Tok Essay

To what extent do personal attributes affect Ways of Knowing, and why, if at all, does answering this question matter in the first place? It is known that there are four means through which human beings acquire knowledge of their surroundings; the ways of reason, emotion, sense perception and language. However, are these entirely reliable? Different individuals possess different opinions of concepts and ideas, and this has not only been the reason of many conflicts and wars but has aided in, for instance, the diversity of art. The reason for this variation in thought can be due to the personal attributes of these individuals as opposed to others. A personal attribute is a ‘characteristic quality or feature of a person or thing’1 which includes the concepts of culture, experiences, education, as well as biological characteristics such as gender and age. This essay will discuss how these Ways of Knowing can be affected by these features, since this is of major importance to our society’s wellbeing, especially in politics and even daily conflicts between family and friends. One of these ways is the ‘physical response of our senses to stimuli’2, also known as sense perception. This process allows that, through the five senses that a human being possesses (sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch) we learn of the world around us and survive in it – although many have argued that ‘thermoception, nociception (psychological pain), equilibrioception and proprioception’ are also senses.3 However, only the first five are universally taken into account. In addition, constructivists find sense perception does not only refer to the coming in physical contact with something, but as well all the processing of said something – as stated by ‘Richard Gregory, who proposed in 1970 a constructivist top-down theory of perception’4 – although people in favor of James Gibson’s opposite bottom up theory from 1966 believe that perception is ultimately direct and does not include

Bibliography: * Oxford English Dictionary, New York, Lesley Brown (1993). * Simply Psychology, <http://www.simplypsychology.org/perception-theories.html>, Accessed on 08/08/20125 * Theory of Knowledge Course Companion, Oxford, Eileen Dombrowski, Lena Rotenberg, Mimi Bick (2007). * Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma, Cambridge, Richard van de Lagemaat (2005). * Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield MA, Henry Bosley Woolf (1981). * What the Bleep Do We Know? (2004), Roadside Attractions, Hollywood.