Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Knowledge in Symbols

0206a

0206b

0206c

0206d



1. This symbol has origins from the Bronze Age to present day. It is also letter in the Greek alphabet. The symbol has come to mean very different things, depending on the way it is turned.


2. This symbol when turned this way communicates the number three, and is very common in technical and scientific systems in present day because it is a Greek letter. The sign when turned like this has military meanings of air transportation and is also a common way to draw birds. It has been used as a symbol for fire in alchemy and has the modern connotation of looking the like logo for the large fast food chain McDonald's. When turned upside down the symbol has the meteorological meaning of being a sign for high, thin clouds.

3. I think the symbol is pretty ambiguous, but none of the meanings are particularly negative. I think it is up to interpretation and what the symbol is meant to mean. 

4. I think the knowledge problems associated with this symbol because it can mean so many different things. The meanings can get really confusing because of all the ways it can be used. 

5.  0207
This symbol can mean an alchemical sign and as an ancient Greek sign. It is also the symbol for the zodiac sign Aquarious 

Friday, March 22, 2013

WOK Language - global views

"...learning additional languages enhances the learning of the 'mother tongue' as well as broadening a student's worldview."

I think learning additional languages can enhance how you learn your "mother-tongue". Learning another language improves your awareness of languages in general and how they work, which isn't as easy to do by just focusing on the language you grew up speaking. 

I also agree that learning languages can broaden a student's worldview because the culture of the group of people that speak the language you're learning is often taught with the language. As you learn about the words a language has that may be different from words in your own mother tongue can help you understand that culture more as well. Also when you are fluent in another language, there are many more opportunities available for you. Travelling to other countries and feeling comfortable is now possible and therefor a student can feel like they are a part of the larger world. 

The article says that hyperpolyglots most likely have a unique neurological structure that the majority of people just don't have. Alex and Ray both seem to have a genuine love of languages. They seem passionate about the languages that they do know, and passionate to learn more. They both have had life experiences that seem to have supported their language learning. They also immerse themselves in the languages they learn and surround themselves with native speakers. 

There is a junior in our school who I think has similar qualities. She loves travelling to other countries and learning at least basic conversational words. She takes HL French and Latin and she knows at least some Italian and Arabic. I think she has a brain that is naturally wired for languages but she also works hard to learn languages to the best of her ability and often has conversations with native speakers of those languages. 

I would classify myself as an visual learner. I think writing down, repeating and learning vocab words helps me learn the best. When I hear a language it's harder for me to learn individual words or phrases even if I do understand the general meaning of what's being said. Since I take Latin and it is not spoken a lot in class, the visual aspect is everything for me to learn. When I took French I found it easier to study vocabulary that learn using "total immersion" when everything, the directions and assignments included, is spoken in that language. That was hard for me to learn the language, even when I understood the gist of what we were supposed to do. 





Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Sources Of Illogical Thinking

Skepticism

To a certain point, skepticism can be used in reasoning. There is a clear difference between having a permanent skeptic attitude and just feeling skeptic towards certain information in a situation. Being skeptic in certain situations, like when you are told something that is not backed up by good logical reasoning, is healthy. Having a permanent skeptic attitude is very dangerous because it gets rid of the reasoning process. There are two types of skeptic attitude. The extreme skeptic says there is no truth, which in itself is contradictory because the skeptic is claiming their statement to be true. The moderate skeptic says that there is truth, but humans can't reach it. For all intents and purposes though, this is the same argument as the extreme skeptic because truth we can't reach might as well not exist.


Evasive Agnosticism

Agnosticism is the belief that there is not enough knowledge on an issue to make a definite judgement on it. For example there are people who say that global warming doesn't exist, but an agnostic would say that they don't know whether there is or isn't because they don't have enough knowledge to prove either side of the argument. Agnostics, unlike skeptics, don't challenge whether there is truth or whether we as humans can reach it. Similarly to skepticism, there is a time and place for agnosticism. If we truly don't have enough knowledge on a topic, that is a time to be agnostic. However evasive agnosticism is when a person uses ignorance instead of logical reasoning. This attitude is claiming they can't decide on a topic either way, when really they know very little about the topic and the arguments on every side and claim agnosticism as a way to avoid that necessary logic for sound reasoning.


Example: Students in a class are asked to write an essay on whether they believe the culture in the United States or Mexico is more diverse. One student, who saved the essay for the last minute and didn't use the in class time given to research argues that both are equally as diverse. Although this argument would have been okay if it was backed up with knowledge, the student's laziness showed through obviously because there wasn't any sound logic or reasoning in the student's argument. The student didn't do any sort of researching to prove their argument, and instead of researching to make a well informed decision about what they believed, they tried to agnostic, but ended up being evasively agnostic because their decision that the cultures were equally diverse was just a way to try and avoid too much effort.

Narrow-Mindedness

A narrow-minded person refuses to consider alternatives to their own views only because they do not meet his prejudiced assumptions about what is and isn't worth pursuing. This is very different than a person who may purposely limit how much they question and research alternative views, this is a practical method and a way to avoid wasting time. However, the opposite of narrow-mindedness, open mindedness, can be just as much a problem if a person accepts everything they hear without questioning the logic behind them and all the information will just overwhelm them in the end.







Monday, March 4, 2013

Logical Fallacies

Poisoning the Well

Trying to prove that all claims a person makes "must" be false, because of a negative statement presented that completely discredits him/her


Example: 

Sam (to Kate):  Richard is a lying cheater, he's been divorced 4 times
Kate: No kidding? Wow


After:
Richard (to Kate) : Dunkin Donuts is closed today, because of the national holiday


Later: 
Sam: Did you talk to him?
Kate: Richard said Dunkin Donuts is closed, but there's no way that's true because he never tells the truth 



Misleading Vividness

A fallacy in which very few, but intense events happen, and those are used to try and disprove lots of scientific evidence

Example

Megan:  Did you see in the paper how that woman was murdered by her boyfriend? 
Kailee: I did!
Megan: It was right down the street from you. Are you going to move?
Kailee: Of course not, it was a one time crime. The boyfriend isn't going to murder others on our street now
Megan: You're making a big mistake, I would move if I was you or you're going to be killed!


Example 3
http://www.sheffnersweb.net/blogs/sheffnersoffice/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ad_hominem1.jpg