In  Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, HIGH AND LOW, (Japan, 1963), a wealthy executive named Kingo Gondo is in a struggle to gain control of a company called National Shoes. One faction wants the company to make cheap, low quality shoes for the impulse market while Gondo wants it to stick with sturdy but unfashionable shoes. Gondo believes that the long-term future of the company will be best served by well made shoes with modern styling, though this plan is unpopular because it means lower profits in the short term. He has secretly set up a leveraged buyout to gain control of the company, mortgaging all he has. That is, he has very little money but nobody knows this. 
Just as he is about to put his plan into action, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son, Jun. Gondo is prepared to pay the ransom, but the call is dismissed as a prank when Jun comes in from playing outside. However, Jun's playmate, Shinichi, the child of Gondo's chauffeur, is missing and the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted him instead.

What would you do if you were in Gondo's place?

A madman who has threatened to explode several bombs in crowded areas has been apprehended. Unfortunately, he has already planted the bombs and they are scheduled to go off in a short time. It is possible that hundreds of people may die. The authorities cannot make him divulge the location of the bombs by conventional methods. He refuses to say anything and requests a lawyer to protect his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. In exasperation, some high level official suggests torture. This would be illegal, of course, but the official thinks that it is nevertheless the right thing to do in this desperate situation. 

Do you agree? If you do, would it also be morally justifiable to torture the mad bomber’s innocent wife if that is the only way to make him talk? Why?

Emotion versus reason
Traditionally, they have been seen as mutually exclusive, and interfering. However, the Somatic Marker hypothesis, "a mechanism by which emotional processes can bias behavior, particularly decision-making", states that this is not necessarily true, and perhaps they can even compliment each other. 

In your opinion, how closely are reason and emotion linked? 

Please provide reasons and examples. Need some more info? Refer to the Section "Ethics" in your ToK textbook. You can also watch this video about Phineas Gage, the man whose case led scientists to study the relationship between the brain and emotions. 

350-400 words

Read the following text and then answer the questions below. (400-450 words.) Remember to upload your answer on Managebac. Deadline: Friday, 4:30 pm

From your textbook, page 68.

"According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, language determines our experience of reality, and we can see and think only what our language allows us to see and think. To give a well-known example, the Inuit are said to have many different words for snow, and their sophisticated snow vocabulary help them to make finely grained snow discriminations. As a result, they see and experience snow-covered landscapes quite differently from the rest of us."

Answer the following question in 250 words: To what extent do you think (and act) differently, or perceive things differently when you switch between languages?

Ways of Knowing / Perception.

Answer the following question. Remember to use your own experience as a means for illustrating your points of view.  DEADLINE: Sunday, Feb. 24

Given the partially subjective nature of sense-perception, how can different knowers ever agree on what is perceived? Do people with different cultural or linguistic backgrounds live, in some sense, in different worlds?
 
Enjoy. If you're really curious about how different our worlds have been thought to be by some theorists, depending on our language, culture (worldviews and experiences, even perception, are always mediated by language), check out the so-called Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis.