"The word is half his that speaks, and half his that hears it." -Michael De Montaigne d.1592

This quote by Michael De Montaigne means that a word has no meaning unless there is someone there to interpret its meaning. Language, a key to understanding, is a form of transmitting information and emotions from one person to another. Thus, in order for the information to be understood, the words spoken must also be heard which means that in order for language to be effective, there must be a transmitter and a receiver.
If all are transmitters, then the idea of language is lost as there is no one to transmit the information to, which often ends up resulting in fights and quarrels as everyone is trying to transmit their own ideas and since everyones ideas are different conflicts occur. An example of this is sometimes shown in everyday life as two really hard headed people quarrel. They both speak at the same time which means that they are both transmitters- which means that there are no receivers since none of them are listening. This often results in all the ideas brought up being lost because each person is too busy transmitting to be receiving. In real life, this is often the cause of wars between countries that have strong opinions on certain issues as they both want to transmit their own ideas and end up not listening to the other party. So in order for language to be useful, and for the world to function smoothly, there has to be people who speak, and people who listen. The determinant of which is which, however, varies according to the situation.
This quote also means that each person interprets thing in their own ways. According to each persons past experiences and personal background, there are certain connotations associated with certain words and sentences, some which are positive, and some negative. This triggers a connection in our brain which determines how we view the word or the sentence and how we personally interpret it. This means that what you think you are trying to transmit might not always have the same meaning to the receiver, so when you are trying to get your point across, you should always take that into consideration as what you say may be interpreted in different ways depending on the person you are speaking to. This is also another main cause of quarrels and conflicts as it causes a lot of misunderstanding between people because what one is trying to transmit isn't always interpreted and exactly how they want it to be.

"We see and understand things not as they are but as we are". Discuss this claim in relation to atleast two ways of knowing.

It is difficult to see something and judge it without being biased in some way. You will always apply your own experience and opinion into what you see/taste/smell/hear. As you grow up, you learn things through the 4 ways of knowing; emotion, perception/senses, language, and reason. This makes you see things that make you think in a particular way.

People don't really find things out by being there when something happens, they find things out through their nerves and 5 senses, which is one of the four ways of knowing. But how do you know if they are right? It is impossible to see/feel/taste what other people perceive because each person describes what they see subjectively. How do you know that you and someone else see the same red? Also, just because you can't hear/smell/taste/see something, doesn't mean that its not there because you are not the ruler of the universe. Your perception isn't as good as you think it is as there are things that are there, but that your brain just chooses to ignore, which then makes you think that it isn't there.

Reason is another one of the 4 ways of knowing which is greatly affected by our own opinions/experiences. If you have a certain opinion or view on something you always have a reason as to why you have that opinion and the experiences you encounter in life and how you are raised up help make up that reason. However, in the end, there is no real right or wrong answer in an opinion based argument so each person can think differently and understand something in their own way with their own reasoning behind it.

The reasons stated above are why we see and understand things not as they are but as we are.

First Blog TOK

This is my first blog. Can you read it?