Ways of Knowing.docx
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Ways of Knowing.docx
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WaysofKnowing
WaysofKnowing
(Ms.R’sBooklet#1)
Booklet#1isMs.R’steachingnotesonWaysofKnowingbyMichaelWoolmanuptopage142.Thesenotesarenotforreproduction—astheyareamixofquotes,summaries,paraphrasingandmycommentsthrownin.Youmustusetheactualbookforanyaccuratereferencingyouwanttomake.
(Note:
Whenyouarereadingthisathomeyouwillnotbeabletodothe“suggestedadditionalreadingsandexercises”Isometimesmention.Ifyouthinktheymightinterestyou–youarewelcometolookatthetexttoreadaboutthem.)
SensePerception
…iswhatwesee,hear,smell,sayandtouch
p.20But‘knowing’throughoursensesisn’tonlybeingawareofthesensationsbombardingus.Ourbrainsdon’tjustreceivesignals;theyinterpretthem,placingthesignalsinthecontextofeverythingtheyalreadyknow.Ourbrainsdothisautomatically.Theycan’tdootherwise.
Knowledgethatweobtainthroughoursensesiscalled“EmpiricalKnowledge”.SetusEmpiricussaidthesearethetwomainprinciplesofEmpiricism:
1)Allknowledgeisbasedonexperience,especiallytheexperienceofthesenses
2)Theknowledgeweacquirethroughexperienceisthebasisofunderstanding,whichisthemakingofthatexperiencemeaningfultous.Hardlineempiricistsclaimthatallknowledgemustbebasedonthe“testofexperience”(observationandexperiment)
p.21PerceptionComplications:
(Question—Couldthesebestrengthsaswellaslimitations?
)
Herearesomeofthewaysyourbrainmayfilterinformationfromyoursenses:
1)Throughyourpastexperience.(Youlearntoexpectthings…)
2)Throughsocialandculturalconditioning.(Ourprejudicesandassumptionsmayleadusto[false]conclusions.
3)Throughspatialfamiliarity(Wetrytomakesenseofthingswesee.)
4)Throughourbiologicallimitations.(Wedon’tseethesameasanowlatnightorhearaskeenlyasanelephant.Weseeashumans.)
5)Throughourexistinglearningstructures(Howweuseourbraintosolveproblemsorcreatenewknowledgeforourselves.)
6)Throughseeingwhatisnotthere.(Opticalillusions—ifsomethingisnotthere,howdoweseeit?
)
7)Throughdependenceonlanguage(Welabelandtalkaboutwhatwesee,andthisinfluencesourperception.)
8)Throughfiltering.(Oursensesreceivemuchmoreinformationthanwearecapableofprocessing.Ourbrainsfilteroutalotofit.Also,wemightfilteroutwhatwedon’tunderstand(aforeignlanguageonasign)orwemightfilteroutwhatwedon’tcareabout.
9.Throughselfperception(Howweseeourselveswillinfluenceourperceptionofourselvesinrelationshiptoothers.)
p.51Scepticismisbasedontheideasthatwecannottrustanyknowledgeweobtainthroughthesensessoitisimpossibletobesureofanything.(i.e.:
Oursensesoftendeceiveus;wecanneverbesureifwearedreamingornot;ourthoughtsareanunreliableinterpretationofreality.)ReneDescartesfeltonemusttreatalltheirbeliefsasiftheywerefalse.(Called“MethodofCartesianDoubt”)This,andonlythis,heargues,willenableyoutodiscoverfromwheresureorcertainknowledgecanbedeveloped.(Hethencameupwiththeonethinghecouldbesureof:
“Ithink,thereforeIam”.)
Language
p.113languageisnotonlynotlogic,itisseldomevenlogical.Andyetitisthroughlanguagethatknowledgeiscreatedandpromulgated.Withoutthe”description”therewouldbeno“knowledgebydescription”.
Mostlinguistsagreeonthesignificantfeaturesoflanguage:
1)isuniquelyhuman
2)communicates
3)usessymbols
TheNSOED(NewShorterOxfordEnglishDictionary)definitionwhichisclosesttothisconsensusdefinitionis“asystemofhumancommunicationusingwords,writtenandspoken,andparticularwaysofcombiningthem.”
1)Uniquelyhuman—(ComparedtoAnimals)
1)Animalscanproduceonlyafixednumberofsignals;theydonothavetheabilitytogeneratenewsignals.(Beesdancewhentheyreturntothehivetocommunicateinformationtotheotherbees,butnobeeevergeneratesnewinformation;itsimplyrepeatsthedancewhichisappropriatefortheinformationitiscommunicating.)
2)Animalcommunicationisinstinctive.Thereisnoevidenceanimalsthinkbeforetheycommunicate.(Certainmonkeysscreamwarningsignalswhenanenemyissightedandthewarningsignalscanvaryaccordingtothenatureoftheenemy.Thecommunicationisentirelyautomatic;itcannotberepressedorfalsified.)(Mynote:
Interestinglyenoughhumansaresosophisticatedthatwecan“lie”.)
3)Whenanimalcommunicationvariesinvolumeorintensity,thestrength/intensityreflectsthedegreeoffearorhungerorsexualdetermination.
(Note:
Therehavebeenattemptstoteachchimpanzeesalimitedandsimplesignlanguagewhichhavefailedandclaimsthatdolphinshavealanguageoftheirownbutscientistshavecompletelyfailedeithertolearnitortocodifyit.)
Mosthumanlanguageisnotmotivatedbyexternalstimuliorinternalneeds(althoughiscanbe).Itisnotinstinctiveinitspatterninganduse.Itcanberepressedandfalsified.Itisnotrestrictedtocommunicatingfactualinformation.Itisimmenselycreative.
(Theclaimthatlanguageisuniquelyhumandoesnotautomaticallyimplythatallhumancommunitiesuselanguagebutthereisnoknownhumancommunitywithoutit.Whatnooneseemstobeabletodetermineishowlanguageoriginated!
)
p.1162)LanguageasCommunication
Basiccommunicationtakesthisform:
SENDER→Message→Receiver
Languageisusedas:
FUNCTION1)TransactionalCommunication—whichmeans“togetthingsdone”.
InthiscaseitwouldA)Giveinformation(HalifaxisthecapitalofNovaScotia);B)Giveinstructions(Stopwhenthelightisred);C)Setupanhypothesis(Iftheplantsdonotreceivewatertheywilldie)orD)Solveaproblem(Ifyouadduptheitemsyouboughtthatwillbetheamountyouhavetopay).
Inthesecasesthemeaningofthelanguageisinthemessage.Thecommunicationwillonlybeclearlyunderstoodbythereceiverifboththesenderandthereceiverhaveexactlythesameunderstandingofthemeaningofthewordsused.(Themoreabstractorcomplicatedthemessageiswilldirectlytranslateintothechanceof“different”understandingsofthemeaningsofthewords.)
FUNCTION2)ExpressiveCommunication-Languagecanbeusedtoexpressthefeelingsofthesenderandtoaffect,notjustinformthereceiver.Inthiskindofcommunicationwepayspecialattentiontothewordsthemselvesandthefeelingsandatmospheretheycreate.(Wefindthiskindoflanguageinpoetry.)
(Inthiswayemotionandlanguageworktogethertoexpressatypeofknowledge.)
Thepoetwantsyoutobeemotionallyinvolved.Wordsusedinthisway,tocommunicateexpressivelythefeelingofthesenderofthemessageandtoaffectthelistenerare“connotative”.
Connotativemeanstoimplymoremeaningtoawordthanitsprimarymeaning.(Obviously,whenmeaningisimpliedthemessageisgoingtobeopentointerpretation;eachreceiver’sunderstandingisslightlydifferentaccordingtohisorherconnotation.)
FUNCTION3)SocialCommunication-Languagecanbeusedtocommunicatesocially,bothformallyandinformally.(Itcanbeasocialgreetingorbeceremonial,forexample.)LudwigWittgensteinoncewrotethatlanguagecanbeusedtogiveorders;describetheappearanceofanobjectorfiveitsmeasurement;reportanevent;speculateaboutanevent;formandtestahypothesis;presenttheresultsofanexperiment;makeupastory;playact;singcatches;guessriddles;makeajokeandtellit;solveaprobleminpracticalarithmetic;translatefromonelanguagetoanother;ask,think,greet,cureandpray.
FUNCTION4)LanguageasCommunicationwithoneself
Somethinking(visualarts,music)doesnotneedtobeputinwords.Thinkingwhichseemstorequirelanguage,atleastforsomeofus,isknowledgebydescription.Ifwecan’tputitintowords,wecan’tbesurewhatitiswearethinking.
p.120Therearetwoconflictingtheoriesabouttherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthought.Thefirsttheoryclaimsthatthoughtandlanguageareentirelyseparate,butdependent.Thiscanmeanthateitherlanguageisdependentonthoughtorthoughtonlanguage.Thesecondtheoryclaimsthatlanguageandthoughtareabsolutelymeshedtogether;thinkingwithoutlanguageisimpossible.
TheSapir-WhorfHypothesissuggestsourthoughtsarecontrolledbyourlanguage.(SeewriteuponHopi.)(Myquestions:
Areourthoughts“controlled”bylanguageoraidedbythem?
Ifourthoughtsarecontrolledbyourlanguagehowdowecomeupwithnewwords?
Dodifferentcultureshavedifferentwaysofthinking?
Isthelanguageweuseareflectionofourculture?
Mightlearningalanguagebringyouclosertothatculturegroup?
)
Language–some“becareful”areas.
Languageusessymbols.Ifwesaidweowneda“smallgreensnake”thesewordsstandforthisreptilebuttheyarenotthesnake.Wehavetobecarefulaboutthesymbolsourwordsprovide.(Smalltoasnakeexpertmightbedifferentthansmalltoachild.IfIhaveonlyeverseendarkgreensnakes“my”snakemightlook(inmymentalimage)alotdifferentthan“your”greensnake—whichcouldbeflorescent!
)Becauseawordexistsweexpectittocorrespondtotherealityweknow.Scientistshavepointedoutthisdangerastheyseektonamenewlydiscoveredphenomenawitholdwords.BlackHolesareneitherblacknorholes.
Patternsofwordsalsocanbewitch.Bewarethesnakewrappedroundthebananatreewiththebananaofknowledge.
Languagedependsonmeaning—Manywordshavenotruemeaning;rathertheyhavesomanydifferentmeaningswhichcanonlybeappreciatedincontext.Thiscancreatelotsofproblems.
Goodfriend,goodgrades,gooddaughter,goodcl
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