joel8191 Posted June 9, 2008 Report Share Posted June 9, 2008 "In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance" - Henry MillerIs this true?Thoughts on the subject, examples, or counter-arguments?Just looking to get a second opinion. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lily Bean Posted June 9, 2008 Report Share Posted June 9, 2008 This is a hard title!! Religion, maybe?To be honest I don't totally understand the question, what the quote means by expanding the field of knowledge and increasing horizon of ignorance... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spynn Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I also thought about doing this one but I don't know if I willMy understanding of it was by gaining knowledge we end up with more questions than answers.There would be a bunch of examples of this in science, might be a bit harder to link it to other areas of knowledge though Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dedgardo Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 im doing this title for NO and really I found it a straight through one, you just need to divide knowledge, and yes as the previous user said, it's mostly linked with science but you can definetly find others, its just a matter of thinking well Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yodude888 Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 im doing this title for NO and really I found it a straight through one, you just need to divide knowledge, and yes as the previous user said, it's mostly linked with science but you can definetly find others, its just a matter of thinking wellThere's an interesting paradox in the sense that it seems to be assuming that you need to be aware of the fact you are being ignorant: to quote what an Oxfordmaths professor told me, "there more we discover, the more we realise we don't have the answers to." You've got to consider how you consider knowldge: finite or infinite. If it is infinite (and to a certain extent if it is finite) we can consider knowledge as a circle... the immediate area surring the circle (in other words c. its circumference) is the knowledge we are aware of our ignorance of. As our knowledge grows, and therefore the circle grows, the circumference increases.See what I'm getting at?(Sorry, it really shows I'm a maths freak!) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertomx Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 You've got to consider how you consider knowldge: finite or infinite. If it is infinite (and to a certain extent if it is finite) we can consider knowledge as a circle... the immediate area surring the circle (in other words c. its circumference) is the knowledge we are aware of our ignorance of. As our knowledge grows, and therefore the circle grows, the circumference increases.See what I'm getting at?(Sorry, it really shows I'm a maths freak!)i LOVED that analogy. the thing here is to consider the way our mind works. Curiosity killed the cat, right? well, we're pretty curious. the more we discover we want to know more and more. as people above mentioned, science is probably the one area with the most examples, but areas such as history or even maths can be used. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monica Posted July 6, 2008 Report Share Posted July 6, 2008 I'm also thinking of writing about this one because it's something I really agree with. In my opinion it has something to do with paradigms. The more we know (or at least think we know) the more difficult it gets for us to see other solutions, which maybe in other conditions would be very obvious. I only thought about science though, but religion is also a good idea . Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdf.almeida Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 (edited) Hey everyone doing this qu...What i discovered as i was trying to write it was that in terms of science or any subject, as we discover new information we constantly ask ourselves new and more complex questions thanks to the information we have discovered. so we are basically fuelling our own ignorance as we discover new information...Any ideas about this? Edited August 28, 2008 by mdf.almeida Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrgotiffany Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Very interesting! I think I will pick this topic for the TOK Essay as well. From my perspective, it might be easier to link it with history because of artifacts. One question: Is book sources a requirement? Or can online be used as well? Not that there is much that I have found on this topic anyways...hurrr Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeBlake Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 "In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance" - Henry MillerIs this true?Thoughts on the subject, examples, or counter-arguments?Just looking to get a second opinion.a superficial opinion...the more you learn, the more you can leave out....my teacher says that i got the idea of "expanding the knowledge" but she says that there is more to "ignorance" than what i see...this comment is more of a precaution than an opinion though, hope it hels[p Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrgotiffany Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 (edited) Hello guys!I need some help for some valuable sources for this topic that I think I am going to do!"In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance" Is this true?So, if you guys know some good sites that can help me, thanks! Any help or comment would be great!Thanks Edited September 9, 2008 by vrgotiffany Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smugblack Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...04212819AAxaEPMhttp://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads...edge-29878.htmlTry these.. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vrgotiffany Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...04212819AAxaEPMhttp://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads...edge-29878.htmlTry these.. Oh thank you!...But I was kind of hoping for...non-yahoo answers? Haha, articles or something would be more nice but I really appreciate it! The other forum was quite informative I hope we become friends! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancy_iv Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 this sorta has some insights on the topic =DSermon2005_May8_Whatyouneedtoknow.doc Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHAnkaramix Posted November 29, 2008 Report Share Posted November 29, 2008 I'm also one of u which decided to write the important TOK-essay on this topic...actually my IB is bilangual: german and english! Therefore I have to write my TOK-essay in german! All of u who has not TOK in english has to pay attention to the question in english because it's typical that IBO puts some tricky things into the question like the words "truth", "way of knowing" etc.. These words are pretty important to evaluate the question because then u are asked to discuss about these typical words, too!!!SO I just want to say that all non-english TOK-essay writers: pay attention to the orginal questions of the IBO! because there are sometimes hidden hints what the translater didn't recognized or even put some hints which not existed in the original question!ok back to the topic:My opinion to this statement is: that we more know about something(like death, universe, life, ...) the more we actually don't know: it's like Socrates once said:"I am the wisest man alive; for I konw one thing, and that is that I don't know nothing."I imagine it like this: imagine a tree. When we discovered something new or found something (history, biology,...) out; this is the big branch of the tree. But as we know there are many little branches and these represent our ignorance. As we more know and big branches emerge, more little branches occur...in nature there are no "big" branches without "little" branches...I hope I could give u a little more understanding of this topic...I know my image is a little complicated ...sry:) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkartoleksono Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 i think my opinion's a little bit superficial, but using an example, can it be possible when new math formulas are found, we are too ignorant to study it. or using another example, a speech by neil postman states that specialists generate jargon to shield itself from being learned by "outsiders", hence increasing the chance people getting lazy to study the said areas due to the difficulty in comprehending the languages. what do you think? or am i straying too far from the topic? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
avrila Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Finally I found someone who did on this topic.Well, I've done with my first draft and the teacher's comments is : " You have to explain some parts that are vague. You have answered the question quite well" I guess I understand this topic better than the rest. I touched on two Area Of Knowledge which are Natural Science and History as this two clearly indicates that the more we know, the more we do not know out of it. Then I include the Ways of knowing like reasons and truth. It's better if you can include the experience of your self. Just think of one. Like lesson in your class that can be relate to this topic. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aether Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hey, I am going to hand my ToK essay tomorrow, and I am having lots of trouble correcting it!! My teacher gave us the chance to hand a Rough Draft, and she gave me an A (31/40). However I want to make it better, and everytime I read the criteria, I get even more confused of what I need to do. The topic is "In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance." (Henry Miller) Is this true? . However, what does the IB really mean when they say things like "effective links and comparisons" , "high degree of insight", "sophisticated understanding of the knowledge issue", and how much should I "explore counterclaims" to consider them deep enough?! I am going crazy here, help!!!! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abu Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Um, if you got an A, then what's the problem. Please remove the CAPS from your thread title. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Isn't there the possibility of getting moderated down? Especially since it's a borderline A. OP - I dunno. I'd like to know too. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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