Constructing Knowledge, or, How a Bill Becomes a Law

1. Constructing Knowledge, or, How a Bill Becomes a Law TC CHAPTER 5:

2. BELEVING AND KNOWING • The distinction can be illustrated by replacing “believe” with “know” as such: • I know that I will die. • I know that I will not die. • I know that there is life on other planets. • I know life from other planets. • I know working hard is the answer. • I know that the earth is flat. • I know that the earth is round.

3. To know means at least 2 things • I think this belief is completely accurate • I can explain to you the reasons or evidence that supports this belief. • Note that this might not also include the entire working knowledge of the belief.

4. Thinking activity 5.1 • State whether you believe the following to be : • Completely accurate • Generally accurate (often, but not always) • Generally not accurate (usually not, but sometimes • Definitely not accurate • After determining this, explain why according to the example on pg 165. • I believe essay exams are more difficult than multiple-choice exams. • I believe that longer prison sentences discourage people from committing crimes. • I believe that there are more people on the earth today than there were 100 years ago. • I believe fate plays an important role in determining life’s events. • I believe that people have the freedom to change themselves and their circumstances if they really want to.

5. Cont. • Pick love, happiness, health, or religion and write one of your most important beliefs on that topic. • Would anyone characterize these beliefs as a generally, or all a definitely?

6. Corporate intellect • Cornerstone of human achievement. • Allows us to “stand on the shoulders of giants” • Language based, typically oral and written • But what are the side effects of this approach? • Authoritarian nature of society (hierarchy) • Lack of authentic inquiry/discovery • 4 out of five dentists . . . EXPERTS DISAGREE

7. Enter Socrates • Socratic method • Padiea • Some beliefs are better than others • How effectively do your beliefs explain what is taking place? • To what extent are these beliefs consistent with other beliefs? • How useful are they in the future? • To what extent are they supportable and verifiable? Falsifyable?

8. William Perry’s simplified stages of knowing: • The garden of Eden • Anything goes • Thinking critically (wisdom?)

9. Eden • Heavy on authority • No compromise or negotiation • “red and blue”, no purple • Works best in homogenous environments • 4 out of five dentists? What if experts disagree? • My dentist is better than your dentist. • Then you go to dental school.

10. Stage 2: anything goes • If authorities disagree, then some must be fallible and untrustworthy. • Then no pov is inherently better than another. • Relativism: all value is relative with respect to the observer. (like taste) • If we truly believe this, though, then we cannot condemn any action, and cannot praise any action, no matter what. • No superlatives

11. Stage 3 or critical thinkers (sages) • Has checked the facts, and weighed the feelings • Forms knowledge of varying flexibility • Accepts alternatives, believes, and evolves

12. THINKING ACTIVITY 5.3:BELIEF SURVEY • PICK 4 OF THESE 6 • Evaluate according to authorities, references, evidence, and experience (see green on pg 172)

13. Should the government take all steps to keep our society safe from terrorism, even if this means curtailing some of our personal liberties? • Should health care workers and potential patients be tested for AIDS, and if positive, be identified to each other?

14. Should the government provide public assistance to citizens who cannot support themselves and their families? • Have aliens visited the earth in some form?

15. Should parents be permitted to refuse conventional medical care for their children if their religious beliefs prohibit it? • Should people with terminal illnesses be permitted to end their lives with medical assistance?

16. Pg. 176/7 Thinking critically about visuals

36. Plato’s Cave (the coolest thing ever) • Draw what I am about to describe to you. • Illustrate it in diagram form, labeling all parts • Now looking at this diagram, what does the overall arrangement remind you of? • what metaphorical devices are at work here? • Apply to education • Government • Religion • Media

37. how can you become a reformed troglodyte? • Live life deliberately • Cut through mediation • Investigate the giants from the soles-up!

38. Hiroshima

39. First, the position paper • See handout • Topics: Hiroshima Trash Zoos Outsourcing

40. TC Chapter 6: Language and Thought • Informal def. of language: “sent messages about our thinking” • Recall that one of our definitions for “thinking” was “the activity of the brain which can be potentially communicated” • Has oral components, often written components • (no telepathy—yet) • Non-written or “prehistoric” languages rely on oral tradition • Written language relies on oral and physical written information

41. Imagine a world without language • Helen Keller • Allegory of the Cave • Similar to the immediate state of things after the confounding of the workers at the Tower of Babel

42. Language as a component of culture • Language plays a role in solidifying people in groups, also in excluding people from groups. • Language becomes an elaborate “secret password” between “us” and “them” • Think “Nationalism” • Think of the British Empire and Anglophilia

43. Language is Evolutionary • Mutation • Variation • Natural Selection of the “fittest” • Creates the best solution in the “here and now” • Has no “ultimate end”; never reaches “perfection” • Is a reciprocal agent of human evolution • Has family trees, much like animals • Latin is a great example • English, too (perhaps a better one) • See Elliot Engle, “Light History of the English Language”

44. Symbolic Nature of Language • Humans communicate through symbolism—letting one thing represent another • A system of codifying • Think Hieroglyphs • House • To go forth

45. Words are the basic units of language • Symbolize objects, thoughts, feelings, actions, concepts (basically the same definition as “noun”) • Meanings can be specific or suggestive, concrete or abstract, can change from linguistic group to group, and within a group over time. • Some are “loaded”, some are not (think prejudice, stereotype, discriminate) • (see dialogue on pg. 207)

46. Definition II • Language is a system of symbols for thinking and communicating thought • Note that we “think” in one or several languages • Charlemagne apparently thought of Math and Science in Greek, Religion and Arts in Latin, spoke to servants in Spanish, his people in French, and his horse in German. • We do similar things—think of the language we use with a parent, a peer, a small child, or a Judge.

47. Types of meaning (4) • Semantic-- also called DENOTATIVE • Expresses the relationship between a linguistic event (speaking or writing) and a nonlinguistic event (object, idea, feeling). • DENOTE: LITERAL MEANING/DIRECT OR EXPLICIT • Think of this as a dictionary definition

48. Perceptual meaning • Also known as connotative meaning • Connote= con-(with, together) + notare (to note), or, to note together • Relationship between speaking/writing and an individual's consciousness • Suggests or conveys notions in addition to denotations • Based on previous experience and past associations

49. Syntactic meaning • A word’s total meaning also contains its relation to other words in a sentence. • Defines three relationships: content (major message), description (elaborative or modifying), and connection (join the major message) • Can be used to “fudge” a word in a pinch • See Jabberwocky pg 213

50. Pragmatic meaning • Also known as situational meaning • Involves the speaker, audience, and overall situation • That student likes to borrow books from the library. • Use of the word “crusade”