Knowledge

[DuckLady]

I have cleaned up this thread. Please keep to the topic at hand. Thanks

 

[AquaEyes]

I like the idea of classes like this. They provide an exercise for the brain more than a collection of facts to memorize. This can be a valuable tool to use in other classes further on.

I am a returning student in my last semester of undergraduate classes before starting on a graduate degree. Last year, I took a class in Behavior Genetics that was also an exercise in examination. There was a lot of basic information presented in a skeletal fashion which was up to us to flesh out with our own independent study, and the class was heavily reliant upon discussion and writing essays with evidence-supported arguments, and analysis and interpretation of data and methods presented in scholarly articles.

While some of the topics weren't necessarily relevant to the areas I wish to further study, it was the PROCESS I learned that was so important -- so much so that this semester I'm taking Psychobiology of Reproduction with the same professor, taught in the same format, simply to further build upon this skill. While not a philosophy course, we do take some similar approaches -- examine a statement, define terms, seek evidence, tighten our answers, and visualize an idea in 360 degrees rather than just looking at it head-on. If you stick with it, you'll have a sharpened tool for your further studies. Good luck!

 

[Fierlin1182]

Thanks AquaEyes.
I know there are mixed opinions on classes like these. For IB, TOK is actually compulsory, just like the 150 hours of CAS I'm going to have to get down to at some time or another... *grumbles something about mentoring junior school children*
I have to say I'm not finding it too bad though. I'm not as enthusiastic as those of my friends who actually believe there is a possibility we might be dreaming through life, and the colour I think is green could actually be what looks to someone else like orange. I suppose you wouldn't know unless you were looking through their eyes. Someone smartly pointed out traffic lights in the middle of this discussion... at least I thought it was smart until someone else said that what if you were raised calling this particular colour 'green', but it actually looked to me like orange?

Yeah.

 

[AquaEyes]

Just so I'm clear, what is "IB"?

ETA -- Nevermind, I just remembered.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Actually, it is highly unlikely that we are all "seeing" the same color. We don't taste things the exact same way. We don't smell things the exact same way. It is very likely that we don't see things the same way.
When you "see" a color, your brain is interpreting a series of electrochemical signals sent from the cones in your eye. Your cones react to the various wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. You have red sensitive, green sensitive and blue sensitive cones in your eye. "Colors" are merely the names we have learned to tag specific wavelengths with. One of the first things you start teaching children is their colors. So from very early in your life someone taught you to call the wavelengths between 650 and 700 nanometers "red".

All of that to say, there are a lot of elements in that system that can vary. Your cones very likely have a different sensitivity to light than my cones. Your cones probably send a slightly different type of electrochemical signal to your brain. Your brain definitely works differently from mine. You most definitely don't see the same exact shade of "red" that I see. You have just learned to call it the same thing I call it. Red.

Now as to whether you exist or not, I've got nothing. I only THINK you exist because someone has typed something on a computer forum. For all I know it could be a roomful of trained monkeys on their way to typing Hamlet.

 

[Kelly G]

Epistomology is monumentally important - an open mind that questions everything learns a tremendous amount. This is a tough class for kids to wrap their heads around....but that's why it's part of the I.B. program - it's college level material.

You can do it! Have fun with it - it's a great mental excercise!

 

[KristyHall]

Epistomology is monumentally important - an open mind that questions everything learns a tremendous amount. This is a tough class for kids to wrap their heads around....but that's why it's part of the I.B. program - it's college level material.

You can do it! Have fun with it - it's a great mental excercise!

Very true. When presented with only one view point a person's entire life, it can affect their mental growth in other areas (IMO).

 

[Fierlin1182]

CityGirl - I see, what you say makes sense. Strange to think that the world could look totally different physically from someone else's point of view!
As for existing, I think they mean something to do with the 1984 sense of 'unpersons' - how can you prove you exist? Winston reckons he occupies a particular point in space at any given time, but does that prove we exist?

Kelly - nice to hear that your husband teaches this subject. The group of us are having fun so far. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Quote:

CityGirl - I see, what you say makes sense. Strange to think that the world could look totally different physically from someone else's point of view!

If you think about it, the concept makes fashion make a lot more sense. Haven't you ever seen someone wearing a color or color combinations and you think to yourself "Oh my. That looks HORRIBLE!"? Perhaps to that person those colors blend. Or perhaps they just have really tacky taste. You never know.

There are some scientists that think there are "super seers" among us, people who are more sensitive to color than the average person. If you look at it mathematically, taking into account only hue, value and saturation, there are millions of possible colors out there. Most of us tend to clump colors into groups. It makes total sense to me that "blue" isn't an absolute though.

 

[Fierlin1182]

I don't know, does the blue in my avatar look nice to you? To me, it's probably one of the best shades of blue out there. But who knows.

I'm totally fashion-illiterate and pick outfits that people think look ridiculous. Perhaps it's in the way I see colours.