Theory of Knowledge
Let us start at the very beginning.
What is your consideration of YOURSELF as KNOWER?
Take a few minutes now to profile you as knower.
Begin with this question: how do we know?
Add to it, how do we know we know?
Map as Metaphor
1. What is a map?
1. What is the purpose behind a map?
1. What is the most commonly accepted type of map?
Look up the evolution of maps, from Mercator to Peters.
Consider the different styles/types of maps...cylindrical, conical, single centred
http://geology.isu.edu/geostac/Field_Exercise/topomaps/images/projections.jpg
So, consider again what the purpose is behind maps and mapping.
Mercator Map emerged in 1569 as a navigational tool but remains adopted by such
companies as Rand-McNally which creates the perception that it is accurate. The
shapes of continents were distorted but the scale of longitude/latitude was purposeful
for navigators. Problem emerged when it became adopted as standard. How we saw
the world was not how it was.
For the earth is more than a spherical orb. When we talk about the earth we consider
(consciously or otherwise) time zones; economic zones...1st versus 3rd world...culture,
Western culture versus Eastern culture, cultural paradigms, sense of ownership...sense
of ownership - the school desk.
However there is much dispute about it. The trouble comes from shaping a sphere upon
a flat surface. Further, it returns to the idea of what is the purpose behind a map?
If we expect the map’s picture of the world as representative of how the world really is,
then we afford tremendous power and influence upon the map and by extension to its
creators and their biases and subjectivity. We must accept that some maps are better
than others. Maps can be inaccurate. They can be faulty. They can be deliberately
constructed to impose borders (what, after all, is a border?) Such delineations may be
found accepted by particulars cultures but rejected by the world community; thus,
imaginary lines can have political, ethical, moral implications to them.
For if we use maps to prove or design ownership, then we begin to speak of the earth in
terms of property.
http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa030201b.htm
In 1989, seven North American professional geographic organizations
(including the American Cartographic Association, National Council for
Geographic Education, Association of American Geographers, and the
National Geographic Society) adopted a resolution that called for a ban
on all rectangular coordinate maps.
WHEREAS, the earth is round with a coordinate system composed
entirely of circles, and
WHEREAS, flat world maps are more useful than globe maps, but
flattening the globe surface necessarily greatly changes the
appearance of Earth's features and coordinate systems, and
WHEREAS, world maps have a powerful and lasting effect on peoples'
impressions of the shapes and sizes of lands and seas, their
arrangement, and the nature of the coordinate system, and
WHEREAS, frequently seeing a greatly distorted map tends to make it
"look right,"
THEREFORE, we strongly urge book and map publishers, the media
and government agencies to cease using rectangular world maps for
general purposes or artistic displays. Such maps promote serious,
erroneous conceptions by severely distorting large sections of the
world, by showing the round Earth as having straight edges and sharp
corners, by representing most distances and direct routes incorrectly,
and by portraying the circular coordinate system as a squared grid.
The most widely displayed rectangular world map is the Mercator (in
fact a navigational diagram devised for nautical charts), but other
rectangular world maps proposed as replacements for the Mercator
also display a greatly distorted image of the spherical Earth.
Use of “map” is a metaphor to explore facets of this course.
So, a map represents particular perspectives, but to understand perspectives, we must
address what your understanding of that word. What does perspective mean to you?
Consider these terms as fluid; intangible; complex; influential; open to critical evaluation
What we know and our stances on this knowledge affect what we will do, how we go
forward.
Considerations: family; education; religion; society; pop culture; culture
Further, who are (y)our sources of knowledge?
What else provides us with knowledge?
What is our first source of knowledge?
Culture:
Diverse, fluid, multifaceted
What does the term culture mean to you?
(learned behavior, family, aesthetics, rules, mores, ritual, clothing)
Clifford Geertz: “Culture is the fabric of meaning in terms of which human beings
interpret their experience and guide their action.
“A framework of beliefs, expressive symbols, and values in terms of which
individuals define their world.”
I. The idea of “culture”
From Clyde Kluckhohn’s Mirror of Man, Geertz lists the following potential
meanings of “culture”:
1. "the total way of life of a people"
2. "the social legacy the individual acquires from his group"
3. "a way of thinking, feeling, and believing"
4. "an abstraction from behavior"
5. “a theory on the part of the anthropologist about the way in which a group
of people in fact behave”
6. "a storehouse of pooled learning"
7. "a set of standardized orientations to recurrent problems"
8. "learned behavior"
9. “a mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior”
10. “a set of techniques for adjusting both to the external environment and to
other men"
11. "a precipitate of history"
12. a behavioral map, sieve, or matrix
What role/influence does the education system play?
What are your thoughts about this system?
What subjects are taught/not offered/valued more/valued less?
What is a “good” student?
http://academic.csuohio.edu/as227/spring2003/geertz.htm