1. Theory of Knowledge Summer Thinking on Ethics

a.  Is it right or wrong to steal the iPhone from a fellow student? Give a considered reason for your answer and refer to Woks’, which help you to know what is right or wrong in this case.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term ethics is defined as “moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior”. As a result, from an ethical standpoint, the act of stealing an iPhone from a student is classified as an unethical act or behavior. In order to effectively decide whether or not a person’s course of action is ethical, it is important to consider the different ways of knowing, which include emotion, reason and logic, and language, because all of them work together to give us a sense of what is moral and immoral.

When using our emotions, we often pursue our self-interests, and what is most beneficial to us, and them sympathize with the emotions of others to determine how the outcomes will affect them. As a result, our emotions, along with our intuitions that tell us that stealing someone else’s iPhone is immoral, allows us to determine what is ethical and unethical.

Furthermore, our reason and logic also help us to be knowledgeable of what is ethical. This is because our reason and logic allow us to carefully assess and consider the outcomes of certain actions, which ultimately enables us to understand what is morally correct. However, this may not always be the case as our emotions may interfere with our reasoning, and cause us to make unethical decisions. As a result, by using my logical reasoning about the potential consequences of theft, I was able to know that stealing someone else’s iPhone was not correct.

In addition, since language acts as the base to all our thought processes, it is also a very important factor that allows us to decide if something is ethical or not. Without language, we would not be able to discuss what is moral or immoral, nor the importance of ethics.

After referring back to the different ways of knowing that are used in the Theory of Knowledge course, I was able to ultimately make a decision, and know that stealing someone’s iPhone was unethical, and morally incorrect.

b.  Would the answer you gave above be true for stealing in all circumstances? Explain your answer in terms of what you know through Woks’.

Yes, the answer that was presented in the question above would be true for stealing in all circumstances. Although in certain contexts, such as in a time of desperate need for food, it might be difficult to determine what morally is right or wrong, the different ways of knowing work in the same manner in all types of stealing.

2. Theory of Knowledge Summer Thinking on Ethics

Describe a situation where you recently made an ethical decision you believed was right but somebody else might consider wrong. What factor convinced you to do the right thing? Was it an ethical choice? (It may not have been…. You find someone’s property and return it for a reward).

Recently, I was staying over at a friend’s house and we decided to go out to the mall to watch a movie at the cinema. Once the movie had finished, on the way out, I had realized that the person who was seated in front of us had dropped his phone. At first, I was thinking of just keeping the phone because there was no passcode for it, and it was in a really good condition. In addition to this, beside me, I had my friend who was telling me that I should either sell the phone or return it for a reward. However, after thinking beyond my self-interest, and understanding how the person might feel after realizing that he had lost his phone, and also the potential consequences of stealing, I had decided to return the phone to a lost and found service at the mall.

This incident is an example of a recent situation whereby I had made an ethical decision. Although somebody else might consider my decision to be wrong, such as my friend, who believed that I should be rewarded for the lost mobile phone, I believed that I did the right thing by returning something that did not belong to me. The primary factors that convinced me to do the right thing were my emotions, reason and logic, family and religion. From my personal experience in the past, whereby I had lost my phone, I was able to go beyond my emotional state of self-interest, and further empathize with the person who had lost his phone. In addition, through my reasoning and logic I was able to assess some of the potential consequences of stealing and make the ethically correct decision. However, the key factors that almost always convince me to do the right thing are the ethical values that I have learned from both my parents and my religion, which oftentimes guide some of my actions and behaviors.

3. Theory of Knowledge Summer Thinking on Ethics

“ The ethically correct course is the one which brings the greatest benefit to the greatest number.” Use one particular WoK to agree with this statement. Use another WoK to disagree with it.

When reading this quote regarding the idea that the ethically correct course is the one that brings the greatest benefit to the greatest number, one particular way of knowing that allows me to agree with the statement, is through reasoning and logic. This is because through reasoning, we are able to assess the outcomes of an action, and hence formulate in our minds what is ethical or unethical. In regards to the question, our reasoning allows us to know that oftentimes, the ethically correct course of actions is the one that will promote the benefit to the largest number rather than an individual. As a result, our reason and logic, allows us to not only form a holistic decision, but also helps us move away from our own self-interests. However, this statement may certainly be disagreed using emotion as a way of knowing. This is because oftentimes, our emotions seek out our self-interests and cause us to believe that what is most beneficial to us is best, hence disagreeing with the entire statement. In addition, since our emotions work together with our reasoning, it may guide it into the wrong direction and cause us to make an unethical decision.

Language of Bees

Humphrey Davy

Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.

This is a quote said by Humphrey Davy. Through my perspective, what is being said in this quote is that language governs our ways of thinking, in all ways, and is an essential aspect of life. This is a quote that I agree with as language is something that also guides my own thoughts, and allows me to think in many different ways. As a result, language can be seen as a tool that we use to gain more knowledge, and communicate it to others. In my opinion, without language, humans would be unable to effectively communicate, or think, and therefore, it is something that is fundamental.

Ways of Knowing: Language

The term language is a word that we hear everyday in all sorts of contexts. This is another way of knowing in the theory of knowledge course. Although there are several definitions that is used to describe the word language, in theory of knowledge, language is a system of human communication using words, written and spoken, and particular ways of combining them. However, this does not mean that there aren’t any limitations with language because there are certain ideas or things that people want to communicate, which can’t fully be expressed through language. This means that out language, could potentially limit the kind of things we can communicate.

A very interesting concept that arises from this is whether animals are able to communicate or use language. This was a very interesting topic that I had thought of quite a few times in the past. After a couple of discussions in class, I came to realize that although they may be some animals such as dolphins that communicate through sound waves, animals don’t really use language in the same way humans do.

Areas of Knowledge: Human Sciences

Unlike the natural sciences that study the phenomena of the physical universe, the human sciences are areas that study human behavior, human society and social relationships. Although human sciences aim to explain human behavior and interactions, it is similar to the natural sciences in that they both formulate theories and conclusions by designing experiments and hypothesis. However, unlike the concrete data that is presented through the natural sciences, in human science, the data can be interpreted in many different ways, and as a result, there are no concrete answers.

One of the academic disciplines that involves human sciences is psychology. In psychology, the primary objective is to understand the human mind, and its behaviors in specific contexts. As a student that takes psychology, I found it really interesting to be able to identify and determine the differences and similarities between natural and human sciences. One of the things that truly got my attention was the fact that in human sciences, the information isn’t really concrete and can be interpreted in many different ways.

Areas of Knowledge: Natural Science

In many cases, such as this advertisement by Coca-Cola, people will try to promote or sell things to others by referring to ideas that “appear” scientific.

Areas of Knowledge: Natural Science

In theory of knowledge, one of the areas of knowledge is the natural sciences, which is defined as the “study of the phenomena of the physical universe”. This concept oftentimes refers to the study of the natural world around us. The natural sciences can be seen to be all about understanding the natural world by using evidences, experiments, hypothesis, and theories, to develop a conclusion on a given topic. The experiments that are conducted in the natural sciences isn’t really  about trying to prove things right, but instead trying to prove it wrong. By asking questions, and disproving one’s hypothesis, people will eventually be able to gain more knowledge. In the natural sciences, emotions do not play a role.

One of the natural sciences if chemistry. As a student who takes chemistry in school, I can relate to this area of knowledge, and understand how we develop an understanding of the natural world by creating experiments and hypothesis to draw conclusion. Furthermore, the idea about conducting experiments to prove things wrong instead of right, is a concept that really got me interested, as it is something that I hadn’t considered in the past.

Can we ever know what we do not experience?

The different ways of knowing in Theory of Knowledge define how an individual gains knowledge from their surroundings, and the world as a whole. The four ways of knowing are sense perceptions, reason and logic, emotion, and language. A common knowledge issues that may arise from the title, which explores the idea of knowing something that we do not experience is whether or not we can know anything purely through our reason and logic? Or are they always affected by our emotion, sense perception and language? Another knowledge issue that results directly from this is what roles do reason and emotion play in deciding what an appropriate punishment is?

The film Twelve Angry Men is a movie that explicitly explores the clash and interactions between the different ways of knowing, and especially between reason and emotion. In the film, a group of twelve lawyers are given the responsibility to determine whether a boy, who had recently been convicted for crime, is guilty or not. The problem that the jurors face while deciding is that they hadn’t actually experienced the crime scene, and as a result, they are forced to use the different ways of knowing in order to come to a conclusion. During the beginning of the movie, the majority of the lawyers, with the exception of one individual, are seen to be logically driven, and therefore agree that the boy is guilty. With the exception of that one lawyer, everyone else claims that the boy is guilty because of logical reasoning, and witness testimonies that they had received from an old man and a lady. However, the juror that refuses to vote, stresses his inner emotional state and his feelings of pity and empathy towards the boy, and claims that the he may in fact be innocent. He further explains how our sense perceptions are limited in their ability, and uses logical reasoning to invalidate the testimonies of the lady and the old man. By claim that the old man was a sad and lonely man, the juror explains how he might had been emotionally driven to tell a lie in order to get the attention that he had never received. The film finishes with the jurors building a sense of doubt in their minds and then concluding that the boy is not guilty. Furthermore, language is a very powerful tool that is used throughout the movie, because it allows the jurors to persuade each other, and express their emotions and logical reasoning. This film clearly exemplifies the difficulty, and extent to which we can know things that we do not experience, as it shows the jurors struggling to try and determine the boy’s innocence because they hadn’t directly experienced it.

From a personal point of view, I think that it is difficult to fully know something that we do not experience. Last year for example, I was at an electronic store with a friend of mine, when all of a sudden a man decided to steal something and run away. My friend and I were not there to see the entire scene as we were at the other end of the store, but we could hear other people speaking about it. Moments later, the manager of the store questioned everyone in order to gain more information regarding the man, and when we were asked, we were unable to respond because we had not experienced the scene and therefore could not entirely know what had happened. Even though we had heard other people who claimed to have seen him through their visual senses, it was merely impossible for us to entirely now what had happened and what the man looked like.

To sum it up, it can be concluded that all of the different ways of knowing in the Theory of Knowledge course are interrelated, and work together to give us meaning of the world around us. Furthermore, through the movie, and my personal experiences, it can further be emphasized that it is extremely difficult to entirely “know” something that we do not experience.