The truth by Geography

I've been studying Geography for nearly the whole of my life. I've started learning it ever since i was in kinder garden. Throughout this time period I've learned that earthquake comes from moving continental crust, rain comes from the condensation of water particles in the clouds and that people move around to make a living. So, what truth does Geography hold?

None. Absolutely nothing.

Why? Well that is simply because it is a simplification of what happens around the world. You may say that some things always hold true in geography, that rivers meander and that long shore drift and coastal erosion reduces land mass and the number of beaches, and ultimately threatens the economy. True it may be, but it is a mere observation.

Geography often tries to answer the 'whys' about the world and proposes solutions for them, if they are problems. Naturally as human beings, we priorities problems that impact ourselves higher, that is why demographics is a major portion of geography.

Study of demographics shows that people work, they spend which drives the economy. The economy is everything, and people are the fundamentals of it.

So,

Problem: Africa is less economically developed (in relation to countries such as USA, Germany)

Observation (with reasoning): It is poor due to lack public services to educate the people to allow them to get jobs to boost the economy. Such services are provided by the government who in turn get money from tax, from the people.

Solution: Encourage foreign direct investment to use the vast labor force available. The injection of money will bring the country out of poverty.

Current situation: Africa is still less economically developed

Even when the problem, the cause of it, and the solutions to it have been found, the problem still remains. This is because it is an attempt to monitor human activity, which is all but consistent. Corruption may have been a factor to the continual of the problem, but the problem ot the solution is due to its assumption of an ideal environment. That is why there is no definite 'what do to' when a country is poor. There are never absolutes to theories and models geography (and other subjections) has proposed, they are just suggestions of what causes them, and what could be done to improve the situation.

That is why Geography holds no truths.

"We sometimes get all the information, but we refuse to get the message." (Cullen Hightower)

This quote by Cullen Hightower emphasises the difference between accepting and understanding. It shows the importance of teaching and how human perception can lead us to miss the key issue in many situations.

Often in classes we get many worksheets and have a detailed textbook. We have all the resources and information available for us but many of us refuse to learn and absorb the messages given in the handouts. This could be due to laziness or lack of understanding. Sometimes it is easier just to remember a fact or equation than actually finding out how it was derived. People refuse to try to understand so that they don't confuse themselves.

This actually shows the importance of teaching and helping people learn. Without teaching many would be forced to give up. Even though they have all the information, they refuse to get the message because it is too hard. This quote links to how a build up of knowledge is needed along with encouragement and support.

This quote also emphasises how sometimes our own perception can distort the message or we even force ourselves to ignore the truth. An example is stereotypes and racism. Even though statistics show certain countries to be very innovative and beneficial to society, many often refuse to acknowledge this because of past experiences and stereotypes of the race. These are some of the ideas which can be raised from this quote.

What sorts of 'knowledge' and/or 'truths' does economics convey?

I studied this subject for GCSE and I am currently taking it at standard level. This subject has particularly different sorts of knowledge and truths because a lot of it is based on logic and ideas. Much of the theory is propositional knowledge as taking a practical or experiential approach is impossible since theories such as a free market economy are ideals and do not exist.

Also taking an experiential approach to knowledge and learning could cause drastic effects to the world's economy. For example removing government involvement to test whether the theories of a neo-classical aggregate supply diagram were true would cause many deaths as chaos would results when someone tries to take power. Many companies would withdraw all investments in that country in fear of losing money and so the whole country would be put into a recession.

For this reason it can be argued that economics has no actual 'truths.' All the ideas are based on assumptions of people’s reactions. Often it is said that "if you give ten economists a problem and put them in a room, they will come out with 11 different solutions." Anything can be argued from another point of view as knowledge can be applied in different ways. So there are no actual 'truths' in economics. This is seen to be true in the real world. Though often the theories are correct, there are always situations where unexpected things can happen, like in the stock market.

Laurence

WOK Sense perception quotes

"There's more to seeing that meets the eye." (K. T. Cole)
"There is no truth. There is only perception." (Gustave Flaubert)
"Everyone hears only what he understands." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
"True science investigates and brings to human perception such truths and such knowledge as the people of a given time and society consider most important. Art transmits these truths from the region of perception."(Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy)
"We hear and apprehend only what we already half know." (Henry David Thoreau)
"Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic." (Edward de Bono)
"We shall see but a little way if we require to understand what we see." (Henry David Thoreau)
"There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." (Aldous Huxley)
"We sometimes get all the information, but we refuse to get the message." (Cullen Hightower)
"The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comrehend." (Henri Bergson)
"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is -- infinite." (William Blake)
"It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive." (C. W. Leadbeater)
"After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked—as I am surprisingly often—why I bother to get up in the mornings." (Richard Dawkins)
"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing." (Camille Pissarro)
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world." (Hans Margolius)
"Science is nothing but perception." (Plato)

Knowers & Knowing

1. 'Shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to recognise that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to recognise that you do not know it. That is knowledge.' (Confucius)
2. 'Where there is shouting there is no true knowledge.' (Leonardo da Vinci)
3. 'Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' (Martin Luther King)
4. 'Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.' (Francois de La Rochefoucald)
5. 'Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.' (Daniel J. Boorstin)
6. 'It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands that he does not understand it.' (G. K. Chesterton)
7. 'Those who are convinced they have a monopoly on The Truth always feel that they are only saving the world when they slaughter the heretics.' (Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.)
8. 'A very popular error – having the courage of one’s convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack upon one’s convictions.' (Anon)
9. 'There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom.' (Democritus)
10. 'The most important truths are likely to be those which… society at that time least wants to hear.' (W. H. Auden)
11. 'Never assume the obvious is true.' (William Safire)
12. 'The criterion of truth is that it works even if nobody is prepared to acknowledge it.' (Ludwig von Mises)
13. 'The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.' (Anais Nin)
14. 'If one is estranged from oneself, then one is estranged from others too. If one is out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others.' (Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
15. 'Now there is one outstandingly important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it.' (Buckminster Fuller)
16. 'Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.' (Carl Jung)
17. 'The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.' (Eden Phillpotts)
18. 'The dumbest people I know are those who know it all.' (Malcolm Forbes)
19. 'Self-knowledge is like a garden. If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.' (Ghanaian proverb)
20. 'In times of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future: the learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.' (Eric Hoffer)
21. 'The more you know the less you understand.' (Tao Le Ching)