Sense Perception Knowledge Issues

Patients in a vegetative state- For years there have been what a community defines as "vegetables"- people who cannot feed themselves, nor speak, nor communicate, and in some cases, are unable to breathe without assistance. Recently, researchers monitored brain activity and found patients responded correctly to 5 of 6 questions, sparking the thought that perhaps these people are not as vegetative as thought to be, but in fact are fully able to communicate.

Here is what can be called a sample TOK question on the matter:

If the justification for taking people off life-support is because of their supposed vegetative state, and the common cultural belief has always been one of "he felt no pain," then how much is the surrounding community (doctors, medical staff, researchers, family of the 'vegetative people') held accountable to the deaths of these people, and is it ethical in any situation to let a person die?


Synthesis, en extraordinary condition where people mix senses, such as seeing sounds, or tasting colors, or any other mix therein, has been researched and more cases are becoming apparent. This may be useful for science, because these people tend to notice extra details to their special sense, or outperform to those that do not have this sense.

Here is question that can be asked about such a matter:

Would the people who have these "mixed senses" have better sense perception, therein making them more open to knowledge affairs? How does extra sense perception change the way the world is seen?

Man Is The Measure

7. What does Abel mean when he says: "to perceive is to solve a problem"?

When Abel says "to perceive is to solve a problem" he means that once the mind embarks on the desire to see something, it also embarks on the ability to try and solve the problem. And once you perceive anything, such as the sky being blue, you solve the problem of what color the sky is. You may not solve why, but if you perceive it enough, the perception will translate into knowing it. Stepping back from the equation allows you to know what exactly is going on.

8. What is the role of social conditioning in determining how things "naturally look"?


Society determines how you see things. It determines what is normal and what is not, and therefore, it conditions your mind to believe as the community around you believes. In turn, anything perceived as its "natural look" is what has been determined by the community, and does not necessarily translate into other cultures, times, or locations. For instance, the African tribes with their insane piercings or the Native Alaskans who chew food for their parents and spit it into their mouth is considered not natural or right in this society. But in theirs, it is considered perfectly natural and nothing is said about it. 


9. What is significant of the Durer rhinoceros story? How was the influence of convention demonstrated when some tribes were given a photograph?


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11. What does Abel mean when he writes: believing is seeing? How might this point be seen in the study of the natural and the social sciences?


If you have faith in an object, you believe in it. Therefore, if you believe in theories projected by natural sciences, you see a light of it, and a possibility. Perhaps you see the truth. But you do see something, that is certain. In the social sciences, the same goes. If you believe something, you are truly seeing it. Furthermore, people, once they believe in something, will strive to prove it and defend it until it is visible to others.

Reflection Blog Post

 Describe a specific example from any area of knowledge (AOK) where you feel that deception may be necessary to knowing. The example may or may not relate to your direct personal experience, but make your views as a knower clear; it may be the case that person(s) involved in the example you relate have a different perspective on truth and deception than you do.

      Of all the Areas of Knowing, there is one group where deception may be necessary- history. History is a subjective matter, as well as current social events. Where math is very straight forward, history is not. Instead, the professor must build off of what the historians, primary documents and society says about it. They may leave things out, or like the packet suggests, teach things that are lies told by people to them, such as those very historians. Like in chemistry, any equation has a certain amount of uncertainty, and in history, where everything is judged by the current opinion, uncertainty is at it's greatest. Sometimes, when telling history, it is necessary to elaborate, such as in World War I when the president said the Luisitania was sunk by the Germans, when in fact it was sunk after many warnings, and after cooperating with British ships, and carrying illegal cargo. My belief is that deception is wrong, but in cases like these, where the public has a hard time understanding the gravity of these Great Wars, it is necessary to describe events as much as possible and stir up the nationalism of a country. The deception is an altruistic one, not one sparked my self-indulgence, but by the fact deceit is necessary because people do not understand until they are put into such a situation. Therefore a teacher may exaggerate a story to attempt to sway their views to views similar to theirs. However, history is not something learned from one source, after multiple sources are found, you glean the information and come with your idea, hence leaving out or disregarding important factors. This deceit comes with the practice, the swaying of views should not, yet it appears quite often. All in all, history is the one area of knowing where deceit can be accepted.