Ben Algeroy's BLOG

TOK What is Understanding

benalgeroy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:10:50 +0000

TOK What is Understanding

In the last class of TOK we discussed understanding and what it means to truly be understanding. At first we struggled at what understanding could be. Some argued that someone simply copying some one else action, such as how to change a light bulb does not use any amount of understanding but is simply following some one else’s actions. Some argued that even a miniscule amount of understanding on the subject is required to complete such an action. We never got to a real conclusion on the matter but we did come up with a good example to represent what we felt understanding was.

The example we used was that it was like building a Lego house. The lego pieces represented knowledge. Only when you can put this knowledge or ‘lego pieces’ together yourself and build something out of them do you truly have understanding. Without truly understanding the knowledge that you have you will never really be able to build a complete idea and you will just end up with random knowledge, some that goes together and others that don’t.

Getting a clearer definition on knowledge helped us when we came back to our previous discussion on the text describing what enlightening is. The text stated the enlightening is mans quitting the nonage occasioned by himself. Nonage is defined as the inability to make use of ones understanding without the guidance of another. I feel that this statement seems more logical after getting a clearer idea of what understanding is. Everyone has some amount of knowledge and facts in their minds but some people may not be able to understand and put these ideas together without the guidance of another, thus being in nonage.

TOK Enlightening Is response

benalgeroy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:38:15 +0000

Enlightening is,

We read a section (im not really sure where it was from) on what enlightening is in the last TOK class. The first line stated that ‘enlightening is man’s quitting the nonage occasioned by himself.’ Nonage is defined in the text as the inability of making use of ones own understanding without the guidance of another. One of the issues we had in the class after reading this was that many people felt that the meaning of nonage in the second line of the text didn’t really fit with its meaning in the third line. This led to a large discussion on what the true definition of nonage is. Im not really sure we ever really got to a clear definition for it either other than the one the author gave us in the second line. We related this topic back to the quote we had on a public school teacher a few classes ago. The quote stated that a public school teachers jobs was to teach dependency to the student and tell them what to do. We felt that this related very nicely back to nonage in the fact that you need the guidance of another to use your own understanding. This may be the way this particular teacher views his/her students.

I definitely feel I could have participated more in the discussion. I was feeling pretty tired and out of it but I guess that’s not really a good excuse. I am going to try to participate more verbally in the next discussion. Even if I feel a bit intimidated I know I shouldn’t be and I will add anything I feel is valuable.

TOK Goals

benalgeroy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:32:40 +0000

What are your personal goals for this class?

My personal goals for this class are to be more active and involved during discussions and to not hesitate to add something to the discussion that I feel is valuable. I have kind of struggled with this in my past years at woods but I think I am getting better. I also want to keep up to task with my reading in Socrates café that way I also can have more to bring to discussions. I want to gain the most I can out of this experience…

What do you think the class goals should be?

I feel that the goals for this class should be to respect each other, give everyone room to participate and to come prepared to each class. Following these goals can give the class a much more relaxed and comfortable environment. This will make it easier for everyone to get involved and gain an understanding of the topics in which we discuss.