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Perception : We perceive with our senses: smell, touch, sight. What meaning do we make of these perceptions? We use “mental maps” which include our beliefs of what is true, false, right, wrong, how we think of other things/life, etc. NB: there can be more than one map!
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Perception: We perceive with our senses: smell, touch, sight . . What meaning do we make of these perceptions? • We use “mental maps” which include our beliefs of what is true, false, right, wrong, how we think of other things/life, etc. • NB: there can be more than one map! • How can we be sure that our mental map is “correct”?
The world is spherical, but maps are flat • Mercator: developed for use at sea, 1569. Greenland appears to be the same size as Africa, yet Africa's land mass is actually fourteen times larger! • Peters: 1970s, misrepresents distance everywhere except along 45 N & S. Peters's and all other cylindric projections are especially bad . . because east-west distances inevitably balloon toward the poles. • “All maps distort distance, shape, area, or direction to present a map that meets the users' needs. No world projection is good at preserving distances everywhere” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peters_projection
“The map is not the territory; the thing is not the thing named” (G. Bateson, 1979)
“The map is not the territory; the thing is not the thing named”(G. Bateson, 1979) Can we gain knowledge, to be sure about something? It’s not just something I believe in; I know it to be true! List three things you are sure of.
Truth matters! • Historical truths Did the Americans really land on the moon? Was there an Armenian genocide in the early 20th C? • Scientific truths Does this medicine work?
w3 Pages & The ToK book • w3 Subject pages – Theory of Knowledge • R. van de Lagemaat, 2005. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U.K. • Introduction: • The natural sciences: black boxes.
“scientific method” • Perception. • Engage brain! • Hypothesis: a suggested explanation . . . . . . which must be tested. • An experiment tests an hypothesis. Results either support, or falsify, the hypothesis.