Student 57

Object: Gymnastics trophy that I won at a competition in 5th grade

When I was in 5th grade I participated in a gymnastics meet in which I won the all-around title, meaning I won the whole competition. Externally I appeared to be extremely happy, however, internally I was dreading every minute of it as I did not enjoy or want to be in gymnastics anymore. In relation to the knowledge question, there are constraints on the pursuit of knowledge if the acquisition of that knowledge is hurting the pursuer. In obtaining and growing my knowledge of gymnastics I was hurting not only my mind, but also my physical health as I was putting an overarching amount of stress on my body which could, in the future, limit my ability to pursue other forms of knowledge, such as other sports. To continue, when trying to acquire knowledge that ends up hurting the pursuer, there often will be little knowledge gained as when I was in gymnastics and was mentally and physically struggling to continue winning. I was not motivated to learn or to make corrections or be better because I was hurting myself. When gaining knowledge on a subject in which you are putting yourself at risk comes several mental blocks, such as demotivation and fear, which all can impede on the validity and the amount of knowledge gained in a pursuit. Therefore, when acquiring knowledge it is important that when gaining that knowledge you are not putting yourself at risk or actively hurting yourself as it can impede on your ability to gain other forms of knowledge and can devalue the knowledge that you are currently pursuing.

Object: Video about John Chou’s death when trying to convert an isolated tribe to Christanity shown in TOK class

John Chou was a devout Christian missionary who wanted to travel to the Sentinelese Islands in India to convert the isolated tribe living on the islands to Christianity. It was highly illegal, but Chou chose to put the tribe at risk just to spread his knowledge of his religion. In relation to the knowledge question, there are constraints on the pursuit of knowledge if it harms other persons, is unnecessary, and puts the pursuiter at risk. Chou did not have to travel to the Islands to spread his religion. There was no evidence that the Sentinelese were ever going to convert as they have had an isolated life from the real world for years, further showing the needlessness of Chou’s acquisition of knowledge. In Chou trying to pursue knowledge he put the tribe at risk of exposure to diseases and interrupted their way of life. Chou's actions to spread his knowledge were hurting the tribe and also putting him in danger. The tribe were known to shoot arrows at outsiders if they got too close to the island, but Chou chose to ignore this. There has to be constraint when pursuing knowledge if it puts your own life at harm. Trying to spread or pursue knowledge is not worth more than your life and the lives of others. Converting the tribe to Christianity was not going to bring influential or life changing knowledge to the world; it is not universal knowledge that can be used by communities. As I identify as Christian, I try to understand that it is important to not force knowledge, or religion in this case, on people and to not impede on a group's culture if it is not necessary or if it is hurting the group itself. It is important for us people to have empathy and constraints when pursuing knowledge. If not, we will be hurting others for our own satisfaction of knowledge.

Object: Documentary of the horrors of the Kellogg experiment (1932) that I watched after learning of the experiment

The Kellogg experiment was a test to see if by raising an ape and child together the ape would develop human-like mannerisms and intelligence. The Kellogg family used their own child, Donald, and an ape named Gua for the experiment. In relation to the knowledge question, the pursuit of knowledge should not impede on the development of a human child and should not threaten the nature of animals. Throughout the experiment, Donald, the child, was not raised as a human, he was raised as a test subject and by the end of the experiment developed problems with speech and socialization implying the lack of moral values of the Kellogg’s and the constraints that should have been put on the experiment. To continue, the apes' natural instincts were being constrained and halted interfering with the apes cognitive and physical development. In addition, many of the tests performed on Donald and Gua were very abusive and traumatizing for the two test subjects. In Kellogg's pursuit of knowledge they used unnecessary tests that ended up hurting the two test subjects indicating the constraints that should have been placed. To continue in the pursuit of knowledge, if that knowledge is not beneficial to communities or to the development of the world, the acquisition is not necessary. Relating to the object, the overall experiment was very unnecessary and did not add any new or beneficial knowledge to the psychological field of study. Being a person who wants to study psychology in the future, the information or knowledge gained in this study provided no further life changing discoveries that could help the field of psychology and further develop helpful studies to progress the future psychological community. The results of the experiment were expected as apes and humans are a different species further exemplifying the experiment's uselessness and need for constraints.