Specter of Reason

The following is a post I put together for my TOK class this year:  We're often told to listen to reason and not our emotions.  Emotions might help us in the moment, but they won't help us in the long run.  Emotions are about immediate gratification (getting what you want right away, living for the moment), not long-term planning.  Emotions are wild and unpredictable.  Reason is domesticated, calm and respectable. But is that really so? Or is the truth more like this:  People who try to change your mind about something by telling you not to follow your emotions are actually being hypocrites.  When they tell you not to follow your emotions, they are actually appealing to your emotions.  They are appealing to your sense of responsibility, and where does responsibility come from, if not emotions? Emotions give us love, empathy, compassion, joy and excitement.  Emotions may just be the glue that holds society together. Consider this sce...

The following is a post I put together for my Theory of Knowledge class this year: How important is your language for your sense of identity--your identity as an individual, but also as a member of a nation?  It's common nowadays to associate a nation with a language, even though many nations have more than one national language.  Should a nation be defined by a single language? Consider what political factors have shaped the language that you speak.  Why do you speak Polish, Flemish, Danish, Czech, German, Russian or English?  Why did you grow up learning your native tongue, and why are you learning new languages today?  Are you learning new languages so that you can join new knowledge communities?  Bigger knowledge communities?  Better knowledge communities? Communities rely on communication.  Community, communicate:  Both words come from the latin root,  communia , meaning a large gathering of people sharing a way of life. Commu...

What follows is a collection of illusions I put together for my Theory of Knowledge class this year:  Everybody's familiar with optical illusions, but there are other kinds as well.  We experimented with tactile illusions in class and I mentioned that there are also aural illusions.  Have you experienced any other kinds of illusions?  Illusions of taste or smell? Here are some optical and auditory illusions to enjoy.  What do they reveal about the limits of sense perception? First, an image.  When you look at it for the first time, you might not see a pattern at all.  It just looks like random black spots on a white background.  But eventually, all of a sudden, you can see a picture. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. Here's another one with the same effect:             These examples raise the question:  How much of what we see depends on what we have learned to see? The same phenomenon c...