Knower(s) Natural Sciences Language Sense Perception Sense Perception Emotion Reason Mathematics Human Sciences History Arts Ethics Ways of Knowing Areas of Knowledge Theory of Knowledge Diagram

TaK - Perception Empiricism starting point for all knowledge is experience Rationalism starting point for all knowledge is reason

TaK - Perception Sense Perception and Knowledge Our senses connect us with the world around us … … but how connected are we?

TaK - Perception Cosmic Rays X Rays UV Light Infra Red Radar TV & Radio Frequency (Hz) Visual Window Our senses are limited: Light Waves

TaK - Perception Highest Voice Frequency (Hz) Audio Window Lowest Voice Our senses are limited: Sound Waves

TaK - Perception Bloodhound: “A nose with a dog attached” 230 million olfactory cells compared to 5 million in humans 1000 times better sense of smell than humans Have been known to be able to track a scent for over 100 miles Our senses are limited: Smell

So perhaps we don’t see, hear, smell, taste and touch everything… … but what we do sense, we sense accurately – don’t we? TaK - Perception

Think about physical sensation (Touch)…. You plunge your hand into a bucket of hot water – is the pain in your hand, or in your mind? You plunge your hand into a bucket of ice cold water – for a moment you aren’t sure if it is hot or cold … TaK - Perception

What is in the mind and what is in the world? TaK - Perception

Sensation which is provided by the world Interpretation which is provided by the mind (external stimuli + mental processes)

TaK - Perception Esref Armagan – born blind

TaK - Perception In our everyday life, we are not usually aware of our minds interpreting the sensations that flood into our senses....

Awareness test - Selectivity TaK - Perception

Sensory Perception is selective: What the eye saw…. TaK - Perception

Sensory Perception is selective: What the camera saw….

TaK - Perception Donna Williams – Autistic author and consultant Writes about being unable to filter out stimuli

TaK - Perception “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” H.D. Thoreau

TaK - Perception Interpretation: Understanding what we see - Coherence

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Expectation

TaK - Perception Expectation

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What is this? Organising Principles – the Law of Simplicity

TaK - Perception What is this?

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Interpretation – finding meaning in what we see TaK - Perception

Interpretation TaK - Perception

Imagination, Context, Expectation and Sense Perception affect the way we interpret sense data TaK - Perception

You are walking down a dark alley... there are footsteps behind you …

TaK - Perception Context

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The mental construction of reality

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The two tables are exactly the same length and width

TaK - Perception “The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend” Bergson

TaK - Perception Take the following and explain how education and training can affect what we perceive: A biologist looking down a microscope A dentist looking at an x-ray A professional wine taster A lifeguard An artist

TaK - Perception “Who you are decides what you see”

TaK - Perception Think about the following and describe how they might be seen through the eyes of the different people: 1.A child dying in poverty as seen by a doctor, an economist, a social worker, the child’s father 2.A sunset as seen by a religious figure, a physicist, a painter, a farmer 3.A tree as seen by a biologist, a logger, an environmentalist, a carpenter

TaK - Perception Sense Perception is an important source of knowledge but there are reasons for treating it with caution:

TaK - Perception We may misinterpret what we perceive We may fail to notice something We may misremember what we have perceived Sensory perception is selective Our senses have limitations Experience creates expectations Subjective factors – interests, moods – affect sensory perception

TaK - Perception Eye-witness testimony

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Person Swap - Expectation

TaK - Perception Some key points: Sense perception consists of Sensation and Interpretation If we accept that pain and taste are subjective, we might conclude that color and sound are also subjective Senses are an important source of knowledge but rather than passively reflect reality, they actively structure it

TaK - Perception Some more key points: Sense perception is selective Sense perception has limitations Although sense perception cannot give us certainty, if the evidence of our senses is consistent with what reason and intuition tell us, it can still provide a good foundation for reliable knowledge

Some safeguards: Confirmation by another sense Coherence Independent testimony ToK - Perception

TaK - Perception Perception Language How does the way we describe something affect the way we see it? Language How does the way we describe something affect the way we see it? Religion What role does perception play in religious experience? Religion What role does perception play in religious experience? Ethics Do good people see the world differently from bad people? Ethics Do good people see the world differently from bad people? Arts To what extent do the arts help us to see the world with new eyes? Arts To what extent do the arts help us to see the world with new eyes? History Should we trust eyewitness testimony? History Should we trust eyewitness testimony? Human Sciences Does observation influence what is observed? Human Sciences Does observation influence what is observed? Maths Does perception play any role in Mathematics? Maths Does perception play any role in Mathematics? Natural Sciences Do expectations influence observations? Natural Sciences Do expectations influence observations?

TaK - Perception Some Knowledge Issues What factors affect our ability to gain knowledge through the senses? How do our senses hinder us in our attempts to gain knowledge? How is sensory perception affected by emotion/reason/faith/language?

How do context and culture affect our perceptions? When you are told that ‘you should be more objective’ – what does that mean? TaK - Perception

ToK Prescribed Essay Title: 2008 “When should we trust our senses to give us truth?”

TaK - Perception Common sense realism: the way we perceive the world mirrors the way the world is Scientific realism: the world exists as an independent reality but it is different from the way we perceive it Phenomenalism: it makes no sense to say that the world exists independent of our experience of it. “To be is to be perceived” (Are the chairs in the classroom when you aren’t there?) See ‘Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma’ Richard van der Lagemaat, p

Extras

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Finished files are the result of years of scientific study combined with the experience of years How many times does the letter ‘f’ appear in this sentence? TaK - Perception