my TOK essay

Submitted by tanvi kundliwal on Fri, 11/12/2009 - 3:10pm.

could you please have a look at my essay and tell where i need to improve upon.

"All of the other Ways of Knowing are controlled by language."What does this statement mean and do you think it is a fair representationof the relationship between perception, emotion, reason and language? Language is the raw material of knowledge. It simply means that without language, it would have been difficult to gain wisdom. It is one of the four ways of knowing. It plays a vital role in acquiring information from the other three ways of knowing, i.e. perception, reason, and emotion. Knowledge is nothing but true justified belief. According to Plato, “for us to say that we know something: it must be true; we must actually believe it; and there must be sufficient evidence for it.” His third rule requires evidence, which will involve the use of language. Language not only comprises of words, but also actions. We often acquire knowledge from books, actions and teachings. Without it we wouldn’t have been able to communicate and hence lack knowledge. We also know that mathematics is the only science which is true. Mathematics also has its own language. Would it be possible for people such as Archimedes and Newton to excel without the use of language? The answer is simple. There is no knowledge if it is devoid of language. Language is no doubt a fundamental tool. But it does not mean that language is the only way of knowing. I would like to emphasize that language is the base of perception, emotion and reason. All the four ways of knowing are interrelated with each other. It is like the water cycle. Without sun the water can’t evaporate and without water, there is nothing to evaporate. But ultimately, sun is at the higher position. In the same way, to gain knowledge, language is the ultimate. We perceive things from our five senses; eyes, nose, tongue, ears and skin. But would it be possible for us to know things without communication? For example, if there is fire in front of a two year old kid, until nobody tells him that he will be hurt, he will try to go there and probably burn himself. This was just a simple example. Every person has a different perspective. We can say that it is controlled by our language. Dr Athanasopoulos explains: “Our language forces us to cut up the world in different ways. Greek speakers systematically use two different terms to refer to blue: the sky is ghalazio (light blue), never ble (dark blue), and a blue pen is ble but can never be ghalazio. English speakers would have no problem calling both the sky and a pen blue in an 30 instant.” The researchers found differences in visual processing of light and dark blues between Greek and English speakers, suggesting that indeed, speakers of different languages literally have differently structured minds. It is said that we can conclude happiness from a smile and sadness from a frown. But, isn’t the action of smile or frown, a language? Emotion is a thing which can be expressed only through language. The facial expression of a person and his tone of talking reveal his emotion. Only when that boy who is burnt cries, we come to know that he is in pain. Language also has an effect on reasoning. In the western countries, black is used as the sign of mourn. Whereas here in India, we use white to indicate the same. Their culture is different and ours different. Therefore our way of reasoning is different. Therefore it would not be bias to say that all other ways of knowing are controlled by language. As we see that language is the base of all other ways of knowing. Perception of people using different language differs. It affects our emotion too. And one’s reasoning is also influenced by it. Therefore we can say that language affects perception, emotion, reason and the whole concept of knowledge itself. And hence I conclude repeating my statement that ‘all other ways of knowing are controlled by language.’

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