We are told that curiosity killed the cat. Ever wondered what happened to that cat? No, neither have I but in the novel Sophie’s world by Albert Knox, we are encouraged to explore the boundaries of our creative imagination and curiosity. Just like that cat mentioned earlier. He asks us the fundamental question of as humans grow up; if people lose “the ability to wonder about the world” This question I feel is pretty self-explanatory. Knox believes that as we mature, we are no longer inquisitive and simply lose the willingness to seek reasoning within our world.
I disagree with the author. I believe none of us ever lose our ability to wonder. It is merely stifled. From my own experiences, children learn not question authority. Failure to comply will duly result in punishment. For example, if a student were to ask; why are we wondering about what a person is wondering in a book where all the author seems to do is let his mind wander? The student will eventually either fail to complete the task, or be lectured on his/her insolence. Hence, children learn from these experiences and will hesitate before questioning a superior.
I also believe that with the deepening knowledge of our universe being available over a wide range of media; why contemplate a theological question when you can just Google the answer, or consult an encyclopaedia? Not only this, but in our daily lives, we are obsessed with making everything as time efficient and as quickly as possible. People feel that there simply isn’t enough time to fit in a daily schedule, let alone ponder their feelings on the universe. We also live in a world obsessed with results. A project will be deemed pointless and again, a waste of time if it fails to bear a tangible result. A deep soul search will seem a waste of valuable resources and will be allocated elsewhere.
In review, I disagree with Albert Knox. With our world accelerating towards, what many claim as imminent apocalypse, we never really lose the “ability to wonder”.
We just choose not to.
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7 comments:
I really liked this. It's funny,irreverent and thoughtful. You choose excellent examples.You also mention 2 ways in which we get knowledge about the world - authority and experience. What other ways are there? Lastly, can we just Google everything?
I agree with your point that we choose to wonder less as we age. However, this does not explain why old philosophers continue to wonder. Are they an exception? Or are they not bound by factors such as authority and experience?
"Just google it" sounds a little too simple!! What about when you get a whole lot of different sites, many of which actually give very different "answers"? Which answer is the "right" answer? How do you know?
I agree with the fact that put a lot of emphasis on results. It is true that we don't want to waste our time on a project/question which we would probably never get to end of, in the end not obtaining any results.
Yet referring to what you said, do you think we can actually find 'the answer' from an encyclopedia?
dude...your awesome
I liek how you have gone against the comment of the assignment, its something not many people do. You are questioning what you are being given which is awesome. In true spirit of TOK.
I like the examples you used.. pretty funny haha
i love you,
miguel
Hey Justinho.
I like how you gave specific evidences to back up your claim of disagreeing with Albert Knox. It is true that people can just 'google' whatever knowledge they require but these knowledge may not be valid or irrelevant to the theological question.
I like how you mentioned that our time is spent wisely because it is true that our time would not be spent on waste. I like your humorous perspective; it made it much more interesting to read.
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