Initial notes and thoughts for the presentation:

• knowledge question <-> real-life situation
• supported by arguments, different perspectives
• The outcome of the analysis(answer to the KQ) is significant to the RLS (and others)
• Talk about the concepts rather than real-life details
• Do not use something that is interesting just because it is currently in the news.
• (but things in the news are interesting …… !)
• Example knowledge questions: Are aesthetic values universal? Does the labeling of individuals determine our perceptions? Can language ever be neutral? To what extent can models accurately represent the real world?

Real-life situation 1: Hongkong Protest (people’s reaction to it)

• The protest became violent
• link it to other protests
• should the protest be encouraged? allowed? Are there alternative methods?
• there’s a lot of perspectives to be discussed in this issue
• utilitarian perspective: does it achieve the goal? What is the pay-off? (somewhat yet unknown)
• duty ethic: people have the right to protest.
• Reasoning: violence is bad. protest creates violence. protests are bad. Counterclaim: protests are aimed to be non-violent.
• How do people have the perspective that they have? education, media, shared knowledge, past events(history), personal choice. Link to ways of knowing.
• Should lead to a conclusion that people are not going to agree. There’s no way one side can convince the other, simply because the way people think is completely on two separate tracks.
• Realizing that fact might help to provide some peace. (On the internet we can see lots of unnecessary quarrels/conflicts. )
• Is it possible for people to maintain peaceful discussions and basic understanding while having opposite opinions? possibly link to a whole lot of other situations.
• Ethics. human science(?)

Real-life situation 2: some people still believe that the Earth is flat

• natural science. religion(?)
• personal knowledge vs shared knowledge
• “Earth is round” is accepted as fact. evidence, reasoning. the concept of truth in science.
• Talk about the paradigm shift.
• The social context then compared to now.
• In “personal knowledge”, it’s much easier to “prove” that Earth is flat rather than round.
• Logical fallacy.
• While most people don’t have it as personal knowledge, some people do not accept the shared knowledge but some others do. Why?
• Authority. distrust. imagination. memory. personal experience and hearing from others.
• People tend to believe the claim that they know first.
• To change their belief means admitting that they were wrong. Reluctant to do that because of emotion.
• Does not believe in scientific fact makes someone “stupid”? Or just means they think differently?
• Does it make the claim less true? Is “truth” objective or subjective?

Real-life situation 3: my service with disabled children

• we are constantly trying to find a balance between treating them as normal people and accomodating to their special needs, which is difficult.
• How do we know how to behave when with different people?
• WOK: language. emotion. intuition.
• AOK: human science