R.I.P. Certainty?

For a larger image of this comic strip, click here or here.

Questions & issues to consider:

A) What is the cartoonist's point about certainty? What do you think, or make, of his point?

B) Comment on the quality, quantity, and content of the evidence (examples) the three characters provide in support of the boy's declaration, in the second-to-last frame of the strip that "The world's a less silly place without you!"

C) The last two frames of the comic strip present an ironic juxtaposition of ideas regarding certainty -- consider the boy's comment in the second-to-last frame ("The world's a less silly place...") in comparison with his exchange with Opus in the last frame. Comment on the ideas contrasted between the two frames. [e.g. Compare the content of Opus' comment in the last frame with the content of the statements quoted in frames 2 - 7 of the strip. Consider the implications of the boy's declaration in the next-to-last frame when applied to Opus' closing comment. Think about your intial reaction to the boy's statement in the last frame.] What observations, conclusions, and/or implications about knowledge and certainty are sparked by the strip?

D) Why did the cartoonist choose to add the last frame? Why didn't he just draw the headstone in the next-to-last frame and end there? Note: I'm certain ;-) it wasn't just to fill up space.

[Be sure to focus your comments on the knowledge issues raised in the comic strip. This comic strip clearly has a political overtone and slant. However, responding to that political element should not be the primary focus of your comments.]

Just what is the shape of the Earth?

I can hear it now... "Oh no, not this again!" And, "Don't go there, Mr. Currier!" But seriously... Why are you so certain that you know the true shape of the earth? What is the highest point on the earth? How do you know that? On what basis do you claim to know either the shape of the earth or the highest point on it?

Click on the following link for a short video from a recent ABC evening news broadcast that reports some new findings on these two issues:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2983361
(I apologize in advance for the advertisement you'll probably be forced to watch.)

Questions & Issues to Consider:

Is this report enough to make you revise your knowledge claims about the shape of the earth and it's highest point? If your answer is "Yes," explain why. What would you say is the basis for your claim to know the new knowledge claims? If your answer is "No," explain why not. What would it take to convince you to change your knowledge claims on the shape of the earth and its highest point?

What do you think about the definition of "highest point" the reporter uses in the piece? Explain/elaborate.

What do you think about the following knowledge claim (including the basis for it) made near the end of the report: "And while from space you can't see the earth's bulge (it's too little), it's there...."

Global Warming, Science, Fact, and Belief

Click here for a larger image of the comic strip.

Questions & issues that could be considered:

A) What is a "fact?" We've spent a lot of time this year wrestling with the concepts of "knowledge," "truth," and "belief," but we've never discussed the term "fact." What do we mean by that term? What makes something a "fact?" How is a fact different from knowledge, truth, and belief? Or is it different from any one of those?

B) On a related note: The first frame of the comic strip juxtaposes the concepts of "fact" and "belief." What do you make of that juxtaposition? (To see a definition, click on the word.) What is your reaction, or what thoughts does it prompt? Are the two concepts related to one another? If "yes," why and how? If "no," why not?

C) The punchline of the comic strip obviously turns on the play-on-words with the title of the Al Gore film, "An Inconvenient Truth." What are the two "inconvenient truths?" Why are they each inconvenient? If we accept the comic strip at face value, can both "inconvenient truths" be true? Why or why not?

D) Consider the ideas discussed in two of our science readings, "Science" (the reading about science as telling explanatory stories) and "Evaluating Scientific Claims." Share insights you gain by applying concepts from those readings to this comic strip.

E) Was this comic strip drawn in support of those who claim to know that global warming is real? Or was it drawn in support of those who claim to know that global warming is not real? How do you know? What is your basis for claiming to know that?