Tok Essay 2017 4aj2s

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"Humans are pattern seeking animals and we are adept at finding

patterns whether they exist or not" (adapted from Michael Shermer). Discuss knowledge questions raised by this idea in two areas of knowledge. The human brain seeks coherence, structure and order in the information that we receive from our senses. In order to make sense of the world around us, we seek to establish patterns that is to become recognizable to us. Intuitively, we believe that the collection of knowledge must have had some sort of pattern and the ability to seek these patterns is fundamental to our ability to learn from the knowledge that we have acquired. However, how certain are we that these patterns actually represent the knowledge that we are looking for? Michael Shermer said that the patterns that we find are often real, while at other times, they are just mostly manifestations of chance. This has therefore raised the question, “To what extent can the creation of patterns truly assist us in acquiring knowledge of the world around us?” Patterns often give the meaning of “something typical that can be repeated, something capable of repetition into smaller copies” (Grenader, 1996). To explore whether these patterns that we find really do assist in giving us knowledge, it is vital for us to specify the kind of knowledge that we seek for in of the Areas of Knowledge. An area of knowledge that we tend to see patterns in is history, which studies about the recorded past. George Santayana, a prominent figure in Classical American Philosophy once said that, “those who do not learn history are condemned to repeat it.” The words quoted from this famous philosopher indicates that human behaviour tends to repeat itself over time and in history this is known as historic recurrence. The repetition of similar events in history can facilitate us to identify patterns of historical events and these patterns can be used to infer about uncertain events or simply to make conclusion to predict the outcomes of problems occurring 1

in current events and propose solutions to solve it. For instance, the current political scandal in South Korea has been compared to the political scandal that led to the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917 1. The president of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye was revealed to be consulting a daughter of a cult leader, a shaman regarding official duties similar to how Tsar Nicholas II of Russia confided with Rasputin, a mystic monk. Tsar Nicholas’s actions led to the enragement of the royal family and the citizens alike which caused political parties calling for the downfall of their emperor. President Park Geun-Hye’s similar actions also led to a similar response from the citizens, calling for the impeachment of their president. The pattern that can be identified in both these situations will help us identify the actions that we could take to solve the current political scandal in South Korea based on what had happened to the Russian Empire. However, when making decisions based on history, it must be noted that there are uncertainties that come with it. The question of “Is knowledge of the past ever certain?” comes to light. Knowledge of the past is never certain and this is due to the lack of complete certainty of evidence there is to historical claims. When there is lack of complete certainty of the evidences provided, it is hard for us to come up with patterns from it. An example where there is not complete certainty in the evidence provided is the debate of the existence of Hang Tuah 2. Hang Tuah is known as a prominent figure in Malay history due to his loyalty to the king and his bravery. However, a debate sparked in the year 2012 where authorities had

1 Monitor, T. C. S., & Rosen, B. (2016, October 31). Rasputin-like scandal in South Korea echoes of dictatorial past. Retrieved December 21, 2016, from Asia Pacific, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2016/1031/Rasputin-like-scandal-in-SouthKorea-echoes-of-dictatorial-past

2 Bedi, R. s. (2012, January 22). Is Hang Tuah fact or fiction? - nation | the Star Online. Retrieved December, 2016, from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2012/01/22/is-hangtuah-fact-or-fiction/

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disagreements of whether this man was simply a myth or not. The argument of him being a myth came from the uncertainty in the evidences that proved his existence. The lack of certainty in the evidences provided causes it to be difficult to identify the patterns in the historical events because people were unsure whether these events really happened and to make decisions on current events based on the uncertain events would most likely produce the unwanted outcome. Natural Sciences also provide an interaction as to why humans seek for patterns. Natural Sciences is a branch of science that deals with the study of the physical world3. To understand how the world works, we tend to ask new questions about the things that are occurring around us and by using patterns, we can answer our inquiries. To identify patterns in natural sciences, experimentation is used and this will help refine the old patterns that we have employed which would make the patterns more general or specific. Experimentation is understood as the components of the traditional scientific method. Scientific method is important in order to explain the phenomenon in question as this is done through a series of process that begins with the hypothesis, experimentation, analysis and back to the prediction. From the results of the experiments that we have done, we can identify patterns and compare it with our hypothesis. The identification of pattern is crucial for scientists to use in their analysis in order to arrive at a valid conclusion. For instance, Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by incident due to him detecting an unusual pattern that he found in his experiment through his observations. Sir Alexander Fleming compared the pattern that he found in his experiment on influenza virus to the pattern that he found from his experiment with lysozyme. From the patterns that he

3 theoryofknowledge. The natural sciences. Retrieved December 22, 2016, from http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/areas-of-knowledge/the-natural-sciences/

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compared, it has led to the discovery of penicillin which was then used to treat infections caused by bacteria such as pneumonia. Some patterns in natural sciences, however, have long been accepted and this may be more difficult for us to disprove of, especially since they are widely accepted in the shared-knowledge community. This raises the question, “To what extent is the knowledge in the area of natural science conceived from pattern creation open to change?” Scientific knowledge is known to be durable since it is based on empirical evidences, it strives for objectivity. However, as it is a human endeavour, the process, the methods, and the knowledge relating to science all include subjectivity as this involves the creativity derived from the imagination of humans and discovery. For instance, a new study in 2015 discovers on how blood is formed affected the knowledge of how blood was made 4. The new research suggested that blood in the human body is formed a few steps earlier than what is previously believed. This has led to the opening of a new door that allowed for new studies and treatments relating to blood cells. In conclusion, patterns do give us valuable knowledge of the world surrounding us as it could be used to justify the phenomena around us and to predict our future movements. Since we are humans, we live each moment receiving massive amounts of sensory data and given our limited abilities as humans, the process of analysing and interpreting the moments we are experiencing as well as predicting our future movements may be exhausting and is almost impossible for us to do. We do not have immediate access to the reality surrounding us. Therefore, what us humans attempt to do is create a ‘net’ of life models and knowledge that resembles 4 Nield, D. (2015, November 9). New discovery changes everything we know about how blood is made. Retrieved December 22, 2016, from http://www.sciencealert.com/newdiscovery-changes-everything-we-thought-about-how-humans-make-blood

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the phenomena we observe around us almost similarly. However, not all knowledge we receive from the creation of patterns are perfect as the patterns themselves are sometimes not real. Therefore, as human beings it is important that we identify whether the patterns that we seek for is real for a better interpretation of the phenomena that is occurring around us. (1348 Words)

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Bibliography Archive for theory of knowledge. (2008, December ). Retrieved October 12, 2016, from https://neandergal.wordpress.com/tag/theory-of-knowledge Bedi, R. s. (2012, January 22). Is Hang Tuah fact or fiction? - nation | the Star Online. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2012/01/22/is-hang-tuah-fact-or-fiction/ Cotterill, T. (2013, March 30). Humans are pattern seeking primates hunting for habits. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from https://thomascotterill.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/humans-are-pattern-seekingprimates-hunting-for-habits/ Grenander, U. (1996). Elements of pattern theory: A catalogue Raisonne. Baltimore,Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press. johnnyzenith. (2015, February 24). Humans and the pattern seeking brain. Retrieved October 12, 2016, from https://thezenithblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/24/humansand-the-pattern-seeking-brain/ Monitor, T. C. S., & Rosen, B. (2016, October 31). Rasputin-like scandal in South Korea echoes of dictatorial past. Retrieved February 21, 2017, from Asia Pacific, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2016/1031/Rasputin-like-scandal-inSouth-Korea-echoes-of-dictatorial-past Nield, D. (2015, November 9). New discovery changes everything we know about how blood is made. Retrieved December 22, 2016, from http://www.sciencealert.com/new-discovery-changes-everything-we-thought-abouthow-humans-make-blood Shermer, M. (2012). Transcript of “the pattern behind self-deception.” Retrieved October 12, 2016, from https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_the_pattern_behind_self_deception/tran script?language=en theoryofknowledge. The natural sciences. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/areas-of-knowledge/the-natural-sciences/

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