by Jordan, on May 7th, 2012
The concept of allegory of the cave really intrigued me, it made me question objects around me, whether they are actually real or are they just a figment of my imagination. This reminded me of the movie ‘The Island’ , replicas of real human beings were being kept in an underground world, which no one knows exist, however it seemed to the artificial humans that they are living in the real world and everything around them is real. I mean does it matter whether the things around are us are real or fake? Does it really affect the way we live? Even if it was fake, what are we suppose to do?
The common question about whether the reality we live in is real is becoming redundant. If we are being honest, we survive day to day in this reality we are living in, even if we do realize it isn’t real, so what? Enjoy life the way it is, just because you question the nature of reality, it does not mean you should treat life with a different attitude. This brings up the real question we should all be thinking about, is theory of knowledge actually healthy to our way of living, are we meant to over think what might not even exist, what is the purpose of digging deeper and deeper into an empty hole? What if the prisoners in the cave were happy to live their life in the cave, without knowing that they are only seeing what the person behind is showing them.
The also reminds me of the movie Inception, the protagonist lived in the dream world for a long time, long enough to make him question whether the dream is actually the true reality. To the protagonist, the dream world and reality were exactly the same, he needed a special totem to help him differentiate between the two. The point is that, there might not be such a thing as the REAL world, it is about your views and opinions to decide whether or not you will accept the world you see.
Life is already hard as it is, why do we want to make it more complicated?
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by Callam Molloy, on May 7th, 2012
Allegory of the cave:
I found this really interesting and it made me questions whats “real” and whats not. The dictionary definition of “real” is something to be actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed. However the question we get from this is how do we know if something actually exists? If all our lives we have been stuck in a world where they teach us that the colour orange is in fact black we will come to believe and think of the colour orange as black. However does that still make it “real”? because for us it is “actually existing” and “occurring”.
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by Jun, on May 7th, 2012
Frankly, I think we shouldn’t think about fake things. Well, Anita gave us an example, “a table is a table but it’s a fake copy of the real thing”. I mean if there is only one real thing exist in the world. What are we? Are we fake copy of ”real human”? Hmm….WOW! I am pretty sure i am not a copy of some person because I am a unique person ^_^ Well anyway I think math is just way of showing the nature. It is just another concept of nature with some monster-looking equations, graphs, symbols, etc. one apple + one apple is two apple is just another way of saying O + O is OO. They just made an announcement that says If you have O it’s one. If you have OO it’s two, and so on. Erm…it’s just what i think. And, let’s go to the cave situation. From what i said earlier, you would know what i will say. No one’s in the cave! No one’s at outside! No one is limited to have only one concept of the world, but instead, we are too used to one side of the world and not be able to see other sides of the world.
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by Brandon, on May 7th, 2012
What I think Maths is
I think maths is both a discovery and an invention. First mathematicians have to discover something (a part of nature perhaps) before inventing a rule that involve numerical values to try and express their discovery. I see maths as a set of rules that are used to describe events and objects. Mathematicians use maths as a language in order to try and limit their discovery; put sets of rules/restrictions/bindings on it so that they can understand their discovery. It is used to turn an incomprehensible idea/discovery on a major scale, to something that our more logic based minds can understand. Basically, to me maths is a language used to make rules and limitations. It is my belief that if we didn’t have maths or a similar system then the world would be chaos. The reason we have maths is to create an illusion of certainty or even a universal language. It is hard to imagine a world without certainty, there would be no age, width, length height etc. Many architectural wonders wouldn’t exist, we as a species probably wouldn’t have survived this long without maths. It has forced our co-operation and co-existence thus allowing us to survive in the world.
Allegory of the cave
I found this situation most amusing. It made me wonder about the world in general. To the prisoner that escaped the cave to the outer world, to him the place seemed mystical a place of wonder and trueness; the actual living world. However to the prisoners the cave was their world; to them the cave was where they lived their entire lives, it was their entire world. They knew of no other world but the cave, thus to them the escaped man was a raving insane idiotic lunatic…it was no wonder they killed him. Anyway my point is there is no evidence suggesting that the world that the escaped prisoner discovered was the REAL world. Perhaps like the cave it seemed like the real world to him and the people who lived there, but for all they know they could be living in a larger cave, there could be a much larger world out there, and maybe even a bigger one after that. Thus brings us to the thought ‘Is the reality we live in real?’ or are we just like the people living in the cave?
The leprechaun dilema
Honestly the puzzle completely blew my mind. I’m still not sure how it’s possible. I suspect it has something to do with spacial awareness and the shifting of the leprechauns changing height. Other that that, I still don’t get it…completely blows my mind
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by Albert, on May 7th, 2012
In last TOK class, we discussed if math was discovered or invented. Personally, I think math is rather invented than it is discovered. Math so far is magnificent method to explain and describe nature and explain things happening. However it is not that we discover what is already out there, math is completely artificial thing, which started from human’s basic ability to think. Math is not there to discover, but our universe is here, all humans are trying is to explain these beautifully by math. As brandon mentioned in the class, math is like a language, it is used to describe our universe. With math, we formed a deeper and sophisticated understanding of nature and we were able to apply it into different areas.
In this sense, math is an abstract concept that does not really exist, however it is there to visualize concepts that are too difficult for our brains to understand. As Mrs.Connah mentioned in class, math is all about its axioms. It is like a tool to define conclusions according to different inputs. Conclusions may vary with different axioms however the axiom has to be definite. In math, it is often logical arguments that a statement is proved/disproved by another logic. However, to prove that a statement is true, it needs other ‘proved’ logics to explain. So it all comes down to these laws and theorem, which are regarded as the absolute truth. If we go even further down, what is left? What makes these laws and theorem the absolute truth? It is the definition- Axioms.
If we are to argue different statements without any definition in the background, it will be pointless, as if they are communicating with different languages while they don’t understand them. This is the need of axiom in math. There has to be premises which CANT be refuted. For example (as Euclidean Geometry defines) : points are simplest form of geometry which don’t have volume,area, width, if these are gathered its called line, it has length but no width, when its gathered it is called side (which has area) and so on. These are the definitions, and these can’t be refuted. Many people confuse this concept that math is very similar to language. For example, If you are talking Euclidean Geometry, it is pretty stupid to say right angle is 90 degrees, because it is defined as it is. This is same thing as saying apple does not indicate fruit that is red. Just like how you can refute an argument that says apple is blue, however you can’t try to disprove that apple is apple (what it indicates) , you can disprove arguments that are made with axioms but you can’t disprove axioms itself. So basically you are pretty stupid to say 1+1 in decimal number does not equal to 2. That is just saying happy should not indicate when people are feeling pleasure or contentment!! Yeah. What a dumb. Though, 1+1 can vary with different axioms depending on which math you are talking.
Imagine these axioms are not absolute, then you would be saying 1+1 = 4 and no one can disprove it.. Math is originally designed to bring up a solid conclusion to one input, answers according to certain input should never be varying with different people. (and thats why we fail at exams..) Book such as Euclidean Geometry through its long long pages define all the axioms that are needed, and there they are, you can’t stand up and say no to that. As I mentioned above, math is an abstract concept, yes they are non-existing but they are to help us with visualize things.
Can you imagine an object that does not have a width, no volume, no length yet existing? If you can, you are already very familiar with mathematical thinking, logically, it does not make sense at all but it exists in math. They call it “point” , if you try to imagine it with a little dot that you make with your pen on the paper, it is not the case because that thing you created still have volume and width and legnth and all that. Even if you want to disagree, it is just true that we are now too familiar with mathematical logics. (not necessarily that we are good at it). because you can’t ever find such thing as line and point that maths say and yet we can still imagine them. This is basically what maths do for us, visualize things that we can’t really imagine. Personally, I think this is the reason why math is extremely difficult for when we were younger, because these things they are saying is absolutely non-sensual things that we could never understand. (although some might argue math is still hard…:))
To sum up, math is defined language just like how we normally speak English. These are non-existing concepts that help us to visualize things that we can’t really imagine. To do this, different axioms that can’t be refuted has to be defined, otherwise it will be disastrous. In this sense, math is ‘invented’ rather than ‘discovered’.
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by David, on May 6th, 2012
Mathematicians should (in my opinion) be considered discoverers because maths is an expression of nature. What they discover already exists in nature (else it has no purpose). The Pythagoras Cult were largely crazy people (that thought it was bad luck to pee towards the sun) and besides Numerology, they made few other notable contributions to modern society except the Pythagorean Theory.Also, the language used in teaching portrays accurately how it is. A circle with diameter 1 has a circumference of pi. No one decided that a circle had Pi circumference. But then, since the circle’s circumference was found by measuring a circle in this world, what becomes of the Pi Constant?
As for the allegory of the cave, it is that the objects are losing a dimension. If you have a 4th dimensional object and put it in the third dimension, then the actual object is not an accurate representation. the same thing happens clearly when the shadow of a 3D object is cast. It all gets thin-sliced. you see the object and you can understand it, but only as it is manipulated on its axis. But then you come to the conclusion that everything is a 5th dimension being, the accepted dimensions being first a point, then a line, then a 3d object, then having time then possibilities. Then it would be true by current scientific thinking: There is no real representation in this world.
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by Jennifer, on May 5th, 2012
Among all the things we’ve discussed on Friday, this allegory particularly grabbed my attention. (It might be slightly out of focus, since we were concentrating on mathematics…  )
In the real world, since we know that shadow is caused by the presence of actual figure, there’d be no way to believe that it is the ‘real’ form. However, it was very new to consider the viewpoints of prisoners who’ve seen only shadows for their entire lives. Hence, to the escaped prisoner, everything that we perceive in normal everyday lives should be something beyond his or her imagination-just like us seeing 4D objects, by any chance. This made me think about the aspects of our world- especially ‘colors’. If we imagine our world to be the ‘Earth’, the prison ‘Space’ , the fire ‘Sun’, and all the laws of physics ‘chains’ around us, our views are very narrow and limited. What made me think about the ‘colors’ of our world is because it’s the best example of how human are deceived by the vision. To normal person, apples are red, bananas are yellow and grapes are purple. But it’s merely the result of those object’s abilities to absorb all the other colors except the color that’s reflected into our eyes. Also for color-blind people, they may perceive ‘red’ as green, and ‘blue’ as red. In the reality, nothing might have color; if the Sun’s light only had one frequency of light (ex: red), everything would look red to us (but of different darkness/lightness). We are actually ‘chained’ by what we perceive in our current world.
To sum up, the allegory really changed my previous perceptions about out world and led me to think that there might be the true ‘reality’ where we’re not restrained by what we perceive in static environment.
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by Averil, on May 5th, 2012
So basically from the last ToK lesson, I realised that math was real… and nothing else really was? Okay, the Plato story was quite interesting, and I found it quite enjoyable. But honestly, I dont really get the link between math and being outside the cave. Does this mean that everything else is inside the cave? Does this then mean that what’s inside the cave are just illusions of sorts? I think this seems a little presumptious.
Yes, I get that math is important to a certain extent. I used to think that math seems to be a certainty. Where if we went by normal conventions, 1+1=2. But I guess there’s nothing normal anymore. Anything can change. When things change, nothing’s quite the same and certain anymore. Why study if nothing’s certain. Imagine if we went into the examination thinking that the questions in the math paper were set based on a spherical space, but the teacher wrote the same questions based on a single flat plane basis. All our answers would be wrong but correct at the same time.
Sheesh, it’s all so confusing.
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by Jessica, on May 5th, 2012
Is math discovered or invented? In the past, I take math for granted and never thought of its origin. One side of the arguments says that math comes from the nature. It is all around us. An example would be the Fibonacci sequence, as plants seem to grow in a pattern that resembles the Fibonacci sequence. I wonder, If math is discovered, then who has emplaced them in the first place? Is there a thing such as a higher being?
Yet, the other side other arguments, is that math is invented; math is just like an “intellectual game”. It is possible that people invent rules to fit real life situations. Moreover, some of the math, like abstract math, can be beyond our tangible world. Since it is so intangible, how true could it be? Could it be that we are just modelling what we see and modelling the universe with math? Is it possible that we have just invented all the math? Is math made of a whole lot of theories?
However, something to be sure of is that it is a way for us to view the world. Yes, there are arguments that math can explain everything in the world. It is possible. But again, it is just one of the ways to perceive the world we live in. Angel has mentioned a story of the three blind men and an elephant in her post. If we only use math to explain the world, then aren’t we similar to the three blind men?
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by Anita, on May 5th, 2012
Okay, last class was totally confusing. I mean, a table is a table but it’s a fake copy of the real thing? Like, really, I didn’t really care about this topic that much. I mean, I can see how it could be interesting. But I just think that going into all of this is way too confusing. It’s time that these mathematicians can spend on better things.
Moving onto Plato. Say that this world is fake. It’s not the most beautiful that there is. Is there anything that we can do about it? Although I thought Plato’s cave story was pretty interesting, that is only because we saw it from a distance. If I was actually one of the people in the story, would’t I just act the same? I mean, we are acting the same right? No one believes things until they really experience it by themselves. And once we experience the better side, our old lives just look so different. We look at it from a whole different perspective. It’s like knowledge. Once you find out about something, is there any going back? You can’t really ‘forget’ it easily, and this knowledge could change the way you view the whole world! Wow, I sound really cool! I guess if you don’t think about this topic as maths, then it could be very interesting.
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by Angel, on May 5th, 2012
I think that mathematicians view the world in a different perspective than some other people in the sense that they can find ways to fit Nature (such a complicated concept) into summaries using numbers and graphs. In that way, artists and mathematicians are similar. They try to express nature in their own ways. The former by painting and other medians and the latter by graphs and numbers.
I think that mathematicians make rules for the things that they see but they can only see what our world shows them, they don’t see beyond that. This relates to the story about the 3 blind men and the elephant. So in that sense they are both discoverers and inventors. They discover elements of nature and invent formulas and other theories to capture that small section of Nature.
The “Allegory of the Cave” was interesting to learn about. I think its true that we see only shadows of things and only the things that the world shows us. In the cave, they saw what the person showed them and held towards the light. It’s similar to real life because we only see what the world shows us and what our world is like. (A little bit like the Brain in the Vat and the Truman show.)
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by Charles Goh, on May 4th, 2012
None of them vanished; the area used for all the 14 leprechauns in The Vainishing Leprechaun remains the same when the paper is swapped to form 15 leprechauns. However, notice that parts of the legs or body of some of the leprechauns in the arrangement of 14 leprechauns are not there anymore in the one for 15 leprechauns? For example, the first leprechaun on the left gets shorter when you rearrange it to Leprechauns the vanishing. All this area is used in creating the 15th leprechaun. This means that none of the 14 leprechauns vanished. One was created out of some areas from the other leprechauns.
Also, the allegory with the prisoners killing the one who escaped could be an example of the natural of mankind’s “unwillingness to change”, unless there is a need to. In the prisoner’s example, when the one who escaped could not recognise anything in the real world, he was forced to make sense of it and integrate it into his reasoning. Likewise, wars provided the ultimate incentive for major breakthroughs in technologies such as weapon systems and long range communications, all of which benefit us today. Furthermore, were it not for the Soviets, the space race would not have happened, and mankind would not have every set foot on the Moon. Now that there is not major source of competition, the incentive for discovery to show the scientific capability of USA is literally not existent, since there is no other nation to threaten their “throne” as the most scientifically and technologically advanced nation. The result? Now USA does not even have their own fleet of spacecraft that can fly, and have to rely on Russian rockets. Therefore we can conclude that unless there is a major incentive to change, man will not change.
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by Cassie, on May 4th, 2012
In TOK class when we discussed about the cave and mathematics being on the outside, but what if maths is on the inside and natural is on the outside. And when we go out of our cave of theories and formulas, we don’t like not knowing the unknown. So we make our theories fit the natural word, because apparently everything natural fits in a equation. Or is it the natural world fits the formulas.
What’s are your thoughts?
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by Cassie, on May 4th, 2012
Maths is one of those subjects that is essential subjects because we use it in every day life and is a must to know.
I agree with all of the answers for Q3 but there needs to be a extra which just sum all of them in one.
K) Everyone.
The reason for this is that everyone even if they did not attend school because from a young age we are taught it. The importance of it in every day life is that we do use even simple maths like counting down, for example counting down the traffic lights. Even though people don’t agree it’s importance they are not taking in account of everything else.
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by Brandon, on May 4th, 2012
In everyday life, we will never use any of the higher level maths that we learn in class; the only place where we might ever need these would be in our chosen jobs, which are math based jobs such as engineering. If we are not going in this direction for a career, then we wouldn’t require the higher Math at all; therefore, Math can be unimportant depending on the person. However, basic math is needed worldwide, in our modern society we need math to go through our daily lives; things such as addition, subtraction, percentage etc. to do basic stuff such as usage of money. I believe that maths has created order within our world and if we were lacking maths the world would be chaos. Most of the things we consider important in life such as transportation, housing, machines are all built using calculations
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by Jun, on May 4th, 2012
Well, most of us hates math and that is a fact. People say we should be happy! do whatever that makes you happy! However, why do people make us study math? We know that math is a horrible subject that makes us go crazy sometimes, maybe quite often ^_^. However, there is a reason why we still study math. The reason is what we have these days are all from math basically.
Mathematics is a vast subject with so many complicated contents. For example, differentiation, vector, algebra, etc. However, if we think about arithmetic, it is so crucial, and fundamental. Without + – * /, we can’t do anything. In the past, when humans were ignorant (primates), what if we say we didn’t know how to add, subtract, multiply, divide? Not just not knowing these words, but the whole concept. We would not have been able to develop anything, literally anything. If we didn’t have any development, we wouldn’t have XBox, PS3, PC, iPod, iPad, etc. For me, these technologies is my life, I can’t live without them. I can’t even imagine me without internet. Anyway, math is behind all the important development that has happened in the history. So, math is really really really important ^_^
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by Jordan, on May 3rd, 2012
We were all introduced to maths at a very young age. For example: i counted the number of lego i had when i was a child, used maths to calculate how many sweets i could buy at the store with the money i was given, how to split food equally with friends. However, is maths actually IMPORTANT to us?
As people have mentioned in the blog, maths is derived from our ability to carry out logical reasoning. Maths can be used to solve the daily mundane situation to industrial scale engineering problems. There is no doubt that maths is essential to us in the modern day society, but this is not saying that everyone is required to learn higher tier maths. I think everyone needs to know basic mathematics in our society today, the importance of mathematics increased significantly over the years because as countries become more developed, the labor force needs to be multi-skilled and in many industries, maths is required.
Personally, i hate maths, i hope maths never existed, maths shouldn’t be a mandatory subject. However, in our evolutionary society, maths is very important, sadly. The word IMPORTANT is different for each individual, everyone has different values in life, keeping in mind that basic maths should be taught to everyone, more advanced maths should only be taught to the individuals who are going to use it in the future. It is true that people who take higher maths might be better at solving problems and logical reasoning, but people who do not take advanced maths could be just as successful and better off without it as long as we all know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply. I can guarantee in 10 years, half of our class can even recall what binomial expansion is.
‘Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules. Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives’
It is very unfortunate for those of us who do not enjoy maths at all, we are restricted by our society to learn maths, it is vital to our education and our ticket to university. This doesn’t mean that maths will dictate who we will become in the future, how successful we will be in the future, it is merely a tool we can use at our advantage in our career. For those of us who aren’t naturally gifted in this area of knowledge, there isn’t much to worry about, depending on the path you choose to take in the future, maths could be completely useless and insignificant towards your life.
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by David, on May 3rd, 2012
I think maths may not always be too much fun, but it is really important. Maths can be used to express art, motion and nature.
I remember reading in my AS English a play called “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard (in 1990). In this play, there is a curious 19th century,14 year old girl who is pondering the Deterministic universe, but also maths as expression of everything. She asks if it is possible to express everything through maths, such as population of foxes and rabbits, and the shapes of flowers. It goes to show how mathematical shapes are everywhere in our lives.
Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian Philosopher said in his book “We” regarding these imaginary numbers, that “neither mathematics or death ever makes a mistake”. Therefore, the imaginary numbers must be a mistake as the fundemental concept of maths cannot make a mistake. This is of course a potential problem highlighted in our previous lesson.
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by August, on May 1st, 2012
Last Friday, we discussed Mathematics and its importance in life; this discussion was quite thought provoking in that it really made us question whether our study of Math would actually result in any help to our future. In everyday life, we will never use any of the higher level math techniques and concepts that we learn in class; the only place where we will every need these would be in our careers, and only if they are math based jobs. If we are not going in this direction for a career, then we wouldn’t require the Math we learn in class at all; therefore, Math can be unimportant depending on the person.
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by Callam Molloy, on May 1st, 2012
Math is important because it is the most widely used subject in the world. Every career uses some sort of math. More importantly, doing math helps the mind to reason and organized complicated situations or problems into clear, simple, and logical steps making life a whole lot easier! Thus, as students learn more math, their minds will eventually develop into logical entity that can resolve any difficult situations that they come across. The reality is that in a society such as ours, high paying jobs often demand someone who can take complicated situations and simplify it to the level that everyone can understand. Therefore, by knowing more math, students give themselves the competitive edge they will need to compete for these high paying jobs. In conclusion, yes math is extremely important in ones life and you are constantly using it to solve real life situations.
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by Anita, on May 1st, 2012
I do think math is important. I don’t really know how though. Okay, I use to always ask people what the point of learning math was. Most of the things you learn will not be used in the future. An answer that I got for my question was that math helps keeping your brain alive. Something like that. It trains your brain, makes you think… Someone also said that math helps develop the country, thus its more important. If there’s no math, science will not develop. Then, learning math is only for the country? -_- Or could it be because math is logical and helps develop this side of the brain?
Some people in class said that it’s because you don’t know what type of job you will have in the future, thus you have to learn it just in case. I agree with this, it’s important to be able to have choice for the future. However, then I thought, why is math so important? How about art, history or all the other subjects? Must everybody learn math just for those people who are aiming for architects or something? Isn’t that a good enough reason to learn every subject to the same degree then? Then why is it that Maths and English, for example, are core subjects, but not music?
Anyway, so as you can see, it’s very confusing.
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by Averil, on May 1st, 2012
Mathematics is a subject that involves calculations and numbers, and is a very basic logical subject that is taught to young kids early on. From a very young age, kids in kindergarten are taught some basic language and math skills. Language skills are taught to ensure that one is able to communicate clearly. What about math? Basic mathematics like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division enables a person to count, and is a basic life skill.
By the time we’re about 8/9, we’re basically able to calculate properly and deal with time, buying and selling things ect. So why do we learnt other more calculated math? Honestly, how does learning about simultaneous equations, matrices or algebra really aid our lives other than passing our math examinations? Math isn’t really about learning things that will enhance our lives in the most literal way. Learning math is a way to help us formulate logical thinking, thinking calmly and organising our thoughts. Learning math helps us to think logically. It isn’t really something to know, but a way of knowing.
So how important is math to us? Some people are good at math, and some people just can’t do math for nuts. Also, math isn’t a necessary skill for all/many career options. Other than actually being a high school math teacher, I probably will never be doing a job with all the math i’m learning now. However, math allows us to understand things that goes on around us and enhances our thinking skills. Math allows us to understand a lot of the things that go on in the world. The relationship between things e.g. gravity, speed and vehicles for example can all be mathematically. Most of the things are connected to each other through mathematical equations.
Math is absolutely essential in terms of making us see things in a different perspective. Learning can help one look at things clearly. Sometimes the more complicated a math question, the easier it actually is. Just like most things in life, the most complicated issues can be simplified and solved.
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by Jessica, on April 30th, 2012
There are many reasons for why we learn math. First reason is the most obvious one; we need learn math in order to pass our IB exams. For getting a good grade, we need to have a good level of math skills. This is definitely an important reason, however, it is not the only reason. Another reason for learning math is that it is used in so many different places. For instance in math is used in trading, math is used to build houses, math is used to program computers, and math is used to design airplanes. Math is used in a lot of different areas in life. By understanding math we can know that things don’t just work magically. Thus, we can better appreciate the things around us that involves math. A reason for why we should learn math is that hopefully we don’t get deceived by people that easily. For instance, in company, when you want to make sure that no money is embezzled you can use your math skills to find out.
Some people have raised the question of how important is math to us. I think it depends on what you want to become and what you want to. If you want to become an architects, an economists, a chemists, or a physicists, you surely need a certain level of math because these areas involve lots of different calculations. However, if you want to become a artist, a musician, or a general manager, probably don’t need as high level of math skills as the previous occupations. But before, we are able to decide what we want to become, it is probably good that we have a good level of math skills. This is because it can prepare us for a wider range of choices.
So even though that the math I am learning now can be very difficult sometimes, I don’t think it is a waste of time. I am not the kind of person that has a clear idea of what I would like to become in the future, so I think learning a good level of math can keep my options open. But for those who are quite determined that math is not going to matter in their future, then math is not essential.
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by Jennifer, on April 30th, 2012
In contemporary society, every student, up to high-school or even beyond, is required to learn basic mathematics. However, I’ve wondered whether mathematics that we know (especially complicated ones like matrices, differentiation and trigonometry) would really help us in the future. Assuming that we’ll have non-math or non-engineering careers such as artists and philosophers, we would only need simple mathematics to pay the bills, check the temperature of oven…etc.
People often regard Math as the very pure, logical form of knowledge which gives definite answers only. Math is also applied to wide range of fields such as music, art and science. However, I believe that people doesn’t necessarily have to ‘know’ mathematics to fully appreciate those fields. For example, the golden ratio is known as the most perfect and aesthetic proportion to human eyes. Structures like Notre-Dame de Paris and works like Vitruvian Man shows the application of mathematical ratio to arts and the beauty it creates. Nevertheless, this doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone who views those arts have to know about the golden ratio 1:1.618. Personally, I’ve seen various artworks and sculptures by Rodin, Picasso, Chagall and others. Rodin is famous for “The Thinker”, and he’s used life-size proportions to sculpt most of his works. However, when I was observing “The Thinker” I wasn’t aware of its proportions or other mathematical aspects of the sculpture. I’ve simply observed the surface, unique position of the subject and the ambience it creates. Similarly, not all the artists would consider proportions to complete their works. Painter Jackson Pollock is the best example, and he painted his canvas by directly splashing the paint, using sticks, walking on the canvas (footsteps) and various other ways. As shown by Jackson Pollock’s ‘action painting’, people don’t require mathematics to ‘know’ their field and to ‘appreciate’ the works related to the field.
Therefore, Math is not necessarily essential for our education and lives. Of course we should have basic mathematical abilities to adjust the society, but unless we’ll pursue career that involves high level of mathematics, learning higher level mathematics in school won’t be as essential as other areas that are related to the careers.
example of Jackson Pollock’s work: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/pollock.number-8.jpg
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by Albert, on April 28th, 2012
In last TOK class, we discussed about math. The discussion raised a question: if the mathematics is important to everyone in their life. I would say partly yes.
Mathematics originates from human’s ability of logical reasoning, math is a tool that is made to explain stuffs. This characteristic of mathematics is used for natural sciences by Interpreting a specific situations into defined axiom and drawing out a conclusion that explains situation. In industrial scale, which is more closely related everyday life things, mathematical laws and equations are used in thousands and thousands of ways – military, humanities, digital technology, economics, architectures, statistics, industries and etc.. It is easier to find where math is not used. This is practical importance of math, it is simply that we can’t be where we are without math.
However, if it comes down to very micro scale of individual’s life, math seems to be not important at all. That is true, in the sense that we do not need to know math in order to live. As I said we can never be where we are without math, however we can still live. It is true that the advanced math and complicated equations are used on computers, but all we have to know is how to turn on the computer, how to type and so on. It is true that complicated trigonometry and volumetric equations are used for houses we live in, but we can still live without knowing that complicated mathematics. As examples show, in micro scale, humans do not need to mathematics above certain level at all for living.
One way of interpreting importance of Mathematics in micro scale is seeing it as a great heritage of human kind, pure form of knowledge. It is our tradition to inherit it and develop it, because we don’t want to go back to the time where we had to live by hunting animals. Majority of people completely do not care and abandon it, however, some need to keep doing it. And with those who are working on math, human as a whole benefit. Also, it can also be explained as our nature. Second law of thermodynamics explains that the randomness of universe never decrease. In the sense that mathematics give variety of disorders to humans  , mathematics will always be developed but never diminishing.
Personally, I think mathematics is important because the world we live in is just too advanced. We use stuffs that are built with maths, and sure we can live without knowing the complicated math of it, but to what extent? Think about it carefully, how many times did we accept the idea related to scientific theory when we fully understand them? How many times have we agreed with the statement because that has a lot of fancy scientific reasoning that we can’t understand? You can live without knowing math, but it is going to be hard without it. You will be fooled by so much scientific stuffs just because you do not understand them. Mathematics is there for us to look at, so why not? Required mathematical knowledge level has increased now much more than it was 100 years ago and it will keep increasing. If you think you never had lost anything because of being fooled, you are simply wrong. You are still being fooled in every single aspect, starting from how much you’ve paid for the computer that you are using right now. The more you know, the less you will lose.
To sum up my idea, math is vital in everywhere, but not to individual’s life. There is one significance of math in individauls’ life that if you know more about it, the less you will lose. Hence, at least some people need to work on math, but not all of the people.
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by Angel, on April 27th, 2012
Math is one of the subjects that I have the most difficulty with in school. However, I understand the importance of it as a whole in general society and everyday living. We use math when purchasing or selling things, as well as seeing elements of it in nature. We learnt about the golden ratio in class and watched a video about how it can be found in almost everything. For example, the leaves, some vegetation, etc…. Even patterns of math can be found in random squiggly lines. So the importance of general knowledge math is quite easy for everyone to see.
However any deeper math knowledge may not be applicable or necessary for everyone. So after a certain amount of time I think that not everyone has to learn that higher level. What we do learn in maths, I think we should not just learn the theory but also how it can be found in our everyday lives and how it can be applied to our everyday skills.
In a sense, math brings balance to our society. With math we have a set language of numbers that everyone understands and is very easy to define. One is one and two is two. Everyone understands those numbers in the same way. So what I think is that we should all learn math to a certain extent and after that additional knowledge could just be a waste of time. That certain extent depends on the individual and level of education they are willing to go through.
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by Charles Goh, on April 27th, 2012
Is Mathematics important?
Most certainly. The accomplishments arising from concepts and formulas aimed at understanding quantity, structure, space and change are ubiquitous. To name a few examples, the house you are living in relies on architechtural designs, which require the application of mathematics (trigonometry, right angles, area, volume etc.) Even the computer that you are using to read my blog post, and type your own is the result of the application of mathematics. The binary system are based off of mathematical concepts. Without mathematics, we would not be able to do the calculations that put sattelites to orbit, calculate the optimal speed at which they should travel. In addition, August’s point on implicit and explicit mathematics proves that Mathematics is important to everyone, regardless of whether they are aware that they are applying maths to their lives or not. Furthermore, look at the economy. Figures in economics rely on mathematical reasoning and processing. For example, how would governments know how to tax citizens were it not for Mathematics? Also, how would urban planners be able to design infrastructure if there was no Mathematics. How would doctors know what the right concentration of medicine they should inject into the patient without killing him, were it not for Mathematics? Therefore, there is no doubt that Mathematics is extremely important, not only to the individual, but to civilisation as a whole.
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by John, on April 27th, 2012
Today in TOK we talked about math and how we can perceive it in different ways. To some people math can represent the purest form of knowledge, but to others it can be very subjective or seem irrelevant to real-life situations. I personally don’t like math. I see math as a mostly separate entity from the world we live in. I know some theoretical physicists would explain how mathematical equations can serve to define the universe we live in – but I don’t really care about it. Following the conversations about math in TOK today was hard because it seemed that, at times. everyone was talking about completely different things that they found difficult to explain with language. Math seems to be a kind of language in its own right, but I would rather just stick to more tangible ideas.
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by Brandon, on April 16th, 2012
Question: What is lost in the translation of language? Why?
There are some words in a language that are unique to the language can’t be translated into a different language, due to this the closest word to be used to translate it into a different language is used. Due to the words not having the exact same meaning the passage or even the entire message of the original text might be lost or distorted.
Then there are cultural nuances. Language of different cultures usually have deep roots from said culture sometimes the language is completely derived from the culture. Therefore if a text/message/speech etc. is translated, without studying the original culture the ‘deeper meaning/message’ of the text would not be received/acknowledged/understood.
Grammar is another factor, almost every language has its own unique grammar structure. Usually grammar is used to convey hidden messages or low attempts at humor, when translated the grammar of the text would be changed to fit the grammar structure of the translated language, due to this the audience misses an entire aspect of the original language.
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by Cassie, on April 16th, 2012
Many different types of knowledge can be gained from literature such as you can gain a wider range of vocabulary, this then improves your English all together. The reason for the gain in knowledge is that our brain starts to remember and recall similarities in the language what is used or the punctuation that has been used and where. Students are always told that if they read more then there own English ability will improve, to this I completely agree with the statement. Another knowledge what is gained is a deeper understanding of other people’s culture and your own, it does this by showing other peoples opinions on things such as there culture. I have personally learnt through literature about the Chinese culture from some of the books we have read in English class. It doesn’t just give us a deeper understanding but more of a personal opinion on this culture or the way they do things. The last one is that we know that other people share the same feelings about somethings or have had similar experiences, this can all be done through literature. I have known that people have not thought they were just the same as everyone else but different. But once reading literature they see that the things what they thought had seperated people has actually brought them together.
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by Charlie, on April 16th, 2012
I, like a lot of people, believe that story telling is the root of pretty much everything. The details we know about the history of the world, our familys, our personal history all comes from people telling us variations of stories, leaving us to group the information together and determine our own idea, making our own story to pass on to others. I agree that stroytelling is an important way of knowing, not only is it responsible for us passing on the knowledge we have, for further generations to learn from, it is responsible for us to understand the world we live in. Although when we are children, we are told fanciful tales of witches and elves and princesses, these do infact have some impact on the human being we’re brought up to be. They teach us to be aware of strangers, not to believe being beautiful is the only way to get somewhere in life (beauty and the beast). They teach us fundamental things to enable us to work our way through life.
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by Callam Molloy, on April 16th, 2012
In my opinion storytelling is a way of knowing things from the past through past down stories from generation to generation of families and cultures. However although it is a way of knowing, it isn’t the most reliable, since people are constantly bending the truth to make it sound more dramatic and interesting. Not only that, a lot of stories can tend to be false therefore is it counted as a way of knowing?
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by Callam Molloy, on April 16th, 2012
-cultures and beliefs
by reading religious books such as the bible and other biographies we get a better insight into different religions and cultures
-vocabulary expand
by reading books of literature it expands your vocabulary
-to know were not alone
if you suffer from a certain sickness or disability you can read biographies or stories about people that suffer from the same thing as you do and see how they become successful which will inspire you and push you forward since you know your not the only one.
-opposing views
if your reading a novel and you discover that a character has the same characteristics as you, and you see how other characters such as the writer thinks about that certain character you can get a better indication of what people may think of you
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by Jun, on April 16th, 2012
How can a literary work of fiction, which is by definition non-factual, convey knowledge?
I think knowledge is about how much aware of you are with realistically and empirically, and fiction helps you with the empirical part for us. There are few situation that we would never be able to face in our life. For example, meeting E.T, maybe climbing up Mt. Everest, space trip, etc. In fiction, characters in fiction acquire information, knowledge that we wouldn’t acquire easily or never. By reading writer’s description of new situations, we can get the hang of what these experiences are. Of course, these descriptions might be wrong, but still it gives us some ideas how it will feel like when we face the situation.
So fiction can convey knowledge ^_^
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by Albert, on April 16th, 2012
Q2.How can a literary work of fiction, which is by definition non-factual, convey knowledge?
The literary mean of fiction is a fake- non-existing story. The term sounds as if it is non -relevant to life at all . However, fiction actually provides a great source of experience. The fictions convey experience – which is an area of knowledge, and this is done by storytelling. People still feel excitement and empathize fictional characters even if the story itself is false. This is because the literary work of fiction provides us experience of things that we have never or we will never come across. In this sense, we can say that the literary work of fiction does convey knowledge. Whether that experience is good or not is another story, as it has to be interpreted by individuals.
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by Jessica, on April 15th, 2012
Q8. How important is the study of literature in individual/ethical development? In What Ways?
When I first came across this question, the word “fairytale” popped into my head. It is a usual thing to associate fairytales with individual/ethical development because we are often told how some fairytales demonstrate some of the morals of life. Yet, whether these morals are reasonable is another story. For instance, while Pinocchio can teach us to be honest, Snow White can teach female to be obedience to male.
Other types of literature, such as fables, folktales, can also contribute to our individual/ethical development. For example, The Ass in the Lion Skin, from Aesop’s fable, can teach us “Clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away”, or it can teaches us to be smart about disguising. Moreover, Journey to the West can teach us to be brave and courageous, or it can teach us that female is detrimental to ones success.
I think it is difficult to judge if literature has a positive or negative influence. But you can learn what the society expects of you, even if you don’t necessarily agree, since literature can reflect the explicit and implicit values in the society. In addition, understanding these values can us to develop ourselves in a way that fits in the society. Thus, I think literature can be important in individual/ethical development.
Work Cited:
http://aesopfables.com/aesop1.html
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by Jordan, on April 15th, 2012
Question 2:
How can a literary work of fiction, which is by definition non-factual, convey knowledge?
In class, our group discussed whether a literary work of fiction can convey knowledge. I think fiction, which is non-factual can convey knowledge. For example, fairy-tales are passed down by generations and they all contain morals, which teach children to do what is right and to not do what is wrong. Stories are one of the most important ways to knowing, although they are non-factual , they all cary a message or lesson from experience to teach us. However, some works of fiction tend to contain biased knowledge and inaccurate. In class, Mr MacKnight came up with a good example of a fictional story about murders and psychopaths. The readers can potentially gain knowledge in this area and become a psychopath or a murderer, so in a sense works of fiction can be classified as a way of conveying knowledge.
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by Anita, on April 15th, 2012
Question 8: How important is the study of literature in individual/ethical development? In what ways?
I think literature is quite important. Although it can have positive or negative affects, I think it teaches people many new things from different perspectives.
There are many things that cannot be taught in school, at home or through a friend, that can be learnt through reading literature. It is a journey that people take by themselves and an experience that only they can understand. Although the basic idea behind certain literature may be the same, people’s gain from it may be different. Everyone’s interpretation and interests of it may be different. Sometimes people don’t even find it interesting, in which why they don’t find it interesting may be interesting. I think literature can have a deeper meaning behind just the words that you look at, thus it makes people think, and that’s an important skill itself. It can also make people broaden their horizons~, teach them about many different situations that they may not have experienced. There could be very extreme situations in literature that people may not have thought of unless they read the work. So many questions are raised, and so many of them stay unanswered or solved in multiple ways, it’s fun!
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by August, on April 15th, 2012
Translation between languages is an interesting concept, as languages, fundamentally, are the same; however, only on this fundamental level. When we use different languages to convey our meanings, the building blocks that we use to piece together our thoughts are essentially congruent: blue is still blue in Chinese, and door is still door in German. However, then how can saying the same things in different languages create such a chasm between intentions?
Translation is analogous to, and perhaps should even be renamed, transmutation. In transmutation, the alchemists of the old attempted to change one substance into another; for example, lead into gold, stone into gold(, anything into gold.) Of course, they weren’t very successful; the best they could do was make the substance look like gold. However, the idea seems possible. We know now that, according to the atomic and quantum models, every substance is (supposedly) made up of strings arranged in different patterns; therefore, if we just rearrange these basic building blocks, then we could turn one element into a completely different one, right?
The same could be said for language: if we just rearrange the patterns of the fundamental pieces, then we should be able to transmute one language into another easily, right?
Sometimes, I wish this was true. If it was, then, according to the analogous relationship, transmutation would also be possible, and I would be able to change my homework into gold and get rich quick.  …… I wish.
As the alchemists of the old discovered back then, such a process was hardly successful. There was more to an element than just the blocks; it was more than just the sum of its parts. There are other factors there: maybe bonds, maybe shapes, maybe inter-atomic forces. Language is very much the same. In addition to the fundamental parts, there are other pieces that add to a language: maybe bonds between words, sentence shapes, and the inter-sentence forces. There are infinite number of possibilities that can affect substances; equally, there are infinite number of possibilities that can affect language, which are almost all lost in translation. True translation, like transmutation, is nearly impossible.
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by Averil, on April 15th, 2012
Qn 5. This question focuses on the author of the text and how the author’s background, thoughts and intentions affect the writing.
I always thought that it was very interesting how my impression of a novel or text and how I interpreted it changed after finding out more about the author and the person who wrote it. While I think that this isn’t always the case, the author’s state of mind often colours what his work. An author’s/artist’s background is also a deciding factor as to how they think and what they believe in. By understanding their background, the places they’ve been and their experiences, we as readers might be better able to understand the various aspects of the story and gain a better understanding of the characters through the author’s eyes.
It is possible that the work of art contains and conveys meanings which the author/artist is oblivious. The author/artist sometimes unconsiously writes about things that he originally did not intent, or uses words that conveys certain emotions and intentions.
However, all that said, while writing a piece of literature and producing pieces of art is one man’s job and his intentions are what creates the final product, the reader’s interpretation is also very important. Different people reading the same piece of literature, looking at the same piece of art may have different interpretations as well. Interpreting a work of art depends not only on the author, but also the viewer as well.
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by Jennifer, on April 14th, 2012
Q5) What knowledge of literature can be gained by focusing attention on the author? … Are an author’s intentions relevant to assessing the work? Can a work of art contain or convey meaning of which the artist is oblivious?
When people analyze works of art or literature, I always have a feeling that those works are overanalyzed, which goes further than the artist’s or writer’s intentions. For example, in the “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller, the writer couldn’t have possibly thought about the meanings of all the motifs and placed them deliberately into different parts of the play. For example, machines and cars signify the transient objects that represent the materialistic society, stocking represents the household and Willy’s guilt, and the woman represents Willy’s aspiration to become well-liked in society and family, and his self-dignity. But did Arthur Miller intend the audience to perceive all these meanings? I believe that whether he intended or not, his play successfully shows the theme of Materialism, American Dream, naturalistic ideals and distorted society which judges a person through his or her material wealth. Even though he was oblivious of the meanings of all the details in his play, by the audience who imbues significance into the details the play is made more meaningful and in a way conveys the playwright’s intention more strongly. Furthermore, the author’s background is also an important mean of understanding his or her work. Arthur Miller, for an instance, was an American essayist and playwright (1915~2005). By looking at the country and the period of time he’s been through, we can surmise that he was influenced by the ethos of American Dream, WW II, the Great Depression and many other social/political issues. Through Willy’s character, we can see that he is a salesman who gave up his naturalistic ideal to pursue the society’s ‘well-liked’ qualities and became confused about unclear future of his and his sons’ lives. This links to the American Dream and the Great Depression, and the audience can know that the playwright’s experience is implanted in the lives of his characters in the play. Hence, a work can contain meaning that the maker is oblivious of but can still delineate the maker’s intention well, and knowing the social and cultural background of the maker also helps to understand his or her works in depth.
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by Charles Goh, on April 13th, 2012
Q: How important is the study of literature in individual/ ethical development?
In terms of making individuals aware of the plethora of ideals and values different people have in the world, literature is crucial. For example, Confucian literature defined much of Chinese culture for many years in the past, and even today still has influence over the content in modern day literature. The values presented by Confucius are very well respected, despite the fact that they regarded the women of their time incapable of education. Therefore, the study of literature from different cultures and civilizations in history has opened the doors to a wide range of values that people have held in the past.
However, in terms of actually shaping the individual and making him/her *ehem* “moral”, literature itself does very little. It only provides the reader with the opportunity to embrace the wealth of new information, and accept that this was how a certain group of people thought. The natural reaction to any form of literature that does not “cross our value system filter” of our brain is to denounce the values of the authors, branding them as racist, sexist, selfish, cold etc. For example, if you read about how Confucianism valued men more than women scholars, you could say that he is sexist. Likewise, most people would, if they encountered a modern work of literature that stated “we can assign individuals values, based on his/her contribution to the society, therefore men/women are not all equal”, would probably have a fit on the floor (just as they would have on my post about Steve vs a million people in poverty). The truth is as humans, we don’t like to see opposing values, and when we do we try to destroy it. This is one example. If you look at the comments on my post about Steve vs Statistics, you will see that many people have denounced the view that Steve Jobs is more valuable than 1,000,000 poverty stricken people .
Therefore unless we take into account the reasons for the views taken in literature, we cannot claim that “literature has led to individual development, because now I see these people are cruel and their views are bad”. If we take Steve Jobs as an example, the reason for the view would be: his contributions to our society greatly surpasses that of the contributions of 1 million poverty stricken people, therefore he is more valuable than all of them added together. This is a perfectly valid reason is it not (again up to the individual to decide)? Many might say that “It is immoral to think that people have different values, for all men and women must be equal”. Great, so? This work of literature opposes your view, and has a valid reason, so its “morals” are no less credible than yours. It is unfortunate that this is not the case, for what is moral and what is not is determined by popular views.
On the other hand, we could argue that literature reveals more value systems to the reader. This allows him/her to evaluate the value system, and “assimilate” them if it fits in well with the society the reader is living in. This can be considered as individual development.
Whether or not literature leads to individual and ethical development can be debated “till the universe ends”. I have answered the question by taking a “neutral position” (or so I think). I would say that one must answer these questions impersonally (… Then again people will disagree).
Note that the Steve jobs example may not be a work of literature, but I took it as if someone wrote a book about the value of people, and used him as an example.
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by David, on April 13th, 2012
2. How can a literary work of fiction, which is by definition non-factual, convey knowledge?
A work of literature are sometimes perceived to convey knowledge. Usually this is as allegory (one story with two interpreted meanings). Tolkien said “I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.” In Albert Camus’s The Plague, this was supposed to be something about the spread of Nazi Germany during WWII. In the case of George Orwell’s 1984, it is the repressive nature of Bolshevik Russia. I have read both books. I did not understand The Plague, but I did understand 1984. The reason I did not understand The Plague is that the story was probably dependent on some sort of military history in North Africa. The reason I understood 1984 is because I have studied Stalinist Russia. In fact, while recently reading up on Glavlit, the Soviet censorship body, I was amazed at how well Orwell portrays the facts.
This is all to say: The knowledge helps me to understand the books. The books do not help me understand the knowledge. Hence why The Plague bored me to bits and 1984 was really interesting. Also, Orwell portrays facts — he doesn’t convey them. He did not lead me to understand the nature of censorship or The Purges in Russia – knowledge of The Purges and censorship helped me to understand Orwell. But this Allegory stuff is where they do not portray knowledge.
Yet on the other hand, these stories can convey knowledge by their tone, who wrote them, and why. Take Rowling, she writes to entertain and for money. Orwell wrote to spread his ideas. Still ignoring his non-fiction works, 1984 and Animal Farm can be used to gauge his mood, as a socialist towards Soviet Russia. It can be used to show how he felt as a socialist and humanitarian. Rowling on the other hand, though some (including myself) contend that Harry Potter is some allegory of the interwar period and WWII, does not help us understand opinion towards the interwar period: This is of course because her allegory is not as foremostly important as Orwell’s, but also because there is nothing new to be known about western opinion on Hitler and Nazi Germany.
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by Angel, on April 13th, 2012
The question our group answered in class today was question 5. We came up with some points for discussion.
• Creative process is important
• In the author’s subconscious, he or she could add certain parts of their emotions and thoughts into their work.
• It also depends on the readers to interpret it in different ways as well.
• So by looking at the background of the author, we see through the eyes of the author what they meant and what they wanted to show us.
• Overcomplicates things and we see things that the author doesn’t intend.
• Look at the general picture and what the author was going through at the time instead of making up stuff on our own.
• The author could potentially influence his readers without being direct about it.
We also brought up the example of poetry. Some poems can be easily confused or interpreted as a love poem but is in fact about something else entirely. This entirely depends on the readers and their past experiences that affects how they read a work of literature.
I think that works can’t be translated because the connotations and slang of a word cannot be translated and the atmosphere that the author is trying to create is lost.
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by Anita, on April 13th, 2012
I agree with Cassie that storytelling is the root of everything. People are born with stories read to them, told to them. I just don’t get how it could be part of these other ‘ways of knowing’. Well, I do agree that it is a way of knowing. But I think telling stories is involved in almost anything, so it could be part of all the other ways of knowing. As when you learn history, you learn it through people telling you stories, listening to stories in a movie or reading them in a book. When you are told by authority, aren’t you told by them telling you a story most of the time? Sense and perception, you feel something or sense something and relate it to a story that happened before so you know what to feel or expect. I think storytelling is a subunit of all these other ways of knowing is like a method that it happens, not a new way of ‘knowing’ itself.
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"The arts, ideas, natural beauty, and good conversation provide lasting pleasure."
"The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it."
—Werner Vogels
Your Daily Chinese Character
Comments . . . . . . are open only to students of the class, but if you are a non-student and would like to comment you can email Mr. MacKnight at ericmacknight AT mac DOT com.
Is TOK a Philosophy Course? YES, in the sense that the name of the course itself is in any dictionary effectively synonymous with "epistemology."
NO, in the sense that IB-specific ToK has many philosophical elements, but is not just philosophy. ToK is at root an interdiscipinary course that allows students to become aware of how the six subject-groups on the corners on the Diploma hexagon overlap and integrate. The interdisciplinary aspect is the crucial thing . . . .
—Bruce Bartlett
Le Collège français
Toronto, Canada
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"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking."
—Steven Wright
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Webs & Chains Natura in reticulum sua genera connexit,
non in catenam: homines non possunt nisi
catenam sequi, cum non plura simul
possint sermone exponere.
Nature knits up her kinds in a network, not
in a chain; but men can follow only by
chains because their language can’t handle
several things at once.
—Albrecht von Haller (tr. Howard Nemerov)
[Epigraph to Nemerov's poem, "The Dependencies"]
About This Blog Until June 2011, this TOK blog was managed solely by Eric MacKnight. Beginning in the fall of 2011, its name changed to "DCSZ TOK Class Blog", and since then it has been used by all TOK students at Dulwich College Suzhou. The lead teacher is Julie Connah, assisted by Alan Connah and Eric MacKnight. Content posted before August 2011 was written by Eric MacKnight and his students at Suzhou Singapore International School.
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