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will see it as mercury too, thus we are seeing the mercury as they are.
On the other hand, if we go more in depth on what seeing means, other
ways of knowing will come into the picture. For example, theres a school
in the Philippines1 that had a mercury leak and it has affected students in
2007. One of the students up until now received some brain damage and
has seizures due to the mercury poisoning and the parents of the child are
devastated. If we then look at my perspective, I will see the mercury as
something that is used inside thermometers and are useful to us while the
parents of the affected child might see the mercury as something that is
very dangerous, highly toxic and something that has ruined the life of
their child forever due to their past experience. ( good point)
Art is subject to many interpretations. In terms of paintings,
different people will have different responses to what painting is
considered to be beautiful. Art can be very objective and when
interpreting art, it is hard to be objective and we usually have an
emotional response to the work of art. Also, what if the work of art is
abstract or works such as Picassos? Do we all see it as the same thing? I
think not. Abstract paintings are hard to interpret and see what the
painter is really trying to paint, thus in this case, it is hard to see things as
they are but we have to see it as we are. This doesnt only apply to
abstract paintings. For example is the Spolarium by Juan Luna, a Filipino
artist during the reign of Spaniards in the Philippines. To someone that
doesnt know the history of the Philippines, the painting will only be seen
1
Roque, Anselmo. "Mercury poisoning fear closes school." Inquirer [Metro Manila] 14 Feb.
2007. Www.inquirer.net. Web. Feb. 2009.
<http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/2007021449387/Mercury_poisoning_fear_closes_school>.
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as what it shows, dead gladiators being dragged on the floor with some
spectators on the background. However, as for me and other Filipinos who
knows what the painting really symbolizes, will see the painting in a
different way because of our cultural background. The painting actually
depicts how the Spaniards have killed Filipino revolutionaries. This
supports the claim being discussed as cultural background can affect how
we see and understand things. ( another good example, can you find and
use a picture? Make sure you cite it and have a caption on the picture)
However, artists can also look for patterns in our natural world, such
as the golden ratio in nature, without bias therefore seeing things as they
are. An example is the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci wherein he
drew the human body in proportions for example, the length of our
outstretched arms is the same as our height. But going back to judging
and interpretation of the art, seeing and understanding works of art
depend on our past knowledge, cultural background thus, who we are.
In history, interpretation of evidence gathered can be different due
to the many historians that try to make sense of what they see.
Understanding of the evidences they see can then be tainted with their
personal emotion and personal reasoning therefore they understand
things as we are. It is hard to be objective as historians can interpret
evidence depending on what they already know or what they want to find
out. There are instances where historians can ignore some evidence due
to confirmation bias if it doesnt go together with all the other evidence.
What about the eye-witnesses of the event? There are probably many
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Bibliography:
1. Lagemaat, Richard Van de. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. New York: Cambridge
UP, 2006. Print.
2. Roque, Anselmo. "Mercury poisoning fear closes school." Inquirer [Metro Manila] 14 Feb.
2007.
Www.inquirer.net.
Web.
Feb.
2009.
<http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/2007021449387/Mercury_poisoning_fear_closes_school>.
3. Woolman, Michael. Ways of Knowing An Introduction to Theory of
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