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The essay used exemplary examples from the areas of knowledge Arts and Natural Sciences. As a Natural Sciences student, the example about ionization energy and non-newtonian fluids really struck me. I realized that Natural Sciences is really just labelling, and while it helps organize our understanding and thinking, certain outliers that don't lie in our pattern or trend are considered "exceptions", and instead of understanding why they are exceptions we look at them as a burden and something we have to memorize to get good grades, hence there is no real learning. This constrains our understanding because we aren't taught in depth WHY they are exceptions, we are just taught that they ARE exceptions. Furthermore, the example of the non-newtonian fluid is very interesting. Non-newtonian fluids are fluids that don't resemble the typical characteristics of the 3 matters, for example, there was this one non-newtonian fluid which I remember studying about (forgot the name) which is liquid when resting but if you try punching it, it immediately turns hard, resembling a solid. Hence, non-newtonian fluids transcends the labelling of matter, as it doesn't fall into any label fully. Once again, they are looked at as "exceptions", since they don't fall in the pattern they can be overlooked as oddballs.

The part of the essay I loved is the example for arts. In arts, labelling acts as a starting point for appreciation, interpretation and critique. However, it is important to recognize that labels can also impose limitations and restrict our understanding of art. By labelling artwork, we may inadvertently confine them within predefined boundaries, overlooking the painting's uniqueness and complexity. Artistic creations, such as the ones by Duchamp and Dada mentioned by Baidandri, defy easy categorization and blur the lines between established labels. They may incorporate elements from multiple genres, challenge traditional notions of form and medium, or defy conventional aesthetic norms.

To fully appreciate and understand art, it is essential to go beyond labels and engage with artworks on an individual level. Embracing a more open and inclusive approach allows for a deeper exploration of the artist's intent and the personal interpretation of the viewer. It encourages us to appreciate the richness and diversity of artistic expressions without confining them to labels

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The statement "Labels are a necessity in the organization of knowledge, but they also constrain our understanding" is relevant to the study of the "Age of Enlightenment," a period in European history that is often labeled as a time of reason, rationality, and scientific progress. While this label is useful in organising and categorising historical events, it can also be limiting as it oversimplifies the complex intellectual changes that occurred during this period.

The label "Age of Enlightenment" emerged in the 18th century, as a way of describing the intellectual and cultural movements that emerged in Europe during this time. It was a period marked by a belief in the power of reason and scientific inquiry, as well as a rejection of traditional sources of authority, such as religion. Philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Kant championed the importance of individual freedom, human rights, and the pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of society.

While this label is useful for organising historical events and tracing the evolution of ideas during this period, it also constrains our understanding of the complexity and diversity of the intellectual and social changes that occurred during this time. The "Age of Enlightenment" label tends to emphasise a set of ideas and thinkers, overlooking the diversity of perspectives and debates that were characterised during this period. Furthermore, the "Age of Enlightenment" label tends to overlook the significant contributions of women, whose ideas and perspectives were often criticised and belittled (during this period).

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The essay highlights different aspects of different sciences. However, in the entire essay, the claim stated that "over-simplification leads to constraining of understanding", even though oversimplification does not constrain the knowledge, it gives a stronger understanding of the implications stated, in my opinion. Moreover, the labeling of the types of energy does help in differentiation which helps better understand the principles and conservation of energy, which is also over-simplified yet it does not constrain any knowledge whatsoever, but helps organise the knowledge instead.

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The essay has a lot of examples but being a science student the one that I liked the most is the labeling of different types of energy. "we have labeled and classified different types of energy- thermal, chemical, nuclear, gravitational, sound, and electric energy."This is something that I never thought of before. This labeling makes the understanding of a very complex topic simple to understand, however, the other example of Ionisation is that as the enthalpy increases the elements move from left to right. This is the general trend or label given by the scientific community, but there are exceptions that show that labeling can also make things complex. Overall, in natural sciences, labeling is important to some extent as it makes certain things easier, on the other hand, if labels are forcefully used they might complex certain things.

Moving on to the arts, labels are not necessarily important as labels can lead people to interpret the way it is labeled. It kills subjectivity and creativity. However, in some cases not labeling art may be negative for the art as it might be hard to interpret the art in the way the artists want.

Overall, the essay was quite clear and simple, easy to understand.

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The TOK essay sincerely inspired and motivated me to write my essay in the fields of arts as well. Being both a science student and an enthusiast for arts and a former student, I was able to resonate with the author and understand the motive behind their examples. Some things I exceptionally liked in the essay were the rich use of examples, as ever point made by the author is directly linked with an example thus making it more insightful, and pulling the work up to a 9-10 band. Furthermore, the "untitled" artwork example was the one which particularly piqued my interest as it directly illuminates the title. Lastly, I was fond of the organisation of the work as we carefully unpack the title provided using examples, go through contrasting perspectives and arguments making the work in 9-10 due to the "clear awareness and evaluation of the viewpoints.".

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The essay highlights different examples from natural sciences and art which clearly correlate to the question, and even if the natural sciences examples, for example the one about "slime" and how it isn't a solid or liquid was a strong example, it didn't strike me as there those are simply oddballs present for a label that is VERY important. That label of solid, liquid, gas doesn't contain our knowledge from knowing there's slime, therefore, this example didn't strike me.

On the other hand all the examples from art regarding untitled art pieces struck me heavily, for example, the first abstract water painting was done by Wassily Kandinsky in 1910. Abstract art always leaves room for interpretation and your own perspective, and that's the reason why the artwork isn't labelled as a label subconciously puts a certain "idea" into the audience's mind, and removing a label doesn't contain the audience's knowledge to a certain path.

These examples were strong as it showed the "flipside" as it highlighted how not having a label is important, instead of saying how having a label is bad, therefore having a strong effect on me.

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Group Pranjal, Samriddh, Vinmre and Saksham

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Group Pranjal, Samriddh, Vinmre and Saksham

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Natural Sciences: In Biology labels are often used to classify organisms in collective groups; this is quite useful in identifying the properties of an organism based on which group they're in. However it also comes with its disadvantages:
It puts unicellular algae in kingdom Protista but multicellular algae in kingdom plantae. However, both the organisms must belong to the same group.
• Thus organisms showing similarities are placed quite apart. For example unicellular and multicellular algae.
• Many organisms with dissimilarities have been put together in kingdom Protista. This leads to diversity in kingdom Protista.
• Viruses are entirely excluded from the five kingdom classification system.

This shows how exclusive labels can be in a natural science field such as biology.

Arts:

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The example that I could personally relate to is where the student talks about abstract art. Since art will always be subjective and have many interpretation specially with specific art forms that the student mention will have paintings that are 'untitled' because the artwork itself can not be labeled. The perception of these paintings will depend on the certain individuals knowledge or creativity. She also mentions in arts the timeline that also highlights that even though the time periods are labeled they does not constrain our knowledge because these art forms lead to new art forms and furthermore

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I really loved the essay because it gave a very beautiful outlook of the research question. It provided in detail context of all the examples chosen and very strategically linked them back to the main title showing impressive understanding. As a science student, i was biased towards the examples she took of natural sciences. One thing that stood out to me was the example of ionisation energies. Personally, i firmly believed that labels are required in sciences but after reading her approach, i realised how labels itself can act as a constraint for our understanding. I believe her work was very influencial specially because it altered my opinions about natural sciences and classifications. Furthermore, in arts, she mentioned the art timeline and how even tho it provides the readers with an incentive to organise their knowledge, it overlooks some monumental contributions that can provide great detail about the progression of visual arts. Overall, i really think that her article successfully conveyed her understanding to the readers because of its insightful nature.

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Autobiography of Red: Akhila, Hugo, Manvi and Ryan

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Autobiography of Red: Akhila, Hugo, Manvi and Ryan

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1. A rich mixture of poetry, fiction, myth, and modern life. Although its label compels the viewers to presume it is an autobiography, in reality it's a “novel in verse”.  Thus, labels can be extremely misleading and can constrain one's knowledge and understanding exceptionally. Furthermore, the title or the label of the artwork is doing a disservice to its genre, hybrid genre by only highlighting one particular genre instead of the others present in the work.

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One example that stood out to me personally was the one about ionization enthalpies. This is because as a chemistry student, this was one topic that we studied in a lot of detail including the exceptions to the trend. However, even while studying the exceptions, I took it as a burden and did not seem to realise the beauty behind it. I did not seem to understand how despite everything around as being classified, some things simply just don't fit into those classifications because the way they display trends goes way beyond a trend. The distinctions are what set them apart and make us realise that at times, classifying everything with labels can constrict our understanding of how individual elements on the periodic table work. The way she displayed the exception of Boron and Bereliyum in the trend depicting how the impurity to the trend adds value to the concept of periodicity is why this particular example spoke out to me the most.

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DANCE: In different dance forms, there is distinctions of gharanas based on the core components taught to the dancers. This allows us to organise our knowledge as it provides us with an incentive of distinguishing between different dancers. However, it restricts our knowledge about the expression of a dancer because we pre assume their skills beforehand and close our mind to their strengths and weaknesses.
VISUAL ARTS: Each art form is distinguished in different eras. For example impressionism that created  various types of impressionims that include
Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism. These organization of knowledge doesn't not constrain their knowledge. It is not constraining their creativity

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“Labels are a necessity in the organization of knowledge, but  they also constrain our understanding.” Discuss this  statement with reference to arts and one other area of knowledge.

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Group Pranjal, Ryan, Samriddh and vinmre

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Group Pranjal, Ryan, Samriddh and vinmre

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"The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali was a prominent Spanish artist who is known for his distinctive surrealist style that challenged traditional concepts of art. Born in 1904 in Catalonia, Spain, Dali was deeply influenced by the work of the Surrealist movement, which aimed to explore the subconscious mind and challenge established norms and conventions.

His art often featured dreamlike, bizarre images that juxtaposed seemingly unrelated objects and ideas. Dali was also known for his eccentric personality and flamboyant behavior, which often attracted as much attention as his artwork. Throughout his career, Dali created a diverse body of work that includes paintings, sculptures, and films. Despite his controversial reputation, Dali remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, and his contributions to the Surrealist movement continue to inspire and challenge artists and viewers alike.

From a surrealist perspective, Dali's painting explores the subconscious mind and challenges conventional notions of reality. The melting clocks, draped across various objects in a barren landscape, suggest the fluidity and distortion of time. The soft, dreamlike quality of the scene invites viewers to delve into their own subconscious and embrace the irrational and fantastical aspects of the human psyche.

In terms of symbolism and perception, the inclusion of insects, such as ants crawling on the pocket watch, may symbolize decay and the inevitability of death. The deserted landscape and absence of human presence further emphasize a sense of isolation and introspection.

"The Persistence of Memory" has been interpreted as a visual representation of Dali's own anxieties and fears. The melting clocks can be seen as symbols of the passage of time slipping away, while the barren landscape and deserted tree evoke a sense of desolation and decay. The surreal juxtaposition of these elements may reflect the artist's apprehension about the transitory nature of existence and the relentless march of time.

The interpretation of Rene Magritte, a well renowned artist, suggested that Dali's melting watches could be understood as a critique of the way time is depicted in traditional art.
Magritte believed that time was not fluid but rather rigid and precise, contrasting with Dali's portrayal. He argued that Dali's melting clocks were a playful, yet subversive, representation of time's instability and the limitations of traditional artistic conventions.

https://mymodernmet.com/the-persistence-of-memory-salvador-dali/

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Jackson Pollock is an American painter and the leading figure of the Abstractionist Movement in the 20th century, with his paintings selling at very high prices, in this reflection, we will be specifically talking about No. 5 (1948), priced at $140 million dollars– the second most expensive artwork sold–. Everyone across the globe has an impression of Jackson Pollock being a skilled, talented artist who puts a lot of effort into his pieces, but this article by Ben Cohen directly goes against that notion.

“Pollock's style is a cancer on the art world It eats away at its creative minds and leads them down the dark path of profit-oriented art.” This is the opening to one of the paragraphs in the article, and what this indicates is high-priced abstract artworks, such as Pollock’s works will subconsciously lead upcoming artists to shift to abstract art, instead of harnessing skills and techniques. The “dark parth of profit-oriented art” is in regard to abstract art as Ben Cohen calls Pollock’s work “paint-storms flooded the market and choked off true innovation. He made producing thoughtless, low-effort art profitable” He claims the “abstract” path is profit-oriented as it’s very “thoughtless and low-effort”, and since there are large multitudes of artists who want to focus on profit, they’ll go down this path. I feel that Ben Cohen has the right ideologies but presents them in a very harsh way, possibly offending a lot of people, I feel that criticizing Jackson Pollock wasn’t the way to go about this, because at the time abstract art wasn’t the “craze” and Pollock wanted to try something new, he’s one of the leading members of the abstract movement, I feel that Cohen should’ve talked more about new artists who make artworks similar to Pollock’s work solely for profit and how this is a general pattern that's starting.

Moreover, Cohan’s distaste towards Pollock’s work can be extensively noticed in the descriptions of No.5. For instance, “kaleidoscopic vomit”, “Pollock’s style of painting is a cancer on the art world” and many more might influence the way the viewers begin to perceive Pollock’s work due to the heavy disgust showered on the artwork which influences the viewer’s opinions. In addition, I believe that even after reading Cohan’s work I was slightly persuaded to change my artistic opinion regarding Pollock’s work. However, being an art enthusiast and having studied art in depth for the last two years, my interpretation of the artwork was not affected. Nevertheless, for individuals who did not have prior knowledge of art, this commentary might significantly influence their opinion of Pollock’s work.

When I looked at the artwork it did not come across as “kaleidoscopic vomit” or the disgusted feeling said in the article and I though the quite opposite. Though after reading the article I understood that it wasn’t made because it was easy or for money but because he wanted to make something different from other artists. Since the artwork is very subjective and we all have different perspectives and it varies.

https://www.unaffiliatedpress.ca/article/2017/4/14/jackson-pollock-is-trash-and-abstract-expressionism-needs-to-die

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Jackson Pollock is Trash and Abstract Expressionism Needs to Die — The Unaffiliated Press

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It eats away at creative minds and leads them down the dark path of profit-oriented art.

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To what extent do expert opinions play a role in shaping our perception of what constitutes art?