Ways+of+Knowing

In what ways does the biological constitution of a living organism determine, influence or limit its perception?

If humans are sensitive only to certain ranges of stimuli, what consequences, including positive attributes and limitations, might this have for the acquisition of knowledge? Provide examples.

How does technology extend and modify the capabilities of the senses?

In my own personal opinion, there are many ways in which the biological constitution determine and influence perception. Living organism like animals perceive things differently than the way humans do. Since humans often depend on their senses, it limits their perception in the sense that they don’t see the inner beauty of things around them. For instance, a tree that is described to have big eyes. Human beings are not able to perceive it because we all know that it has no eyes and it is not visible in our vision. It’s different with the case of a blind person in the sense that they rely on their senses a lot but they still have the capability of doing things. For example, a blind person can tell how many persons are there in the classroom. Animals also have their own ways to perceive things around them. Take owl as an example, owls can see far more clearly in the night which makes them live in darker hours rather than the day. In addition to that, owls have a good sense of hearing that makes them active in their day-to-day activities. Another example would be the ability of dogs to recognize the people who take drugs and explosives with them. Dogs are known to be sensitive with smell that’s why they depend on their sense of smelling to be able to distinguish different things. Humans act differently than the way they do because we have a limit in smell. We usually identify things through our vision not because we have a poor sense of smell. It is just because we don’t actually see things through the sense of smelling like dogs do. Human characteristics are somehow different with animal characteristics although they acquire knowledge through the use of their senses.

Technology have extended and modified the capabilities of the senses in the sense that it makes life easier than before because there are a lot of advance technologies that help us to do work easily or in a fastest way that we can especially in education and telecommunication. For instance, in school activities, the teachers use projectors to show visual representations to the students. Since there are books that don’t give us that much information, technologies have been useful and helpful to us in acquiring more knowledge through the use of Internet. Advancement of technology also helps us to make a progress to our limits in perception. For example, hearing aids for older people who can’t hear properly. It helps them to clearly understand the people who are talking to them and it also benefit them in the sense that they can pick up soft sounds around them. Technology sometimes limits our perception in the sense that we don’t see other things because we depend only depend on it. For instance, we use the Internet to find good information for our project without knowing that you can get more from the book.

KNOWING BY WAY OF YOUR SENSES CHART:
 * Sense || An experience you had that reinforced the accuracy of the sense || An experience you had that reinforced the fallibility of the sense ||
 * Visual || My sister misplaced her phone and she asked me if where she put it. I told her that it was under the pillow on the bed because I saw that she was using it before she got up from bed. || My best friend and I were waiting for our other friend in the mall then we saw a girl that exactly looks like our other friend. What we did was we pointed the girl and shouted our friend’s name. ||
 * Auditory || When we were having a discussion in our school, my friend asked me if what did the teacher say and I told her that we have to solve for the equation on the board. || When I was in class, I thought someone called my name because it just sounded like it. But I realized that they were just talking about something that sounded just like my name. ||
 * Olfactory || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My mom was cooking in the kitchen and I asked her if she was cooking my favorite dish because I know how it smells like. || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When we were driving all the way home from my cousin’s house. I smelled something that smells like a fart. I thought that someone farted in our car but what I just smelled was the canal. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Touch || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I tried to feel the texture of the paper in Art to know if I was drawing on the right side of the paper and I draw on the right side of it. || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When you are trying to reach out for something that fell under your cabinet and what you get is not exactly what you lost. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Taste || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When we went to a party and I was getting food to eat then my mom asked me if what food it was then I tasted it and I told her what it was. || <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I bought a candy and I didn’t realize that it was a gum until I accidentally bit it. ||

<span style="color: #808000; display: block; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 300%; text-align: center;">Perception <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What are the primary ways in which we know the world around us?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are there stages to perception?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Here are some recognized stages. Define them and find examples: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-filtering: <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It is when you focus on one thing when a lot of things are happening around you <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-halo and horn effect: <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It is when we perceive situations in a positive (halo) or negative way (horn) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-organizing: <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It is when you arrange things in a structure and map things out in your head <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-stereotyping: <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> assumptions about others based on belonging to a certain category or group <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-filling in information: <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It is when you fill out something and assume what it is even if you’re not sure if it’s right or wrong <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">-interpretation: <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It is when you look at something and try to explain what you think about it

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Perceptual Illusions

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Is your perception always accurate? Provide examples of when it is trustworthy, and when it might not be.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Our perception is not always accurate in the sense that people look at things differently because we all use our senses in a different way. There are things that I haven’t recognized yet but some people already did. Perception could be trustworthy at times, for instance, your dad lost the key of his car and you think that you saw that he left it on the couch and you told him about it. By the use of your senses, you could easily tell what happened or what’s going to happen. Our perceptions are not always right because we often rely on it. We forget things easily because there’s too much going on in our brain. It could not be trustworthy at times, for instance, when somebody was talking and you thought that he called your name but he actually didn’t call you. That happens when you are spacing out and if there’s a lot of things that’s going on in your mind.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are people’s perceptions the same? How do you know this? Does this invalidate your or another person’s experience?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I would say that people’s perceptions are different because when we observe things, we interpret it in different ways. For instance, if I say that it’s going to rain because it’s dark outside, some people would think that it’s just dark because it’s getting late already. Human beings perceive things in many ways, so as animals. It does not invalidate you or another person’s experience in the sense that you have different ways to look at things based on your memory.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Why might misperceptions occur?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Misperceptions occur because we rely on our senses most of the time. Since we depend on it a lot, we always think that our perceptions are always accurate. For instance, when you are looking for the remote, you’re trying to find it in the cabinet because your mom always keep it there but then when you look at it it’s not there.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Selectivity of Perception <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> How do we validate our perceptions? Do we ignore some and rely more heavily on others? Why?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We validate our perceptions through experiences, for example, the things that we’ve seen, touched, and heard before. Another way to validate our perceptions is through memory, for instance, you recognized a person that looks familiar to you and you were wondering if you’ve met him before because when you saw him, he actually reminded you of someone you’ve seen before.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What things might affect how you interpret your perceptions? Is this selectivity conscious or unconscious?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I think that the things that affects me to interpret my perceptions are the people around me, my beliefs, my environment, and how I was raised by my parents. Humans may perceive unconsciously although we are conscious beings because our consciousness has a connection to our unconscious minds. Our sense organs can send signals through interpretations in which perception can occur without conscious awareness.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Can you provide reasons why people perceive things differently? Explain

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> People perceive things differently because we use our senses in different ways to interpret things around us. For instance, we use our eyes to see how many people are there in a classroom, but for blind people, they don’t use their eyes to count them. They have the sense of feeling inside them because they are used to do that. So basically, people perceive things in the sense that they depend on their senses or they are just used to what they usually do. Sometimes it is also because of people’s beliefs and experiences. I would say that people look at things differently because we have different notions about it and we often believe in our own thoughts based on our experiences.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Seeing and Believing

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What do you create from your perceptions?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We create assumptions from our perceptions in the sense that we assume that something is true even if it is not yet proven to be a fact.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In this case, one could ask, what belief or models affect our perception?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Religion would be one of the models that can affect our perception in the sense that people have different beliefs in life and they don’t believe in only one God. Types of economist would be another example, for instance, a socialist who has concerns about the welfare of a country, other people would perceive it in a different way for a communist who doesn’t because of their own beliefs. Superstitious beliefs, which are common to rural areas, like provinces and remote places. For example, some people believe in witches and dwarfs hiding in the anthill.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> This leads to the question of if, or how are, the senses used in the different Areas of Knowing?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Different areas of knowing are art, math, natural science, human science, ethics, and history. Areas of knowing do not rely on our senses that often in the sense that we use our knowledge by thinking to perceive things. In addition to that, when we look at different things, we always tell ourselves to believe what we perceive and we often assume that it’s right or wrong. Our sense of seeing and hearing is somehow used in the sense that we read and listen to media and other types of communications to acquire knowledge. For instance, national geographic, it is an educational TV show that gives us information on how animals live.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Distinguishing Appearance from Reality

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> How would you be able to confirm if your perceptions are representing what you are experiencing accurately?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Each individual has the so-called extra sensory perception where in you can anticipate and feel what will happen based on your personal expectations. At times it can’t be positive but it can also be the opposite or reciprocate. Sometimes it matches my expectations with the reality that I am experiencing. For instance, when you feel that it is too humid, you’re expecting that it will rain, consequently it rained.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Reality

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">So if there is agreement that perceptions may not be perfect, then how do we get around them to perceive reality? Or, is this even possible?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In order to perceive reality on what you expect to perceive, you have to be optimistic and take extra effort in all the things that you do. It is possible because it depends on what the situation is and having a mindset to things positively.

<span style="color: #808000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 280%; text-align: center;">Emotion <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Please don't cry....
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Emotions **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The nature of emotions
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What is the underlying nature of our emotions?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The underlying nature of our emotions would come from something personal that we feel within ourselves. It is usually a reaction from something that you feel against other things. For instance, when both of your close friends are fighting, you feel sad about it because you don’t know which side to take since they are both close to you.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When you feel an emotion, how do you know you are feeling that way? Can you explain why you are having this emotion?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When I feel an emotion, I know that I’m feeling that way because it changes my mood and I over react to it. For example, when you get your math exam back and you are very excited to see the results but then you find out that you didn’t do well, you feel bad for yourself. Sometimes you can’t just stop talking about it because you feel some regrets and it just makes you sad for the whole day.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Describe the process by which you develop an emotion. In what ways do we describe emotions through language?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We develop an emotion by communicating with other people about what our truest feelings are. For example, if you have a problem, you talk to your friends about it and you share your emotions to them by telling them your thoughts and feelings. Another thing that you can do to express your emotions is to communicate to other people through writing.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Can you reason about emotions?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Not really, it depends on a person's mood. There are times that we don't actually know why we're feeling a certain emotion because it just comes out of you naturally.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What things influence your emotions?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What influence our emotions are people who are around us, such as family and friends. They influence us in the sense that when they share emotions to us, it gives us a kind of odd feeling because in some situations we can relate to their emotions. For instance, when your friend’s grandmother just died and she hasn’t moved on yet, you would feel sad and sorry for her because you felt the same way when you were also in the same situation. In addition to that, they also influence us through giving us strength when we feel like giving up. They make us perceive things differently which makes you think positive. For example, when you feel depressed on your studies, your dad would tell you to be patient because it’s for your own good and for a better future. In that case, you will be motivated to study because you wouldn’t like to have a bad future when you grow up. Another influence would be personal experiences that we’ve been through because when you experience the same situation that you had before, you might react to it differently.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are controlling emotions a good or a bad thing? Explain with examples.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Controlling an emotion could be a good and a bad thing to everyone because it depends on what the situation is. It could be a good thing for us in the sense that we don’t hurt anyone and make people feel bad. For instance, when you are really angry to someone, sometimes you just can’t control your emotions and you start to say things that you don’t really mean. It could be a bad thing for us in the sense that we could hurt our own selves. For example, when you keep your emotions to yourself, it just makes you more emotional and it may cause you to hurt yourself when you really don’t know what else to do.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> How do emotions change as you get older? Why does this happen?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 12pt;">When we were young, we don’t actually feel true emotions because we were only concern about our self-satisfactions. For example, when a baby is hungry or thirsty, he cries for a milk or food. Children tend to be emotional when they get and don’t get what they want. The emotions that they feel don’t have an impact on their lives yet. When you reach the adolescence stage and onwards, there would be hormonal changes and you will start to think matured enough. In this stage, you will also begin to experience true emotions because you know how to react in different situations. You know when you feel in pain because when you get hurt, you really become emotional. Your emotions turn out to be personal in the sense that you become emotional over your problems. As you grow older, you will know how to control your emotions because you wouldn’t like to stress yourself out on some things.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are emotions influenced by culture?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In our country, yes, emotions are influenced by culture because we are a democratic country in which Filipinos are united and concern about our fellowmen. So basically, if our country is experiencing problems, we are highly affected. It’s also the same when it comes to family in the sense that all Filipino families are closely knitted and in times of problems, we are group as one finding the solutions

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Emotions as obstacle
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Can emotions affect the way we understand something?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yes, it affects the way we understand something because when we are emotionally disturbed, we see all things bizarre which makes us incoherent because we can’t think properly.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Can emotions limit the reliability or even the validity of a knowledge claim? Provide examples.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Partially, yes, the reliability and validity of knowledge claim is limited. For example, sometimes when you’re bursting out because of anger, you try to say things to other people to express everything that you want to say without even knowing that you can hurt them.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Can emotional responses be misunderstood by others? How do you get around that?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; margin-bottom: 12pt;">Emotions can be misunderstood depending on the mood of the person, the way it was expressed and manifested. For example, when you are talking to a person, he thinks that you’re mad or something because you’re raising your voice out while talking. It also depends on the mood of a person, sometimes when you are really in a bad mood, you don’t feel like talking but it doesn’t mean that you want to ignore some people.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Emotions as source
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Can emotions be an important aspect of creating knowledge? Provide examples.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What is emotional intelligence?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize your emotions, understand what you feel, and realize how your emotions affect people around you. It also refers to perception in the sense that when you understand how they feel, this allows you to manage relationships more effectively.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Is there such a thing as Intuition? Would you rely on it as a reliable way of knowing? Provide examples.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yes, intuition is as feeling, instinct, emotion and a kind of unconscious perception. It is also defined as a combination of feelings and senses that lead humans to formulate opinions about known or unknown issues. It occurs when you get a feeling for an answer but it is not always reliable. For instance, when you are taking your math exam, you can’t just write down information that is based upon your intuition, you need to do some calculations because sometimes the intuition for a right answer can actually be mistaken for previous knowledge.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Can you classify emotions? What categories could you create?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yes, I would classify it into three groups, which are emotional, spiritual, and physical. Take happiness as an example, it can be classified in these three groups but it also depends on your mind set, attitude and ability to sense and perceive it. It is emotional in the sense that it is felt and perceived due to good gestures, empathetic attitudes, and sense of gratitude, passion, care and loving nature. It is physical in the sense that it excites the sensory nerves like taste, smell, touch, hear, and see. And lastly, it is considered spiritual when you get into a process of showing trust and belief in god’s existence, you will slowly start experiencing this type of happiness.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What role does emotion play in some of the different areas of knowledge?

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Emotion does not play a role in the field of natural sciences and mathematics. However, other areas of knowledge such as Arts and English, it does. For example, when you are looking at someone's art work, you would feel some emotion towards it by just looking at the colors and kind of lines that he used. In English, when you are reading a book and you can relate to the character's emotion, it gives you a kind of odd feeling which makes you understand what the situation is.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">If you left the planet and had to explain to an alien what life was like on our planet, what would you say? What might be some of the problems associated with your perceptions? What things would you highlight, what would you not highlight and why? How would you explain that you knew your description was the truth? Provide examples.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">If I were to explain to an alien how it was like to live in our planet, the first thing that I would tell them is that it is a pleasure to live in this planet because there are many places that you can go to and in every place, you would see different attractions that is pleasing to your eyes. For instance, Eifel tower in Paris and Niagara falls in Canada and New York. Aliens are creatures that are out of this world meaning they don’t perceive things the way humans do. They are ignorant in the sense that they don’t recognize the beauty of nature because they are not expose to it. Since they don’t see beauty as often as we do, I would tell them that other than attractions, we also have man-made objects that makes our life more convenient and comfortable. A perfect example for that would be technology like cars. Due to industrialization and modernization, people tend to cause damage in the ozone layer, which can destroy our planet Earth. For instance, burning of fossil fuels, it emits carbon dioxide out which is one of the greenhouses that contributes to global warming.

<span style="color: #808000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 270%; text-align: center;">Reason
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are you always reasonable in your reasoning? What does that mean? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">People think that having reasons make you reasonable and it does not matter to them whether their reasons are untrue or improbable or it may not even be relevant to their conclusion. Some people think that something is reasonable when it makes sense to them. But there would be times that your reasons may not make any sense to other depending on what they think. In my own opinion, I don’t think we are always reasonable in our reasoning in the sense that we reason out based on our own perspective. If we only based our reasons in our understanding, it is not reasonable for everyone because people have different perspectives.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Nature of Reasoning **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What exactly is reasoning? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">It is the process that enables us to go beyond the information given. It refers to the use of reason and logic in the form of judgment, conclusions, and inferences. Reasoning as I understood means justifying beliefs and views in which you give true or probable evidence that is relevant which supports the conclusion.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What does the process of reasoning entail? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">There are different processes for reasoning depending on what method you will use. In inductive reasoning, you start off by observing something and then you end up making a generalization of what you have observed. In deductive reasoning, you start off with the general idea then you make an observation to confirm if your predictions are right.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Is there good and bad reasoning? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">There is a good reasoning and a bad reasoning. A good reasoning is when your arguments are true and valid. If the premises are true therefore the conclusion must also be true. A bad reasoning is when your arguments are untrue and not valid. If the premises are untrue therefore it creates formal and informal fallacy.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Is there a history of reasoning? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yes, I believe that there is a history of reasoning because if people who lived thousands of years ago didn’t know how to reason, they wouldn’t know what to believe and what should they do. I also think that if reasoning didn’t exist a long time ago, people nowadays wouldn’t have the knowledge to reason things out because we all know that we were always influenced by our ancestors.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Types of Reasoning **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What are inductive and deductive processes of reasoning? What is informal reasoning? http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Deductive Reasoning: Theory --> Hypothesis--> Observation--> Confirmation

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Deductive reasoning starts with a statement of a general rule and proceeds to a certain specific conclusion.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Inductive Reasoning: Observation --> Pattern --> Tentative Hypothesis --> Theory

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Induction is usually described as moving from the specific to the general, while deduction begins with the general and ends with the specific.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Informal reasoning:

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It addresses the probability of truth of premises and conclusions.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Is reasoning done to produce knowledge about something specific, or something in general? How is this done? Provide examples of each. **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Reasoning is done to produce knowledge about something specific or in general based on inductive and deductive reasoning. Reasoning helps us to conclude whether our predictions and general ideas are true or false.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Example of inductive reasoning:

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> When you saw a girl playing volleyball and you noticed that she’s really good at it, you would assume that she’s a varsity player in her school.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Example of deductive reasoning:

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> When you met a cheerleading choreographer and you assumed that he’s gay. After you saw him dance, you concluded that he’s not and you realized that your assumption was wrong because not all guys who choreograph cheer dance are gay.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What role does time play in judging the truth-value of your reasoning, whether inductive or deductive? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Time plays a big role in judging the truth-vale of our reasoning because as we get older, we stumble upon different experiences and consequences in life, which helps us to prove whether our reasoning is valid or not. When we were young, we were taught about the basic information that we need to know, so we assume that something is right and true. But as we grow older, our mind absorbs new knowledge that makes our generalizations more specific because we encounter more experiences.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> How do you know if you are doing it correctly or not? When is it valid or invalid? When is it true or false? Does it always lead to truth? Create syllogisms and let's see - visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllogism for examples. **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A=B <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">B=C <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A=C

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">T T T

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Flowers smell good <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Jasmine is a flower <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Jasmine flower smells good

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">T F T

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Little girls loves barbie <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Barbie dolls can talk <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Little girls can talk

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">T F F

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Turtles are slow <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My friend works slow <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My friend is a turtle

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">F F T

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">All Australians have blue eyes <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Kieran has blue eyes <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Kieran is Australian

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">F F F

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">People love McDonalds <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">McDonalds makes you fat <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">People are fat


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are all types of reasoning reliable? How do you know this? Check these fallacies: let's find examples in your life of when they occur - http://onegoodmove.org/fallacy/toc.htm **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Anonymous Authorities: **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In anonymous authorities, the authority is not named. According to the definition of authority, it is a person with extensive or specialized knowledge about a subject or in other words, an expert. In this case, anonymous authority is a type of appeal to authority because when an authority is unknown, it is not possible to verify that the authority is an expert.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Examples:

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Many people agree that climate change might be one of the greatest threats in facing the planet.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">They say that crime is increasing because the government does not give justice to people.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I know a student in university who really wants to be a successful in the future but according to him, Math and Economics won’t help her in her future.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I know a photographer who thinks that a real artist is someone who can express himself through his art without any difficulties in creating it.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Experts say that medical risks for oil-spill health issues will be mild, but many people just don't believe it.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Find an advertisement that is an example of the faulty logic on youtube. **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Link to the video: **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zT4m0MYjA **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Find and explain another example from your list of fallacies, and you know that you will be a better person because of it. **


 * <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Inductive Fallacies: **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Hasty generalization – It is when you make assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on an inadequate sample (usually because it is atypical or small to support the conclusion). Stereotypes about people are a common example of the principle underlying hasty generalization.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For example: Guys who wear a pink shirt are gays. In this example, we assume that a guy wearing pink is a gay. In this case, we cannot judge guys who wear pink and conclude that they are all gays because not all of them dislike it

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Another example of Hasty Generalization:

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">One of my friends who enrolled in dance class said that it was hard. I attended one of the sessions and I find it hard too. Therefore, all dance classes must be hard!

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Explanation: In this example, two experiences of people are not enough to finalize a conclusion.


 * <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Causal Fallacies: **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Post hoc – It is when you assume that if one thing follows another, the other thing was caused by it.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Form:

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· A occurs before B. <span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">· Therefore A is the cause of B.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In the first example, we assume that as the rooster crows, the sun suddenly comes out. This statement may be true but it is indeed not true if we say that the sun came out because the rooster crowed.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> In the second example, we assume that as you take a medicine pill, you feel better afterwards. This statement is usually true for everyone but sometimes two events that seem related in time aren’t really related as cause and event.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">﻿ **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Provide examples of how Induction and Deduction are used in your other courses or activities. Can you provide examples of where it might be problematic? That is, do you see any cases where induction, an event leads to a generalization, is correct or not correct? Are there cases where general rules applied to specific situations work or don't work? **

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Science – In Chemistry, we use deductive reasoning a lot when we do experiments in the sense that we start off by a generalization of the aim then we predict and take a guess on what will happen. As we do an experiment, we observe the changes that happen then the last thing that we do is to confirm if our hypothesis is right or not in order to finalize the conclusion.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Math – In Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus, we use deductive reasoning. We always begin with the basic formulas about the topic and end with a specific answer. For example, we know that two angles are complementary if it is adjacent and if it sums up to 90. We predict that if it is complement to each other, it will have a common vertex and it shares a side, but do not have any interior points in common. If we’re trying to figure out if our predictions are right, we observe if the other angle is possible to be the complement of another. After that, we confirm our predictions through solving it by using the given information that we know and we end up by having a specific answer.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">We have a method called mathematical induction, which is a way of proving that the first statement in the infinite sequence of statements is true, and then if we have proven that any of the statements in the infinite sequence is true, then so is the next one. It should not be misunderstood as a form of inductive reasoning because it a form of precise deductive reasoning.

<span style="color: #808000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">English – In English, we often use inductive reasoning when we’re reading through a novel. As we’re reading the book, we will find literary devices that the author uses to have a better understanding about the story and then we analyze all of it to figure out what the message of the novel is about.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Language as a Symbol **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Find three words whose meaning is best suited to individual understanding, one that is best suited to group understanding, and one that is best understood universally. Place this term on your line and write words associated with the term that helps show your understanding of it. As a challenge, place an F or an L next to your words to show if there meaning is literal, or figurative.


 * **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Individual ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Group ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Universal ** ||
 * [[image:463px-Symbol_thumbs_up.svg.png width="220" height="240"]] || [[image:20091030193605!Flag_of_the_Red_Cross.png width="250" height="194"]] || [[image:512px-Peace_symbol.svg.png width="220" height="214"]] ||

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Individual - okay (L), all right (L), affirmative (L) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Group - hitch hike (F) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Universal - thumb mark sign for voting (F)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Thumbs up **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Individual - bloody (L), red (F), <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Group - emergency (L) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Universal - bloody (L), health and safety (L), medical rescue (L)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Red Cross **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Individual - quiet (L), calm (L), ease (L), <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Group - peace of mind (L), <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">cooperation (F) , <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">unity (F), harmony (L) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Universal - serenity (L), cease-fire (L)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Peace **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Perception --> Language --> Emotion --> Reason
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">How would you rank the importance of language as a WOK? **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I personally think that Language plays a big role in the other ways of knowing because it is important for us to communicate what’s going on in our minds. I consider it very important as a way of knowing because it determines how we think and we use it as a tool to communicate our ideas, thoughts, and our own perceptions about things. We also use it to reason things out based on our observations. Through the use of language, we can show empathy through the emotions that we feel from another people. I think that the use of Language is to represent something but it depends on how people would understand and interpret something.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Is language inherently literal or is it figurative? **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Language can be literal and figurative depending on how people would interpret it. Sometimes people would misunderstand what you say and they would take it literally even if you don’t actually mean what they think. There are times that we are not serious about what we’re saying and people would just take it seriously. Confusion between literal and figurative may lead to misconceptions.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Literal is the way you see things are and describe exactly what it is. For example, when you say that Lester has black eyes, if you take it literally, it actually means that he has black eyes. Figurative is when you play with words by creating metaphor into it. For the previous example, when you take it figuratively, it means that someone punched his face but it doesn’t mean that he has a black eye.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**10 points:** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- It depends on the situation, whether a person is being serious or sarcastic <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Confusion between literal and figurative can lead to misconceptions <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Can be literal or figurative depending on how people would interpret it <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - People sometimes misunderstand what you say and take it literally <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - We use figurative to add humor <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - For figurative, we play with words <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Literal is the way you describe what it is <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Figurative is when you play with words by creating metaphors

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Examples: - When you spill a bag of beans <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - When you tell someone the full details of a story
 * Spill the beans

- Someone's eyes (iris) are black <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - A person was punched in the face and has a black eye
 * Black eye

- The sky is blue on a Monday <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> -A sad monday
 * Blue Monday

- A rabbit's foot <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Can also mean luck
 * Rabbit's foot

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Are your ideas on the topic T, F, or somewhere in between? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">What makes your answer so certain or uncertain? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">How is this important? What makes it important?


 * Is language individual, and personalized, or is it shared in a community? STARS**

- If you think about each word carefully, it is able to fit in to each category of meanings of words, which are Individual, Shared and Common. - For some words, there is a cultural meaning that comes up first before the individual meaning. For example, “Cinema” in Saudi, in this culture, it is considered wrong and so, for this reason, there are no cinemas in this country. - The inventing of words are individual at the beginning, but common when shared. For example, Shakespeare and Newspeak in 1984. Some of their words are in the dictionary and are used in everyday language. - Language is a strong aspect of WOK because it gives meaning to the words and how they are viewed differently. - Language has both advantage and disadvantage to globalization, for example, for example when people communicate, they have different views on how companies should be developed.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Do words represent images in our minds or some idea out there, or do they refer to real things? MOONS

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Most of the words can be imagined as pictures or ideas in most of people's minds, and then refer into real things.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Words that are about real things in life that we can touch, see, hear, taste or smell, are represented in our minds as images or pictures of the thing, though the pictures can be different, but they'll talk about one thing, as long as it's about one specific meaning of the word.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Most of the words that are imaginable refer to real things. eg.: when someone says there is a dog outside, then most of people will have the idea or the picture "Dog" in their minds, so this helps knowing the word and what does it refer to.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Words that are about feelings or things that are not touchable or visual are usually unimaginable as pictures, and even if they are, they may not refer to real things directly. eg.: the word "Life" doesn't refer for something real by saying it just like that, but it may make some individual mean or picture for some people.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Some people make images or ideas for different words, even if they're not real things, to help remember them or make them easier to understand, and that helps a lot building the brain and the memory, and helps making them stronger.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Usually, words have different images inside each one's mind, so they may have the same meaning or different meanings, depends of the way the person sees or understands the word. This is very similar to the Homonym, which means words that have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings. eg: the word "Heart", for some people it may be pictured as a human heart, others may imagine it as a love heart, and some may imagine it as the center of something.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Words that are universal sometimes have the same picture in our minds, so the whole word will have the same picture when they hear a word like that. eg.: the word "Nine" have a picture of the number nine for most of the people. Some words may have the same picture in specific situations. eg.: the word "Sun" will have the same picture of a sun, when talking about weather or a twilight or something.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Names that are unique, which means they're not similar to another word, are the words that have only one picture or very similar pictures in people minds, and this is for the situation when talking about a specific known person, and everyone knows that the topic is about him. eg.: "Ludacris" is a common words that will have the same picture for the same person in our mind, or similar pictures, which is the singer.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Words that are not imaginable are understood by experience and repetition, so people also may make picture which refer to the experiment or the action, and then relate it to the word, so this type also can refer to real things, but indirectly.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - From the previous point above, we notice that the two types of words, words which can be imagined, and words which cannot, can refer to real things for most of us, but the difference is how does it refer, directly or indirectly.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Does language change? How, when, and why? PINKIES <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">How: - Formal --> Slang (eg. teacher --> friends) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Translation (eg. from one language to another) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Interpretation of definition within words (eg. i love you to a friend or to a some one special) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Time (eg. Chinese & Egyptian symbols) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> When: - Migration (eg. depending on where you live and what century <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Why: - Easy (efficient) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Cool (Part of your identity <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Personal codes (eg. own language) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Changes according to stuff changing (possibly technology) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - Influence (eg. from the people around you)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Is there a difference between the written word and speaking or dialogue? Provide examples. SATURN
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Content makes a difference
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">You can incorporate emotions into words
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Words have different meanings (literal/figurative)
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The method of how words are expressed (Tone/Volume)
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Fonts reflect different styles (bold, italics, small, big)
 * 6) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Spelling and Capitalization - (Thanks vs. Thnx) (march vs. March)
 * 7) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Different cultures may have different meanings to specific words