Larry DePrimo, NYPD Cop, Buys Homeless Man Boots

It is important to note that his act of kindness was not staged for the camera, the photograph was taken by a tourist from Arizona on a trip to New York. Each one of us should try to perform acts of kindness whenever we can. Wordsworth called these 'little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and of love'.

Technology, Human Sciences, Crime, Ethics - hackers and passowords.

How safe is your online data? Read this and see how even an expert was hacked. A very honest and frightening article by someone determined to expose a huge problem which is perhaps under reported as most of us hope it will never happen to us, the writer has shown great moral courage in sharing his experience here.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/all/

 
This summer, hackers destroyed my entire digital life in the span of an hour,” says Wired senior writer Mat Honan.
Photo: Ethan Hill
 Wired (stylized as WIRED) is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_%28magazine%29

This is posted for educational purposes and as a possible topic for Theory of Knowledge students in essays or oral presentations. Source of article on link above. No copyright infringement intended. Students and readers are encouraged to click on the link to the original article which I found on the BBC website, so I assume that it is in the public domain.

Gender TOK Presentation Part 1 - Biology (Natural Sciences) and Cultural Constructs (Human Sciences)

                                          What role does biology and human society (culture) play in forming our knowledge claims for gender? Does our education and environment also play a role in how we define our gender identity?
NOTE: while this is very interesting, perhaps the students should have highlighted their TOK questions to emphasise the KNOWLEDGE ISSUES in the presentation.  Students are reminded to use TOK terms like AOK and WOK and the other terms we have discussed in class, claims, counterclaims, bias etc

      PART 3                                             

PART 4

PART 5

Nonetheless, this is interesting but it could have been much better if the TOK had been more explicit. I also think it's a good idea to link your presentation or essay to the broader academic discourse by at least referencing a few scholars in your chosen area of knowledge.    

 Feminist authors are prominent in this discourse for example, though we are primarily interested in the views of students themselves.

Stephen Fry - The language in Nazi Germany - Language as a Way of Knowing - labeling and dehumanising 'the other' - leading to murder

TOK presentation - To What Extent is the Language of Persuasion Ethical?

What are Knowledge Issues in TOK?

What is Historiography?

TOK lesson starter, fallacies

TOK Presentation - Common Sense

Some observations: the presentation engages the attention of the audience. There are several real life examples. The knowledge issue is clear - how common is common sense? There are some TOK terms used, notably claims and counter-claims. I liked the clear reference to personal bias. I liked the friendly tone of the speaker. I liked the opening with a personal knower's perspective based on a real life situation, the sign on the toilet.
What was missing? More explicit references to Areas of Knowledge and Ways of Knowing.
What was the best point for me in this presentation? Clear logical sequence of ideas, the structure was strong and logical and the humour generally worked both in the tone of voice and in the slides.

Theory of Knowledge Sample Presentation - Part 1

GREAT RESOURCES FROM OTHER WEBSITES - THANK TO THEIR AUTHORS

http://lancastertheoryofknowledge.blogspot.mx/search/label/Writing%20an%20essay


http://tok.ism-online.org/

Daniel Tammet: Different ways of knowing

ToK Essay Advice.wmv

Great debate on religion - Hitchens, Dawkins etc

                                 PROPOSING THE MOTION: Christopher Hitchens, Professor Richard Dawkins & A.C. Grayling. OPPOSING THE MOTION: Dr Nigel Spivey, Roger Scruton & Rabbi Julia Neuberger. The point here is that intelligent people can disagree and argue respectfully. Each human being has a right to work out their views based on the evidence. Which arguments do you find persuasive? It's important to note that some terms can be confusing. We need to distinguish between religion as organised religion and personal spirituality.You will notice that these speakers all reflect their own reactions to the ABRAHAMIC religions. These are not the only religions in the world as a glance at Indian spirituality will show.

Tintern Abbey - William Wordsworth's poem about how the beauty of nature inspires him.

           http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/WordsworthTinternAbbey.htm                                        

These beauteous forms,   

                                                                                                                                                     Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration: -- feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love.

Great sadness at death of Savita, a series of protests has begun to demand a change in the law on abortion

                                            The scene is outside the Irish Parliament (Dail) in Dublin. The purpose is to demand a change in the law on abortion in Ireland. The larger issue is the separation of Church and State in the laws of the country. Many hospitals are owned and managed by the Catholic Church which teaches that human life begins at the moment of conception not later.
They hold the life of the foetus is a human life and there is always an ethical dilemma when  Catholic medical staff are faced with the issue of balancing the rights of the foetus and the rights of the mother. Abortion is not available in Ireland, it is illegal. 

Abortion in the Republic of Ireland is illegal even in cases of rape or incest. Theoretically there is one case where it can be performed legally. That is only as the result of a medical intervention performed to save the life of the mother and where it is clear that the foetus is a direct threat to the life of the mother.

 In practice, doctors are reluctant to perform terminations of pregnancy in the absence of a readily available method of determining the circumstances in which an abortion might be lawfully obtained. (How can we be sure the mother will die if we don’t abort? How can we be sure the foetus is a direct threat to the life of the mother? We have a duty to treat both persons as living beings with equal rights.) Abortion is a controversial issue in Irish politics and five national referendums have been held on the topic in the last 30 years.

In Catholic schools students are taught that abortion is murder even if the life of the mother is in danger. In my time, we were shown graphic videos of what was described as the 'murder of innocent and defenseless babies in the womb.' When I asked a priest if abortion was justified in the case of a mother's life being in danger, I was told 'God will decide to save the baby or the mother'.
The doctors are not deliberately callous or cruel, they are products of the cultural constructs of Irish society and those constructs are supported by the laws of the state. In other religions, we see female genital mutilation being practised. Why? Because we are all influenced by the values of our religion and culture. This is why critical thinking, questioning our ideas and reflection are so important.
Ireland is nominally 95% Catholic but has been evolving into a more secular society over the last 20 years. Some think it has not been evolving fast enough. NOTE - THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SWEAR WORDS FROM AN AMERICAN NEWS SHOW. Sadly he weakens his argument but the first part of the report is interesting.

This issue has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with religion dictating the laws of the land. Irish women in Irish hospitals have also died because of this patriarchal policy.
The Catholic Church is a patriarchal society its popes, bishops and priests have all been male for 2000 years. In the United Nations, the Catholic Church (Vatican State) works with Saudi Arabia, Iran and other patriarchal theocracies to block progressive social policies particularly on women's rights. In the USA, the Catholic Church has formed alliances with the most extreme parts of the Christian Evangelical (Protestant) churches and some Islamic groups to block progressive legislation on individual rights for men and women. The issue is the power of religion to dictate medical ethics for everyone, even people who are not members of that religion.

Liberal thinkers argue that the decision should be made by the individual patient and the law of the state needs to be changed to empower women to have control over what happens to their bodies. While this is a very emotional issue it is also a question of ethics and the balancing of individual rights against those of a religion. We must build societies where we allow individuals the maximum personal freedom consistent with the common good. So far I have not seen any statements from priests or bishops (all men of course) on the current tragic case. Their silence is deafening. Our thoughts are with the family of Savita and our hope is that the publicity this case has generated will lead to a change in the law- allowing the individual woman to make decisions for herself- and prevent future tragedies such as this one.  

Derrida On Animals

Critical Theory, Postmodernism & Feminist Critique

Is God Great? - Christopher Hitchens vs John Lennox

Why Beauty Matters - Full Version - BBC & Roger Scruton/Aesthetics as AOK

                                              As with all TOK Knowledge Issues, students are encouraged to weigh the arguments and form their own views using more research and critical thinking skills. This video will prove useful to students who want to use Aesthetics and the Arts as an Area of Knowledge in either the oral presentation or the essay.

Mr. C.'s IB English Blog - BD Somani Int School - Mumbai: Origin of Diwali - Best wishes to my students, their families, my colleagues and all readers of this blog around the world.

Mr. C.'s IB English Blog - BD Somani Int School - Mumbai: Origin of Diwali - Best wishes to my students, their families, my colleagues and all readers of this blog around the world.