Ways+of+Knowing

**Knowing by Way of Our Senses**

 * Sense || Times When my senses were reliable || Times when my senses where off ||
 * Visual || Able to read small hand writing. || When i had an eye infection and i couldn't see. ||
 * Olfactory ||  || When I smell something bad and i think its a good thing. ||
 * Touch || When I take something from the bag without looking. || Holding a strangers' hand thinking it was my mom. ||
 * Auditory ||  || Sometimes I hear the call to prayer and I think it is a song. ||
 * Taste || Able to recognize food without seeing it. || If i eat something after brushing my teeth I just taste the tooth paste. ||

**Biological Constitution**
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? Some notes for class that help break down this question #3 into five parts: Part 1. The constitution of a living organism. Part 2. How does this constitution determine, influence or limit perception? Part 3. Is the organism sensitive to a certain range of stimuli? Part 4. What are the consequences for knowledge acquisition based on the limitation of our acquisition ability? (limited range of stimuli, etc.. above) Part 5. Technology: How does it extend or modify (limit?) our senses - and therefore abilities? Comparing and Contrasting Abilities of different Creatures based on their types of sense perception

We can identify a living organism than a non-living organism by many things. The difference between humans and a cup for example, is that we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. We feel things while non-livings don’t. Most of humans can see things and objects clearly, except the ones who have bad sight. Humans can see colors and differentiate between others using their seeing senses, unlike dogs where they recognize people by their smell. But our sense is limited because we cant see very small things like what’s inside a cell or far things like what is in the universe. So it is limited and we rely on technology to help us zoom in inside a cell and zoom in outer space. The consequence of this is we have to use technology every time, which is not a very bad things but it would be better if we could zoom in without using anything. What

**Perception**
-Sound || -Walks around sniffing all the time. || -Sensitive to smell. -Sensitive to high pitches. || Seeing is poor, rely more on smell. || Limits the role of dog at MUN conference. ||
 * Animal/Plant || Sense || Determines Perception || Influences Perception || Limits Perception || Consequences ||
 * Dog || -Smell
 * People ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

We know the world by using our senses.
 * Perception **
 * What are the primary ways in which we know the world around us? **

These are well stated.
 * Are there stages to perception? **
 * Here are some recognized stages. Define them and find examples: **
 * -filtering: ** focusing on one thing and ignoring the others. E.g. listening to Mr. Klatt and ignoring the sound of the air condition or the clock ticking.
 * -halo and horn effect: ** seeing a negative thing and then realizing it was positive, or vice versa. E.g. trusting someone and telling him a secret then she/he turns out to be untrustworthy.
 * -organizing: ** arranging things orderly through perception. E.g. telling someone that the book is on the teacher’s table.
 * -stereotyping: ** e.g. hating someone because of his/her outfit.
 * -filling in information: ** adding more information into what we already have to make a conclusion by using our senses. E.g. I hear noise from next door, I assume that they don’t have a teacher.
 * -interpretation: ** explaining or analyzing something to have a clarified conclusion. E.g. a student got a bad mark in math test I suppose that he didn’t study hard enough.


 * Perceptual Illusions **

No my perception can be wrong sometimes. For example, when I look at someone from a far distance and I think it was someone I know. And then it turns to be a stranger. In this case my visual sense was not reliable.
 * Is your perception always accurate? Provide examples of when it is trustworthy, and when it might not be. **

No people’s perceptions are different. Some people see things in a different ways or aspects than others. For example, if I had an argue with a friend and then she started insulting me. I will be angry and upset from her, while another person may interpret it by assuming that she had a bad day and feel sorry for her. This doesn’t invalidate any of the perceptions; it just means that each person deals with the situation in his/her own way.
 * Are people’s perceptions the same? How do you know this? Does this invalidate your or another person’s experience? **

Misperceptions occur because people are not the same, they don’t have the same actions and thoughts towards certain situations. Different people understand and analyze things different than others. There are many factors that affect peoples' interpretations, like if a person have a flu s/he will not be able to recognize the taste of the food they eat or the smell of it. I believe the questions to answer here is why might people understand and analyze things differently? What factors (things in people's lives or world) affect their interpretations?
 * Why might misperceptions occur? **


 * Selectivity of Perception **

We usually validate our perceptions by comparing it to other people and see what is the most common one. For example, if I’m not sure of what the actress just said in the movie I can ask a friend to clarify it for me. People usually rely more heavily on some senses and ignore others due to the situation/thing. Some people rely on sight more than their other senses because they are more likely able to recognize things by looking at them, rather than tasting or hearing them. But this might be different to others due to what they are most comfortable with and works with them.
 * How do we validate our perceptions? Do we ignore some and rely more heavily on others? Why? **

Many features affect how people interpret perceptions like belief, religion, culture, morals, ethics, principles, emotions, logic, environment and many others. I think that most of the selectivity's are unconscious. Like If someone offered pork to a muslim person, they will be kind of disgust and refuse it because of what they believe in, that eating pork is haram. And this action is done unconsciously in their brains. While if we offered the same pork to a non muslim person they might take it and eat it without being disgust or something because they are used to it, they grew eating pork.
 * What things might affect how you interpret your perceptions? Is this selectivity conscious or unconscious? **

There are many reasons for why people perceive things differently. People are not the same, they are different in their opinions, principles and interactions to things.
 * Can you provide reasons why people perceive things differently? Explain **


 * Seeing and Believing **

We create ourselves "who we are" from perception. So our beliefs, thoughts, ideas, opinion, likes and dislikes build our personalities and identities.
 * What do you create from your perceptions? **

As I mentioned in my previous answer, there are many factors that can affect our perception. In my opinion, I think that culture, emotions, experience and religion have the most effect on people. If people are born and raised in different cultures then each person will have a different perspective about things, because each culture is different than the other in many ways. So that changes the way they see things in the world. Peoples’ emotions are different. There are some people who are super sensitive and some don’t care about anything, and that affect in how they look to things. Religion has a huge influence on most of people. There are many religions in the world and each one of them is dissimilar to the other. Which makes people have so many beliefs and faiths that change their point of view on things. Eventually these models and beliefs affect our perception.
 * In this case, one could ask, what belief or models affect our perception? **

Our memories have recorded the times, which we use in our senses. If we faced any situation where we need to use our senses, which is mostly all the time, our brain is able to identify what sense we have to use.
 * This leads to the question of if, or how are, the senses used in the different Areas of Knowing? **


 * Distinguishing Appearance from Reality **
 * How would you be able to confirm if your perceptions are representing what you are experiencing accurately? **
 * Reality **
 * 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 **
 * Perceptions and truth **

I will not be able to explain everything to the alien because its hard to do it and maybe he wouldn’t understand the way humans talk. Maybe they have a different way of communication. I would probably take pictures of the basic things in planet, like humans, nature, buildings…etc. I will show it to him and try explaining it using simple words or even hand gestures and signs. If he seems to gets all of this, and then I’ll start to go more in depth. Like explaining to him how people are different in how they have voices and opinions, how they have different personalities, different cultures, different religions, different morals and ethics. How each person see’s the world from his own point of view. I would explain to him that my description was true by letting him ask any other person in earth and s/he will till him nearly the same answer.
 * 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. **


 * Emotions **
 * Please don't cry.... **

Emotions are instinctive feelings caused by different events from the environment. They are unconsciously originated from the heart. We can see emotions as a cycle, we use perception to process brain >> heart>> perception. Instinctive feeling- chemicals and influence bye environment. Feeling caused by events. What we feel e.g. crying Feelings affected by background Spectrum of feelings within people Metaphor - reaction to emotion could come down and be a seed for another tree cycle Perceive first as we face + feel emotions
 * The nature of emotions **
 * What is the underlying nature of our emotions? **

When we feel an emotion we know we are feeling that way through our actions. Like if a person is happy s/he would smile all the time and look at things from the bright side, if a person is sad s/he would not smile, they will look at things from the dark side and they might start crying.
 * When you feel an emotion, how do you know you are feeling that way? Can you explain why you are having this emotion? **

Emotions are developed from what we perceive first then it goes to our brain and think of it and lastly it goes to our heart where emotions and feelings are created. We describe emotions through language most of the time without thinking of it. Like if a person is angry and he can’t control his anger he would be shouting and yelling. If a person is happy we can recognize it from his voice and the way he talks.
 * Describe the process by which you develop an emotion. In what ways do we describe emotions through language? **

Sometimes we can reason our emotions. For example if a person shot his brother by mistake while cleaning the gun. Then this person would be sad and blame him self for the rest of his life for killing his brother or he will just think of it as an accident and get over it after a while. But sometimes we can’t reason our emotions like sometimes we’re just happy with no reason.
 * Can you reason about emotions? **

The environment surrounding us can influence emotions. Like if the weather today is hot and sunny we would probably be kind of annoyed. If someone heard a bad news he would be sad or angry. If someone had a headache he would be tired and maybe sad.
 * What things influence your emotions? **

I think that controlling emotions is a good thing most of the time. Like if someone is angry and he can’t control his feeling he would start yelling and breaking things. But it can be bad, because maybe someone would keep his feeling inside of him and never let it out which will eventually cause him unpleasant consequences.
 * Are controlling emotions a good or a bad thing? Explain with examples. **

Emotions change as we get older because we become more mature and able to see and understand things differently. This happens due to what we had learned and experience through life, what are the important things to us, what we like and dislike.
 * How do emotions change, as you get older? Why does this happen? **

Yes, the place we grew in and the way we’ve been raised effect our opinions therefore it influences our emotions and feelings.
 * Are emotions influenced by culture? **

Emotions affect the way we understand something. A simple example is, if someone was sad and depressed and he heard a joke he wouldn’t find it funny. While if someone was happy and heard the same joke he would find it funny and laugh.
 * Emotions as obstacle **
 * Can emotions affect the way we understand something? **

Emotions can limit the reliability or even the validity of a knowledge claim.
 * Can emotions limit the reliability or even the validity of a knowledge claim? Provide examples. **

Emotional responses can be misunderstood by others, because not all people feel the same. People are different in their way of thinking, judgments, opinions and interpretations. We can get around that by explaining our emotional response to others.
 * Can emotional responses be misunderstood by others? How do you get around that? **


 * Emotions as source **
 * Can emotions be an important aspect of creating knowledge? Provide examples. **

“ Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions.”
 * What is emotional intelligence? **
 * “ **** Emotional intelligence ** (**EI**) describes the [|ability], capacity, [|skill] or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.”


 * Is there such a thing as Intuition? Would you rely on it as a reliable way of knowing? Provide examples. **

Positive emotions: happy, excitement, joy, love … Negative emotions: sad, depressed, anger, horror, hate …
 * Can you classify emotions? What categories could you create? **


 * What role does emotion play in some of the different areas of knowledge? **

=
**What are inductive and deductive processes of reasoning? What is informal reasoning?** **http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php** =====

Deductive reasoning is going from a general idea to a specific experience.
Theory => Hypothesis => Observation => Confirmation

== **Is reasoning done to produce knowledge about something specific, or something in general? How is this done? Provide examples of each.** == ==Reasoning is done to produce knowledge about something specific and general. Inductive reasoning allows us to produce knowledge that is general from a short experience, for example if I walk into Meghan in the hallway when I see her, and Abdullah walks into Meghan in the hallway when he sees her, and Mohammed walks into her in the hallway when he sees her, then Meghan will assume that everyone who sees her in the hallway will walk into her. Deductive reasoning allow us to produce knowledge that is specific from a generalization, for example if we assume that Meghan, Mohammed, Abdullah and I are best friends and we play on the same sports team, from that we assume that all best friends play on the same sports team together, then Meghan and I walk away when we see that Abdullah and Mohammed play on the soccer team together, which means that the assumption was wrong, not all best friends play on the same sports team. ==

==**What role does time play in judging the truth value of your reasoning, whether inductive or deductive?** == Time plays a big role in judging the truth value for reasoning. I think that older people usually use inductive reasoning because they have a general idea on how things works in life due to their wide range of experiences they got through as they got older in age. While younger people usually use deductive reasoning because they 'think' that they have enough knowledge to build their judgement on.

Be prepared to share what you learned about informal logic from your logical fallacy and provide examples.
**Irrelevant Conclusion (ignoratio elenchi)** Finally, the fallacy of the [|irrelevant conclusion] tries to establish the truth of a proposition by offering an argument that actually provides support for an entirely different conclusion. All children should have ample attention from their parents. Parents who work full-time cannot give ample attention to their children. Therefore, mothers should not work full-time. Here the premises might support some conclusion about working parents generally, but do not secure the truth of a conclusion focused on women alone and not on men. Although clearly fallacious, this procedure may succeed in distracting its audience from the point that is really at issue. []

[|**Irrelevant Conclusion**] [|Irrelevant Conclusion]: diverts attention away from a fact in dispute rather than address it directly. Example Argument: Billy believes that war is justifiable, therefore it must be justifiable. Problem: Billy can be wrong. (In particular this is an [|appeal to authority].) Source A says that p is true. Source A is authoritative. Therefore, p is true. Special cases: purely personal considerations ([|argumentum ad hominem]), popular sentiment ([|argumentum ad populum]—appeal to the majority; [|appeal to loyalty].), fear ([|argumentum ad baculum]), conventional propriety ([|argumentum ad verecundiam]—appeal to authority) to arouse pity for getting one's conclusion accepted ([|argumentum ad misericordiam]) proving the proposition under dispute without any certain proof ([|argumentum ad ignorantiam]) assuming a perceived defect in the origin of a claim discredits the claim itself ([|genetic fallacy]) Also called Ignoratio Elenchi, a "[|red herring]" []

=== 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? === **Language as a Symbol**
 * Math || We use deduction in math to prove a statement or formula. For example if we try to prove the area of a circle, we use the formula to find the area and try it with several other circles to prove that the formula is right. ||
 * Chemistry || We use deduction in chemistry to prove if a statement is true or not or to prove a theory. ||
 * English and Arabic || We use deduction in English when we read novels, and we find literary features and analyze it to prove and see what was the writers’ purpose of using them. ||

**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.**


 * ** Individual ** || ** Group ** || ** Universal ** ||
 * **Meesho** || **Loving life** || **Sun** ||
 * Jonas brothers || Stalking || Heat ||
 * girlfriend || Fishing - Klien || Warmth ||

**Is language inherently literal or is it figurative? TREES** -It depends on the situation, whether a person is being serious or sarcastic -Confusion between literal and figurative can lead to misconceptions -Can be literal or figurative depending on how people would interpret it -People sometimes misunderstand what you say and take it literally -We use figurative to add humor -For figurative, we play with words -Literal is the way you describe what it is -Figurative is when you play with words by creating metaphors -Examples: *Spill the beans -When you spill a bag of beans -When you tell someone the full details of a story *Black eye -Someone's eyes (iris) are black -A person was punched in the face and has a black eye *Blue Monday -The sky is blue on a Monday -A sad monday *Rabbit's foot -A rabbit's foot -Can also mean luck

**Do words represent images in our minds or some idea out there, or do they refer to real things? MOONS** - Most of the words can be imagined as pictures or ideas in most of people's minds, and then refer into real things.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

**Is language be personal/individual or is it part of a shared 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.
 * [[image:tok-2012-rami:Screen_shot_2010-12-03_at_6.55.35_PM.png caption="Screen_shot_2010-12-03_at_6.55.35_PM.png"]] ||
 * Screen_shot_2010-12-03_at_6.55.35_PM.png ||

Our topic involves to be in between true and false. The main reason for those because we look at different subject words, like the ones in the venn diagram above and we noticed that if thought carefully we could fit each word into both individual and universal. For example, History, it is individual when written and read by others to think about, however universal when different opinions to what really happened in the past are interpreted. Another example is music, each song is interpreted differently however it is universal when generes are placed over them, like pop, electronic, classical, rock etc.. It is however not always certain, for example time is probably very universal cause no one can stop time from happening. It is important to understand this concept of words having both individual and universal meanings because without the understanding hasty generalizations can form. For example, an easy one can be taste, when you see one person disgusted from food people immediately say that you don't want to eat it cause ut tastes bad however they should try cause everyone is different when it comes to what they like and don't like.

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

**Does language change? How, when, and why? PINKIES** How: - Formal --> Slang (eg. teacher --> friends) - Translation (eg. from one language to another) - Interpretation of definition within words (eg. i love you to a friend or to a some one special) - Time (eg. Chinese & Egyptian symbols) When: - Migration (eg. depending on where you live and what century Why: - Easy (efficient)  - Cool (Part of your identity - Personal codes (eg. own language) - Changes according to stuff changing (poss

**I** **s language play? In what ways? Provide examples. PLUS SUNS** -Language is the way we convey our perception, emotion and reason (P.E.R) to other people. -Individuals have their own language P.E.R. -“Hang on”, someone could wait or jump on you. -“I’m going to kill you!!”, the person saying it is either angry or a serial killer. -All words can be used as play or plain communication. -There is a difference between written and spoken. -Verbal language tends to be more playful while sign language is usually used as plain communication.