'The more you know the less you understand.' (Tao Le Ching)

I think that this statement is completely true as you may know alot but not understand why something in particular happens.

Say, for example, you know that all matter in the universe is made up of microscopic particles, I bet you're saying "well, okay everyone knows that, so what?" But the thing is do you know what the particals are made up out of? And of course, the answer is "protons, nutrons and electrons" but the question is what are the protons, nutrons and electrons made up of? And so on and so forth. But the question is why? Why is all matter made up out of atoms, why do particles have postive and negative charges? The human quest for knowledge and wondering is forever endless.

So take a second and actually THINK about it. You know the sky is blue and heck you might even know why, and if you do good for you, but do you understand why it is blue? Why isn't it green? You may know someone does something but do you know why? Do you understand why?

Think about it.

ToK Homework Task

- Pick one of your IB or ESF Advanced Diploma subjects
- What sorts of ‘knowledge’ and/or ‘truths’ does this subject convey?

My higher level subject of Spanish conveys the 3rd type of knowledge – Prepositional knowledge. Although, it seems that virtually all my subjects require such knowledge, apart from perhaps Physical Eduction which would probably be classified as Practical knowledge.

Prepositional knowledge is the “knowledge of facts or truth stated in prepositions; entirely language dependent”. It cannot really be learnt by a direct face-to-face encounter with the language effectively and can’t really be classified as a skill or proficiency either. The subject is taught through reading and writing tasks as well as class discussion in the language, incorporating both listening and speaking skills. Through this, facts and truth are communicated and a satisfactory understanding of these facts and truths are required for success at the subject. Furthermore the subject itself, a modern language, seems to fit the definition of Prepositional knowledge rather perfectly as it simply couldn’t be understood without an encounter with the language either at a textual or oral level. It is language dependant as a fluency of the language can’t be ascertained unless contact with it is existent. Unlike many other subjects which may depend largely upon a relatively looser knowledge of facts and a valid opinion such as English Literature. Languages require greater precision and fall in league with such subjects as Mathematics or any one of the sciences as a standard of accuracy is vital. Accuracy which is void of opinions (although incorporates them into the teaching programme). Through a gradual acquisition of this precision experience is achieved as well as knowledge.

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'Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.' (Buckminster Fuller)

Here, is a good use of a metaphor. As there is no hard copy guide to life on Earth, this is probably why people create a God in their mind, to whom they turn to for guidence and security. Maybe God is the pilot of our "spaceship" and there is no need for us to have a copy of this "instruction book". But personally, I think that this quote can explain how we get knowledge of things.

How do we know about "Spaceship Earth" to operate it?
When we were first born into our world called Earth, we are clueless about it. However, we come to learn about it by exploring and experiencing, which we would then share this knowledge to others. This means that some of our knowledge came from personal experiences and some from other people informing us.

How do we live on "Spaceship Earth"?
We weren't born with the knowledge of death. So we wouldn't be thinking to survive. But we are born with the instincts on how to survive. We feel hungry and our reasoning would tell us to eat. When a child is drowning, his natural reaction is to kick and paddle. Therefore I believe that we also obtain knowledge from reasoning of the mind.

'The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.' (Malcolm Forbes)

I think that this quote pretty much sums it all up. People who believe they know everything, are usually the ones that really no nothing at all. They simply delude themselves to make themselves feel that they know more than they do. It is impossible to know it all in a world that is constantly changing and where so many things happen all at the same time. By saying that " you know it all" , you are in effect saying that you know what so and so is doing at this exact moment.

It is one thing to know, and another to know it all.

Malcom Forbe's quote

I would like to agree Malcom Forbe's point.
noone ever can 'know it all', so it doesn't seem that he really thinks there are people who know it all. I think, he infers his dislike of people who shows off with their knowledge and doesn't seem to accept that there are more knowledges s/he still needs to learn.

Nobody can know it all, even an intelligent person cannot know it all as new knowledges appear every time and we, people natuarally forget things because of causal reasons like old age, not using this knowledge much etc. For example, my mother. She's a very intelligent, well educated person who has a job of a teacher, well respected by people. However, she still doesn't know how to use the computer even though I taught her so many times! It was very confusing for me, as I am her daughter, who doesn't have alot of knowledge, knowing how to use computer very well. Maybe my mother doesn't know how to use the computer because of her old age.

Socrates, the famous philosopher plus who used to be the most intelligent person in the world in the past, even didn't accept the fact of himself being the most intelligent one in the world. He thought, there were more knowledges he needed to learn therefore, he kept on asking people, trying to gain more knowledge. Even this person, freaking intelligent still denies of knowing it all. So, I think, Malcom Forbe's quote means people who acknowledges that s/he knows all is actually arrogant and doesn't have alot of knowledge.

response about CJ's reaction "freaking me out!"

-This reaction comes form the 'west wing' as she says this when she realises that the international world map is not the most accurate one and the most accurate map is actually a map called the peterson map, which doesn't really look right-

*When I looked at the peterson map, first, like CJ did, I thought, there was something wrong and it wasn't right. Every time in my mind, I had a vision of the international world map, which Britain was in the middle. This peterson map, instead didn't have Britain in the middle and some how some countries' sizes didn't look accurate. However, after knowing the truth, I was only able to give out a "WOW" and "no way!". I acutally couldn't believe myself this map was the most accurate one.

Yes, it definitely does freak Cj and even most other people out.
It's gives this reaction the most because, we, people had been educated and had to believe that the not-real map is the actual one through out most of our lives. Then oneday, we figure out that this map is actually not true and we had been believing this like a stupid idiot for most of our lives. We would feel very confused, annoyed and overall decide not to believe on the things we had seen and were taught. This would be the negative effect on learning the actual truth however the positive effect is that some people will learn on how to recognise the truth and the false and also learn on thinking in a philosophical way. Overall, it is very interesting to know the actual truth about things which people didnt recognize for such a long time!

'The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.' (Malcolm Forbes)

'The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.' (Malcolm Forbes)

To me 'The dumbest people I know are those who know it all", this quote means that those who think they know everything are the dumbest people. This is because they think they know it all and believe there is nothing they do not know while in fact, they do not know that there are many things that they do not know and therefore they do not know it all which makes them the dumbest.

This could also mean that knowledge needs a wide perspective and open mind. If you think you know everything, it means you know nothing.

'Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' (Martin Luther King)

In my opinion, "sincere ignorance" and "conscientious stupidity" in this context is to become oblivious in terms of knowledge. Without knowledge, many things cannot be achieved.

“Ignorance” is referred to the lack of knowledge or education. Knowledge is comprised of 3 elements - Adversity Quotient(AQ), Emotional Quotient(EQ) and Intelligence Quotient(IQ). Adversity Quotient is the ability to cope with adversity, emotional quotient is the ability of self control and intelligence quotient is basically a measure for intelligence. If either of these is missing, there is only ignorance. Knowledge does not necessarily have a direct relationship with intelligence or wisdom. To be knowledgeable is not only to be smart but it is also to be able to make the correct decisions in situations. Without knowledge, wrong choices are being made and that is the reason for its danger.

As Martin Luther has stated, “nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance”. Money cannot be earned without intelligence; friends cannot be made without self-control; survival in this society is impossible without the ability to cope with adversity. As you can see, knowledge is the only key to success; without knowledge, nothing can be done.

In response to what CJ says

What C.J. had said on the West Wing when she saw the Gall-Peters projection of the world was based on what she had learnt in her life.

The Gall-Peters map was presented in the 1967 when Mercator’s projection of the world was dominant. It would have taken considerable years before the former map was adopted in US public education. C.J. had been used Mercator’s world map from the start of her education to when she had a job so she was surprised to see the Galls-Peters map. This is similar to a paradigm shift in history when a dominant concept, in this case the projection of the world, changes. Other paradigm shifts include the introduction of germ theory.

Overall, this reflects the old colonial European influence on the world. Mercator’s projection had been introduced in 1569 and made generations like C.J. become so ‘used to’ it that they almost reject any other views.

“Self-knowledge is like a garden. If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.” (Ghanaian proverb)

From my point of view, this quote in poetic terms is like a simile where self knowledge is like a “garden”. “If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.”

“Self Knowledge” is commonly used in philosophy to refer to knowledge of one’s particular mental states, including one’s beliefs, desires, and sensations. This knowledge is importantly different from the knowledge about the world external to oneself, including other’s thoughts. For example, if self-knowledge includes our beliefs, which would also include the religion and culture which I follow. From the very beginning my parents have told me what the different festivals are and what kind of religious beliefs we follow. For instance, being a Hindu, we do eat meat but we don’t eat beef because we pray to the cow. This is notified to us from the very beginning and so now we abide the rule and try not to say that we are not aware of it. This refers to the quote that, Self knowledge, in this case our beliefs is cultivated in us – notified to us by the society as well as by our parents and therefore it is harvested in us – we only follow this knowledge when we are told and we strictly abide to it. Moreover, I also believe that Self-Knowledge also includes one’s desire, in simple sense desire is cultivated within us, we desire to want something and until we don’t do so, it cannot be fulfilled – harvested. Another meaning of self-knowledge is sensations; this is basically like introspection which is the process by which one forms beliefs about their own mental states. We might form the belief that someone else is happy on the basis of perception, for example, by perceiving their behavior. However, a person typically does not have to observe their own behavior in order to determine whether they are happy. Rather, one makes the determination by introspection which is to "look within". In terms of the quote, it is cultivated within us to perceive our sensations as well as how others might be feeling. However, it is not always harvested within us, if our perception says one is happy, it doesn’t mean that they are happy, it can be that they are pretending or hiding their feelings for various reasons.

To conclude, I totally agree with the quotation “Self knowledge is like a garden. If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested”. As I mentioned, it includes our beliefs, desires and sensations rather than the knowledge about the world. In this case, beliefs, desires and sensations are cultivated within us and are mostly harvested.