Knowledge
"The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world." Toni Collette Essential to answering the question, "How do we know?" is the acknowledgement of self, context and perspective. Since your senses, experiences, beliefs, etc. influence the way you perceive and interpret everything, understanding who you are, your preconceptions and your beliefs is the precursor for further examination of knowledge. The handout below may help you identify some of your perspectives as a knower. |
"If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles."
Sun Tzu |
"In general, psychology and cognitive science distinguish between two forms of knowledge representation (Anderson, 1995; Paivio, 1971; see also Paivio, 1986): perception-based knowledge representations take the form of mental images representing in analog form the physical appearance of objects and the configuration of objects and features in space, while meaning-based knowledge representations store propositional knowledge about the semantic relations among objects, features, and events. A person's self-knowledge can be construed in similar terms. In fact, the technical distinction between perception-based and meaning-based self-knowledge is anticipated in ordinary language when we refer to the self-concept and the self-image." (from http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~kihlstrm/SelfIdentityMemory.htm)
What time is it?
Where you are in time--and your understanding of time--are critical to understanding your role as knower. The article below describes the Piraha tribe's lack of numbers or accounting of time. While groups like the Piraha are noticeably different, there are more standard approaches to time. Consider where you may fall in the following:
Click HERE for one way of viewing differences in time.
Where you are in time--and your understanding of time--are critical to understanding your role as knower. The article below describes the Piraha tribe's lack of numbers or accounting of time. While groups like the Piraha are noticeably different, there are more standard approaches to time. Consider where you may fall in the following:
- Are you past oriented, where you often remember and either celebrate or regret events from the past?
- Are you present oriented, where you live for the present without concern of the future?
- Are you future oriented, where you are willing to forgo pleasure in the moment for a better result in the future?
- Do you value time over people? For example, you like to stick to a schedule, even if it means spending less time with friends or family.
- Do you value people over time? For example, you may have difficulty following a set schedule because the needs and demands of your friends or family seem to be more important.
- Does how you value time depend upon who it is that is demanding your time?
- Do you often spend time in your head, thinking abstract thoughts that do not have any link to time?
Click HERE for one way of viewing differences in time.
The video below explore a much larger view of time.
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What's your worldview?
The country or region you most identify with (and I know this may be difficult for some of you that have moved often) greatly influences your attitudes and beliefs. If the country you currently live in holds similar beliefs and has similar patterns of behavior to what you value, you will find the place easier to tolerate. Different perspectives you may find either intriguing or irritating--or both. Here are some questions to consider:
Do you internally monitor what is "right" behavior and sometimes go against what others think because of what you feel is right?
Do you have a strong sense of honor and try and avoid anything that would bring shame to you or your family?
Are you keenly aware of who has power in various social situations? Does this power influence your attitude about right behavior?
Do your actions only affect you or do your actions reflect on your family?
While these questions are rather blunt and basic, they may give an idea to whether you are
- Innocent/Guilt--Guided by internal compass of right and wrong
- Honor/Shame--Guided by actions that will bring honor to you, your family or those over you
- Power/Fear--Aligning with whomever has the most power in a given situation
These are central worldviews that can greatly influence how you make decisions and how you relate to others. Whether you find those differences frustrating or fascinating indicates whether you are a cultural critic (someone who has difficulty seeing the value of a different way of approaching life) or a cultural learner (someone who sees differences as an opportunity to understand themselves better). By looking at knowledge from different perspectives, we become cultural learners.
We will be looking at eight ways that we, as knowers, come to knowledge. These are the Ways of Knowing: reason, emotion, sense perception, intuition, memory, imagination, language and faith. Each of these provides a fundamental basis for knowledge and greatly influences how we approach the external things we learn. The TED talk to the right provides a different perspective, as Daniel Tammet explains his unique way of approaching the world, where many of the traditional ways of seeing the world are different.
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