2. 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

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

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

5. TaK - Perception Cosmic Rays X Rays UV Light Infra Red Radar TV & Radio Frequency (Hz) Visual Window 10 22 10 20 10 18 10 16 10 14 10 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Our senses are limited: Light Waves

6. TaK - Perception Highest Voice Frequency (Hz) Audio Window 10 22 10 20 10 18 10 16 10 14 10 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Lowest Voice Our senses are limited: Sound Waves

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

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

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

12. TaK - Perception Esref Armagan – born blind

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

14. Awareness test - Selectivity TaK - Perception

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

16. Sensory Perception is selective: What the camera saw….

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

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

19. TaK - Perception Interpretation: Understanding what we see - Coherence

20. TaK - Perception

21. Expectation

22. TaK - Perception Expectation

23. TaK - Perception

24. What is this? Organising Principles – the Law of Simplicity

25. TaK - Perception What is this?

26. TaK - Perception

27. Interpretation – finding meaning in what we see TaK - Perception

28. Interpretation TaK - Perception

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

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

31. TaK - Perception Context

32. TaK - Perception

35. The mental construction of reality

36. TaK - Perception

41. The two tables are exactly the same length and width

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

43. 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

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

45. 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

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

47. 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

48. TaK - Perception Eye-witness testimony

49. TaK - Perception

51. Person Swap - Expectation

52. 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

53. 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

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

55. 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?

56. 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?

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

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

59. 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 99-101

60. Extras

61. TaK - Perception

62. 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