perscribed title #10 outline

Prescribed title: What similarities and differences are there between Scientific and Historical Explanations?

Body 1: similarities
1: similarities between history and science explanation
 Conformation bias: both history and science use this when forming a hypothesis or thesis
o Personal experience: TOK checks lab; my group disregarded certain information because we did not find it relevant to our thesis.|
o Physics labs: I have disregarded information that disproved one of my hypotheses because it believed that it was a fluke in the testing.
2
 Ways of knowing (perception) is used in both areas of knowledge.
o History example: we can see that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is the spark that caused the First World War and use that as a key fact to explain why Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia.
o Science example: we can feel that Heat is a byproduct of friction (rubbing our hands together.) / We can see that heat is a byproduct of friction by the way that a fire is stared when two pieces of wood are rubbed together and begin to smolder.
3
 Implications of similarities:
o By creating a similarity between science and history explanations, may mean that the two can influence each other, such as we can predict historical events by the things leading up to them.
o Understanding = predicting
o Abel states that understanding an event does not mean that it can be predicted (science)

Body 2: differences
4
 Reasoning: induction vs. deduction
o Sciences uses induction: scientific explanations use small specific details to create laws and theories.
• Ex) in physics we noticed the effects of gravity and tested the properties of it. This explanation of gravity is one of the key components of the General Theory of Relativity, which is used to explain the motion of all astrological bodies.
• Ex) we watched the movie “Judgment Day: intelligent design on trial” in TOK. In the movie, it explained that Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution from first specifically studying the beaks of finches in the south pacific Galapagos Island.
o History uses deduction: Historical explanations are deduced from large events to figure out the causes of the effect.
• Ex) we now know that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attack, through deducing what the bombing style was, the motivations for attacking, and foreign threats.
5
 Testability
o Facts are derived from testing
o Scientific explanations can be tested repeatedly. The whole point of science is to prove a hypothesis through repetitive testing
o Historical explanations cannot be repeated to prove that they are fact. We know the causes of single party states to rise such as Mussolini’s Italy, but we cannot determine if one will rise in the future by evaluating current conditions.




6
 explanation influences
o Explanations in science and history are differently influenced.
o Ex) historical explanations are valid to the time era only when the background of the event has been thoroughly investigated.
• The assassination of Franz Ferdinand can only be understood as the spark of the First World War only after someone understands that there was political tension between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, and that there was an alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary at the time of 1914.
o Sciences is independent from background information on the hypothesis that it is testing
• Ex) you do not need to know how the general theory of relativity was formulated and what the ideas are behind Albert Einstein’s reasoning in the formulas in order to test the equation.

Conclusion
7
 There are more differences between scientific explanation and historical explanation than there are similarities.




Bibliography:
Keegan, John. The First World War. New York: Knopf, 1999. Print.

brave new world chapter 10

1. the director feels that unorthodoxy is worse than murder because murder may kill the individual, of which they can produce vast amounts more. but unorthodoxy taints the many, and threatens the workings of society itself, which is more valuable than the world government than one life. when Bernard returns to London, the director wants him to be transferred out of society and punished for his refusal of the social norm.

2. Bernard had brought Linda back with him and John which he claims is the directors son.

abel questions

1. science explains a fact by taking a general law and deriving the fact depending on the circumstances of the fact. fact is taken from the before and after of the event.
2. some common misconceptions about scientific explanation are:
a. science describes rather than explain. however, Abel claims that there is no distinct recognition between explanation and description
b. sciences explains the strange with the familiar. Abel states that it is the other way around with the familiar being explained by the strange
c. Science explanation is not the same as "understanding." Abel says that this knowledge is more like "knowledge by acquaintance" or like "knowing how."
d. a scientific explanation does not need to be casual. abel states that it may be a law of simultaneous existence rather than succession.
3. General law is deduced from a broader view rather than induced from experiment.
4. explanations depend on the person. since different knowers perceive different truths for some situations. there has to be a point were all perceived knowledge must be the same to have a knowledgeable situation.
5. explanatory reductions are economic ways of describing phenomena because these reductions simplify the concept without eliminating any parts of understanding
6. scientific explanation requires the concepts of a system because because each part of the system is combined to create a complete concept rather than a computer system finding the sum of the event.
7. the theory of emergence is used to explain the how anything never came into this world because one can predict the sum of something combined, even though there are two separate entities.
8. theory and observation are independent from each other because observation does not constitute a theory.
9. scientific explanation is theoretically identical to prediction because if something can be predicted, that means that there is an understanding to how that something works. Abel argues that explanation does not need to predict anything in understanding it.
10. Abel means that many factors influence the progression of science which does not make it clear cut, but can take many directions
11.the situations that require explanation are situations that seem "natural" to us.
12. the human element cannot be eliminated from the process of scientific explanation because we provide all the rules and create the laws.
12. this does hold true in history because history is always changing depending on new information being found

brave new world chapter 9

1. when lenina got back to the rest-house, she had taken six and a half grams of soma to complete her day that was full of queerness

2. Bernard asks Mustapha Mond for a permit to bring both John and Linda back to London, which he is granted.

3. when john is by lenina, he begins to recite Shakespeare's "romeo and juliet." this is significant because john eventually finds himself in love with lenina.

perscribed title #8

"People need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events" (adapted from John Gray, Heresies, 2004). In what ways and to what extent would you say this claim is relevant in at least two areas of knowledge?

We, as humans, are generally pattern makers. We feel the need to apply order to all things that we cannot explain. We seem to believe that we can bring order to things that are not orderly and understand matters that do not seem to be comprehendible. This belief of adding order to all things blends over into the ways of knowing and influences their course of knowledge. This is most prominent in the Natural sciences, and in History. In these two areas, we create meaning behind events and attempt to give a cause for the effect of the event.
Physics is a natural science that attempts to add order to events that seem out of place and random. This can be seen it the way physicists create equations for events that do not seem important to us as humans, or things that we cannot even see. Quantum mechanics, the dealing with subatomic particles, is something that physicists have tried to apply order to. In the way that it is described, particles at the subatomic level are unpredictable and can be in two places at once, making any kind of prediction impossible. These physicists that found this subatomic plane however created equations of probability to attempt to apply human order to it and to predict the appearance of these particles at a certain time. These physicists use induction to apply a general law to this theory of quantum mechanics, even though this plane of existence cannot be seen buy any kind of device. Through this, they have managed to show through equations and experiments that what equations they have written are valid in this field of study.
This is just one of many examples that famous physicists have done, but I have done this on a smaller scale in my high school physics class. Every few weeks we perform an experiment to determine some sort of general rule to a problem or to determine why there is energy lost in a certain machine process. We once were given a small engine to experiment with. We knew that energy was being lost due to friction, but we did not know how much energy. It was our goal to figure the amount lost because it was not know to this type of engine.
The other natural science that tries to apply order is chemistry. When I took chemistry, we learned that chemists discovered a way of combining elements. These men figured out that in order to combine and separate molecules, there needed to be the same number of different atoms on either side of an equation, where one side is equal to another. Even though this did not prove useful at an earlier time, the fact remains that when these chemists did not understand how some elements bonded with others and, in this confusion, they created a rule that explained the reason for these elements changing.
Even though we like to apply order to science and scientific phenomena, there are problems with wanting to apply order to this area of knowledge. One of the key characteristics of science is that it is always changing. Because it is always changing, there is no definite equation or theory, which means that these theories and equations can be disproved in the near future, proving that the efforts of some men and women were completely wrong. These happen when we discover new facts about that field that conflict with the given knowledge. For example, in physics we learned that light was accepted as a wave, but through experiments we determined that light also behaved as a particle. This paradox has caused many shifts in the theory of light and is still split to this day.
I have had this same problem when working in my science classes through out high school, to a lesser extent. For example, we were asked to write a general formula for an application in physics regarding the motion of a spring. I had written a formula that worked for predicting the position of the mass oscillating on the spring. It worked when I tested it. However, the next step involved adding another factor and having the equation still produce the same graph. When I added this new factor, my equation was off and I had to rewrite the entire equation over with different values for everything.
Another area of knowledge that we order can be seen in its chaos is mathematics. Math is close to physics in that it is used to develop patterns and laws with numbers which are tested. Some examples of these are the Pythagorean Theorem, and the Einstein’s theory of relativity. The way that these theorems came around is by the need to give order. The Pythagorean Theorem was conceived by Pythagoras who discovered that when the two smaller sides of a triangle are squared, they will equal the square of the hypotenuse. This would give an n accurate way of building instead of just improvising while you go.
During the writing of my math internal assessment, we were asked to find a general statement to solve for a logarithmic pattern. Even though I had solved the general statement, it was expected to only work for whole values. However, I thought that it would be unusual if the pattern only applied to whole numbers. So I tested it with different values giving uneven numbers and the general rule still applied.
Even though we apply order to all things around us, we generally do not know if it is organizing the chaos there is. We still have problems and are constantly trying to solve them, with no luck.
In chaos, we apply order because we believe that order can be applied. This is the main reason why we keep trying. Through the natural sciences we have found was of solving energy problems as well as applying rules to things that seem random and chaotic. We do this because we are pattern makers and we see things as needing to be organized and set straight. However, being a maker of patterns and applying order, we do have the habit of applying things that could lead to more chaos instead of creating order. even though we can screw up by applying faulty order to chaos, we still believe that order can be applied to everything.

brave new world chapter 8

1. John's upbringing is harsh and cruel by standards of today. his mother neglected him to be another man, he was abused by the others ans cursed by the Indians simply because he was the son hf Linda. i think that John claims that he is alone because there is no one that can sympathize with his situation. all the others judge him and do not even attempt to know him. Bernard instead sympathizes with John because Bernard feels that he is alone back in London.

2. John says "o brave new world" because it is a lien from Shakespeare. john had been reading Shakespeare and loved the way that he wrote plays. the notion of "brave new world" is that Bernard is going to take John back to London with him, which an entirely different world to John.

Jared diamond questions

1. The dispute between Huntington and Lang is over the topic of soft sciences and hard sciences. Lang believes that Soft sciences should not be considered sciences at all.

2. Langs response to Huntington was to send out folders filled with documents from three different writers. He then asked that the receiver pay for the cost of the shipment of these documents to them.

3. The dispute between the two seems political because Lang has a history of involvement with politics that influenced the NAS. With this he can influence the vote over Huntington. Jared Diamond feels that “academic freedom” is that only scholars can question other scholars about his/her politics, whereas outsiders cannot.

4. NAS exists to extract the best people from each field of science. These attacks are peculiar because diamond has been a member for 8 years.

5. He finds fault in these tradition perceptions of hard sciences because most stereotypes of a scientist is someone in a lab coat working complex test tubes and equations. Also, these hard sciences have a traditional perception of producing hard evidence from highly controlled experiments.

6. Soft sciences are difficult to study because they aren’t something that is tangible or concrete. These sciences depend on conditions and patterns.

7. NAS changed in the early 70's by allowing scientists from all fields to be admitted. This decision was influenced by the government which needs competent advice about social problems.

8. The problems with operationalizing a concept are that there would need to be a series of experiments that yield suitable results. Another problem with operationalizing a concept is that sometimes there is no experiment that can be done.

9. How Jared Diamond illustrates operationalizing different sciences:

• Mathematics: without a proper number system, the idea of “many” cannot be argued or comprehended
• Chemistry: cannot speculate about matter unless you know how many materials there are.
• Ecology: operationalizing different habits
• Psychology: cannot operationalize a doctor.

10. The book by Huntington that provoked Lang's wrath discussed such operationalized concepts as economic well-being, political instability, and social and economic modernization

11. operationalizing is more difficult and less exact in the soft sciences because of the variables. In these sciences, there are more variables that need to be controlled in order to create an experiment.

12. Diamond believes that Lang might be ignorant because he does not know how social sciences make measurements.

13.diamond believes that the labels of science be could be changed from hard to “difficult” and from soft to “easy.” This should be done because some sciences are harder to comprehend that others, regardless of them being soft vs. hard.

14. Diamond believes that soft sciences are more important than hard sciences. i do not agree with this because soft science experiments can be done over and yield different results, having to keep improving the test and changing the scope of the experiment.

brave new world chapter 7

1. How does Lenina feel about their appointed guide? Lenina does not like the indian guy because he smells.

2. How does Lenina react to "naked Indian"(p. 110)? Does it remind you of anyone else we have studied? lenina was frightened by the man because he was old, and had not taken any preventative measures on his age. this is similar to our study of Buddhism because prince Siddhartha too had never seen "old." but was not as shocked and appalled, but rather was intrigued by what he saw.

3. How does Bernard react to the pueblo of Malpais?

4. Who is Linda? What is her relationship to Tomakin? Linda was the woman that the director lost when he had visited the reservation twenty years before. linda's description of Tomakin is that of the director, Thomas

5. Why does Linda believe that "everything they do is mad"(p. 121)? Please be specific. linda believes that what the savages do is mad because it is nothing like the life she sees as normal. the indians, instead of getting new cloths when one piece has been riped or torn, they mend them anew.

brave new world chapter 6

Part I

1. Why does Lenina think Bernard Marx "odd" - please use specific references from this chapter in your answer. Lenina thinks that bernard is odd because, as henry explains, he didnt respond well to his conditioning. this lead to the lack of conformaity he has with the others in his caste group and in society in general. he doesn't enjoy the sports games they play like obstacle golf and would rather spend time going for a walk by the lake and talking with lenina. Bernard is also odd in that he likes natural scenery such as the sky, as well as peace and quiet time alone.

2. Please provide more lines from Lenina that she learned from hypnopedia (there are some great ones in this chapter!). Do any of them remind you of sayings that we may use - please don't use commercial jingles. i.e. "1-800-54-Giant!"

• a gram in time saves nine
• a gram is always better than a damn-(hugs are better than drugs)
• everyone works for everyone else

3. What is Fanny's explanation for Bernard's behavior? he had aalchol put into his surrogate which is used to "dumb down" the child when it grows.

Part II

4. What did the Director tell Bernard about his own trip to the Reservation? Why did it initially make Bernard feel uncomfortable? the director had visited the reservation twenty years before with a woman to view the savages. he got lost and was never found. it initially made Bernard uncomfortable because the director, a man who was known for being conventional, had been using very nonstandard language. he was also reminicing about the past, which was discouraged.

5. What does the Director threaten Bernard with if he doesn't change his behavior? Why does it elate Bernard? the director threatens to transfer bernard to a sub-center in iceland if he hears of his "off" behavior again. this elates bernard because he is acknowledged for being an individual agaisnt the social order.

Part III

6. How does the Warden describe the Reservation? the reservation is a sort of backward area that had beliefs and customs (such as natural birth) that are oppose to the culture of the world state. those who are in the reservation are born and die there. they are descibed as savages.

the Nacirema

After the Nacirema exercise, please answer the following:
1. What happened yesterday? Why couldn't we recognize our own culture? yesterday, i was tricked by the reading and the presentation into relating the "culture" to some barbaric tribe. i don't think that we could recognize our culture because of the way that it was presented to us. the association of words with pictures skewed our thinking
2. What does your answer say about the the strengths and weaknesses of the Social Sciences like Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology? the social science are weak in the respect that conclusions are based on the way that they are viewed. there can be very different results if the research is viewed in a different context and by different people. the fact that we tend to criticize cultures that we are unfamiliar with shows that we a a judging people.

brave new world chapter 5

2. Do you see any similarities with how the World State views death as compared to the Hindus? How does Lenina's remembrance of hypopedia compare with what is discussed in Plato's Republic? in both hinduism and the World state, the dead are burned because the bodies are not pure. Lenina's hypnopedia compares with plato's republic because in both instances, there is a mention that even though there are different levels of people, all are nessecary in the stability of society.

3. What do you think of Lenina's and Henry night out on the town? looking on it as i am today, i find that it is now way to spend an evening out. the image of dancing in a hall of over 400 people seems claustrophobic as well as the desription of the playing as if the instruments were near death. of course, its just me in that i do not like to spend time out around many other people, but i perfer solitude and quiet.

4. Why do you think Huxley uses the word "pneumatic" to refer to some female characters? the definition of pneumatic is: of or relating to air. Huxley uses this word to desribe women becuase in this society he created, sex is so free that it really has no distinct purpose like it does in our society. it is as meaningless as air

5. What is Solidarity Service and what are Bernard's feelings towards it? Solidarity service is essentially an orgy of 12 people who are under the influence of soma (just your average thursday night). bernard feels that these services tend to further his isolation.

man is the measure chapter 15

1. Abel believes that history is being constantly rewritten because it has always and will always

2. the factors that influence the process by which facts are chosen are

• personal interest: what the writer focuses on and disregards
• change in coneptual apparatus: after thoughts for events such as learning what Marx thought of the american civil war.
• change in basic historical segments:
• personal interest in history changes:
• the audience that it is being written for.

3. the baconian fallacy is that all historians do is amass a story from the facts. this fallacy would be in agreement with the positivists who believe that history is a science. however, Carr would most likely disagree with this statement because he believes that history is not just a mass of facts, but is biased to fit the writer.

4. Abel states that history differs from geology because the historian attributes meaning to the facts and data.

5.i would agree with this statement over the subject of history. for example, during our "checks" lab, my group had inferred a story through a limited amount of facts, even though those facts might not have been related at all.

6. i do not know how future historians will describe events happening today because the writing of history is dependent on the historian. i will never know how the future will view our time because i can never know what the majority belief is at that time.

7. historical pluralism denies the belief that every event is somehow related to every other historical event.

8. it really doesn't matter if there was ever a man who was named Trotsky, as long as historians recognize that there was a man who had done what he did.

9. A historian is like a physicist because neither person truly knows all there is to know about one specific topic, or everything for that matter.

10. the five frameworks of history:

• all history is cyclical: there have always been, and will always be dictators that rise in times of Crisis such as Hitler, Julius Caesar, and Stalin
• history is functional in that it certain causes will always have the same effects: racial tensions will always lead to segregation
• progress is only a new concept in the study of history: the term "golden age" came about after it had already passed
• according to the Christian view, history is just sin and redemption.
• society can be viewed as a living organism: civilization can be seen to grow from infancy to dying in senility such as the USSR that rose in the 1910's and died in 1991

TOK and history

similarities and differances between the checks-lab and how history is made.

similarities:

• speculation (fill-in-th-blanks)
• not all facts are given
• chronological reasoning
• ways of knowing (induction and deduction)
• time restraint to find a conclusion
• ignored and/or focused on certain pieces of information

differences:

• have a more variety of sources
• no eye witness accounts
• objective of the checks
• written by someone who is well educated in the field

brave new world chapter 4

1.lenina is puzzled about Bernard's embarrassment over her talking with him outright in front of everyone else.

2. Lenina's hypnopaedia comes into view when she says she is glad that she is not a gamma.

3. lenina and henry where off to play a game of obstacle golf.

part 2

1. Bernard Marx is distressed over how he was talked about among the Alphas over rumors that he was tampered with when he was still an embryo.
2. Hemholtz watson worked for the bureau of propaganda and was a writer and lecturer at a university
3. Watson and Marx both feel that they are out of place in there caste and in society. Watson believes that that he has done all there is and does not see it as fullfilling, whereas Marx sees himself out of place among the Alphas.
4. Hemholtz is troubled by something that he does not have. he feels that ther is something inside him that could be on the outside if things were different in the way people were run

essay notes

“We see and understand things not as they are, but as we are” discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing.

Ways of knowing

1. language
• Texts and literature: reaction to texts depends on beliefs of the topic; ex) the communist manifesto. I have conservative views of how a government should work, so I see this type of writing (communist manifesto) as cynical. Therefore, all texts that write like this I see as being terrible
• Religion: religious terms have a different meaning on those who do not understand them. Radical Islamists are seen as terrorists in today’s view because of the way they speak. Words such as “infidel” and “jihad” have a negative connotation in western society. When we hear these words now, we immediately associate them with Islamists. The same is true in Christianity. The image of the Crusades is perceived by Christians as a brave attempt to take back the Holy land. However, Arabs may see this as an assault to take what they see as holy.
2. perception
• Visualization: depictions of war and soldiers; ex) in the war in Iraq, the media is portraying the U.S. as being a terrible outside force through the aid of television. The people who film and depict these events had their own personal view of the war and how it should be handled. For instance, most of these media stations that portray the war as being wrong are run by people that are anti-war, and therefore integrate that image into their filming and broadcasts.
3. Emotion
• Images: Different people react to images differently depending on how they are raised. Ex) we visited the shepherd Fairey exibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art. His artwork was very political in a sense that it was portraying a Democrat idea. Because I was raised conservative, I was struck with confusion as to exactly why his reflected that idea and why he would believe.

brave new world chapter 3

A) Sex, Monogamy & Romance : the world state encourages sexual activity at early ages viewing at as a normal activity for all ages. the world state also looks down on monogomy and romance because it confines one person to another, which goes against the belief that everyone belongs to everyone else.
B) Sports: games and sports should be complicated so that it increases the consumption of the players
C) Entertainment: should not get in the way of a workers job.
D) Parenthood: frowned upon because it is seen as a selfish thing to keep one to themselves and from the state.
E) Materialism: it is good for the people to consume
F) Religion: religion is void and not a part if the world state.
G) Intoxicants: drugs such as soma are a regular part of daily activities

brave new world chapter 2

1. How do babies sent to the Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning Rooms develop an "instinctive hatred of books and flowers?" Why were Deltas exposed to such treatment? the children were conditioned to hate books and flowers by associating these objects with shock therapy and shrill noises. this conditioning kept the children away form books and flowers with they believed will harm them.

2. What is a State Conditioning Center? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic? the state conditioning center is where children of different castes were sent to have there instincts "trained." this is an allusion to Socrates' theory of the city where each caste system is to work at their level and stray from what they were conditioned to do.

3. What is hypnopaedia? Why wasn't it used for Science? What was it used for? Does it remind you of anything from Plato's Republic? Hypnopaedia was the process of teaching to ones unconscious side while they were sleeping. it wasn't used for scientific purposes because it did not yield any positive learning results. however, this process was used in the conditioning center for children to train their unconscious minds into accepting their caste status.

4. How does the Caste system work in the World State? What are the similarities and differences between this and the Hindu Caste system? the caste system in the World State is separated into 5 different castes, with one that has a higher status than the one after it. this system is similiar to the caste system of Hinduism because there five levels of the caste. however, unlike the Hindu caste system, one does not progress up the system when they die in order to achieve Moksha, but they are condemned to remain at that level until they die, then that is it for them.

5. What does the Director mean when he says, "Not so much like drops of water....rather, drops of liquid sealing wax."? by using this statement of liquid sealing wax, the director is saying that, unlike water, the kids would not be able to be remolded into a different form, they would always be in the caste that they were designated to be in.

brave new world

1. the state world motto was "community, identity, and stability."

2. the process was used to split an egg into two identical eggs which in turn is used to make up to 96 embryos. these embryos then grow up into 96 identical twins. the director calls this the major instrument of social stablility becase it allows people to be developed so that they will preform in a predestined job.

3. the Epsilion's to be kept below the bar so that they could be controlled easily and not have any intelligence to know that they were be controlled. also, they would enjoy what every life gave them.

4. Mr. Foster is saying that the scientists make the embryos enjoy their work so they work their hardest and acomplish the maximum of their ability. everybody works better when they enjoy what they are doing. This connects to what is happening in Row 10 because their aim is to nurture the embryo so it feels truly comfortable in a "home" type enviroment.

SHIVA: the destroyer; the feared one; the supreme one

notes from "the republic of plato"

Justice - work - good -virtue - prudent - wise -happy
injustice - corrupt work - bad - vice - thoughtless - unlearned - bad wretched

BOOK II

first introduction of "the city"
characteristics of the city Guardians

• philosopher (king)
• lover of learning
• spirited
• swift
• strong

reared and educated with Music and gymnastics

BOOK III

in the city there are 3 groups of people

1. Gold
guardians of the city
led by wisdom
calculating (superego)
2. Silver
Auxiliary and soldiers
led by courage
irrational (id)
3. iron & bronze
peasants and farmers
led by moderation
spirited (ego)


each class can spawn a child that could be of another class within the city

in order to have a just city:
each class is to isolated from the other two classes
everyone, regardless of position and labor, it to have an equal fixed wage
no one is to have private property
everyone gets what they essentially need

socrates believed that this system will create a perfect "just" city.

Group 4 reflection

what was your hypothesis?
the hypothesis that our group had was to determine any correlation between the depth of a salt pannes and temperature that is recorded from it.
explain your experiences in gaining and testing evidence. any issues?
to gain the evidence, someone had to wade into the middle of the salt pannes and measure the depth of it with a meter stick. we then recorded the temperature with the equipment. teh issue we had was getting the depth with some of the larger pannes
how was working in a group? what went well? what didn't?
our group cooperated well with gaining information and recording it. what didn't go well was how i sunk three feet into one of the salt Pannes.
how do you know that you gained scientific knowledge? i can't say now.

the elephant man

1. John merrick is not a monster. however, he does fit the description of a monster. in folklore, monsters were creatures that differed from humans in appearance and usually took on a grotesque form. however, Merrick is not a monster in the sense of conscience. he is well adapted to society. he recognizes language and is well adapted to the felling of emotions. he also is, in the British context, a cultured man.

2. Merricks claim that he is not an animal, but a human being. what he means by this is that he is not something to be judged and ridiculed. we treat monsters and animals with a degree of disrespect because they are not like us humans and cannot be like us. John Merrick says he is a human. he knows this because he is able to use emotions to judge what he believes is true. he is also able to read, and comprehend.

3. Treves' asks his wife " am i a good man or a bad man?" he is referring to his relation with John and introducing him to the people of england. he believes that even though he tried to introduce John as a man of culture, he has turned John Merrick back into a side show freak. he knows this by the use of emotion. he views the reactions that the visitors have on John.

4. the role of mob mentality plays a dark role in the film "the elephant man." the mob plays the role of the dark side of humans, wanting to see what the monsters is. individually the people are weak, but when they gang together, it appears to mentally scar John Merrick because of the abundance of judging people mocking him.

5.. the community's reaction differed upon the "monster" that they view. the reactions differed depending on similarity between the monster and humans. the more human it looks, the less serious the reaction. however, the monsters that appeared the least human get the greatest reaction from the crowd of people. this is why John Merrick was most often pursued by a mob and why he had to be kept in the isolation ward.

6.i agree with the phrase "we are afraid of what we do not understand." throughout history, many animals have been killed because of this reason. Tiger and lions were hunted for the reason that they were thought to be man eaters. i believe that this phrase can be applied to modern days. however, we do not misunderstand monsters, but rather people, especially religions people. nowadays, we fear those of other religious groups, because we perceive those people to be radicals.

Karadzic justifications

1. After learning about how the Bosnian War began and the role ofKaradzic and Milosovic, was it fair for the Independent to use the word "Monster". kjglhj after reading and learning of these events i believe that claiming that Karadzic was a "monster" was pushing the envelope too far. however, i am not denying that what he did was inhumane and immoral, but compared with others in the field of destruction, he is still recognized as being less severe in which he allowed there to be refugees from sarajevo instead of capturing everyone and have one large scale massacre

2. How do you think this phrase would be justified, according to Plato? Use specific examples from the reading and the documentary, The Death of Yugoslavia, to justify your claims. i believe that the people who claimed this phrase justified it using all 4 platonic justifications. for the reporters who visited the camps personally under the power and control of the serbs, the sheer shock of seeing men depreived of food and being beaten by guards is enough to call the ones beating the prisoners monsters. however, when someone listens to Karadzic's speach in the death of yugoslavia, he states the if the muslims did not get out of the serb's way, that they would be exterminated. from there, people can use reason to justify how the camps were established and why the events in the camps were going unpunished by those in power.

3. When the term Monster is used, what do you think it means. (You can look it up in the dictionary, but as you know, that has limitations). under the established definition of "monster" it is stated that it is a person who excites horror by wickedness, cruelty, etc. however, in the viewing the video and reading the independent article on the bosnian war, in the the context of Karadzic i believe that a monster is defined as a person who knowingly, and willingly, commits attrocities against human life for either a gain in power, or a tactic of terror.

4. Has your answer changed since your first entry? Why or why not? since my first entry, my answer has not changed on the assumption that Karadzic is a monster. however, i do believe that he is a man of terror who ranks with those in history who have been known as monsters.

kradzic is a monster? how do we know?

The Independent refers to Karadzic as a "Monster." Think back to last year and consider: "How do they know what they know?" How have they attempted to justify their knowledge claims? Please be specific.

the reporters make claims that Karadzic is a"monster." many reporters have come to this conclusion through their use of empiricism and knowledge by authority. some reporters have been allowed to enter the "interogation" camps in Bosnia as reported in "love thy neighbor." these reporters have witnessed the attrocities that the guards are performing on the prisoners. the reporters then are able to deduce that Karadzic is a monster because the camps are under contol of the Serbian government. also, independent report attempts to justify the claims using knowledge by authority. many credible reporters have been into these camps and brought back the conditions of these people. also, the reporters justify their claims that Karadzic is a monster becuase of the way that he runs the politics. in "the independent" article, Karadzic makes false press releases specifically on the events in which serbian snipers were killing bosnians. he states that "We (the Serbs) have no snipers." he even goes as far as to blame the events on bosnians who were trying to provoke the Serbs.

andre the giant post

1. the emotional response i had when i entered the exhibit was that i noticed how most of the pieces of work resembled communist propaganda. this might have to do with the political views of Shepard Fairey. i also felt that he was convey an over exaggerated political view and portraying it as a truth.

2. when leaving the exhibit i felt that i had seen the major theme "obey" in a movie. this led me to believe that Shepard fairey took the idea from the movie without acknowledging it. by seeing this theme over and over again, it made me a little irritated to see that Fairey does not have any more new theme ideas. 

3. for me personally, emotion did not have any interaction with the perception of Fairey's artwork. i feel this way because  most of his artwork is made using his own perception, and this is something that i do not share with him. however, there were some pieces of art in which emotion interacted with my perception. these pieces were the ones that were made for musicians such as Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley.

4. Shepard Fairey's exhibit is that of an american culture. these ideas of an evil government and that of wars are waged on purpose by the government is iconically displayed in the ways of communist propaganda posters. if anyone form east europe were to see this, they would interperate differently as the symbol of a crushing government, rather than the way the american youth sees it as a means of opposing the government and making some kind of blind political statement. they might react this way because they understand the oppression of this type of government rather than just fantasizing about it. 

5. a person cannot appreciate theater, art, and music without emotions playing a role. these types of entertainment are meant to provoke the emotional side of a person and therefore must involve some degree of emotion. 

Senior reflection

the one piece of advice that i found to be most improtant is to not procrsastinate. this is improtant for me becuase i am a procrastinator by nature and leave many long term things (such as IAs and projects) to the last minute, or the weekend. i can follow this advice by doing a little work each night.

1. What does Gladwell mean when he says that, 'Puzzles are "transmitter-dependent"; they turn on what we are told. Mysteries are "receiver dependent"; they turn on the skills of the listener.'? puzzles can be completed and dismantled all by adding one more thing or removing one thing. mysteries turn the skills of the listener because mysteries have pieces that can only be discover by acquiring new skills.
2. Why didn't Enron have to pay taxes on their S.P.E.'s? What would be Enron's defense? Can you name the Illogical Fallacy present? Enron didn' have to pay SPE taxes because the IRS only taxes received money and the SPEs were projected income in the future.
3. Did Enron try to hide the fact that they weren't paying taxes? enron made public that they weren't paying taxes
4. Why does Gladwell claim that, 'Woodward and Bernstein would never have broken the Enron story.' Why don't you think anyone asked about Enron's financial statements? Is there a fallacy at work here? gladwell claims that woodward and bernstein would never have broken the Enron story because they were inexperienced in solving mysteries. i didn't think that anyone asked about the Enron financial statements because Enron was so powerful that they would not have given up their statements. also, everyone trusted Enron and their statements. this fallacy is circular reasoning
5. Gladwell claims that, 'Mysteries require that we revisit our list of culprits and be willing to spread the blame a little more broadly. Because if you can't find the truth in a mystery—even a mystery shrouded in propaganda—it's not just the fault of the propagandist. It's your fault as well.' Do you agree with the implications of this statement? i do not agree with this statement. just because there are pieces in a mystery that are missing doesn't necessarily mean that it is the investagator's fault
6. What was the advice of the Cornell students to anyone who held Enron stock?

enron questions 2

1. How does a Special-Purpose Entity (S.P.E.) work? Why does the "partnership" giving money to your company make a big difference? an S.P.E. is when a company uses its assets to pay for a loan
2. How did Enron pit "twists into the S.P.E. game?" What does it mean that Enron "didn't always put blue-chip assets into the partnerships"? What was problematic about Enron using its own executives to manage the S.P.E? What was Enron's guarantee? enron twisted SPE games by selling their assets for less than they were worth. With the Enron executives managing the SPE's, it was risky because the CEOs would make business deals that could lead to problems.
3. How did the world come to learn of Enron's use of S.P.E.'s? Is Gladwell correct in claiming that this is another example of a mystery? Explain. the SPE's were figured out when two reporters read the Enron transactions and their finances and wrote an article about the problem.
4. What is the difference between "scrounged up" and "downloaded?" Scrounged up is when a reporter finds something that he was not expecting to find. downloaded is when a reporter diggs deeper into a subject.
5. Why does Gladwell claim that "It scarcely would have helped investors if Enron had made all three million pages public."? Explain what Gladwell means when he says, "But here the rules seem different." Who is Andrew Fastow? gladwell states this comment because enron could not get out of the touble that they were in due to the SPEs. when gladwell says that the rules seem different it is becuase the more that the is learned about the enron Scandal, the more problems that ther are. Fastow is the Chief financial officer of Enron
6. Why has he "Disclosure Paradigm" become an anachronism? the disclosure paradigm has anachronism because then more things are revealed that have not been discussed.
7. Why did treating the German secret weapon as a mystery prove to be more useful? Specifically, how did the "propaganda analysts" (the batty geniuses) use reason to uncover the Nazi V-1 Rocket? treating the secret weapon as a mystery was more useful becuase it allowed the analysts to interpret nazi broadcasts rather than just assume that there was a nazi secret weapon. the propaganda analyists used reason to uncover the new rocket by listening to the tones of the nazi propagandists.
8. How has diagnosing Prostate Cancer transformed from a puzzle to a mystery? diagnosing prostate cancer has now become a puzzle because the more that we try to understand the growth and effects of the cancer, the less that we know about the nature of the cancer, in that the speed it develops, and the effects it produces over time.
9. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, how has "the situation facing the intelligence community has turned upside down?" the situation has been turned upside down becuase now ther is no hidden information in the world, and no need for things such as spies.
10. How does Admiral Bobby R. Inman believe the U.S. should strengthen the U.S. intelligence system? Why was his answer seen as unusual?
11. Gladwell writes: In a post-Cold War world of "openly available information," Inman said, "what you need are observers with language ability, with understanding of the religions, cultures of the countries they're observing." Inman thought we needed fewer spies and more slightly batty geniuses.

mr. andre reflection

i liked the riddles that Mr. Andre gave for us. the riddles had us thinking out of the box and using knowledge that we know from our everyday life to solve the riddles. it was a good activity to expand on our unit of reasoning. i think that this relates to the story of spider and black deer because we are interjecting our own reasoning to create the conclusion to the question.

enron questions

1. How did Anne Beliveaux respond to Jeffrey Skilling's claim that he was "innocent of every one of these charges." What were the charges? the charge against Skilling was fraud. anne wanted Skilling to recieve the full punishment because the bankruptcy that he caused wiped out her retirement fund.

2. What was Daniel Petrocelli specifically asking Judge Lake to do? What was the response of the judge? Petrocelli wanted the judge to remove 10 months from Skills sentence, to which he replied "no."

3. What is the difference between a Puzzle and a Mystery? Be as specific as possible! Please consider why Gladwell does not believe the difference to be "trivial." Puzzles come to satisfying conclusions. a culprit can easily be found simply because he/she is the person who with held information. Mysteries can be changed and hard to interpret, and do not always come to a satisfying conclusion.

4. What does Gladwell mean when he states: "Puzzles come to satisfying conclusions. Mysteries often don't." mysteries do not come to satisfying conclusions because there is no definite end result, and the result itself can be altered and changed depending what the facts say.

5. Initially, what did most people think of the Enron scandal? Did they think it was a Mystery or a Puzzle? Why would it matter? What does Gladwell think? Most people initially think that Enron was a scandal because it was caused due to fraud on behalf of Skilling. most people think that Enron was a puzzle becuase they believed that everything was evident and that it was a matter of time before Skilling was convicted. this matters that it was puzzle becuase people would believe that Skilling was the cause of the downfall, even if he was found innocent. Gladwell believes that this is a mystery.

6. Please explain Mark-to-Market Accounting. this is an account that makes the company look like it is making more money than it really is.

7. Gladwell claims that: "When a company using mark-to-market accounting says it has made a profit of ten million dollars on revenues of a hundred million, then, it could mean one of two things..." Please explain the two possibilities. What did Wall Street Journal report Jonathan Weil's source want him to find out? one possibility was that is that teh company has the money in its account and will have the remaining after taxes, or that the money is a prediction that the company is betting on. Weil's source wanted him to find out if the money that Enron was making was "real' and not a prediction on what they were going to make.

8. What is the connection between subprime loans and Mark-to-Market Accounting? the connection between these two things is the loans that are made to people are expected to be higher that they really are.

9. Why did Weil find Enron's financial statements "sobering?" Enrons financial statements were sobering because the money that the executives though they were going to make were non existant and without this money, enron had made a loss in that year.

10. Why was James Chanos interested in Enron? Chanos was interested in Enron because he earned money by predicting companies tha will fall in stock.

11. Who was Bethany McLean? Bethany Mcean was a reporter for fortune magazine.

12. Why does Gladwell believe Watergate to be a classic puzzle? gladwell believes this is a classic watergate scandal becuase

13. Did Jonathan Weil have a Deep Throat? he did not have a Deep Throat

14. Why was Weil concerned that the officials at Enron weren't concerned about who would win the 2000 election? Weil was concerned because no matter what, the elections were not going to affect the company

15. After considering how Weil got his information, why does Gladwell believe Enron to be a mystery?

egyptogram

notes

Egyptian hieroglyphics translation

• process of elimination
• more symbols to work with over time
• use of apriori knowledge: used prior knowledge to translate

assumptions are equal to premise
deduction: applying apriori knowledge in the form of a general theory

syllogism: do not create truth, but used properly, valid arguments in a syllogism can preserve truth

example:

• premise 1: all dogs are mammals
• premise 2: fido is a dog
• conclusion: therefore, fido is a mammal

syllogism arguments are not true/false, but valid/invalid
truth: a property of a statement

Egyptogram translation

i though that the egyptogram experiment was a good idea to do for the introduction of "reason." the activity we did tested our ability to reason between symbols and letters. it also introduced us to learn through a process of elimination and the meaning of certain symbols and order to how things are conveyed.

i thought that the story about the Kpelle people was interesting in that the kpelle see a story as a whole piece, not the way that western culture sees a story, which is to contain details. in western culture we pull apart a story and interject our own reason behind it and try to interpet it. However, it appears in the Kpelle culture, people see a story as a whole and do not use their reasoning.

Wild Child project

option B: by andrew cameron and zac arndt

re-write of 'worth his weight in gold' by steel pulse

lyrics:

we fould a wild child

he doesn't know how to do anything

he don't know how to speak

he don't know how to walk, cry laugh, or sing

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

teach victor to learn how to speak

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

teach victor hot from cold

Dr. itard

also teach him some emotions

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

it has to be proven that he can learn

he doesn' know how to laugh or cry or to feel depressed

he's an emothionless guy

as abel say "he knows the referance to what you say"

yelling at him will surely make him cry

he knows louder sounds are bad

that he's made you mad

you've taught him, you've tauht him

emotion

when he's rewarded he's happy

a glass of water makes him feel free

a bowl of milk fills him with glee

a wheelbarrow ride is fun

now he knows his emotion

now nex is perception

he has to perception

so teach him, teach him yeah

develop victor's thresholds

let him feel a hot coal

let him listen, tast, touch, and see

the same was done with a girl named Genie

he's still a wild child

but now he has learned some brand new things

now lets teach him speach

then we'll teach him reason but he still can't sing

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

how it's time to teach him how to talk

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

now it's time to prove that he can speak

Dr. itard

lets test the theory "innatism"

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

it's also essential to be a man

teach him how to write and speak

practicing all day, preacticing all week

with letter exercises and hwo they sound

and naming house hold objects

we praise that day

the day that he said 'lait'

and then in 1970

they taught language to Genie

she learned language in a close way

by listening and word practice all day

we've lost the wild child

because how he has now become civilized

things are going good

better than expected, that's no lie

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

yes, we've taught him how to reason

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

let him feel the hot flame

Dr. itard

let him see how you use a spoon

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

victor's sone has now ended

notes

1. Why does Dr. Itard want Victor to speak? (you should consider the questions asked on Genie, p. 72) to get the the heart of this question.

• to fit into society
• to be more like a man
• to prove that victor is able to speak
• to prove that there is in fact an ability in all humans to be able to understand and pick up a language, born with syntax

2. How does Dr. Itard hope to teach Victor:
a) Perception: exposing him to hot and cold. does thorugh a tub of hot water.
b) Language: words that match objects. had him play with alphabet blocks. repititon of speach toward victor. trying to figuring out the problem rather than just memorizing the answer... erasing the pictures and putting them elsewhere on the board for victor to figure out where to put it next. Genie- understood vocabulary before she could speak. she would learn language from her caretakers, by listening to them.
c) Reason: dr. itard let's victor see him eat with using a spoon, and then has victor try it.(deductive). victor puts his finger in the flame, sees that it is hot, so he will not put his finger in the flame anymore.(inductive). Genie is able to roam around and see other kids playing, therefore she learns what freedom is. (inductive).
d) Emotion: dr. itard punishes victor for doing the right thing. dr. itard figures out that victor knows what is morally right and wrong. victor cries when he is yelled at also.

genie questions #2

1. What was so significant about Chomsky's argument? chomsky argument was so significant becuase it explained how we move a sentence in order to understand it, which condenses the infinite variety of sentences in a language.

2. What do you make of Chomsky's bird argument on p. 36? i think that chomsky's argument is agreeable becuase a species ins designated to perform the the way nature intended.

3. Do you agree with Chomsky's claim about the island at the end of Chapter 7? Please explain your answer. i do not agree with chomsky's claim that a child would invent his/her own language if they were left on an island alone because language takes years to develop. also, in order to develop a language, there has to be a need of communication between people.

4. In Chapter 10, why were Genie's observers pleased to see her hitting other children? genies observers were pleased to see her hitting other children becuase she was no longer inflicting pain on herself, but on others. this action proved that she had a sense the she was an individual

5. Describe how Genie's language was developing. genie was able to interpret objects adn she had the ability to understand things. however, she lacked the vocal vocabulary to communicate with other people.

6. After reading Chapter 11, what are the primary differences between the reading and the film? after the film and the passage the primary differances between Genie and Victor were the ways that they were trained and their origin. victor was found in the wild, whereas genie was found in a locked room. with victor, he had some sort of stimulus where as Genie had none whatsoever.

7. How did the film, Wild Child impact the symposium members? What is meant by: "all of us saw in the movie what we were prepared to see to confirm to our own biases."? what was meant by this quote was that by watching the movie, the depiction of the advancement of the wild child would be verified by the interpretation of the director.

8. What do you think of Dr. Elkind's quote on p. 59? How do you feel about Dr. Freedman's suggestion on p. 59-61? i think that Dr. Elkind has the right idea with what he is saying becuase linguists are trying to apply emotion to the simple use of words to prove that they are taught the same way that language is taught. 

9. Why was it important for Itard to teach Vistor to "imagine the needs of others (p. 73)"? Does CAS do this? Why or why not? it was important for Itard to teach victor the needs of others so he could relate to other people. this does nto apply to CAS becuase cas is just a way to torment students who are having a tough enough  time in school. 

10. After reading Chapter 14, do you agree that Truffaut's film ending was too optimistic? i think that Truffaut's film ended to optimisticly becuase he ended it by depiciting victor returning to Dr. Itard, when in reality, the experiment with victor failed due to his aging into puberty.

through deaf eyes and abel essay

Deaf culture is impacted by both oralism and sign language. However sign language has a greater impact of the deaf view of reality than oralism.

Sign language impacts deaf culture because of its classification as a language. The sapir-whorf hypothesis states that humans are influenced by the language that they use. This hypothesis applies to the deaf view of reality because sign language is a language of gestures rather than words. This influences the deaf community because they appear to be more expressive when communicating than those who can hear. one example of this is deaf poetry. when one of the people being interviewed on the program Through Deaf Eyes, signs a poem, some say that it is based on gestures that get to the true meaning of the poem. this could be argued because with sign, the words of the poem are more expressive to the view because the person who is reciting the poem can choose to put either less or more enthusiasm into certain gestures which would change depending on the reciter. this would change because each person who recited the poem would have different thoughts and ideas on what gestures would be emphasized more or less. also in the program, it is explained that deaf people have dialects to the way that they sign depending on where the person is from. these dialects may be the reason why some are more expressive in signing or more fluid in their movements. oralism also impacts the deaf community and its view of reality, but not as much as signing does. with oralism, a person does not use gestures, but reads the movement of lips. this method of learning to communicate limits the use of expression on behalf of the deaf person. this is so because in the hearing world, most expressions are utilized by the volume that we assign to each word.  

deaf culture is impacted by these two methods of learning in that they have some sort of impact on the way that deaf people think. Signing has both its direct values and limitations on the view of reality. First, signing's impact on the way deaf people think is that they were forced to interpret with thier eyes and not their ears. this use of their eyes could also train their eyes to be more attentive to details in everyday life. therefore deaf people tend to be more aware of the sights that are surrounding them. even though sign language may allow deaf people to view their surroundings  in an altered reality, it restricts deaf people to remain in their own reality of "eyeth." this limits their thinking as to how other people perceive reality like those who live on "earth." oralism also has its values and limitations. with the method  of oralism, deaf people people can community with hearing people. one example of this is Marlee matlin's role at the Oscars. she may be deaf, but through the oral method she was able read the nominees to everyone who was watching and listening. this allows them to perceive both views of reality on "earth" and eyeth." it also can train the deaf on different ways to analyze. however, the oral method limits the total view of reality on both worlds. 

     sign language and oralism both depend on the language that they are associated with. oralism is based on an audible language, such as English or french. this means that persons who learn oralism is confined to the language that is taught to him or her. so the deaf people who learn English are confined to those who speak English. however, sign language assigns one gesture for a situation or action so it can be communicated in many different countries

     even though sign language and the oral method have an impact or reality, some people could claim that the impact is very in severe. the claims that a person arguing the impact would be that everyone sees the same reality, so how can some people claim that we all perceive differently.

     sign language has a large implication on the deaf view of reality. their thought of meaning is not on namings words to the things, but rather using a gesture that fits what a person is trying to describe.  

abel language questions 2

 

1. What are the functions of language?  Just provide the main ones Abel describes. one of the functions of language is to transmitt information. the other function of language is to act expressively. the examples of the functions are poems that abel provides.
2. What is significant about the story of the tribal boys and the table? the significance of the story is the language can be interpreted in different ways to diffrernt people
3. What is the “inscrutability of reference?” (p. 228) the inscrutability of referance is that there is no alternative for leraning the meaning of a word.
4. What does Abel mean when he says that “Words are mere breaths of air, or scribbled pencil marks, but as used in a ‘language game’ by a speech community they are not arbitrary? “( p. 228) abel means that words arent anything unless they are used by the community in a way that conveys meaning.
5. What is the difference between Animal and Human Language? animal language is differant than human language because in animal language there are specific sounds and utterances for specific situations and behaviors.   
6. What is Chomsky’s argument on how humans learn language?  Be specific about linguistic competence. chomsky's argument on how humans learn language is that the ability already implanted in the mind of hunans which gives humans comptance in learning language. 
7. What does Abel think about Chomsky’s argument? abel thinks that language is not something that is pre-learned, but is learned through exposure.
8. How would you answer Abel’s questions:” Would an infant learn to speak, although isolated from adults, he were constantly within earshot of a radio?” (p. 231) i think that an infant would learn to speak if he was in earshot of a radio because he would be exposed to some sort of language that has structure. also infants learn to speak from repetition of language and not constant lessons.
9. Why does Abel believe that “language is not in fact unique in the spectrum of human capacities?” (p. 231) abel believes that language is not unique because it is only way in which humans communicate.
10. What does Abel mean when he says: “We all learn these codes of stance, mannerism, gesture, tactility, interpersonal behavior…yet we are equally unable to state them fully”? (p. 232) hunmans know what each gesture looks like and what meaning it is trying to convey. however, we cannot fully understand why we interpret them as meaning what we conveu them to mean.  

Genie: a scientific tragedy

1. What was Psamtik's experiment? What did he hope to learn? Did he?

Psamtik was an Egyptian Pharaoh who was interested in language and its origins. his plan was to seperate two newborns and give them to two sheperds under the instructions that they should not speak to the children. this was to find what language is the language that first appeared. the childrens first word was Bekos, which is bread in phrygian.

2. Rymer claims on pg. 5 that "while his experiment was flawed in fulfilling its declared intention...it embodied both the theological questions and the practical quandaries that still bedevil the discipline." Where did Abel hint at this same concept?

abel hinted at the same concept when he was discussing the use of language.

3. Why do Linguistics and Astronomy "constitute an unlikely sisterhood"?

linguistics and astronomy are an unlikely sisterhood because both of these sciences are more observational than experimental which means that there arent any ways to run experiments to tests a hypothesis.

4. Why was the Social Worker concerned about the young girl that came to her Welfare Office with her mother?

the socila worker was concerned about genie because she was pale, malnourished, and could not speak at all. she showed evidence of physical abuse.

5. Consider the history of Linguistics outlined in Chapter 5. Please explain how the study of language grew from the religious to the biological and finally to the psychological.