Eyeth or Earth

a) What is the primary argument of the students representing Deaf Culture?

The primary argument that the students representing Deaf Culture is that deafness should not be looked apon as a dissability, but just as a minority. They want it to be viewed the same way that differnt types of races are viewed, and not looked upon as an imparment but just a different group of people. "Much progress has been made toward seeing people with disabilities as whole individuals, toward focusing on what they can do, not on what they can't . But it's a leap from this understanding to the bizarre idea that the lack of hearing is no more a disability than being female or black."

b) Why would the Deaf Culture students value a President of Gallaudet who spends more time in Eyeth over Earth? Shouldn't a President of a college represent all students?

The students would value a president of gallaudent who spends more time in Eyeth over Earth becuase they think that that person is not 'deaf enough'. They feel this way becuase if a person is able to lip read and speak then they are trying to become one of the hearing, and almost promoting the idea that being deaf is a disablilty that needs to be overcome. People of the Deaf Culture could look at lip reading and speaking as exactly what they are trying to prove against, that being deaf is not a diablity but just a diffence between people. A president of a college should represent all students but i feel as if the Deaf Culture feels that by trying to represent all students this President is insulting Deaf Culture.

c) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Deaf person spending too much time in either Eyeth or Earth?

The advantages of spending to much time in one is the ability to communicate and accept the people of which ever you find your self in. For example the people of the Deaf Culture strongly belive that they do not have any type of diablilty but are infact just different from the norm. They are able to grow together and connect with this belife. A disadvantage would be that by spending so much time with one, you in turn isolate yourself from major communication with the other. For example the Deaf Culture seems to be strongly against lip reading and deaf people speaking. However this belife and practice of not using it can impede thier ability to communicate with those who can hear.

d) What is your opinion of the fight at Galludet? Should Jane K. Fernandes be President of Gallaudet?

I personally think  that Fernandes should be President of Gallaudet because then deaf students who are not apart of the Deaf Culture are equally as important in the presidents eyes. I feel that if the preseident were to be someone that was strongly for Deaf Culture, as the rebellions wish for, then those deaf people who are for things like lip reading, speaking, and hearing aids, may not have as great as a chance of succeding or mabey even attending the university.

Able chapter 7

1. How do Mill and Frege disagree with Russell about grammatical sentences and meaning?

Russell disagrees with Mill and Frege because Mill and Frege believe that meanings of sentences should only depend on what the sentence actually says, or the meaning of words that actually make it up. Russell disagrees with this by showing that there may be grammatical sentences, which can be rendered as meaningful even though they may not appear to have meaning.

2. Abel provides 8 distinguishing features of meaning.  Please provide your own example for each.

1.      Indication- a red light means to stop

2.      Cause- what happens if I eat your apple?

3.      Effect- then I will take your lunch.

4.      Intention- I meant to take your sandwich

5.      Explanation- You shouldn’t do that because it makes me mad

6.      Purpose- I put water on the plants to keep them alive

7.      Implication- If the plants get water then they will live

8.      Significance- Is it important to do my TOK homework?  (of course it is!)

3. Why does Abel believe that science and metaphysics is involved in the discussion of linguistic meaning?

He believes that in order to be able to give meaning to something you must first be able to understand the world around you and whether what you are saying is actually logical or not.

4. Aristotle provided 10 categories that defined “the range of applicability of a term.”(p. 65).  Please provide your own example for each.

1.      Substance-Steph is a girl

2.      Quantity- She is 16 years old

3.      Quality- She is funny

4.      Relation- She is a Sturgis student

5.      Place- She is at my house

6.      Time- She is there at night time

7.      Action –She is typing

8.      Passion- She is trying to get her homework done

9.      Situation or position- She is sitting on a couch

10.  State or condition – She is very tired

5. How does Abel differentiate between Reference and Naming?

Reference is how the language itself affects the world. Naming is only the direct application of a word to a thing.

6. On page 66, Abel explains the historical significance of naming.  Can you think of any examples he left out?  Is there any contemporary example of which Abel would not be aware?

An historical significance with naming that was left out was during the holocaust how people that were put into concentration camps were not recognized by their name but by a number that was inscribed into their arm. A contemporary example could be how people would not say President Obama’s middle name because it was the same as a terrorist.

7. What is the main function of naming?  What doesn’t it do?

The main function of naming is to be able to have a way to establish what things are being talked about or presented in a conversation, however it can not describe the object, it is just merely a label.

 

8. What is the difference between sense and reference?

Sense is the description of an object, or a better understanding of what an object might be. Reference is simply just the name or the object itself, 

How does Abel differentiate between Connotation and Denotation?  What about Intension and Extension?

Abel differntiates between connotation and denotation by stating that connotation is description of whatever the word means while, denotation is the acutall object itself. For example the connotation of a umbrella is something that keeps you dry in the rain, while the denotation is the actuall object itself. Intension is the definition or "what you have in mind". While the extention is all of those objects in the world.
What does Abel mean when he says: “Though meanings require words, they are not identical to words.” (p. 68)?

Abel is trying to say that words are only a label for meaning itself, and that without words you can not acuratly describe meaning. However meaning has a much stronger purpose then the words themself.

  What is the connection between names and descriptions?  Do you agree with Abel that we use ‘linguistic symbols to organize experience” (p. 69)?

The connection between names and describing is that names can be used to describe something or someone. For example a person can be called Hitler, though thier name is not actually Hitler they are being described as a cruel and ruthless person. I do agree with Abel when he says we use "lingustic symbols to organize experiance." 

Why is referential opacity a problem?  Be sure to mention his specific examples.

Referential opacity is a problem because in certain contexts you can not subsitute one name for another even though they refer to the same thing. 

Ex: (only the first one is true.)

"Samuel Clemens adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" to conceal his idenity."

" Mark Twain adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" to conceal his idenity."

What is the problem of creating a “subsistent entity”? (p. 70)

The problem of creating a subsistent enity is that by refering to some object that you state does not exsist, you actually refer to it, creating somethign of which you are talking about.

Ex: "The Loch Ness Monster does not exsist", by saying this you are refering to somethng, making it exsist in a way.

How does Russell differentiate between “descriptive phrases and names” (p.70)?

Russell differentiates between descriptive phrases and names by identifying which has a denotation and which does not. Also he uses this example to show how proposition can differentiate between the two:

"Scott is the author of Waverley"

1. "At least one person wrote Waverley (i.e there is such a book)"
   
2. "At most one person wrote Waverley (ie. we may indicate someone as being the author)"
3. "There is nobody who both wrote Waverley and is not identical with Scott (ie, Scott is the only one who wrote Waverely)"

What is the connection between language and Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description?

In order to name something you must now what you are naming, you must have some type of acquaintance with the object in question, or else it would not have any purpose. 

What is a word?  What is an icon?  What is an index?

Words are basically symobls that are used to describe and place a name to something. An icon is something that refers to something by looking a little bit like what it is refering to. An index is loosly connected to what it is implying. Ex: Smoke is a sign of fire.

Why is it important for philosophers to “clarify thought by clarifying language”?  Why are Scientists offenders” (p. 72)?

It is important for philosophers to "clarify thought by clarifying language" becuase if worlds are used incorectly or carelessly then nothing but confusion and tangles can arise in the meanings of words. Scientists are also offenders because they use words to label certain phenomenas but have no clear meaning or denotation to them.

What does Abel mean when he says “Just as meanings are not the same things as words, so meanings are not the same things as operations or methods or uses” (p. 73)?

Able means that there is no way to vertify some types of meanings. For example "she secretly loves him" , if this love is secret then there is no possible way for it to be vertified.

Midterm Projects

                 As a class I thought we did very well. All presentations that were made in class used many different TOK terms. Also I thought the topics that were picked appeared to be very well thought out and pre planned. However I felt that some people focused more on the topic itself rather then the TOK terms. Most people just wrote a list of terms that connected rather than integrating it in. People also seemed to have an issue with time. Also there most presentations did not have a conclusion or an exact wrap up of the situation.  Some presentations were unclear about what the problem of knowledge was, but were more focused on the two different views of their topic.

For Kathleen and my project I felt like we did a very good job. Our problem of knowledge question was repeated throughout the presentation and was in our presentation outline about three times. I also felt that our TOK terms were well integrated with our topic. Instead of just talking about the terms that applied we used them throughout the presentation. Also I felt as though our time management was pretty good. We got in everything we wanted to say, but were unable to leave any room for much discussion. I also thought our outline was very strong, and I liked how we included the definitions of the terms we used there, instead of taking time in our presentation to do it like other people did.

 

War Speack

At least eight people have been killed and more than a dozen injured after a series of bomb blasts ripped through Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.
At least three including a policeman died in two blasts in New Baghdad district in the east of the city.
In the west of the city, three Iraqi soldiers died when a roadside bomb hit their military convoy.
Two civilians were killed in explosions in the central commercial district of Karrada, and near a police checkpoint.
The blasts occurred during the morning rush hour. Police said the explosions had mainly targeted Iraqi security forces.
'Pools of blood'
The US military said Iraqi police were hit when explosives planted on a truck detonated as they responded to the first blast in New Baghdad.
"I rushed out with others to see three bodies on the ground in pools of blood, " a witness, Mohammed Nasir, told AP news agency.
"This place has witnessed several bombings before and we fear that violence will come back after a period of quiet."
The explosions occurred on a road running through the commercial district, which local residents said was frequently used by police and army convoys.
Iraq has become less violent since the US military surge was launched 18 months ago.
More recently, however, Iraqi security forces have been targeted as they increasingly take the lead in military operations.

^taken from : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7823906.stm

I thought this was a good article to show that now we do not seem to hide military violence with 'war speak'. this article graphically describes people lying in a pile of blood. Also it doesn't try to cover the word bomb with any type of term or label. The word explosion and blasts are not covered by a less harsh word. Its almost as if the world has become so used to war and its violence that it is not as nesacary to dehuminanize the langauge to make it sound less evil. However this article appears to be written to make you feel bad for the innocents who were killed, and not to talk about a victory that was a result of these deaths. This may be why such harsh langauage is used.

Diving Bell Essay

In consideration of the book and film, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly as well as your own life, to what extent can we distinguish between knowing as an individual and knowing as a community? How much of one's knowledge depends on interaction with other knowers?


I think it can be difficult to distinguish between what we know as an individual and what we know as a community. There are some things that I feel like can be clear. An example is Knowledge by acquaintance. It is something that is known by you, and not the community. You can determine how someone is feeling by how the act, and from prior knowledge of their actions. Knowledge by description however can be a bit fuzzy to determine. You can know that something does something, which can be knowledge as a community member. But you can also know that something feels a certain way, which would be knowledge as an individual. I also believe that a large, if not most of peoples knowledge Is based off of their interactions with others. This may lead them to obtain knowledge as a individual or as a community member.

There are many strengths and limitations to knowing as an individual vs. knowing as a community. Knowing as an individual is a more personal experience that cannot necessarily be expressed to other people. It is impossible to explain to other people the feelings that you feel. You can know that you love someone, but you cannot explain to them how it makes you feel. Also you can know how something tastes, but you cannot describe it to someone with out stating another type of taste to describe it. Example “This chicken taste salty.” There is no possibly way to fully explain what salty taste like. Also knowing as an individual you are able to obtain knowledge by your own beliefs and perceptions. Knowing as an individual can be strong because your views and beliefs are not affected by the popularity of the community. Making it so you are able to be your own self. When you know as a community though, knowledge is more accepted by what the majority of the people have come to accept as reality. For example, if one person sees a purple monkey in the room, but the other 20 people in the room do not see it then as a community it is accepted as not being there. However, for that one person they themselves know that there is a purple monkey in the back of the room. Knowledge as a community can be a good thing though. It can help to establish similar believed truths, like the sky is blue. However there can be some serious problems with knowing as a community. For example, the slave trade. The majority of the people who lived in the countries who purchased slaves believed that these people were inferior. This majority of the people ‘knowing’ that Africans were inferior lead to the slave trade being accepted as an ok thing, even though it was very inhumane. I think that Bauby would agree that both are important. He would feel like it is very important to know as an individual. This is what gives him his butterfly. All of the knowledge that he knows is able to set him free when he is stuck in the hospital bed. His feelings and emotions toward certain things create such strong images that he can almost escape from the reality that he is now in. He must also feel that knowing as a community is important, especially for his condition. Since the all of the doctors have the agreeable knowledge on his condition they are able to care for him. If they all did not know as a community of doctors about locked in syndrome they may not have known what to do to help Bauby. Or they could have had many different views on how to handle it. However, knowing about it as a community lead to them to be able to help him.

I do not think there is anyway to gain knowledge by description or acquaintance without any type of interaction with others. Knowledge by Description is when you know that something is something. Abel describes it as ‘knowing that’, but you also need to be connected to what ever you know, you must have seen it, or have some type of interaction with it. For example, you can know that the sky is blue or you can know that someone loves you. I think it is impossible to gain this type of with out some type of human interaction. To be able to know that someone loves you, you need to first feel that emotion. Also I do not think that you can know the sky is blue without being taught what blue is or what the sky is. I also do not think that knowledge by Acquaintance can be gained with interaction with others. Knowledge by acquaintance is described as ‘raw feels’ by able. What this means is that you can know someone from interacting with them. You can tell what type of mood they are in when they walk into the room or by little things they do. This knowledge can certainly not be obtained without interaction between other people. If you were to never interact with another person you would not be able to ‘know’ them. Bauby would most likely agree with this view. He would feel that his interaction with others is the most important thing with his condition. For example, whenever his butterfly is traveling back to things from his past, he is using knowledge of description. He is remembering interactions he had with people. He is remembering things that he knows that exist. Also he would agree to the fact that in order to obtain knowledge by acquaintance. Even though his interaction with people has become very limited he cannot gain any type of knowledge by acquaintance with out some type of interaction with these people.

In gaining knowledge one of the most powerful ways we justify our knowledge claims is reasoning both by induction and deduction. I think this is most powerful because when people hear, see, smell, touch, or taste something they are more apt to feel stronger about what they know. For instance if you are to eat a carrot you know what it is. If you were to be blindfolded and handed a carrot and told to eat it you would know that what you are eating is a carrot. People also seem to believe what they experience and feel that they are able to justify it easier. Also when people use deduction, using logic to create reason, they are able to explain to people how they came across the knowledge they have. I think that Bauby would agree with this. Throughout his book when he is describing all of the emotions and feelings he has gone through. However I feel that for him his memory is the most powerful way to express his knowledge. He is only able to communicate through blinking his eye and his whole book is based off of his memory of his experiences and things from his past. Even his butterfly. When his mind is traveling to events from the passed it is all based off of memories that he has seen and or experienced from the passed. With out any sense of memory he would not have any way to express himself, his experiences, and way to ‘travel back in time’. His memory is the best way for him to justify his knowledge.

Pink Noise

Why do you think Pink Noise works? Do you think Sturgis should pump in Pink Noise throughout the school? Why or why not?

I think pink noise works because it gives the brain a different sound to focous on than rather than focousing on the louder, more annoying sound. Also since the sound is closer and louder it is able to block out the unwanted sound. By giving off a pleasent sound the person in the work place or wherever will most likely consentrate on the more pleasen sound then the distracting annoying one. However i do not think that Sturgis should pump in the pink noise. First of all we do not have that many distractions that are happening outside of the school, well ones that we havent come accustomed too. I also personally think that it almost makes the noise more noticeble. In the example when the play the music and the hammer thing at the same time it almost bugged me because it didnt fit in with the music at all. I also have the a feeling that other students at sturgis would feel the same, since we have so many musically inclined students.

Diving bell

1. After reading Vegetable, respond to Bauby's statement: "I belonged on a vegetable stall and not the human race." Why do you think it is necessary for humans to put people into categories? Is our language so limiting in describing the world that we need a way to ourganize our thoughts?

I think it is necessary for humans to put people into categories for needs of communication. It makes it easier to describe someone if there is a premade and understood category to place someone into. Like in the book, the term 'vegetable' is a well known term and makes it alot easier to express that someone is physically alive, but in a coma, or not mentally and physically able to be there. I belive that our language is that limiting that we need to have categories to expressing people and our thoughts. However i do think that a large part of the need for organization and categories is for easiness and fast communication. People are constantly looking for a faster and easier way to do things, so why would they want to spend the time explaining things when they could just put it in a category and have someone understand?



2. Bauby claims that, "Capturing the moment, these small slices of life...I hoard all these letters like treaure." What do you hoard and why?

I hoard gifts and notes. Not like the expensive gifts, but those little signs of affection. The gifts based off an inside joke. I have a wall completely made out of random drawings, cards, signs, pictures, notes, and things like that from my friends. On it it has petals from flowers i have been given on different occasions. I hoard this because there is many happy memories sitting right there on my wall. I just have to look at one of these things and automatically the 'moment, these small slices of life' comes flooding back to me and instantly I become happy. Its a way to never have to forget some of my most precious memories with the friends I love most.



3. Read Outing and respond to Bauby's statement: "I know who he is, but who is he really?" Is he getting any closer to understanding what makes people tick? Also, why will Bauby never tire of the smell of French Fries?

I think he is kinda getting closer to understanding what make people tick. He has come to the realization that even thought he knows this man, and who he is. He doesnt know what the man really is. He doesnt know this mans past, what is going on in his head, why he does the things he does. I think that Bauby will never tire of the smell of french fries becuase its as close as he can get to eating them. Because of the condition he is in now he is unable to eat food and cannot taste them. When you smell something very to you almost a sense noslagia comes over you and you can rember the taste that that certain food has.



4. Read Twenty to One. Bauby claims that, "the memory of that event has only come back to me now, now doubly painful: regret for a vanished past and, above all, remorse for lost opportunities." Do you ever look back on something in your life as a "small near miss"? Is it ever beneficial to have regrets?
I think it is impossible for one not to have some memories that they look back on and wish that they had gone differntly. After something has happened, over a period of time (long or short it doesnt matter) you are able to have knowledge of the effect of what ever had happened. By looking back at it you arer able to have certain view, which leads to regret. I think that some regrets are deffinatly a good thing. They can lead you to act differntly in a bad situation, making what ever the situation is better than the last time you had encountered it.


5. Read Duck Hunt and explain what Bauby means by the statement: "I must have butterfly hearing."
To be 100% honest im not really sure what he ment by this statement. I think he was trying to illustrate to the reader how he can easily find butterflies to escape his reality. Mabey that he seems to notice things others dont now? I'm not really sure.


6. Read Sunday. Why do you think Bauby dreads this day?
I think Bauby dreads this day because he has no human interaction. He is left to only communitcate with himself and search through his head for interestion memories to relive. The only interaction he can get with the world is through his visitors and his thearipists. Since they do not come on sunday he is unable to communicate with them