Save the Ainu language

Brief Background
Region: Asia
Country: Japan
Speakers: 15 in Japan
Ethnic population: 15,000 in Japan

People and Culture
This language is one of the dialects spoken in Hokkaido, one of the islands of Japan. It is one of the nineteen dialects spoken on the same island. It is classified as an isolated language and it is not as if people are dying who speak it. Over time people who spoke the language in it's pure form are old and dying since it originated in 1897. But the language itself isn't disappearing it is just being adopted into regular Japanese. Over time it has evolved to become more and more like Japanese and it evolving to be the same as the main language. The dialects are not needed anymore since people find it easier to get from island to mainland and need to be able to communicate.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ain

Why save the Ainu language?
They write in Katakana script which is very important to understand for the people of Japan and the islands. It is true to Japanese culture, and all of  the historical documents and ancient sources are written in Katakana. It is still being taught in schools but more people are finding a simpler writing system and learning different languages such as english and mandarin for business and trading purposes.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ain
https://www.google.com/search?q=katakana+script&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=SmdXT47YJ8Ls0gG2sqDlDw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CA0Q_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667

Image
This is an example of the Katakana language that they are taught how to use when writing their names.

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=fwO5DMW6LYwvOM:&imgrefurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/feb/06/learn-japanese-script-katakana&docid=KrJUYhhxw6ekBM&imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/countries/2010/2/3/1265213511042/Japanese-script-table-kat-001.jpg&w=460&h=521&ei=UGdXT-r4Debn0QGcis3WDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=375&vpy=134&dur=3916&hovh=239&hovw=211&tx=108&ty=127&sig=107986745431102092791&page=1&tbnh=143&tbnw=126&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0


http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=_Z23anxeErwlFM:&imgrefurl=http://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanmaps/l/blmap.htm&docid=OUsULQU4tW2cMM&imgurl=http://0.tqn.com/d/gojapan/1/0/e/D/japanmap.gif&w=332&h=340&ei=f2pXT73DNKrL0QGA0MHhDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=345&vpy=171&dur=6365&hovh=227&hovw=222&tx=156&ty=66&sig=107986745431102092791&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=130&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0



  http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=VGK-zxjzOYnK1M:&imgrefurl=http://www.geosymbols.org/World/Hokkaido/Flag&docid=UZSrQQ4yvUNIpM&imgurl=http://www.geobop.org/images/GS/flags/world/eur/jpn/300/hok.png&w=300&h=200&ei=tmpXT7DuCsbv0gG7gtTfDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=927&vpy=202&dur=405&hovh=160&hovw=240&tx=63&ty=76&sig=107986745431102092791&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=173&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0

Symbols in Language

1. What is(are) the cultural origin(s) of the symbol? 
2. Describe the knowledge portrayed by the symbol.
3. Is the symbol emotive, ambiguous or vague? 
4. What are the problems of knowledge you identify for the symbol?

1) This symbol originates from ancient Egypt, is a symbol that represented the goddess of life and death who was known as Hathor. It was said she used it to create life. Is sometimes known as the key to the Nile. 

2)  The symbol represents a goddess  of life but later on in Egypt it became associated with the Pharaoh's physician Imkotep who died and was made a god of medicine, so it is also associated with medicine in Egypt. It means healing or life. Today is is associated with pharmaceutics companies.

3)The symbol is ambiguous because it once represented both life an death, but it is also emotive since it can be taken in a very positive, or a very negative way.   

4)Problems of knowledge could be not knowing what the symbol meant. Or it could be assuming that since the symbol is also called the "Key of the Nile" that it represents the river instead of medicine or the goddess Hathor. 

Thought and language

Is it possible to think without language?  How does language facilitate, extend, direct or limit thinking?

It is not possible to have a conscious organized thought without language but it is possible to think or at least it is possible to make connections between things. Babies are the best example of this because babies are able to learn although there is no evidence and no way that they can actually be born already speaking and understanding one language. Thought is a very complicated thing and I think that language is required in order to have a complex thought like “I am hungry I think I will have dinner now what do I need to do in order to find food?”  but before language was created the human species did survive without it instead of thinking he complex phrase above they might have seen food, felt hunger and eaten it. They were able to make the connection between their feelings of hunger and the food that would make it go away without thinking about it. I think that language does facilitate more thoughts and it definitely helps direct and organize thought. How well you are able to speak a language is related to how complicated and direct your thoughts will become. When I am speaking English and thinking in English I can be deep and complicated and have organized thought processes. But when I am in French or Latin class I find myself speaking in more simple phrases and even thinking more simplistically. I think that as the complexity of language increased the mental capacity of our species also expanded.
wors count: 242

Exploring Counter claims

The article I chose was the article about the three strikes law in California about repeat offenders. One counter claim that could be made is that people all deserve a second chance and people make mistakes, but the same argument could be made for a serial killer or a terrorist. If you don’t want to go to prison then don’t commit the crime. “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime”. Another argument that can be made in defense of the criminals is that they were addicted to drugs and they did it to feed their addiction. People don’t need to commit crimes, I am sure that there are people who had problems with drugs that never had to revert to illegal extracurricular activities, it is an addiction but if you had to steal to feed it then the addiction isn’t worth it. Besides a drug addict isn’t forced to take the drug, they made the decision or choice to use drugs either without considering the consequences or they knew what would happen and they are just reaping what they sow, but ignorance and disregard for their personal welfare are not justifiable excuses for violating another citizens constitutional rights. In America every single citizen has the right to life, property, and the pursuit of happiness, someone who violates that is breaking the law and should be punished. If they do it once a normal punishment is acceptable I guess but if they do it again and again it is wrong to let them go, it wasn’t their things they stole they had no right to those things but they took them any way.   

Reasons as a way of knowing: Logical Fallacies

Appeal to Pity:
When a person attempts to create pity for teh argument instead of adding another claim. Pity does not serve as evidence for a claim. "1+1=46 because I'm dying."
Slippery Slope:
When a person says something must happen after the first event without any evidence and they continue making concluding claims that do not inevitably follow the first claim even though they are presented to be supportive. "You have to get an A+ on your report card or you'll be working at McDonalds for the rest of your life and be miserable."
Appeal to authority:
This is when something is assumed to be true just because the person making the claim is supposed to be an expert. "Sara knows all about fashion therefore if she is wearing socks and sandals they must be in fashion."
Appeal to fear:
When someone makes a claim intended to induce fear then makes a supporting claim that must be true because it is generally related. "You had better admit that God is real, if you do not then you will suffer in Hell."
Red Herring:
A.K.A wild goose chase, smoke screen. This is when another topic is introduced into the discussion in order to distract away from the original claim, it is a way to win by redirecting the course of the discussion with a red herring. ""We admit that this measure is popular but we urge you to note that there are so many bond issues on this ballot that the whole thing is getting ridicules.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc:
A.K.A False cause, questionable cause.An argument saying that because something happened first then the thing that happened after it was because of that thing even if the two are not related. "I first kissed James in first grade, now I'm pregnant with Cory's baby in 12th grade."
Upload the link(I hope I did this right)
Obama Ad Seven:
This is an example of the fallacy appealing to pity or appealing to fear. They are saying because John McCaine has seven houses that he will not be able to do anything about the housing crisis. They make you feel bad for the young child living in a small house then blame John McCaine even though the two aren't really related, they also introduce fear in order to make people afraid for their belongings in order to make people more willing to listen to their claims and under supported conclusion.
http://www.fallacydetective.com/news/read/fallacies-from-obama-and-mccain

Man is a Measure

7) He means that everything humans try to perceive is an issue and that before we can make sense of them our brain must understand them. In short we can't perceive anything until after our brain understand it.
8) Society makes us believe that natural looking means something, therefore when we see something as the way it is naturally, we are really thinking that is the way society thinks it looks naturally
9). When Bruce saw an actual living rhinoceros and how dissimilar it was from Durer's model, he still made it the same this is because it wasn't how he had always imagined they would look.
11) What you think before you see something, what you have been trained to believe is what you re going to affect your perception of things. This could mean that all studies should be conducted as a double blind study so that the researchers expectancy and researcher bias does not affect the outcome of the study itself. 

deception and truth telling

I think that deception is generally bad but I agree with the statement that sometimes lying is not morally debilitating if no harm is done "white lies". Lying is necessary for the area of knowledge called knowledge by description. When people are describing things to other people or teaching them about it then sometimes deception is necessary. Like the artist who staged the photo to teach people how things would normally look, he was being honest about what he had seen but he was using deception when he said that the photo was accurate. Plus when people describe things that tend to embellish to get a point across which could be another form of deception.

The Basis of Knowledge from Reuben Abel's 1976

8)

1. sense perception-only what is true can be known 
2. logic-one can believe without knowing but one cannot know without believing 
3. intuition-to distinguish knowledge from a lucky guess
4. self-awareness-the evidence of true belief could be destroyed with knowledge 
5. memory-memory is no guarantee of truth 
6. authority-authority is a justification of knowledge
7. consensus gentium  ('everybody says so')-before disregarding the justification of knowledge we must examine the basis of truth
8. revelation-it is a reason of justification that seems unreliable
9. faith-faith is a requisite of knowledge but not  a guarantee of it

1. How did you react to your results?  Were you surprised?  Angry or hurt? Pleased?  Discuss what you felt and why you think you felt what you did. I was not surprised by the results and was actually pleased by them. I had never considered myself a racist but when i was told to take a test i was afraid they would tell me i am. But I'm not so it's all good. I think that i the 21rst century people should have moved past the racism thing and become more concerned with global warming or something. It's already been proven that neither white or black or Hispanic people are genetically superior. 
2. Do you believe that your test results say something about you that you should pay attention to?  Why or why not? I think that they tell me that I am a result of my upbringing and I am a result of what i want to be. I didn't want to be racist so I am not, and I was raised by an open minded family which i hope will help me keep an open mind throughout my life. 
3. Do you think that these tests are valid?  When you first saw your results, did you question or accept the tests' validity? I accepted the tests validity because it was what i predicted the results would be. I think they are as close to valid as it is possible to become because it is really hard to measure or test an emotion. 
4. Give examples of the cultural messages that many support attitudes linking a dominant group in your nation or culture with "good" or "superior" attributes and a subordinate group with "bad" or "inferior" ones. Are these attitudes generalizations that can be called stereotypes?  How can generalizations be distinguished from stereotypes? An example of a racist thing is the media, i feel like most of the heroes and heroines in movies are white Americans. I also think that the media is changing that and african americans are taking the screen more and more which is obviously a good thing because there are a lot of super awesome african american actors and actresses. 
5. If some of our consciously held beliefs, attitudes, and values are undermined by what Gladwell,another writer we'll be reading soon....http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html, calls rapid cognition (others call this intuitive thinking or even gut feelings), what do you suggest we can do to combat jumping to (false) conclusions? It would help to enter every situation with an open mind and to practice changing your racist or instinctive thoughts. I don't think there is really anything you can do to control your gut feelings and i think it might be a bad thing to try, instinct help us to stay alive. If you see someone who makes you uncomfortable and is looking at you like they want to eat you, and your gut is telling you to run away... it might be good to just listen to your gut and run. It could be dangerous to ignore our instincts completely.  

Why Tok?

What are the reasons should you, or do you have to, take TOK?
Personally I am taking TOk because since I go to an I.B school and I want to recieve the full I.B diploma it is a requirement of the course to complete the TOK class with a passing grade. I also think it would look good on a ollege applicaton because I AM going to college.
On a more worldly basis I think that TOK can help people across the world understand each other and how we come to think---
TOK can help you understand yourself in reference to the world not just your own dimension. It can helo you know yourself and others as learners.

What every baby knows reflection

It is pretty interesting to learn that over the last thirty years we have learned more about babies and young children than in the entire history of  mankind. The author mentions that babies and young children have fairly complex ideas about the way the world works and they are changing and devoloping and testing these ideas from birth, I'd like to know if these theories change or develope faster due to the ethnicity, environment or upbringing of the child. Or if all childrens mind are programmed with the same theories and eventually change as they are introduced to varying environments. I also want to know how they tesy tested the brain capacity of very young children since it must be hard to get the cooperation of someone who can't comprehend what you are doing or what they should be doing. The example I thought was incredible wass that after being born forty five minutes earlier the new born child could interpret the expressions on a grown mans face and recognize that they too could produce these images onto their own faces. They had never seen a mirror, so how did they know that the man above them was doing something they themselves could do? That is what the scientists are trying to figure out.

What is TOK anyway?

TOK is a class created by the I.B that i have to take if i want to pass this year as a junior and get into a good college... i think. They ask you a lot of impossible questions and laugh when you can't answer it.

One way of knowing and one area of knowledge.

History is the outside area of knowledge I chose.