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Nov 20, 20216 min read

My TOK Essay from May 2008



When I was an IBDP student, I remember enjoying Theory of Knowledge. I always looked forward to TOK class because it was a bit of an escape from the drudgery of other subjects.


I had particular fun writing the TOK essay too! For those interested in reading the ideas of an 18 year old philosophizing on the nature of knowledge, here is my TOK essay from the May 2008 session.


​​“Context is all” (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean that there is no such thing as truth?

Margaret Atwood famously used the phrase, “Context is all”. This phrase is a very interesting one to take into consideration when thinking about our perceptions as human beings as it makes us wonder about the meaning of truth. What is truth? Does truth actually exist if context is the deciding factor when concerning all our perceptions? In this essay I will try to address the above question as a TOK learner and as an overall IB student.

To understand the meaning of this question and be able to answer it, I will first need to analyze it. By being technical and analytical, I will attempt to make some sense of this question. Firstly, what is context? Context can be defined as “the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs.”[1] And truth can be defined as “something that is true or is believed to be true, as distinct from a lie.”[2] So, if the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs is all, meaning that if context is the main issue put into regard when considering something, that would mean that what we think is real is actually not, and truth ceases to exist.

There are different ways in which we know truth. Some of these ways of knowing are experience, emotion, reason, logic and experimentation. Emotion can be said to be a way of knowing truth because of the plain fact that we humans are emotional creatures, and we have strong emotions that often alter the way we think and view something.

Context is very important, especially because we live in modern times, in a world where freedom of expression is seen as a very valuable asset. Every single human being on this earth is different, we are all unique, none of us are the same, and we do not have the same thoughts, ambitions, desires, and so on. We all have different perceptions and see things in different ways, i.e., have different frameworks. There is no standard perception, and as a result of globalization, different societies and cultures are intermingling, exchanging thoughts and ideas, and even perceptions. It is important to note that there has been a formation of a set of universal beliefs and acceptances, though this does not hold into regard for the individual itself, which is the main feature which needs to be pondered while regarding context and truth. We all come from different cultures, backgrounds and levels of exposure to the ideas of the 21st century, and this makes our own perceptions differ to one another. Because of these differences in perceptions, we view the world in different eyes, and this is what can alter the truth.

Let us consider the experiment carried out by the Washington Post with Grammy Award winning violinist, Joshua Bell.[3] It was “an experiment in context, perception and priorities.”[4] Basically, the experiment had the famous violinist Joshua Bell play his violin during rush hour in L’Enfant Plaza in Washington D.C. He played for a total time of 43 minutes, taking on the appearance of a nondescript street performer, with his violin case open at his feet. 1,097 people passed him by and out this large number, only one person recognized him for the great musician that he was. Her name was Stacy Furukawa. She, near the end of the performance, noticed Joshua Bell playing in the train station. At the end of the performance, she put $20 in his case. After the time had finished, there was a total of $32.17 in his case, not including the $20 given to him by Stacy Furukawa. This experiment is a perfect example, showing us that the way in which something is shown to us changes its meaning. In this situation, one of the world’s most renowned musicians played in a train station and was perceived as just another street performer trying to make a living. But, had Joshua Bell played in Boston's stately Symphony Hall, where he has performed before for a full house, he would have been perceived as the talented musician he was. This simple example tells us that the context in which we see things shapes what we see as truth.

Religion is a knowledge issue that can be used to understand truth and context. For those who believe in God, He is true and is real to them. In their perceptions and the context in which they look at it might be faith or just blind belief. For people who don’t believe in God, this truth completely changes, and God is not true and not real to them, and their context might be rationalism or simply denial.

Another knowledge issue relating to religion that can be taken into consideration is terrorism when we talk about context and perception. Terrorism is a global issue that has resulted in many innocent people living lives filled with pain and horror. Even terrorism can be perceived in several ways. For example Israel has suffered series of terrorist attacks for which Hamas, an Islamist Militant Group in the state of Palestine, in responsible for. “From the period of November 2000 to April 2004, 377 Israeli citizens and soldiers have been killed and 2,076 have been wounded as a result of 425 attacks by Hamas.”(Quoted from Wikipedia)[5] From this issue, there are two different major perceptions. The first one is of the Palestinian political party, Hamas’ and the second is Israel’s Government. Hamas feels that the state of Israel should be a Muslim state and can be done so through Jihad[6] while the Government of Israel feels it has the right to existence as a Jewish state.

Regarding the area of knowledge of history, context is also very important when studying the question of history and its authenticity. According to some historians, history is written by the victors[7], and the vanquished remain unheard. This statement basically says that history is written by the one’s who in the last battle end victorious. If this philosophy was considered true, then some past events that we consider to be the truth would actually be a biased account of what really happened and would have been modified to change a certain someone’s perception. If the vanquished remained unheard, then history would be a one-sided story and as said above, would result in the change of our perceptions as knowers.

When I was younger, I used to believe that everything was good; everyone was good, as all children do when they are young. That was my basic perception and included what I thought was the truth then. But now that I am growing up, in the sense of maturity and understanding, this truth has changed. The way I perceive things has changed and the context in which I now perceive them has also changed. This shows that perception is related to the truth, so with a change in one’s perception, there is a change in one’s truth.

Truth is not a rigidity that has a set form which is followed by all. It can change with the blink of an eye. Truth is infact individualistic and is different for everyone. What I might believe is the truth, might not be believed by XYZ. An atheist will have different beliefs to a deeply religious person. Truth is a personal belief that one has for a certain object, situation, person or feeling. Truth might hold true for someone, but does not necessarily have to be the same truth for another.

Context is all, but by no means does it deny the existence of truth. There is an equal coexistence of context and truth. Context can be thought of as a structure through which one sees his or her truth. Context provides one with a framework to understand what he or she perceives. And our contextual vision has us seeing the world through lenses, lenses which are different from person to person. The context through which we see the world is determined by our inner being, which includes our past experiences, our education, our thoughts, and our ambitions as humans. These traits shape the lenses through which we see the world. And these lenses are the determining factor which changes how we contextualize and understand truth.


Bibliography

[1]­­­­­­­­­ The Penguin Group, ed. The Penguin Concise English Dictionary. 2002.

[2] Ibid

[3] Weingarten, Gene. "Pearls Before Breakfast." The Washington Post 8 Apr. 2007. Retrieved 17 Apr. 2007 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html>.

[4] Ibid

[5]Government of Israel. "The Hamas organization is responsible for more than 425 terror attacks in Israel. Israel Defence Forces. 18 Apr. 2004. Retrieved 17 Apr. 2007 < http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpage.asp?sl=EN&id=7&docid=30286.EN>.

[6] Myre, Greg. "Israeli Official Says Hamas Has Made Abbas Irrelevant." The New York Times 27 Feb. 2006. 17 Apr. 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/international/middleeast/27mideast.html?ex=1298696400&en=25164615c0b5f11c&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss>. Retrieved from

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas#Military_Activity_and_Terrorism>

[7] Winston Churchill (1874-1965) during World War II, <http://thinkexist.com/quotation/history_is_written_by_the_victors/150112.html>


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