Recognizing Perspectives Constructing Knowledge

The Mental Map: What does knowledge look like?  Goal: To understand why people believe so many different things all around the world.  Are we self absorbed?  What counts as “knowledge”?  Knowers know in different ways. Scientist vs. Artist  How do we know? What do you know? How do you know what you know it?

 Apparently, NASA was planning a secret mission to retrieve the airplane, and tow it back to earth. Not many people took it seriously. Why not? A Sunday newspaper in Britain once announced:

Ways of knowing  1. Their intuition informed them that the story seemed ridiculous.  2. Their reason told them that such a thing is physically impossible.  3+4. Their understanding of language informed them that the headline was a overly sensational way of appealing to people’s emotions.  5. Finally, the photo of the airplane on the moon looked extremely fake.

What does knowledge look like?

What does your mental map look like?  Directions:  On blank sheet of paper answer the following questions with illustrations.  Your mental map must be detailed! I should understand your answers just by looking at your illustrations.  On the back of the sheet write a one page reflection about how your culture and the society you live in has influenced who you are as a young adult.  What do you believe in? Why? Where did you get this belief from?  What do you do for fun?  Write: Why do you think these things are fun?  What part of Chicago are you from?  Write: How has your neighborhood influenced you?  Who are the important people in your life?  Write: Why are they important to you?  What are your cultures traditions? Which do you follow and which do you not?

The maps of cartographer  Cartographer= noun; a person who makes maps Greek Origin It is impossible to make an accurate representation of the world.  Shrinking to a 3-D globe  Geometry and Geography A sphere on a flat surface distorts the image.  Mercator map originated in Germany and served as a Mariner’s map.

Mercator Map

Problems with knowledge  What is distorted? What is most accurate? 1.Distorts relative size of the land masses, which is most apparent when we compare Greenland to Africa – Africa is 14 times bigger than Greenland in reality. 2.It is based on the convention that the northern hemisphere is at the top of the map. World does not come with the label “This way up!” 3.The map is Eurocentric in that it not only exaggerates the relative size of Europe, but also puts it in the middle of the map.

Problems with knowledge  The point is that like the Mercator Projection our common- sense mental maps may give us distorted picture of reality.  Our ideas and beliefs come from a variety of sources, such as our own experience, parents, friends, teachers, books and the media, and since we don’t have time to check up on everything to make sure that it is true, there are likely to be all kinds of inaccuracies, half-truths and falsehoods woven into our mental maps.  Still, there is no such thing as a perfect map – if it is to be useful, then it must be imperfect!

The West Wing!

The Problem with knowledge. CERTAINTY  If there are problems with our common-sense picture of the world – maybe we should limit ourselves to what is certain.  For it has often been thought that certainty is what distinguishes knowledge from mere belief.  The idea is that when you know something – you are certain it is true and you don’t have doubts about it. But when you merely believe it, you may think it is true, but you are not certain.  When you start to look critically at the things we normally claim to know, you begin to wonder if any of them are completely certain!*

The problem with knowledge  Consider the following four statements:  1. I know that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in  2. I know that strawberries are red.  3. I know that if a is bigger than b and b is bigger than c, then a is bigger than c.  4. I know that murder is wrong.  These statements seem true. But how do we know that?  We can answer this question by using our ways of knowing – language, perception, reason and emotion.

Views of the world  “Owning” land is a cultural concept.  Relationship between humans and natural environment.  Europeans vs. Indigenous people  “What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?" -Massasoit  Exit slip: What are the flaws with the way we see the world?

Homework!  Read “Who Owns the Land?” By David Walbert  Bullet point the differences in the two perspectives on “owning” land.  Write a short paragraph (5-8 sentences) from each (which means 2) perspective explaining why their stance is the correct way to approach land.  Be ready to discuss in class on Monday.  Have a nice weekend!