of reading the book alone and having had time to think about it was beneficial and created knowledge for her because her thoughts may have been skewed were she with other people. My perspective to this scenario is slightly different. I think that isolation of mind and isolation of body are two very different things. If in fact, Tina had discussed the book with other people while she was forming her opinions, I think she may have come to the same conclusions as she did when she was physically isolated. Although Tina was with other people, she was not brainwashed with the opinions of those other people and could still form independent thought. Although Tina would hear of the other opinions, I believe she still would have thought of her own interpretation. People in groups still form their own opinions and beliefs on whatever the group is discussing due to isolation of mind, the primary cause of dissent.
In offering my own perspective to Tina’s knowledge question, I have divulged my answer. The perspective I provided operated wholly under the assumption that isolation did create knowledge. By saying that isolation of mind was the reason Tina could form her own opinions, it became clear that I thought isolation could, to a major extent, create knowledge. Because Tina was and is mentally isolated, meaning that she has free thought and will as opposed to being controlled by some sort of restrictive thought system, Tina’s knowledge is her own to create. In fact, the reason we can both create and acquire knowledge is due to our mental isolation, the fact that our thoughts do not belong to some communal idea cesspool to be accessed and changed by others. Were we not, to some extent, isolated from those around us, even if it is simply mental isolation and not the grand physical isolation that Anna underwent, we would not be able to create our own knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe first knowledge question I have chosen was written by Jane Bell. She wrote: Is knowledge gained by using body language as valid as knowledge gained by verbal language?
ReplyDeleteIn order to make this knowledge more easily transposable, I have reworded it to say:
Can knowledge gained using one way of knowing be considered more valid than knowledge gained using another way of knowing? In my opinion, the answer differs depending on the type of knowledge and the situation. It is appropriate to use different ways of knowing in different situations.
I can apply this to the development of the scientific method. Prior to the scientific method, almost all results gleaned from experiments were based on sensory perception. Through experiments with flies, maggots, and mold, ancient Greek scientists came to the general consensus that cells were borne of spontaneous generation. Using sensory perception as a way of knowing, that would certainly seem to be a case. However, using reasoning and through countless experiments, Robert Remak showed that all cells come from pre-existing cells. In this case, the knowledge acquired using reasoning was more valid than the knowledge acquired using sensory perception. Since sensory perception, at times, can lead to unreliable results, it would not be the most valid one to use in a scientific experiment. This is not to say that we shouldn't use our senses to make observations (because how else can we take measurements?), but reasoning should be prioritized. However, reasoning is not always the most valid way of knowing.
In a romantic relationship, couples get along with one another using emotion and intuition as opposed to reasoning. Emotion and love is often categorized as irrational and will not lead to a thorough understanding if considered logically. We cannot always arrive to logical conclusions as to why we are in love, yet our emotions and intuition tell us it is so. Therefore, in this case, the knowledge gained through emotion is more valid than knowledge gained through reasoning.
In short, I would say that knowledge gained using different ways of knowing must always be prioritized in certain situations. In every situation, there is always one or two different ways of knowing that allow us to gain more reliable or relevant knowledge than knowledge gained from other ways of knowing. Therefore, my answer to the knowledge question is yes, depending on the situation.
The second knowledge question I have chosen is one written by Caroline Lord. It is: How does the source from which someone gains knowledge change the nature of the knowledge? In her post, she demonstrates how the importance of the source heightened the importance of the knowledge. She also points out that any preconceived notion of the source will affect the nature of the knowledge. I think that in addition to evaluating the nature of the source, it is important to evaluate the effect that an anonymous source will have on the knowledge. Can being skeptical of anonymity be considered a preconceived notion? And what if we are gaining the knowledge at the same moment we are evaluating bias? Does the effect change?
My answer to Caroline's question is that as the importance of the source in society increases, so does the importance of the knowledge and vice versa. It is a lot more likely that the general American public will believe a political statement made by Obama as opposed to one made by a homeless person in the streets. This is because Obama has had education some sort of authority while the homeless person has not.
To what extent can lies become truths? - Tina
ReplyDeleteAfter reading everyone's work, I thought that Tina's knowledge question was very interesting. What is a lie? A lie something that is untrue. However there are some instances where a lie can go on for so long in which they become too believable. For instance in 1984, the government was telling lies to the people. In the beginning the people knew they were lies, but through harsh interrogation tactics, the lies became realities. In the peoples minds' the lies they were told were now true. I agree with what Tina said, "Although he did not technically "lie" to the public, he tried to hide some truths on purpose to enforce his revised "truths." Often leaders will leave things out from the public in order to gain support. In this case, they are lie, but what they are doing is true to themselves and what they believe in. Also when Tina said that at times it is very difficult to differentiates between a lie and a truth. Depending on what you already know will be a factor in how you tell a part the truth and a lie. A truth can be a lie to as much extent as a lie be a truth. It all depends on what they knower knows because background information is key in separating what is real and what is fake. If you tell yourself something over and over that is a lie, eventually you will believe that it is true because it has become instilled in your mind.
In what ways does imagination lead to knowledge? - Dorjee
During Anna's presentations she discuss a lot about how her designs come from imagination. She needed to envision what she wanted before she could begin constructing. I agree with Dorjee, that Anna's visions were incredible even though her friends did not think that anyone would really like it or come to see it. All great things come from imaginations. A well thought out plan is only creating through THOUGHT! It needs to be worked out before it can be the final product. Imagination can lead a person to try new things which is new knowledge. Dorjee said that "In the natural sciences, any genius needs imagination because he or she tries to prove an abstract concept." I agree with this because an artist or as she said a genius needs to begin with an idea before they can express what they really want. Anna did many different projects all with creativity and imagination. Her outcomes were truly thoughtful and beautiful with her "abstract concept" fully proven. Even though people may have not known what her intention was, Anna felt accomplished. I think that all imagination leads to knowledge. Imagination is something that is created by combining known and imaginary things. Putting different things togethers will lead to something new every time no matter what, and from this, something can always be learned.
Karen: To what extent is the acquisition of knowledge more important than the knowledge itself?
ReplyDeleteMy immediate response to this question was, “What is the significance of obtaining knowledge is the knowledge isn’t useful? That’s a waste of time,” then I wondered, “Is there useless knowledge or just an absence of times to use the knowledge obtained?” Going back to the question, for the most part, the road taken is more significant than the knowledge itself because rather than a single moment of knowledge, I could have multiple along the way. For instance, in TOK, we focus on the way we think, how we come up with answers, which in turn help us come to thorough conclusions. Through this, we gain even more than we would by being given an answer.
Another way to interpret this is whether the ends justify the means. Did you stick to your morals? In politics, did you make enemies or allies while obtaining information? To which I say the acquisition of knowledge is absolutely more important than the knowledge. Of course, I am answering subjectively because it then becomes an ethical question.
Lastly, you could take this to mean is the quantity of knowledge more important than the content? One response could be that having knowledge of lots of small things is somewhat more important because there are a lot of problems in life that could be solved, but knowing the answers to larger issues will overall provide a healthier, happier life. Another could be that the quantity of knowledge is not more important than the quality of the knowledge at all because it is not a matter of how much you know, but what you know. Take specialization for example. It is important to know about your field so you can make a living off of it and others can specialize so that economies are upheld because no one has the time to do everything well.
Caroline: How much does one’s upbringing influence aptitude in a certain area of knowledge?
Considering that aptitude is natural ability, an argument could be that upbringing does not influence aptitude at all because aptitude is innate. The basic level of skill one has, whether it is higher or lower than another’s, is what a person is born with. Once one’s aptitude in an area of knowledge is built upon, it has increased beyond the innate. In another case, one might not have the aptitude in an area of knowledge, but through his or her upbringing, skill was acquired.
Another argument could be that upbringing directly correlates with a person’s aptitude in a certain area of knowledge because in cases like Anna’s, her aptitude for the arts was developed upon and her aptitude grew as a result of her mother and sister’s artistic ability and influence on Anna. Upbringing can either make a person be indifferent to or desire to increase his or her aptitude in an area of knowledge.
This is Elizabeth's post -
ReplyDeleteTo what extent does background knowledge influence ones proclivity to want to learn.- Jillian
Background knowledge can influence ones proclivity to want to learn by giving confidence to something that you know you enjoy and confirming that you are good at it. It is easy to feel discouraged about something you love to do after failing yourself time after time. For example my sister is really awesome at karate but she doesn't think so because she never wins the overall awards and she only gets the participation awards. Therefore making her feel as though she can't do anything right. This transfers to everything else, and she believes she isn't good at anything. There are many times when she believe that she. Annot do anything because there is always someone a little bit netter than she is and nobody ever verifies her abilities. This does enhance her desire to learn more and to be better than everyone else but this also discourages her desire to continue practicing. The background knowledge of always being beaten by others around her gives her the motivation to do better and practice harder. When you have been practicing something for a long time on you finally receive the acknowledgement that you have been striving for then you finally feel that satisfaction if knowing that all of you hard work has paid off: and all of those who were better than you before we're just there to make you even better.
To what extent can lies become truths? - Tina
This question can be related to many areas of knowledge, one in particular, ethics. If enough people believe in a lie then is it a lie anymore? If something is branded good or bad, how can we know if this is accurate, what if someone decided to change the meanings of these words but keep the same subcategories. This also brings up the question of what defines a lie and what defines the truth. A lie is a false statement, however how is the inaccuracy of this statement determined. For example: If there is a room full of people who have no knowledge of the name of ice cream flavors. They are all given chocolate icecream and three flavor names, and their job is to pick the name of the ice cream. What happens if all of the decide that the ice cream’s flavor is strawberry, then once they are put back into the real world they tell other’s about this strawberry ice cream, which is actually chocolate, are they lying or not? Within their group they are telling the truth but to any one outside of the group they are liars. I think that truth and lies can be based on point of view, depth of knowledge and the willingness to share knowledge. One can give half of their knowledge on a situation and not be a liar, they just dont tll the whole truth. One can also know very little about the topic and the rest is filled in with fiction as they choose to present, making it based on a true story. Lies can become truths if a large population is willing to believe it. Similar to the Wizard of Oz, the wizard isn’t actually great and powerful, he is only a con artist from Kansas. He tells the people of Oz that he is this great wizard here to help them, when he doesn’t have any real magic powers. But the people of Oz choose to believe in his lies because they needed something to believe in. Therefore making his lie into the truth.
In response to Karen’s question about awareness I think that awareness in any moment of knowledge can change the nature of the knowledge. I consider awareness in two different ways being subconsciously aware and consciously aware, and like with the foliage, the different levels of awareness can change the significance of the knowledge. I mean that in Anna’s picture she did not just draw a building and leaves; she drew an outline of leaves showing a building. The viewer at first may not be aware of both perspectives, but when Anna included both aspects in the image it changed how the viewer could perceive the image and the knowledge extracted from the image.
ReplyDeleteTina’s question “To what extent can isolation create knowledge?” is very intriguing. Speaking specifically about Anna’s situation I think isolation helped her to see things differently, and as with anyone else, a solitary environment can offer a lot in the ways of discovery. Origin can reveal a lot about knowledge and more specifically how the knowledge is treated. An example of this in my life was when we read The Stranger by Albert Camus last year, at first I thought Camus was just a bitter man that hated the world, but when I started to understand existentialism and how it originated after WWI his perspective made more sense. In most cases understanding the origin of knowledge can make it easier to appreciate it.
Jane Bell: Is newly discovered knowledge more significant than knowledge we consider old or elementary?
ReplyDeleteI think this knowledge question is very interesting because people tend to forget about the basics when they move beyond. Jane discussed that the elementary knowledge in the area of human sciences is the most significant, and I agree with her. I can apply this question to the area of math. When I think about math now, many abstruse formulas and signs usually show up in my mind. However, I realize that whenever I have to solve a problem, I come back to the most basic rules of math, such as addition and multiplication in most cases. I must build upon these foundations in order to reach the answer I want.
On the other hand, people sometimes ignore the significance of the basic knowledge, and assume that they are right. I remember once in my elementary school, one of my classmates asked me that why does 1 plus 1 equals 2. I tried to convince him by saying maybe the most frequently used example in China - because one apple plus one apple is two apples. In response to my answer, he said that, “But no two apples are exactly the same, so how can you add them?” Although his answer did not convince me to believe that one plus one is not two, it made such a huge impact in my mind that I can never take everything into granted, and assume that they are right. The most elementary knowledge can be the one that most people do not pay attention to, but it makes up the world we live in.
Caroline Lord: How much does one’s upbringing influence aptitude in a certain area of knowledge?
In her post, Caroline said that she likes history largely due to the influences of her parents. Her environment cultivated her love for history. Similar to her experience, this question made me think about my childhood with my father. I have been influenced by my father, a person who loves sports. When I was little, he always encouraged me to play various kinds of sports, and run with me. Because of his influence, I was one of the best athletes in my school, and I represented my school to compete in different games. However, I also question the degree of his influence compared to the inherent aptitude he gave me as my biological father. For examples, when my classmates and I started to learn high jump in elementary school, I was able to jump higher than most of other students did at the first time. Thus, I can say that the influence of my father affects me to like sports, but I can also argue that I like sports by nature. Here comes the conflict between nature and nurture, and I feel that both have influenced my feeling towards sports in my case.