Sunday, February 24, 2013
Blog 6: Sensory Perception Intro
February 24, 2013
Due March 2, 2013
NPR Story: Bumblebees can SENSE electric fields around flowers
(This story is just a few minutes long, but a great connection to the experimental sciences!)
Short Story to Consider Reading: "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver; find under "ToK handouts" of my website.
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To imagine a world without sensory details is nearly impossible. The age-old question, "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" could be reworded into, "Does a sound have to be heard to be considered sound?" If presence is required for sensory detail to exist, then is the ocean still blue, even when we can't see it? Is a knife still sharp, even if the blade is not cutting us?
Writers also rely heavily on sensory detail, both in fiction and nonfiction, because it is one way to make the written material relevant, to make it meaninful to other humans. Imagine The Great Gatsby written without any sensory description! Still, there is so much sensory detail in every aspect of our lives that we must subconsciously edit out some things.
Writing Prompt: As we begin our exploration into sensory perception, I want you to try this activity, then write about it: Spend time thinking about how you experience the world through each of these primary senses: sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. Rather than ask you which sense you would choose to give up, I want to ask you that if you had to spend a year without each sense, what would you miss the most. For example, if you were to spend a year without your sense of taste, what would you miss the most? Repeat for each of the senses. You may need to spend some time thinking about this one! Your answers will be interesting to read and comment on!
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Blog 5: Last Language Post--Language Intricacies
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Quotes to Ponder:
"If your language is confused, your intellect, if not your whole character, will almost certainly correspond." --Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1934)
"Speech is but a broken light upon the depth/Of the unspoken." --Goerge Eliot (1829-80).
This is the final week we will spend with our focus on language as a Way of Knowing. I am curious to know what you think of the strengths and limitations we already talked about in regards to language and if you've added or changed any of your ideas. Does language have strengths you didn't realize before? Does language have limitations you didn't realize were there before? Does its varying strengths and limitations differ between languages? Cultures? Genders? Ages?
Also, how does language relate to the other ways of knowing? For example, does the way you describe something affect how you feel about it? (Emotion). Does language affect the way we see something? (Perception). When arguments become based around semantics (word meanings), does the argument then become more about that than about the issue at hand? (Reason/logic).
Share your thoughts below in regards to any of the ideas above, or if you'd rather, discuss any topic we covered in class over the last three weeks (your peers' presentations included). What made your lightbulb turn on?
Quotes to Ponder:
"If your language is confused, your intellect, if not your whole character, will almost certainly correspond." --Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1934)
"Speech is but a broken light upon the depth/Of the unspoken." --Goerge Eliot (1829-80).
This is the final week we will spend with our focus on language as a Way of Knowing. I am curious to know what you think of the strengths and limitations we already talked about in regards to language and if you've added or changed any of your ideas. Does language have strengths you didn't realize before? Does language have limitations you didn't realize were there before? Does its varying strengths and limitations differ between languages? Cultures? Genders? Ages?
Also, how does language relate to the other ways of knowing? For example, does the way you describe something affect how you feel about it? (Emotion). Does language affect the way we see something? (Perception). When arguments become based around semantics (word meanings), does the argument then become more about that than about the issue at hand? (Reason/logic).
Share your thoughts below in regards to any of the ideas above, or if you'd rather, discuss any topic we covered in class over the last three weeks (your peers' presentations included). What made your lightbulb turn on?
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Blog 4: The Power Behind Words
This week, instead of a podcast, I've embedded an 18-minute TedTalk by Linguist Stephen Pinker (who has very cool hair). He talks about how our linguistic habits can reveal who we are without us even realizing it. The argument arises: is this something we absorb from our culture, or something we cultivate as our environment influences us? Or both?
There is a Biblical allegory in which human beings (who all speak the same language) collaborate and decide to build a tower to heaven, known as the Tower of Babel. God becomes angry and at once punishes the men and women and puts a stop to the progress of the tower by giving them all different languages, thereby ceasing collaboration and communication. This is one of many stories that tries to answer the question: How did human beings come to speak so many different languages. This is also an example of the power of language.
Using your knowledge of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, your own experience, and examples, discuss the idea of the power of language. Perhaps you have a real-life example which adequately illustrates how powerful language can, indeed, be. Perhaps you've read a book or seen a film in which language's power is either literally or metaphorically represented. Or, if you like, you can come at this from another angle and discuss what you see as attempts made to control the power of language. Are there things we are "allowed" or "not allowed" to say? Who decides how much power to give to language? Can this power be taken away? Are there things you are not permitted to say or are encouraged to say? Who sets these parameters?
Quotes to Ponder: Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book, stated that, "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
Children's Rhyme: "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
There is a Biblical allegory in which human beings (who all speak the same language) collaborate and decide to build a tower to heaven, known as the Tower of Babel. God becomes angry and at once punishes the men and women and puts a stop to the progress of the tower by giving them all different languages, thereby ceasing collaboration and communication. This is one of many stories that tries to answer the question: How did human beings come to speak so many different languages. This is also an example of the power of language.
Using your knowledge of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, your own experience, and examples, discuss the idea of the power of language. Perhaps you have a real-life example which adequately illustrates how powerful language can, indeed, be. Perhaps you've read a book or seen a film in which language's power is either literally or metaphorically represented. Or, if you like, you can come at this from another angle and discuss what you see as attempts made to control the power of language. Are there things we are "allowed" or "not allowed" to say? Who decides how much power to give to language? Can this power be taken away? Are there things you are not permitted to say or are encouraged to say? Who sets these parameters?
Quotes to Ponder: Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book, stated that, "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
Children's Rhyme: "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Blog 3: Words, words, words
This week's podcast is from RadioLab, entitled "Words". I highly recommend that you listen to this and bring it to the table of class discussion as it will enrich and inform your experience in our Language discussions. It describes, in depth and through a true story, the way language contributes to thought formation. Very interesting.
Also, Patrick posted this youtube link to a song on his last blog response. I'm not sure if you saw it, so here it is again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APw9ES0JpZo It's worth really listening to the words! (Thank you Patrick!) If any of you find supplemental things out in the world, please share!!
*Correction to the dates of Blaise Pascal's life: Born 1623, Died 1662.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Quotes to Ponder:
"Language is the dress of thought."--Samuel Johnson
"Almost all education is langauge education."--Neil Postman
In your experience, has language ever been insufficient as a means of expressing thought? What role does semantics (the various ways words can hold meaning) play in this kind of limitation? Is there a role for body language or language inference when communication is translated from one language to another? And finally, do you believe that there should be one universal language that everyonel learns? What are the implications of this?
(Responses due by Saturday, February 9, 2013)
Also, Patrick posted this youtube link to a song on his last blog response. I'm not sure if you saw it, so here it is again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APw9ES0JpZo It's worth really listening to the words! (Thank you Patrick!) If any of you find supplemental things out in the world, please share!!
*Correction to the dates of Blaise Pascal's life: Born 1623, Died 1662.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Quotes to Ponder:
"Language is the dress of thought."--Samuel Johnson
"Almost all education is langauge education."--Neil Postman
In your experience, has language ever been insufficient as a means of expressing thought? What role does semantics (the various ways words can hold meaning) play in this kind of limitation? Is there a role for body language or language inference when communication is translated from one language to another? And finally, do you believe that there should be one universal language that everyonel learns? What are the implications of this?
(Responses due by Saturday, February 9, 2013)
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