Well at least I know what I'm doing up this time
Forget everything I ever said about TOK being the coolest thing ever. It kills your brain by making your imagination work too hard on things you already thought you knew about. If I try to translate it into Narnia in this state of mind, Mr Tumnus will go out looking for the White Witch so she can turn him into stone because he is so overwhelmed by
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I'm going to answer these in opposite order again, because that's the way I roll.
I'm definitely applying to UChicago, because it seems so cool. By the way, what grade are you in? Getting in is a whole other issue, but it looks fun.
Theory of Knowledge...I've honestly never thought this much about it before. It's a bit like philosophy, because it's about the trends that scientists and arithmeticians follow as they're developing theories. But it's also about how we think, what we think, and why we think the way we do. This does not count as psychology because we're not looking at the way the brain works.
We spent a month and a half discussing what it even means to know. Certain phrases imply a higher degree of intimacy with the subject matter. Compare "I know chess is a game" with "I know how to play chess". And faith definitely comes into that. Because even though it's not a valid justification, it is a very real thing in the life of anyone who's ever assumed.
I'm actually not looking at this from an anthropology perspective because we only started the unit. Instead I'm looking at how scientists react when someone (Copernicus, for example) comes up with an idea that contradicts their own model (or paradigm) of the world. Usually they will laugh and say it couldn't possibly work. Eventually the new paradigm gets more followers (like Edmund) and anyone who can't accept it gets left in the dust and is now isolated in her field (Oh, Susan...).
I think we're taking the Mr Tumnus allegory/analogy way too far. At the time that I wrote it, I was really tired but still had a dozen pages to take notes on. I wanted nothing better than to bang my head against a wall. I was saying that if I wrote Narnia at that time, I would have projected my negative feelings onto one of the characters.
The thing about Captain Cook is so much better now that I understand the end. Gods and religion mixed with conquerers and oppression is such a neat event in history in general.
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1. UChicago! I am a third year. And, girl, if you can write about complex ideas like this I am pretty sure you have a good chance to get in :)
2. TOK: - this sounds like something my friend was telling me about Aristotle and, I forget, poetics or nichomachean ethics? anyway, he was talking about what knowledge is. that's really interesting, I like your example.
3. The new-scientific-theory example makes so much sense! I really like it, and it totally works for structuralism!
4. Tumnus - ohhhkay, I get it :) yeah, I wasn't sure where you were trying to go with him, and he's hard to deal with as a character encountering something New.
5. That Captain Cook story is holy cow, like, my favorite. If you get the chance to read the whole book (it's only 80 pages, but it's pretty dense stuff), I think you'd find it really interesting.
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1. U of C. I might be able to write about complex ideas in an informal setting but I can't do it well when it's something that's actually due. As a result, I have less than stunning grades. Also, isn't it one of the most expensive schools in the state/country?
2. I'm not sure what nichomachean ethics are, so I really couldn't tell you about that. We did some Aristole, but I forget what - something about logic probably.
3. What's structuralism?
4. Yeah... I'm not even going to touch Tumnus. I'm more talking about Narnians as a collective. They're part of a community of knowers.
5. OH NO! Don't even start telling me about more books I have to read. Because I want to read all of them and that's just not realistic at this point in my schooling when I'm having trouble keeping up with the reading we already have.
Sorry. I realize that sounds a bit mean and defensive. I really don't mean it like that. I just have another ToK note-taking extravaganza lined up for tonight. Stay tuned for further late-night whining/panicking. ;)
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U of C is expensive, yeah, but it's only actually expensive if you don't qualify for aid - and it is mostly need-based, and they did the best job at helping me out of all the schools I applied to. Never let expense rule out your applying to a school unless you're absolutely certain you're way too rich to get aid - it's not over till your financial aid decision.
Nichomachean Ethics is just a book Aristotle wrote. I never read it either, heh.
Structuralism is the idea that you live in a culture that shapes your view of the world with its categories of thought and relationships between things and all that. And every society has this structure, and every society has comparable structures (based on the same relationships if not the same objects) - it's also sort of like language, in that languages differ through space and through time but each version of a language is translatable because it talks about the same things. The only thing with structuralism is it's rigid and doesn't allow for cultural change. So poststructuralism comes along and explains how change can happen to a cultural structure.
no no I'm sorry! I don't mean to pressure you at all, I just thought I'd let you know what book the Captain Cook story was in if you wanted to look it up (in fact, I did already tell you, it was on the list I gave you when you asked for anthro texts - it's the Marshall Sahlins one). I know how overwhelming even fun or otherwise small things can be when you have work to do. for instance, right now I really shouldn't be answering email but I figured I'd take a little break and do it before I start more homework. good luck with your work!
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