Knowing Me

Response #4

One of the central ideas of the IB Program and of ToK is that the 'knower' is first. YOU are the person that has to receive and interpret all the information that comes to you. Knowing yourself is an important part of that process, since it helps you to evaluate not just the validity of information but also how relevant it is to you personally. As such, write a blog response that evaluates yourself regarding the Ways of Knowing. Choose three Ways of Knowing that you think influence your day-to-day life and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you feel that imagination is highly influential in your life, how is this seen and what may be the dangers or advantages of using it? Even though this blog response should concentrate on you, make sure you consider different contexts and perspectives.

The most prevalent way of knowing in my decision making is reason. I know this because when I make choices I always think about the result of those choices, and how they will affect me and people around me in the future. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the only WOK that influences my everyday decision making as all of them play a role, as small as it may be, in our everyday lives. This also does not mean that reason is always predominant, as the most influential WOK changes based on the circumstances and context. The reason why we focus on some WOKs more that others is our backgrounds and the way every individual has been raised; this includes people, natural environment, and culture.

Having reason as a principal way of knowing can be valuable in many circumstances. Firstly, it enables me to think in a manner which effectively reduces any negative outcomes of my decision as well as enables me to chose a path which is efficient such that it takes the least amount of time and effort to complete. When multiple choices are posed, pros and cons are evaluated to determine and predict which would have the best outcomes for me as an individual. As reasoning is based of the theory of cause and effect, educated guesses are made as to which decision would give the most agreeable outcome. For example, when managing my time, I would always think to maximize the amount of leisure time I have rather than go with what I feel like doing at the moment and procrastinating. Another example is when looking for a university to attend, I would think about the balance between saving money and receiving a good education.

Looking at the negative aspects of reasoning, it generally pulls me away from following my heart to something I actually want to do. Looking at the examples above, when I think about doing my work as soon as possible rather than procrastinating, I do get better results but in the process I don’t have my heart into what I’m doing and that in turn could increase negative results rather than positive results and waste more time as well. Therefore, this creates tension between reason and emotion as WOKs.

Emotion is my second most prevalent way of knowing which frequently overpowers emotion as well. Emotion is what keeps me happy and away from pain; it may not be the most efficient way or the one with the most long term benefits, but it certainly feels like the best decision in the moment. Emotion also plays a major role where a risk is being taken; here, reason doesn’t have anything to base itself on, so emotion comes in to tell us if the risk is worth the loss it may have for us. Furthermore, they help when a decision has to be made in a rush and there’s no time for rational thinking. For example, when considering the cliché game of having a choice of people and choosing one who will live, if placed in a realistic life or death situation, instead of looking at the positives and negatives of saving a person, you would think about who you value more. One situation where emotion could have a negative impact is when establishing a relationship with a person; while reason says that I should get to know the person better, emotion pushes me to get closer with them. This can end up to be a decision which is deeply regretted and this is the downfall of emotion.

The third WOK which influences me is faith. This way of knowing is like the base of everything; without having faith in something, it is impossible to be happy in life or understand anything in this world. Scientists have faith in science, people have faith in other people, and some have faith in a divine entity. Having faith in things enables me to understand my environment better and to have meaningful relationships with people. Though a downfall would be having faith in something unreliable and regretting the decision later, such as bad advice on a matter of health or, once again, trust in a person who breaks it.