Sense of Time

I wonder if humans can have a sense of real time or if it is just the idea of time that we have mathematically created with a clock. Is our internal clock our sense of time or is it just our body’s reaction to routine? I believe that we have a good sense of time because whether I have to wake up at five in the morning or nine in the morning, I always wake up right before my alarm goes off. I believe that somehow our body’s can sense real time even when we are not awake. Although I believe that humans can sense time, I don’t believe that animals have the same abilities. Perhaps I am wrong, but I don’t believe that all animals have the capacity to know what time it is. It seems as though domestic animals that appear to have a sense of time, such as dogs and cats, are only reacting to their owners. When it appears that animals always know that dinner is at five o’clock every night, this is not their sense of time, but rather a learned behavior. Animals, especially domestic animals, thrive when they have a strict schedule that they can depend on. Perhaps humans have also developed a dependency upon routine and have been able to “sense” time like animals do. But I tend to believe that humans have more ability to understand and comprehend the idea of time than animals do.

Tenth Dimension

I recently watched the tenth dimension video, http://www.tenthdimension.com/medialinks.php, and I found it very interesting. I liked the way that it displayed the different dimensions in a way that I could understand. I personally liked the fourth and fifth dimension, and how the dimension of time makes us feel like we are going in a straight line, but we are really moving from the past to the future in a snake like motion. There are actually different paths that we can take which is determined by different factors in our lives. I found this proposition of different dimensions very interesting, because I have always wondered if this is true. Perhaps we do not realize the different dimensions around us, and how they affect our lives. Is it possible that there is more to this world that we have not discovered yet? I believe that if we discovered the different possible dimensions around us it would change the way we live our lives. This video was stimulating as it mapped out the different dimensions and thoughts of something that we know nothing about. I found this interesting because I don’t ever think of something such as different dimensions in great detail, like this video.

More Von Glasersfeld thoughts...

Von Glasersfeld states that perception and conception is the only way we can receive and know knowledge. Thus he says that we cannot have “real” knowledge of apples because no one really knows what real apples are. They only have their own perceptions and conceptions of what an apple is. Furthermore, our perceptions and conceptions are usually developed from other people’s ideas and knowledge, thus hindering our ability of real knowledge of apples. Von Glasersfeld problematizes the notion of a “reality” external to the cognitive apparatus of the individual knower or learner.

So are our perceptions of apples original or completely our own? Or are they an amalgam of other people's perceptions and conceptions of how they view the world?

Time=Sun?

When I think about the existence of time, I don’t see how time cannot exist. As humans we are completely dependent upon time. Time determines when we go to work, our age, the day of the week, as well as many other important aspects of our lives. I believe that time is completely dependent upon the sun. The days of the week, seasons, hours, and minutes are all mathematically calculated by the sunlight. It is evident that this is true because there are various time zones around the world that reflect the amount of sunlight received. Time zones were created so that 12:00pm has the same consistent amount of light throughout the world. Perhaps we use the sun’s light as a way to describe and measure our day, which has been mathematically divided into minutes and seconds so that we can better describe our day, thus creating something that we call “time.”

But how could an event exist without time? I suppose I do not have a full answer to the question about the existence of time yet. I do however believe that we could have the idea of time completely wrong, and that we are interpreting this possible “4th” dimension wrong. If this was the case, then many physics and other mathematical problems that include “t” or time would be incorrect, thus misinterpreting more aspects of our world.

Who or what creates our limitations?

I found the Monday’s class discussion to be very interesting. I have often wondered if we are born with limitations or if we create limits naturally for ourselves? If you tell yourself enough times that you cannot do something, you begin creating limitations for yourself. I believe that we should live our lives as if we do not have limits until we try, because otherwise we are hindering our ability to expand.

But where do our limits come from, do we create them ourselves? Or perhaps society and other people create limitations for us. Many times society forces ideas into our heads, such as the notion that you need a college degree to be successful. By giving someone this idea, society has created a limitation. If someone does not have a college degree they could believe that they will not be successful. This limitation could discourage people from working harder and trying to be successful. But why do we need a college degree to be successful? This statement only creates a false limitation for someone that could work hard and be just as successful, if not more, than someone with a degree.

Or again, maybe we are born with limitations. Perhaps we are all born with different limitations that will not allow us to understand philosophy, business, ways to repair a car, or the ability to play soccer.

The Right Key

I found Von Glasersfeld’s analogy of the lock and key especially interesting. He explains our knowledge of the world through the idea of a lock and key. Traditional epistemologists explain our knowledge through matching. Von Glasersfeld uses the example of re-painting a room to explain epistemologists’ explanation of knowledge. It is evident that when re-painting a room it is extremely hard to find paint that will exactly match the paint already on the walls. Von Glasersfeld argues that instead of matching our knowledge to the world, or reality, we should find the right fit much like the way that a key fits in a lock. The fit of the key explains the capacity of the key, not the lock. Thus many keys, or knowledge of different people, can fit many different locks, and allow people to experience the reality of the world in different ways. I believe that Von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism allows people to develop knowledge of their reality at their own pace that is best suited for them. Perhaps this is why many educators embrace Von Glasersfeld’s idea of finding a fit rather than a match for knowledge.

Radical Constructivism

Radical Constructivism is the idea that knowledge is not passively received but actively built up by the cognizing subject and that the function of cognition is adaptive and serves the organization of the experiential world, not the discovery of ontological reality. Von Glasersfled argues that our knowledge cannot be interpreted as a picture or representation of that real world, but only as a key that unlocks possible paths for us. He claims, that a metaphysical realist is someone who insists that we may call something true only if it corresponds to an independent, objective reality. Radical Constructivism is the theory of knowledge in which knowledge does not reflect an objective ontological reality, but rather an ordering and organization of a world constituted by our experience.