TOK Journal #11, Date of Writing: 01/06/10 - 08/07/2010, Topic: Do WE Have the RIGHT to Judge People?

I was thinking about a fight I had with someone I knew today. I got fairly angry at them, quite worked up about it and I formed an opinion on this person. I wished them less than plesent things, as you do when ya get pissed off at someone! But then I thought about what I knew, what I throught I knew, what I didn't know, what I couldn't know, my emotions and how they influenced my opinion....... and I thought. Do we, as humans, have the right to judge our fellow humans?

Opinions are formed so easily... it is quite often we formulate an opinion about someone based on very little knowledge - what they are wearing, for example, is a common basis for opinion. What they say is another. When I say opinons, I mean more judgements based on very little actual fact. We all do it, its just a question of weather or not we really have a right to do it.

I think it is the lack of fact - or at least the inevitible narrow scope of it - that is the real issue. We don't know everything that is going on in the heads and lives of anyone but ourselves, and some of us don't even know that much. We cannot judge a person as being 'good' or 'bad,' as being mentally 'healthy' or 'sick,' for example, with any degree of accuracy without knowing all of the background information relating to it, something that is virtually impossible to get from anyone else. On top of this, we also need to understand the state of mind or attitude of the person in question. It is simply impossible for anyone but that particular person to know all of these things, totally accuratly, at once. This is why we do not have the right to judge others.

In the bible, it is recorded that we as humans do not have the right to judge. All we should do is forgive, turn the other cheak and let God do the judging when that person dies and (apparently) goes to heven. I am not religous, but I see a seed of truth in that statement.

TOK Journal #10, Date of Writing: 08/07/10, Topic: Science, Knowledge and our imagination

"Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to our imagination." -unknown author.

I did some reflecting on this statement and developed several response to it involving theory of knowledge and knowledge issues and just wanted to share them here.

RESPONSE ONE: Knowledge as most see it is either right or wrong, true or false - one of two distinct answers that have no alternative and are true for everyone. Plato, however, defined knowledge as a "justified true belief." Analysing each of these words, it can be said that knowledge is particular to a person. Also, without emotion (to believe) there cannot be knowledge. Imagination is something that comes at least somewhat from emotions... nothing, not even science, can set limits to these.

RESPONSE TWO: There was once a point in time when science told us the earth was flat. It set limits, as such, to what Plato defined as justified true beliefs, to our knowledge, knowledge which by that very definition is particular to the individual. It was not until some courageous, imaginative fellow decided he didn't believe this, didn't think it was true and decided to try and 'sail over the edge' to justify his theory that the science was incorrect. Science may try to limit the knowledge of us as humans, but nothing can limit the imagination of the individual.

It has been said that no knowledge exsists without emotion... perhaps it can also be said that no knowledge exsists without imagination. If we are told that the nearest star to earth is 4 billion years away, we cannot go and look, go and measure the distance for ourselves (at least, most people can't!). It requires imagination to believe what we are told is fact as we have to justify it. I think this is something that deserves to be explored further in the future, so in 6 months or so time I will come back to this journal entry and create a new one detailing how my thoughts have developed over this time.