TOK2021 Languages, reason and metaphysics

TOK2022 Languages

TOK2023 Human language Using words is different from the communication of other species in the wild. Humans have two sorts of communication –Body language, like all other species. Emotional responses, which we don’t have much control over. –The human language with words. Symbols with a certain meaning, which refer to something in the world we share with other humans. Grouped words makes statements.

TOK2024 What do words mean? A dog – all dogs –A particular dog – the idea of a dog Is the idea inside or outside your mind? The meaning of words is hard to pin down. The meaning of words is something of a mystery.

TOK2025 Meaning - agreement Language is like a game with rules which you generally have to follow. The meaning of a word is based on a social agreement. This agreement exists before the individual.

TOK2026 What do sentences mean? By constructing sentences the rules of language come into play. A meaning of a sentence can not be reduced to the particular words it consists of. The construction of a sentence has a goal to express a true statement of the “real world”. The meaning of a sentence usually depends on the context. The context may be social, or it may be other sentences. Much of what is said and written assumes a certain knowledge in the listener/reader. If this assumption is wrong, the meaning may be lost or distorted.

TOK2027 Thoughts and words When I say something my brain is sending the message to the mouth. –Brain produces language. Are thoughts words? How do “I” think? Am “I” then talking to itself? Can I think without a language? Consciousness !!!?? Language

TOK2028 Language and knowledge When a child learns a language, he/she learns how the world is constructed - in a sociocultural context. Knowledge is embedded in language.

TOK2029 Reason and logic

TOK20210 Reason “Reason” for the purposes of this unit encompasses the following terms: –Logical rigor, critical thinking, logic, deductive logic, deduction and induction. Together with sense perception, emotion and language, reason is a fundamental tool that enables us, knowers, to construct a knowledge base we can share with each other. Historically: –Reason became valuable as a way to rebel against authority. Types of propositions: –Analytic, empirical, value judgment, metaphysical –(Truth tests: analytic proposition = coherence truth test, empirical proposition = correspondence truth test)

TOK20211 Important definitions and distinctions “True” versus “valid”. A proposition is true or false (=truth test). An argument is valid or invalid. Argument: –A series of premises followed by conclusion. Syllogism: –A deductive argument. Fallacy: –An invalid argument, i.e. an argument in which the conclusion does not logically follow from the premises.

TOK20212 Deductive versus inductive reasoning Deduction begins with a general statement (All, Non, Some...) and reaches a conclusion about a particular case (Bill, the cat...) All people have ten fingers Bill is a person..Bill has ten fingers This is an example of valid deductive syllogism. All arguments of the form: All P is Q P___________..Q are valid, no matter what P and Q stand for.

TOK20213 “Induction” Induction begins with observations of particular instances and arrives at a general conclusion: My grand parents, my parents, my siblings have ten fingers All people I know have ten fingers All people my friends know have ten fingers (X number of further observations required here:" Inductive leap”)..All people have ten fingers It suffices that one counter-example be found to counter zillion observations. The empirical propositions used as premises in a deductive argument must be arrived at inductively.

TOK20214 Informal logic does not demand that the reasoning be laid in any particular form, but in every speech and every text there is logic, otherwise it would be nonsense. But there are many errors made in logical thinking, sometimes by purpose and sometimes not.

TOK20215 Metaphysics The branch of philosophy that deals with the basic questions about reality. Examples: Determinism versus indeterminism Materialism versus idealism

TOK20216 Determinism- > causal principle Everything that happens is determined by prior causes. Every event is the necessary result of the chain of causes leading up to it, chain that runs infinitely into the past. The state of the universe at any particular moment could not be otherwise From a given state of the universe there can only be one possible future. All future states of the universe are – in principle – completely predictable.

TOK20217 Science and determinism The mechanistic deterministic view of the world has been a basic presupposition of modern science over the past four centuries. Most of the progress of science over that time is based on the principle that the universe is a system of objects moving and interacting according to fixed natural laws.

TOK20218 The practice of science? To find “the natural laws” and “puzzle” the entire reality with explanations according to the natural laws A scientific theory’s ability to predict an outcome of an experiment has been a crucial moment for it’s scientific value.

TOK20219 Quantum mechanics denies determinism! A crucial part of quantum mechanics is the indeterminacy principle: –The behavior of individual electrons in certain circumstances are not causally determined and therefore impossible to predict. –We can predict that a certain part of a bounce of electrons in a given situation will behave in a certain way but we cannot be sure how any particular electron will behave. The indeterminacy, is not a matter of our own uncertainty; it inheres in nature.

TOK20220 Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr Albert said to Niels: ‘God does not play dice’ Niels reply: ‘Albert stop telling God what to do!’

TOK20221 Chaos theory There are some systems and subsystems that are so complex, and in which small variations in initial conditions can lead to such massively different outcomes, that accurate predictions are impossible. Chaos theory is compatible with both determinism an indeterminism.

TOK20222 Freedom versus determinism Common sense tells us that we have free will. Classical sciences view of the world and the success of the sciences provide good reason for accepting determinism.

TOK20223 Free will Practical freedom –Is to do what one wishes, to realize one’s desires. Metaphysical freedom –Freedom of the will –Means being ultimately responsible for one’s choices

TOK20224 Determinism is true, freedom is an illusion Hard determinism: –The “free” choices of human individuals are like anything else in the universe subject to the causality law

TOK20225 Defending free will By intuition –I feel that I am making free choices, choosing between Coke or Pepsi, coffee or tea. –A very persuasive argument but simple and not very convincing after a closer look. Moral institutions rest on the assumption that we are free. –If we are not acting freely no one is truly responsible for any of their actions. Not very convincing either.

TOK20226 Attack on determinism’s own internal coherence Determinism seems to undermine a basic presupposition of rational discussion, because their conclusion is only the predetermined outcome of a long causal chain. Ideally, at least we ought to arrive at our theoretical beliefs solely on the basis of evidence and argumentation.

TOK20227 Soft determinism Hobbs, Lock and Hume accept Practical freedom as a notion of free will. They are criticized for superficial plausibility With closer look they still end up with hard determinism.

TOK20228 Indeterminism? How is free will possible? Volition= an act of will which is free of being caused, is not an effect of anything; just occurs. If it just happens then you do not govern it! The quantum mechanics model? Some mental event which is nonmaterial, free from physical laws (soul)?

TOK20229 Indeterminism versus determinism! Is there a free will or is it not?

TOK20230 Idealism versus materialism

TOK20231 Some examples of materialism from history of philosophy Thales 585 B.C., the first of philosophers: –A uniform reality underlies the many ways things appear to us, that reality is water Democritos 420 B.C. suggested atoms Empedocles B.C.. –Earth, water, air and fire Physicalism, the modern atomic theory –Different elements are composed of the same stuff: Electrons, neutrons, protons and so on. –The word physicalism is supposed to cover the relativity theory of matter and energy are interchangeable as a version of materialism.

TOK20232 Materia – Consciousness Materialism-determinism-free will is an illusion Materialism in metaphysics is –The reality is essentially material –All explanations must ultimately be descriptions of material entities and processes. Where does consciousness come in?

TOK20233 Materialism versus idealism Which is more prior or basic the physical or the mental? Physicalism views the physical as primary. –Matter is prior to minds –Matter is more fundamental than minds –Matter existed before minds - temporal priority Idealism is the opposite view that gives priority to the mind. –Christian tradition - god is a pure spirit Creation - soul...

TOK20234 Idealism Religious - Naive - Modern - Immanuel Kant : –Transcendental idealism The world we inhabit and science describes has the character it does, because it is known by us. Mind does not create the world but it does shape it at a very deep level...

TOK20235 “Things in them selves” according to Kant The world as it appears to us is not reality as it is in itself. The world in itself is the source of our experience. The things in themselves are not objects for experience. Our experience provides the ‘content’ of our sense-perceptions, which our mind renders intelligible through the imposition of form.