For some time, I’ve intuitively felt society’s increasing division, manifested through day to day tones of anxious uncertainty. Below, I aim to briefly reflect on epistemology in a sincere and discursive manner.
If I colour my lens as that of a martial arts student and a coach in Sydney 2024, I find myself and others turning towards ‘deductive reasoning’ (I interpret this as we must first be taught the theory, to then begin a process of ‘trial and error’) to make sense of things. See image below which really furthered my understanding of what is ‘deductive and inductive’ reasoning. Safe to say, this beautiful yet complex city has seen monumental, volatile and rapid changes over the last few decades. It’s possible these changes matched with a diverse society, encourages us to turn towards deductive reasoning more than inductive on the grounds of efficiency. But is it more because of familiarity?
If I colour my lens as that of a teacher in Sydney 2024, I find myself again looking at the general essence of ‘deductive reasoning’. Perhaps this is largely Skinnerian conditioning, compounded over time. My cats will rush to its food bowl if they hear a bag shake. They’ve learnt that bag shake meets a survival need of having a full belly. It seems Westernised teachers, trainers, students, professors and general participants within the education cosmos turn towards theory. To this paradigm, I sense increasing rebellion from the new age of students. A quick reflection to uni also finds myself, subconsciously yet paradoxically also sensationalistically rebelling to what seemed like a tonne of theory, shoved down my throat. One could argue it felt unnatural and untimely, manifested through bored looks and disengagement in the forms from placid disobedience to what we hear more now in classrooms, ‘poor behaviour’. But life is what you make of it, right?
However, if I colour my lens as that of a traditional Japanese (exposure primarily from that of my Feudal-like father and spurred by my watchings of Shogun admittedly…), I find myself and himself, looking at the essence of ‘inductive reasoning’. As an amateur, inductive reasoning would involve taking a step back, calming one’s mind through breathing, and then deeply observing. Through observation, followed by tenacious and genuinely inspired curiosity, one would repeat a practice over and over before building the confidence to trial and error. Sometimes this becomes a negative matchup, such as a native Japanese person trying to practice English. Inductive reasoning, in the ‘right environment’ seems to invigorate more trends of methodical, step by step adherence rather than fulfilling the urge for shortcuts. Possibly, observation and practice follows the natural rhythm and chronology of ‘caveman’ living. Careful and calm observation, followed by practice and then trial and error has been inherently coded into human biology via the survival of the fittest principle. To learn how to hunt, we must observe, practice and then derive a loose theory based off success. In this light, inductive reasoning is far more experiential and to me, is in accordance with many established theories such as the Eastern ‘Shu-Ha-Ri’ principle (Follow rules, master the rules then break the rules) or even the Western psychology theory of ‘cognitive, associative and autonomous’ learning. However, it seems that our behavioural patterns (at least in Sydney) seem to be out of sync with theories. One could argue the onus to learn and ‘evolve’ is on each and every individual. But I also believe it is our civic duty to help our fellow humans to become better (deliberately left as a generic term). Perhaps these ‘mismatches’ and society’s growing division is a symptom of greater issues such as the country’s narrators, largely being economists and lawyers, perpetuating the $$$. Commodification, commercialisation, deregulation and encouraging privatisation.
Both East and West follow similar macro principles in their processes towards learning. Like studying Shakespeare and textual integrity, the questions asked are fundamentally the same. Who are we and why do we do the things we do, for example. Questions about love and suffering… We just have different answers because of the difference in context. In the West, we talk about ‘backward design’, which involves looking at the end goal and then working backwards to optimise the processes. In the West, we talk about Anderson and Krathwohl’s revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, arguing that ‘understanding is the root foundation of all higher order thinking’. In the West, we talk about collaboration via Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, advocating how we learn well with peers. In the West, we talk about Pearson and Gallagher’s ‘Gradual Release of Responsibility’, that independence and self-sufficiency is the ultimate goal of craftsmanship. In my opinion, Japan (not claiming that Japan is representative of all Eastern cultures…) too advocates for such goals. Individually and societally, we are seeking peace and progress. It is in humanity’s inherent and innate interests to spur evolution in a sustainable and holistic manner.
Perhaps, as societies we are moving too fast in some ways and too slow in others. Japan does some things well in the way of mastery. Accurately mastering one thing, step by step, whether it be martial arts to hospital care to gardening to crafting Tofu… The West advocates for such mastery too in famous axioms such as “less is more”, “a jack of all trades but a master of none…” More theoretically, we have Cummins’ ‘Dual Iceberg Representation of Proficiency’, implying the mastery of one allows us to catalyse the mastery of another. A tender reminder to friends, we must not forget we are mortals and are limited by human limitations. We are not optimising our work loads (Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory). Alongside theories, reasoning and ‘evidence’, we need to be able to safely feel, trust and have faith.
I strongly feel there is a soulful symbiosis between East and West and optimising this may provide more social cohesion, or the ‘social glue’ we are yearning for. My own answers, plans and executions lie in martial arts and education. To reshape the future I wish to work diligently and collaboratively to create a higher synthesis of both. We have the ingredients more than less, in Sydney. We just lack the precedents, the practice and arguably the leadership. Such a potential leader, in my opinion, would need to do this with tender love. Our society, in its current divisive state, needs softness to bring our default defence mechanisms and egos down. Love builds a bridge, in which the truth can pass.
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