Tok Essay Q1 - Connection Between Truth and Belief
TOK Essay #1 – Connection between truth and belief
Name: Marianne Janet
Class: 12 IB 1
Date: 7 September 2012
Word Count: 1228
Culture is the set of rules and norms, both written and spoken, in which build an individual’s way of living. It affects mostly all parts of our life, as it shapes a person’s way of thinking. Culture has given a major role in our actions and it is likely to determine the basic intellectual settings. In short, culture teaches us the principle of life. On the other hand, belief is what an individual perceive to be true. Belief can be said to be subjective since everyone has different perspective of ‘truth’. Culture and belief do have strong correlation. They both affect each other, and in some ways, culture can further develop to belief and vice versa. Culture is a ramification of individual’s belief by the indigenous knowledge and self-efficacy, yet belief is able to form culture by interacting in a group of people with the same belief on something. Before deeply examines the definition of indigenous knowledge, first, it needs to be understand that indigenous literally means local. Therefore, derived from the basic definition, indigenous knowledge means the knowledge that local community passes through generations in specific environment. The word ‘knowledge’ in indigenous knowledge covers all forms of it, such as: skills, practices, technologies, medication, and belief. Related to the fact that different society has uniquely different culture, the different society also has different indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge differs from every society because it originated from local experiences and also history of people who live in the communities. For instance, Indonesia has more than 18,000 islands, which some islands may have several tribes. This allows Indonesia tribes to have their own indigenous knowledge. One of the most famous Indonesia tribes is Asmat tribe. It has a unique tradition, in which Asmat people practice
Name: Marianne Janet
Class: 12 IB 1
Date: 7 September 2012
Word Count: 1228
Culture is the set of rules and norms, both written and spoken, in which build an individual’s way of living. It affects mostly all parts of our life, as it shapes a person’s way of thinking. Culture has given a major role in our actions and it is likely to determine the basic intellectual settings. In short, culture teaches us the principle of life. On the other hand, belief is what an individual perceive to be true. Belief can be said to be subjective since everyone has different perspective of ‘truth’. Culture and belief do have strong correlation. They both affect each other, and in some ways, culture can further develop to belief and vice versa. Culture is a ramification of individual’s belief by the indigenous knowledge and self-efficacy, yet belief is able to form culture by interacting in a group of people with the same belief on something. Before deeply examines the definition of indigenous knowledge, first, it needs to be understand that indigenous literally means local. Therefore, derived from the basic definition, indigenous knowledge means the knowledge that local community passes through generations in specific environment. The word ‘knowledge’ in indigenous knowledge covers all forms of it, such as: skills, practices, technologies, medication, and belief. Related to the fact that different society has uniquely different culture, the different society also has different indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge differs from every society because it originated from local experiences and also history of people who live in the communities. For instance, Indonesia has more than 18,000 islands, which some islands may have several tribes. This allows Indonesia tribes to have their own indigenous knowledge. One of the most famous Indonesia tribes is Asmat tribe. It has a unique tradition, in which Asmat people practice
References: UNESCO (2003) Vgotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26925&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO (n.d) Module 11: Indigenous knowledge & sustainability http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html Bandura, Albert (2002) Social Cognitive Theory in Cultural Context. http://www.defenseculture.org/researchfile/Bandura%20(2002).pdf BBC News (2009), Mormons at a glance http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/ataglance/glance.shtml