The Role of Senses in Understanding Truth Across Different Areas of Knowledge

2. Other ‘truth tests’ Authority Consensus Pragmatic …and there are more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criteria_of_truth http://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=584

4. What are we going to talk about today?

5. Theory of Knowledge Diagram Mathematics Ways of Knowing Natural Sciences Sense Perception Ethics Reason Knower(s) Emotion Areas of Knowledge Human Sciences Language Arts History

6. ToK Prescribed Essay Title: 2008 • “When should we trust our senses to give us truth?” TaK - Perception

7. Theory of Knowledge Diagram Mathematics Ways of Knowing Sense Perception Natural Sciences Ethics Knower(s) Emotion Reason Human Sciences Language Areas of Knowledge Arts History • What role do the different senses playin the different Areas of Knowledge?

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11. Empiricism starting point for all knowledge is experience Rationalism starting point for all knowledge is reason TaK - Perception

12. Sense Perception and Knowledge Our senses connect us with the world around us … … but how connected are we? TaK - Perception

13. TaK - Perception Cosmic Rays UV Light Radar X Rays Infra Red TV & Radio 10 22 10 20 10 18 10 16 10 14 10 12 10 10 10 8 10 6 10 4 10 2 10 0 Frequency (Hz) Visual Window Our senses are limited: Light Waves

14. Common Buzzard Can spot a meal (rodent) from 15,000ft (4,500m)

15. Fields - taken at 10,000ft Brasilia - taken from 15,000ft

20. Highest Voice Lowest Voice TaK - Perception 10 22 10 20 10 18 10 16 10 14 10 12 10 10 10 8 10 6 10 4 10 2 10 0 Frequency (Hz) Audio Window Our senses are limited: Sound Waves

21. McGurk Effect – Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0

22. Bloodhound: • “A nose with a dog attached” • 230 million olfactory cells compared to 5 million in humans • 1000 times better sense of smell than humans • Have been known to be able to track a scent for over 100 miles TaK - Perception Our senses are limited:Smell

23. TaK - Perception • So perhaps we don’t see, hear, smell, taste and touch everything… • … but what we do sense, we sense accurately – don’t we?

25. TaK - Perception • What is in the mind and • what is in the world?

26. TaK - Perception EsrefArmagan – born blind

27. Sensation • which is provided by the world • Interpretation • which is provided by the mind • (external stimuli + mental processes) TaK - Perception

28. In our everyday life, we are not usually aware of our minds interpretingthe sensations that flood into our senses .... TaK - Perception

29. TaK - Perception Awareness test – Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQJP40PcGI

30. TaK - Perception “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” H.D. Thoreau

31. TaK - Perception Sensory Perception is selective: What the eye saw….

32. TaK - Perception Sensory Perception is selective: What the camera saw….

33. TaK - Perception Interpretation: Understanding what we see - Coherence

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35. TaK - Perception Interpretation

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37. TaK - Perception Interpretation– finding meaning in what we see

38. TaK - Perception Expectation

39. What is this? TaK - Perception Organising Principles – the Law of Simplicity

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41. TaK - Perception What is this?

42. TaK - Perception • Imagination, • Context, • Expectation and • Sense Perception • affect the way we interpret sense data

43. TaK - Perception • You are walking down a dark alley ... • there are footsteps behind you …

44. Context TaK - Perception

45. TaK - Perception The mental construction of reality

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50. “The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comprehend” Bergson TaK - Perception