In Psychology, we’ve been taught that the Scientific Method is The Way, the only way to know and obtain knowledge. In the scientific world it is accepted as the only true system of processes to explain a question or data. However, what is true? How do we know what is true, as the scientific method hasn’t always been around…
To know what truth is, one must first define truth. Truth manifests itself from sincerity, integrity, or faith, resulting to a fact or what one considers reality. There are an abundance of theories by philosophers who have their own take on the definition. Some state that truth is defined by society, or through historical power struggles, or logic that if one thing is true than a similar claim is also. Yet, it is among the endless list of theories, made by many of the world’s great thinkers, which lays a simple solution: that truth is just that, personal. There are countless ideas and limitless ways of knowing because every human is an individual and unique. No two lives are the same and no experience is exactly alike. Truth is based from logic, belief, or a combination of the two, and since everyone thinks in his or her own distinctive way thus produces diverse answers to the question of truth.
Logical thinkers appeal to the sciences where answers are formulative and derived from a precise beginning and would prefer to stay within the black and white box. Those who base truth out of belief go off of emotion and are unable to label why a certain event led them to the answer. Naturally, belief and logic will cross over and affect each other. However, it is quite impossible to logic one in believing or vice versa. Complicated webs form and entangle thinkers and frustrate scholars who seek only to share their findings and better their academic community. This is probably why the scientific method was created. It’s the Esperanto, the common language for scientists. It’s a formula that anyone anywhere can understand and implement, but also it’s a way to place boundaries and define expansive ideas.
Overall, no, the scientific method is not the only technique for investigating occurrences and is not the only way of knowing. We individually have our own method in which we find truth, whether by your heart or your head.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
life's just one big game slash party
i, caroline, have learned two things in the past few days.
1) games, are awesome.
2) laura's grandmother officially parties harder than i do.
okay, so at school i never play games. but here...its my life. i play croquet, volleyball, solitaire/carioca/canasta (card games), and the beacon of them all, compatability. so compatability is this game that isn't made anymore. every person gets this pile of cards with certain pictures on them. as you move around the board you draw cards with topics on them (future, for example), and you choose which pictures represent them (perhaps the baby, the married couple, the skyscraper). then you see if your partner picked the same ones, or you try to choose the ones your partner would choose. its a fantastic game because you really get to know the people you are playing with, how they perceive things, what they're about, etc. but its more than that...its really competitive. you have you know your partner better than the opposing team members know each other. you don't know if you should put down what you think or what you think your partner would think!
but i don't understand why i get so into games! i think maybe, thanks to school, i have this craving for mental stimulation. and maybe its not the exercise of schoolwork, maybe i am inherently wired for mental exercise, maybe we all are-- designed to think about things, to challenge ourselves and to learn things. there's like this insatiable craving for exploration and adventure.
and this element of life...the competitive nature...the adventurous spirit...can truly connect people across oceans and continents. last night laura and i visited some of her grandmother's friends, who are chilean. their kids were about our age, a little younger, and don't speak much english. and i don't speak spanish. so i'm thinking like...how is this going to work? and then we go into the girl's room and she has pictionary! and we seriously had the best time. it was the americans vs. the chileans of course...a showdown of epic proportions. team english and equipo espanol! i think game play reveals certain universal elements of humanity. there's the vigorous circling of what you've drawn when it makes perfect sense to you, its so obvious! and time's running out and your partner just can't make out what you're drawing and they're like why do you keep circling that i don't understand! and there's the emotional release of energy when time has run out and they tell you the thing they were drawing that was so obvious that you were supposed to get right away but missed! and then there's the uncontrollable spouts of laughter when you see how someone's pitiful attempt to communicate something that just failed..quite miserably. then there's the unfortunate pang of misery that comes with finding out you have to draw the picture with your eyes closed, or with your left hand...or worse, you have to draw two pictures in the same amount of time!
i just love it, essentially. i love the way i get so worked up and think that my personal value is actually at stake. i love the way that in the same few minutes you can totally resent someone for their success but then rejoice with them after they've won-- because we're really all just friends anyway. the time lapse of mere seconds reveals the transience of all the game-associated emotions.
okay number 2, laura's grandmother, tatita carmen, is seriously a party animal! on new years we all went out to eat at aleli, a restaurant with an insane view of the lake, so that we could also see the fireworks at midnight. we sat down at about 10:30 and i had reached delirium at about 11:30, because, as i'm learning, i'm really not much of a night owl. so the balloons that rained down on us at midnight naturally transformed into volleyballs- the left side of the table vs. the right side of the table. the background elevator music naturally turned into an insane heartsong of my dance-party minded being! the party hats became bird beaks...unicorn horns...horns in general. the issue of whether or not my hair still looked okay and if i was going to have to excuse myself to the restroom to go fix it...really didn't matter anymore. also there was this toddler named matheus sitting next to us who mistook laura's dad as his own father and he really enjoyed coming to visit us so that was absolutely hilarious. and, in the midst of all this , our eyes gazed to the entrance of the restaurant because this one waiter had just faceplanted into the glass door! this was at roughly 12:04 am. what a way to start the year off!
okay so its like 1am and i haven't been to bed this late since i was studying for exams, and the meal is finishing up, and i'm like okay great, bed is near. au contraire. the escobar family was only just beginning! a dance party fell upon us! here i am, eyes drooping, leaning up against the wall and laura is salsa dancing with tatita, and the rest of our 9-person party. next thing you know is 2:30 am and i'm partying with 4 baby boomers and 2 retirees. so we got back to the house at 3am. 3 am people, i honestly don't think i've ever stayed out that late. so yes, we welcomed the new year with hearty celebration.
and we've all spent the past few days recovering...not. its january first and laura and i are settled in front of spiderman 2. its 11:15 and my eyes are drooping. meanwhile laura's grandparents are out at a party. role reversal i didn't even see coming! and last night we were visiting until 1:30 am. i just can't keep up! i'm like yawning my way through the end of pictionary and there's lively conversation in the other room!
right so, note to self, get out more.
1) games, are awesome.
2) laura's grandmother officially parties harder than i do.
okay, so at school i never play games. but here...its my life. i play croquet, volleyball, solitaire/carioca/canasta (card games), and the beacon of them all, compatability. so compatability is this game that isn't made anymore. every person gets this pile of cards with certain pictures on them. as you move around the board you draw cards with topics on them (future, for example), and you choose which pictures represent them (perhaps the baby, the married couple, the skyscraper). then you see if your partner picked the same ones, or you try to choose the ones your partner would choose. its a fantastic game because you really get to know the people you are playing with, how they perceive things, what they're about, etc. but its more than that...its really competitive. you have you know your partner better than the opposing team members know each other. you don't know if you should put down what you think or what you think your partner would think!
but i don't understand why i get so into games! i think maybe, thanks to school, i have this craving for mental stimulation. and maybe its not the exercise of schoolwork, maybe i am inherently wired for mental exercise, maybe we all are-- designed to think about things, to challenge ourselves and to learn things. there's like this insatiable craving for exploration and adventure.
and this element of life...the competitive nature...the adventurous spirit...can truly connect people across oceans and continents. last night laura and i visited some of her grandmother's friends, who are chilean. their kids were about our age, a little younger, and don't speak much english. and i don't speak spanish. so i'm thinking like...how is this going to work? and then we go into the girl's room and she has pictionary! and we seriously had the best time. it was the americans vs. the chileans of course...a showdown of epic proportions. team english and equipo espanol! i think game play reveals certain universal elements of humanity. there's the vigorous circling of what you've drawn when it makes perfect sense to you, its so obvious! and time's running out and your partner just can't make out what you're drawing and they're like why do you keep circling that i don't understand! and there's the emotional release of energy when time has run out and they tell you the thing they were drawing that was so obvious that you were supposed to get right away but missed! and then there's the uncontrollable spouts of laughter when you see how someone's pitiful attempt to communicate something that just failed..quite miserably. then there's the unfortunate pang of misery that comes with finding out you have to draw the picture with your eyes closed, or with your left hand...or worse, you have to draw two pictures in the same amount of time!
i just love it, essentially. i love the way i get so worked up and think that my personal value is actually at stake. i love the way that in the same few minutes you can totally resent someone for their success but then rejoice with them after they've won-- because we're really all just friends anyway. the time lapse of mere seconds reveals the transience of all the game-associated emotions.
okay number 2, laura's grandmother, tatita carmen, is seriously a party animal! on new years we all went out to eat at aleli, a restaurant with an insane view of the lake, so that we could also see the fireworks at midnight. we sat down at about 10:30 and i had reached delirium at about 11:30, because, as i'm learning, i'm really not much of a night owl. so the balloons that rained down on us at midnight naturally transformed into volleyballs- the left side of the table vs. the right side of the table. the background elevator music naturally turned into an insane heartsong of my dance-party minded being! the party hats became bird beaks...unicorn horns...horns in general. the issue of whether or not my hair still looked okay and if i was going to have to excuse myself to the restroom to go fix it...really didn't matter anymore. also there was this toddler named matheus sitting next to us who mistook laura's dad as his own father and he really enjoyed coming to visit us so that was absolutely hilarious. and, in the midst of all this , our eyes gazed to the entrance of the restaurant because this one waiter had just faceplanted into the glass door! this was at roughly 12:04 am. what a way to start the year off!
okay so its like 1am and i haven't been to bed this late since i was studying for exams, and the meal is finishing up, and i'm like okay great, bed is near. au contraire. the escobar family was only just beginning! a dance party fell upon us! here i am, eyes drooping, leaning up against the wall and laura is salsa dancing with tatita, and the rest of our 9-person party. next thing you know is 2:30 am and i'm partying with 4 baby boomers and 2 retirees. so we got back to the house at 3am. 3 am people, i honestly don't think i've ever stayed out that late. so yes, we welcomed the new year with hearty celebration.
and we've all spent the past few days recovering...not. its january first and laura and i are settled in front of spiderman 2. its 11:15 and my eyes are drooping. meanwhile laura's grandparents are out at a party. role reversal i didn't even see coming! and last night we were visiting until 1:30 am. i just can't keep up! i'm like yawning my way through the end of pictionary and there's lively conversation in the other room!
right so, note to self, get out more.
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