TOK Knowledge Claim: Experiences shape our perspectives and our capacity for knowledge
Real-Life Example: Genie Wiley – left in almost complete isolation for 13 years – did not know any form of language
The human sciences explore the way in which we behave and interact with others on different scales. One key idea that many human scientists, especially psychologists, believe in and perpetuate is the idea that experiences shape our perspectives and capacity for knowledge. One example that supports this claim is the story of Genie Wiley, a girl who was left in almost complete isolation for the first 13 years of her life. During these years, she has been locked in a single room and had almost no contact with her parents. When she was discovered, she suffered from a complete lack of language among many other physical effects. This made her a prime target for psychological study, as these human scientists wanted to determine if she had the capacity to learn or develop language. While she was able to pick up certain words from the English language, she was never able to fully grasp the grammar and learn the language. This example illustrates how we may need to experience certain events and be exposed to certain things to develop our ability to learn and retain knowledge. In Genie’s case, it was her long-term isolation that led to her not having the early experiences necessary to learn a language and its rules. This demonstrates how experiences we have, especially when we are young, can form the basis of our knowledge and perspectives that serve us for the rest of our life. The way in which these experiences differ, and the lack of certain experiences, can hence change what we understand about the world and how we see it.