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Compare and contrast any two different ways of knowing cats. Is it possible to give any preferential status to one particular way?

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Introduction

Ahana Nanavati TOK 11c October 7, 2003 Compare and contrast any two different ways of knowing cats. Is it possible to give any preferential status to one particular way? Knowledge by definition is facts, feelings or experiences known by a person or a group of people1. It is awareness, consciousness, or familiarity gained by experience or learning. It is erudition learning. There are various ways of knowing. The categorized ways of knowing include emotion, reason, language and perception. Emotion is derived from the body, within the heart, which gives human beings the capacity to respond to knowledge imaginatively. Reason and logic are derived from empirical evidence. Language is the tool with which humans communicate knowledge. It is also a tool of thought. ...read more.

Middle

The relationships cats have with the environment around them can be explored by the ecological part of scientific inquiry. The nourishment necessary for a cat's development is also a way of knowing cats, which can only be reasoned through this way of knowing. Basically, the sciences help understand cats as a species, their lives, structure, growth, function, and origin. On the other hand, personal experience, also a very significant way of knowing, has a totally different approach to knowing cats. The knowledge gained by personal experience is derived from a very creative process in a person's body or heart rather than brain. This process is one that creates emotional attachment between the person and the cat. Personal experience also causes an individual to perceive the cat and transform any data noticed into a knowledge claim. ...read more.

Conclusion

For example, a cat's behavior and response to their surroundings can be understood through both. But while scientific enquiry is knowledge strongly based on experiments and science, personal experience is knowledge gained through true interaction with the animal. Knowledge claims based on scientific inquiry are derived from the left-brain, as it is to do with reason and logic. Whereas claims based on personal experience are derived from the right brain, as it is to do with emotion and feelings. It's a contrast between the minds vs. body. Personal experience also allows the person to be more specific about their knowledge claims as they can be made according to a certain cat, rather than a generalized knowledge claim based on scientific inquiry, which covers most cats. They both together offer a strong knowing of cats, thus preferential status cannot be given to any one particular way. 1 http://www.wordreference.com ...read more.

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