Me as a Knower

The way of knowing that reflects me the most is sense perception. All other ways of knowing (language, reason and emotion) essentially come from sense perception. I rely on what I feel and what I sense using my 5 senses and even if I cannot explain it using words I still acquire knowledge from my surroundings. For example, the taste of water cannot be expressed linguistically yet I know what water tastes like and I can tell when a drink is too "watery". I can also taste the differences in water and I can tell one water from the other without being able to explain it. For example, when I go to Florida I can tell that brand Zephyrhills has a different taste than that of Poland Springs yet it is difficult to explain the differences. Yet I KNOW that there is a difference even if I can't say what they are. I also rely on sense perception to know beyond what language or verbal communication can tell me. It is said that 93% of communication is nonverbal. Even though this claim is still being challenged most experts agree that well over 50% of communication is nonverbal which includes tone of voice, facial microexpressions, body language and gestures. For example, when I ask someone how they are and they respond "I'm fine" but in an angry or solemn way, I know that they are not, in fact, fine. If I know that their dog recently died, only then can I use reason to figure out why they are not fine. I used sense perception during the TOK activity where Dr. Gilligan claimed she could guess correctly who was "it" in the class. I looked at specific facial expressions and reactions each student gave as she passed by each one in order to see if she was using the same skill as I was. Even though I was wrong and she used a student to tell her the answer, my experiment worked because most of the time the student who was "it" showed small changes in behavior whether in body language or microexpressions that I picked up. Thus, sense perception defines me because I rely on it to know beyond what language and reason and emotion can tell and because without sense perception I wouldn't be able to use the other ways of knowing.

Video: Nonverbal Communication in a scene from a silent movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBZZNs6pNE


The area of knowledge that reflects me the most is natural sciences. Everything we look at is science in one way or another. When I look in the mirror, it's the science of light or when I boil water on the stove, it's the science of heat, touching the table is the science of the brain because the nerve endings on the tip of my fingers sense the table and relay that information to the brain which is then interpreted to tell me if the table is smooth or rough, wooden or metal. Because of this I feel that the natural sciences reflect me the most because I try to see the science in a lot of things. For example in IB Biology HL we were trying to determine a reason for the fall of the great Russian Empire and we used genetics in order to explain it. We found that the mystic Rasputin and his involvement with the Tsar and Tsarina helped bring their empire down, because he was so disliked. In order to explain this we showed through Punnett squares and pedigrees how the Tsar's son Alexei was born with haemophelia and hence the appearance of Rasputin who helped the boy with his disease. By using science we were able to explain a historic event, two subjects which seem to be total opposites. I consider natural sciences to be the area of knowledge that represents me the most because science is nearly everywhere and everything and I use it to explain and understand more of the world around me whether it be in history or other areas of knowledge.


TOK Terms:
-way(s) of knowing
-sense perception
-language
-reason
-emotion
-linguistic expression
-verbal and nonverbal communication
-tone of voice
-facial microexpressions (barely detectable facial expressions such as a quiver of the lip)
-body language
-area of knowledge
-natural sciences
-history


Bibliography:
"Albert Mehrabian -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. .
"Taste of Water." Spring Hill Web Page. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. .