Interesting discussion on the definitions of science and the distinctions between what we would consider natural sciences and the human sciences.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/30/anthroscience
Our culture has a base 10 system and uses digits and place holders. We have been exposed to this system our whole lives and find it hard to imagine any other way. The truth is that our system is based on choices we have made rather than by some inherent quality of numbers or math. Different cultures have invented math and numbers in different ways. Take a look at the link below to get a sense of the Mayan system which was a base 20 system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_numerals
Here is a handout I made based on this topic:
Interesting case of a tribe whose language doesn’t have any numbers past four. What effect would this have? Why would a language evolve this way?
“Two recent studies of Amazonian Indians reported in the journal Science, take a crucially different view. These studies, far from maintaining that number words are convenient, propose they are actually necessary.”
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/oct/21/research.highereducation1
Here is a handout I made based on this topic:
Here is a link to an amazing document written in the early 2000’s by Republican strategist Frank Luntz to help Republican politicians frame the debate about the War on Terror, the Iraq war, security and other related issues. This document helped communicate and sell to the public ideas that may not have been true. Without actually saying things that were false, they left people with the impression of false information. Members of the Republican party were amazingly effective at being on the same page as each other and really used a lot of the same language as laid out in this document.
How does language help us communicate? Is it unethical to mislead your audience without ever uttering something untruthful?
In 2011, the state of Illinois increased its state income tax rate from 3% to 5%. One could communicate this by saying that people will be paying 2% more of their incomes to state taxes which doesn’t sound all that bad since Illinois increased its rate rate 2%. Or you could say that Illinois increased its state income tax by 66% which sounds catastrophic and is also correct because you’re changing what the number actually is referring to. Increasing from 3 to 5 is an increase of 66% (or 66.6% to be more accurate with a bar over the last 6 but I don’t know how to do that on a keyboard). People would react to the news differently depending on how you communicate even though both could be considered correct.
Here are two different sites reporting the story. Notice how the choice of language and numbers changes the feel of each story even though they are both reporting the same news.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/01/illinois_legislators_increase.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/12/ill-lawmakers-pass-percent-income-tax-increase/
Here is a link to a great website that compiles a bunch of different Bible translations. What’s fascinating is to compare the same verse from the different translations and interpretations to see varied the texts can be. How important is language when it comes to communicating ideas particularly with something as important as religion?
Here is a link to a famous passage from the Bible, John 3:16
http://www.biblestudytools.com/john/3-16-compare.html
Depending on which translation you chose to read, you would come away with very different ideas about what God expects of people.
Here’s a link to the main site.
http://www.biblestudytools.com/compare-translations/
All of this raises interesting questions about what the job of translators and interpreters is. Are they supposed to translate literal words? Are they supposed to communicate meaning even if some words have to change? How are you supposed to know the choices they made are accurate or true?
Here is a handout I made on this topic
Here are a few sites that document words that exist in other languages but not in English.
What does it mean that these words don’t exist in English? Do these words tell us something about the cultures they come from? About us? Is it generally random chance that cultures invent words for some concepts but not for others? If a word can’t directly be translated, does it mean that the concept cannot truly be known to nonnative speakers of those languages?
http://www.babbel.com/magazine/untranslatable-01
http://mentalfloss.com/article/50698/38-wonderful-foreign-words-we-could-use-english
“Since I had no power of thought, I did not compare one mental state with another. So I was not conscious of any change or process going on in my brain when my teacher began to instruct me. I merely felt keen delight in obtaining more easily what I wanted by means of the finger motions she taught me. I thought only of objects, and only objects I wanted. It was the turning of the freezer on a larger scale. When I learned the meaning of “I” and “me” and found that I was something, I began to think.”
http://scentofdawn.blogspot.com/2011/07/before-soul-dawn-helen-keller-on-her.html
Here is a handout I made on this topic:
It’s almost impossible to imagine a world without words. But this hour, we try to do just that.
We meet a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life, hear a firsthand account of what it feels like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke, and retrace the birth of a brand new language 30 years ago.
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91725-words/
Here is a shorter version of the podcast I made for my class:
TOK Topics 