TOK Presentation Notes

INTRODUCE OURSELVES…
JENNICA: So our topic is morality and our knowledge issue is:

“To what extent does reason and emotion determine what is or isn’t moral?”
SO..to break the q’s down…
CAMILLE:

Reason:

Reason is the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments logically.
JENNICA:

Emotion:

Emotions provide us with energy in our search for knowledge, and sometimes act to justify our beliefs.
Six primary emotions – happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust – are found in all cultures.
Emotions can be an obstacle to knowledge – strong emotion can colour perception, distort logic and inflame language CAMILLE:

Morality:

Morality is the belief or recognition that certain behaviors are either “good” or “bad”. Some morals are very easy to accept and only the fringes of society might question or reject them.
JENNICA: Camille & I have come to the conclusion that to a great extent, reason and emotion determines what our opinion is on what is or isn’t moral because it’s in our nature to take our past exposures to certain areas of knowledge or even topics of discussion to guide us in deciding what’s right and wrong.
CAMILLE: Yeah, and when we were making notes on emotion earlier on in the year, we learned that making decisions that satisfy one’s conscience MUST consider both logical and emotional aspects of the possibilities.
Because—let’s face it—if we think too hard about the pros & cons of something, we’ll either take too long to decide or regret our decision and if we justify our decision solely on emotion, a lot of the things we’re going to argue makes NO sense. And either way, you’ll only come out a loser if you’re determining what’s moral or what isn’t under the basis of JUST logic and JUST emotion—there has to be a balance.

Arranged marriages vs. forced marriages
JENNICA: Ok, well before I get into this, I’d like to acknowledge that Camille & I have grown up and been exposed to different perspectives about arranged marriages.
CAMILLE: Yeah, growing up, I perceived arranged marriages to be a bad thing, up until recently did my justification and feelings about arranged marriages changed. See, the BIG difference is that one has consent of both parties involved in the marriage whereas the other doesn’t. And I’m more familiar with the latter.
JENNICA: Exactly, lots of people mistake arranged marriages with forced marriages, so:

-Arranged; usually a man is brought to the woman and the two meet have conversation, know very little about each other, but as they were brought together, and suggested by the family/parents makes it arranged. (YOUR

OTHER THINGS HERE)

-An arranged marriage is when a girl and guy are introduced to each other (and family) and are allowed to make a decision as to whether they would like to marry.
CAMILLE: Whereas,
-A forced marriage is one where neither party is given a choice or even given consent about it. “Forced" of course carries the implication that someone has no CHOICE which could also imply coercion, controlling, manipulation etc...And, though many of us can’t imagine a truly FORCED situation such as this—it still happens, even if it isn’t as common now as it was before. As I’ve said earlier, this type of marriage, forced marriage is how
I used to see arranged marriages to be. In most forced marriages, you don’t even get to meet the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with until the day of the wedding. So, I’m pretty sure everyone or most of us could (I hope so) agree that arranged marriages are more socially and morally acceptable in our culture.
JENNICA: We’ll save this discussion q’s for later, but just keep in mind: What do you feel/think about arranged marriages? CAMILLE: So after I learned about arranged marriages (and how totally different they are from forced marriages)
I contemplated and asked myself:

“How does perception and language affect our values?”
JENNICA: But we should probably define some terms first… So

Perception:

Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it allows us to act within our environment.
CAMILLE: Next term is language!

Language:

The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
JENNICA: And…

Value:

Your values are those elements of your life which you find personally important. They are core beliefs which guide you on how to conduct your life in a way that is meaningful and satisfying for you.
CAMILLE:
Values are the things you use to measure your choices, whether consciously or not. You use them to rationalise your behaviour towards yourself and others. And they determine your level of satisfaction with your choices, even if decisions are not freely made but constrained by other factors. Your values can help you to understand where you might find a role in society, and they are often a strong motivator for work. So in conclusion… we believe that

perception affects our values whenever we come into contact with situations that force or make us make a decision—whether it’s an easy one or not.
For example, in:

Same Sex Marriages
- There are a whole range of opinions displayed when the subject of “gay marriages” comes up. There are violent arguments for and against such a legal union.
These opinions could be from people around you, in the media, etc. I have parents who tolerate and find that same sex marriages should be culturally and socially acceptable because I have relatives who aren’t “straight”. So with this in mind, it’s kind of funny for me, now that I think about it, that I support gay marriage, but not arranged ones.
But that’s where language comes in to play.
JENNICA:
What is it about this subject that draws such vicious attacks and such vicious defense?
Some say that the societal values have always reflected the fact that marriage is a union that can only be consummated by a man and a woman, stating moral and ethical codes should be considered in allowing same sex marriages. Others say that marriage is between the two persons involved in the marriage therefore, sexual orientation shouldn’t interfere with the marriage.
There are varying definitions and descriptions of what a homosexual is, what a lesbian is and what the term
“gay” means. Then there’s the subject of bisexuality. It’s difficult to realistically utilize these differing terms without arousing a variety of emotions.
CAMILLE: Such controversial terms can bring us to a second real life situation about innocence and guilt or rather, are we innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent? Cause a long time ago, Quebec used to have the “guilty until proven innocent” mentality and actually had this as their French criminal law, which was then changed to “innocent until proven guilty” through the Quebec Act. More recently, the “innocent until proven guilty” is the most accepted.

Innocent until proven guilty
JENNICA: So
-Under US law (and the laws of most western countries) an individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This is a bedrock principle of the law, and applies to both military and civilian criminal courts. I suppose whether it is moral is a matter of opinion, but it is based on the moral notion that people should be free from punishment until their guilt has been established by some legitimate process.
CAMILLE:
That said, the law does allow a suspect to be detained and to be held in prison until such time as a trial can be started. The reason for this is to ensure the suspect does not attempt to flee the jurisdiction or otherwise avoid trial. Whether a person is guilty or innocent is an absolute fact (or so viewed by law). Either the accused did what was said or did not. Of course, the point of the legal system is to make that termination. So a guilty person is guilty as soon as they commit the crime.

JENNICA:
However, the government must prove that guilt by providing evidence at trial. Up until that time, the government must "presume" that the accused person is innocent of the crime. In other words the government must act as if the person was not-guilty, no matter how much evidence exists, until that person either pleads guilty or is found guilty at trial.
So to be clear, it is absolutely a cornerstone US criminal law that a person cannot be treated as guilty until proven innocent. Rather, it is quite the opposite. A person must be treated as innocent until proven guilty.