The+Map+is+not+the+Territory

"No online or paper map has yet succeeded in stretching a round planet onto a flat surface." (Mark Vanhoenacker) http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html





The author of your text, van de Lagemaat, has proposed a couple of solutions to the Problem of Knowledge (there is no such thing as a perfect map; or our view of the world is largely uncertain): We will read about each of these, discussing them in turn.
 * Certainty
 * Relativism

=Relativism= These are statements and questions that deal with relativism. Remember, relativism is the idea that there is no such thing as absolute truth that exists in an objective way independent of what anyone happens to believe is true. In other words, __truth is relative __ and may be different for different individuals or different cultures.

Your group must present the quote/question that is given to it: 4 ||~ clear and specific 3 ||~ somewhat vague 2 ||~ vague or null 1 || to TOK/relativism ||  ||   ||   ||   || || ="What should we believe?"= We will then talk about judgement, gullibility, scepticism, and finally reasonable knowledge.
 * Present your reaction/response (whether you agree/disagree and why)
 * Give one or two examples to support your position
 * Explain how it is connected to relativism or TOK
 * Each person must say something
 * ~  ||~ clear, specific, detailed
 * coherent response ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * examples given ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * explanation of relation
 * all members speak ||= (all) || (some) || (one) ||

Judgement
This helps in deciding what to believe. It can be seen as the ability to balance skepticism with being open-minded.

Gullibility
Basically, believing most things or everything that you hear or read.









Reasonable Knowledge In order to determine if a knowledge claim is knowledgeable, it is important to take into consideration two criteria: 1) evidence 2) coherence

Evidence -
> > What's wrong with this argument?
 * Person #1: "I think that there are little green men living on Mars"
 * Person #2: "That's not true"
 * Person #1: "You can't prove that there aren't"
 * (there's no positive evidence to support this belief; it is always difficult to prove a negative)
 * The fact that you can't prove that something //isn//'t true does nothing to show that it //is// true
 * This is an **argument //ad ignorantium//**


 * It is also important to look for evidence that counts against our beliefs, not just for evidence that confirms our beliefs
 * The tendency to only see evidence that supports our beliefs is called **confirmation bias**.
 * ex) horoscopes

Coherence-
= whether a belief fits in with our current understanding of things
 * we should be open to new ideas, but be cautious of things that isn't relative to the current state of knowledge
 * ex) telepathy
 * do question #2, p. 15 out loud