tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67169149423835417382024-03-17T11:01:11.058+00:00Theory of KnowledgeWelcome to the TOK blog for students around the world. We are sure that you have many questions and queries concerning your TOK essays and presentations and this blog gives you the space to engage with them alongside like-minded, thoughtful people.TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-18968030660337492372024-03-17T10:57:00.003+00:002024-03-17T10:57:36.768+00:00ToK prescribed Essay Titles November 2024<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Here are the TOK Essay titles for the November 2024 exam session c/o <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IBO/comments/1ba8u1e/tok_essay_titles_november_2024/" target="_blank">reddit</a>:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">1. <span style="background-color: white;">Responsibilities for pursuing knowledge</span>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">2. Ingenuity
& its limits in knowledge production</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">3. <span style="line-height: 150%;">AOKs cutting off ties with the past</span><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">4. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Similarities & differences between hypothesis & speculation</span><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">5. </span>Anomalies in knowledge production<span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">6. </span>K<span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;">nowledge & adopting different
lenses.</span></span></p><p><span style="background: white; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">All the best to everyone writing in this exam session!</span></span></p>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-31768229135381710982023-03-14T17:12:00.001+00:002023-03-14T17:12:27.044+00:00ToK Essay Prescribed Titles November 2023<p> Here are the TOK Essay titles for the November 2023 exam session c/o reefstudystudio.com:</p><p>https://www.reefstudystudio.com/tok-prescribed-titles-nov-23</p><p>1. Knowledge, facts and proof.</p><p>2. Knowledge production, patterns and beauty in Maths and Arts.</p><p>3. Knowledge acquisition and our relationship to experts.</p><p>4. Knowledge production and the influence of values.</p><p>5. Knowledge, understanding and the world in History and N Sciences.</p><p>6. Knowledge acquisition, information and selection.</p><p>All the best to everyone!</p>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-28437321342805211662022-09-18T10:46:00.001+01:002022-09-18T10:47:18.049+01:00ToK Essay Prescribed Titles May 2023<p> <span style="font-family: arial;">Here are the new TOK Essay titles for May 2023 c/o ibtokessaytutor:</span></p><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">1. Replicability & knowledge.</span><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">2. What can be explained & what cannot be explained within knowledge communities.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">3. "Bubbles" & the exclusion of information and voices.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">4</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">. So little knowledge & so much power.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">5. Visual representations & the communication of knowledge.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">6</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">. Knowledge & methodology.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif;">Happy writing!</span></div>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-25905858671115256242022-03-14T07:37:00.004+00:002022-03-14T07:37:54.288+00:00ToK Essays Prescribed Titles November 2022<p> The <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px;">November 2022 titles are now available c/o 'TOKTips':</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px;">Q1. Knowledge, credibility and open-mindedness.</span></p><div class="dmRespCol large-6 medium-6 small-12 grid-column ui-sortable ui-resizable" duda_id="1634214130" id="1634214130" outline="hide" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: inline-block; float: left; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 16.7969px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: top; width: 560px;"><div class="dmNewParagraph grid-widget ui-resizable" data-dmtmpl="true" data-element-type="paragraph" data-uialign="left" data-version="5" duda_id="1971139354" highlight="false" id="1971139354" localization_key="googleTranslate.PYHRHvU.11" no_space_e="true" outline="show" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: initial; margin: 8px 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: visible; padding: 2px 0px; position: relative; text-align: left; transition: opacity 1s ease-in-out 0s;"><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q2. Knowledge & open-mindedness.</span></p><p no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q3. Knowledge, unanswerable questions and unquestionable answers.</span></p><p no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q4. Knowledge, indisputable evidence and its unattainability.</span></p><p no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q5. Knowledge, measurement and Galileo’s directive.</span></p><p no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q6. Knowledge and the freedom of interpretation of the past in Arts and History.</span></p><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;"><br /></span></p><p class="size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" no_space_b="true" no_space_e="true" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">All the best with your studies!</span></p></div></div><div class="dmRespCol large-6 medium-6 small-12 grid-column ui-sortable ui-resizable" duda_id="1521141041" id="1521141041" outline="hide" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: inline-block; float: left; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; padding-left: 16.7969px; padding-right: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; vertical-align: top; width: 560px;"><div :="" background-image="" class="dmNewParagraph grid-widget ui-resizable" data-dmtmpl="true" data-element-type="paragraph" data-uialign="right" data-version="5" duda_id="1108438300" highlight="false" id="1108438300" localization_key="googleTranslate.LpHMEg4.12" no_space_e="true" outline="hide" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-shadow: none; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; line-height: initial; margin: 8px 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow: visible; padding: 2px 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;"></div></div>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-81441564676793385792021-09-13T11:09:00.005+01:002021-09-13T11:09:44.291+01:00ToK Essay Prescribed Titles May 2022<p> Here are the published titles for the ToK Essays submitted for examination in May 2022 and based on the new ToK Curriculum 2022 c/o ibtokessaytutor.com:</p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q1. Knowledge & its dependence on culture.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px !important;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q2. Truth, facts and the gap between them.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px !important;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q3. Justifications for holding N Science knowledge in high regard.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px !important;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q4. Using stories to give meaning in History & H Science.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px !important;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q5. Difference between good & bad interpretations.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial; font-size: 18px !important;"><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">Q6. Ethics, boundaries and acceptable investigations.</span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;"><br /></span></p><p class="size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 18px !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="font-size-18" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; display: initial;">All the best!</span></p>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-20883584208388567712021-03-10T17:05:00.002+00:002021-03-10T17:05:53.500+00:00ToK Essay Prescribed Titles November 2021<p> Please find the titles for the Nov 2021 exam session c/o intokessaytutor.com</p><p>1. Identifying a line between accepted and disputed knowledge.</p><p>2. Problems of gaining knowledge through direct experience.</p><p>3. The deceptiveness of obvious facts.</p><p>4. Knowledge production and reliance on trial & error.</p><p>5. Provisional knowledge and our confidence in it.</p><p>6. Certainty, uncertainty and our relationship to them.</p><p>All the best!</p>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-1075236880926299932020-09-06T11:33:00.000+01:002020-09-06T11:33:05.708+01:00ToK Essay Titles May 2021<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Here are the titles for students sitting the May 2021 Exams courtesy of 'TOK Tips': </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c4858;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">1. Accepting knowledge claims and trust.</span></span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c4858; line-height: 1.618; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">2. Differentiating between change and progress in AOKs.</span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c4858; line-height: 1.618; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">3. Labels, the organization of knowledge & constraint on understanding.</span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c4858; line-height: 1.618; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">4. Statistics dual role of concealing and revealing.</span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c4858; line-height: 1.618; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">5. Usefulness of AOKs combining with each other.</span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c4858; line-height: 1.618; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">6. Bias and its negative and positive roles in pursuing knowledge.</span></p><p style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3c4858; line-height: 1.618; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">Best wishes with your studies!</p>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-5702452786797105192020-03-14T08:15:00.000+00:002020-03-14T08:15:51.841+00:00ToK Essay Titles November 2020<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Disagreements about knowledge, resolutions and both sides of the argument.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Understanding and the nature of 'what if?' questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Centrality of humans in knowledge making and its problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The process and end result of pursuing knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Existing knowledge, the unknown and questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Knowledge, reliability and certainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 24.0pt; margin-right: 12.0pt; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Good luck to everyone exploring these titles!</span></div>
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-79735499797899680832019-09-16T00:20:00.000+01:002019-09-16T00:20:01.436+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (May) 2020Here are the ToK Essay Title topics for the May 2020 exam session:<br />
<br />
1. <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Picasso, seeing
and asking questions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2. </span>Descriptions, explanations and knowledge<br />
<br />
3. Knowledge, personal circumstances & seriousness<br />
<br />
4. Analogies, understanding & justification<br />
<br />
5. Theories and their limitations<br />
<br />
6. How present knowledge depends on past knowledge<br />
<br />
The actual titles are availble courstesy of : <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IBO/comments/cyn9i2/tok_essay_titles_may_2020/">https://www.reddit.com/r/IBO/comments/cyn9i2/tok_essay_titles_may_2020/</a><br />
<br />
Good luck!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-6065349218148878962019-03-04T09:14:00.000+00:002019-03-04T09:14:05.212+00:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (November) 2019<div class="_3xX726aBn29LDbsDtzr_6E s5mir6g-6 iBoqCE" data-click-id="text" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 12px 0px 0px; max-width: 800px; padding: 5px 8px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div class="fo16tt-0 bJBAtI" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; overflow: auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word;">
<ol class="s90z9tc-13 elNkWH" style="border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: outside; margin: 4px 0px 4px 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li class="s90z9tc-11 irlrft" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="s90z9tc-10 fHRkcP" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Responsibility for accuracy between users and the producers of knowledge</span></div>
</li>
<li class="s90z9tc-11 irlrft" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="s90z9tc-10 fHRkcP" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Individuals and the challenges for knowledge production.</span></div>
</li>
<li class="s90z9tc-11 irlrft" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="s90z9tc-10 fHRkcP" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Changing of shared knowledge and present confidence in it.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li class="s90z9tc-11 irlrft" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="s90z9tc-10 fHRkcP" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The strategy of observing and writing observations.</span></div>
</li>
<li class="s90z9tc-11 irlrft" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="s90z9tc-10 fHRkcP" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trade-off between scepticism and success in production of knowledge.</span></div>
</li>
<li class="s90z9tc-11 irlrft" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.4em 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="s90z9tc-10 fHRkcP" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="s90z9tc-14 juBaow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Finding truths or significant truths in the pursuit of knowledge.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;">The full titles are <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IBO/comments/awsitk/tok_essay_titles_2019_november/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;">All the very best!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
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TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-40756808625570717652018-09-08T13:21:00.002+01:002018-09-08T13:21:36.739+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (May) 2019The TOK Essay titles for May 2019 appear to have been published <a href="http://schstok.weebly.com/tok-essay-info.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Here they are:<br />
<br />
1. “The quality of knowledge is best measured by how many people accept it.” Discuss this claim with
reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
2. “The production of knowledge is always a collaborative task and never solely a product of the
individual.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
3. Do good explanations have to be true?<br />
<br />
4. “Disinterestedness is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.” Discuss this claim with reference to
two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
5. “The production of knowledge requires accepting conclusions that go beyond the evidence for
them.” Discuss this claim.<br />
<br />
6. “One way to assure the health of a discipline is to nurture contrasting perspectives.” Discuss this
claim.<br />
<br />
Good luck!TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-73793702637720480322018-03-02T09:38:00.000+00:002018-03-02T09:38:34.809+00:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (November) 2018It looks like the Titles for November 2018 are out - the source needs verifying - but here they are:<br />
<br />
<ol style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.357143em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;">
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Existing classification systems steer the acquisition of new knowledge.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Technology provides ever-expanding access to shared knowledge. Therefore, the need to assimilate such knowledge personally is relentlessly diminishing.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Are disputes over knowledge claims within a discipline always resolvable? Answer this question by comparing and contrasting disciplines taken from two areas of knowledge.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Those who have knowledge don’t predict. Those who predict don’t have knowledge” (Lao Tzu). Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“Too much relevant knowledge in a field might be a hindrance to the production of knowledge in that field.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.</li>
<li style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.42857em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">“The importance of establishing incontrovertible facts is overestimated. Most knowledge deals in ambiguity.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Good luck!</span></span></div>
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-41512149447265427512017-09-02T11:13:00.000+01:002017-09-02T11:13:19.829+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles May 2018Here are the May 2018 TOK Essay prompts courtesy of <a href="http://theoryofknowledge.edublogs.org/2017/09/01/tok-essay-prompts-for-may-2018/" target="_blank">Larry Ferlazzo</a> and <a href="http://www.ibtokessaytutor.com/ibtokessaytopics/May2018/ibtokessaytitlesMay2018.shtml#ibtokessayMay2018topic1" target="_blank">IB TOK Essay Tutor</a>:<br />
<br />
1. “The fields of study of academic disciplines can overlap, but adopting interdisciplinary approaches to the production of knowledge leads only to confusion.” Discuss this claim.<br />
<br />
2. “We know with confidence only when we know little; with knowledge doubt increases” (adapted from JW von Goethe). Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
3. “Without the assumption of the existence of uniformities there can be no knowledge.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
4. “Suspension of disbelief” is an essential feature of theatre. Is it essential in other areas of knowledge? Develop your answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
5. “The quality of knowledge produced by an academic discipline is directly proportional to the duration of historical development of that discipline.” Explore this claim with reference to two disciplines.<br />
<br />
6. “Robust knowledge requires both consensus and disagreement.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
Some of them are not easy to decode, so all the best with them!TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-63005792115106420672017-03-03T17:51:00.000+00:002017-03-03T17:51:47.743+00:00TOK Prescribed Essay TItles (November 2017)Here are the TOK titles for the November 2017 exam session courtesy of tok.net:<br />
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">1. Is the value of knowledge related to how easy it
is to access? Develop your answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">2. “Every theory destabilizes as much as it
solidifies our view of the world” (Nathan Jurgenson). Discuss.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">3. “Over time, knowledge has become more accurate.”
Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">4. Areas of knowledge have methods for testing and
supporting knowledge claims. How can we know that these methods themselves are
reliable? Develop your answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">5. “The simplest explanation is the best
explanation.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -24px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="text-indent: -24px;">6. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -24px;">“The production of knowledge seems to require
creativity at every stage of the process.” Discuss this statement with
reference to two areas of knowledge.</span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -24px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: -24px;">All the best with your work on these!</span></div>
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-58115682584672381222016-09-03T09:12:00.000+01:002016-09-03T09:12:20.927+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay TItle (May2017)Here are the titles for May 2017 courtesy of <a href="http://theoryofknowledgestudent.net/">theoryofknowledgestudent.net</a>:<br />
<br />
1. “It is only knowledge produced with difficulty that we truly value.”<br />
To what extent do you agree with this statement?<br />
<br />
2. “Facts are needed to establish theories but theories are needed to make sense of facts.”<br />
Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge<br />
.<br />
3. Should key events in the historical development of areas of knowledge always be<br />
judged by the standards of their time?<br />
<br />
4. “In the production of knowledge, traditions of areas of knowledge offer correctives<br />
for ways of knowing.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?<br />
<br />
5. Given access to the same facts, how is it possible that there can be disagreement<br />
between experts in a discipline? Develop your answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
6. “Humans are pattern seeking animals and we are adept at finding patterns<br />
whether they exist or not” (adapted from Michael Shermer). Discuss knowledge<br />
questions raised by this idea in two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
Good luck to you all!TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-62024152749271666982016-03-17T22:17:00.001+00:002016-03-17T22:17:32.567+00:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (November 2016)<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here are the TOK Essay Titles for November 2016 courtesy of ibtokessaytutor.com (awaiting further verification from other sources...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1. "The acquisition of knowledge is more a matter of recognition than of judgement." Evaluate this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">2. "Is the availability of more data always helpful in the production of knowledge?" Explore this question with reference to two areas of knowledge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">3. "Conflicting knowledge claims always involve a difference in perspective." Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">4. "Error is as valuable as accuracy in the production of knowledge." To what extent is this the case in two areas of knowledge? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">5. "Metaphor makes no contribution to knowledge but is essential for understanding." Evaluate this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">6. " Ways of knowing operate differently in personal and shared knowledge." Assess this claim.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Good luck to all of you submitting n September 2016!</span>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-37498122504170358352015-12-03T12:17:00.000+00:002015-12-03T12:17:17.151+00:00ToK Prescribed Essay Title (May2016): Question 2
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: #990000;">“Knowledge within a
discipline develops according to the principles of natural selection.” How
useful is this metaphor?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="color: #990000;"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/345387/evolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/345387/evolution.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">‘It’s gone viral!’ is a common enough expression in the 21<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup>
century world of digital mania, in which ideas and experiences are disseminated,
verified and shared through various social media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But can we apply the same metaphor to ‘knowledge’?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A virus is many things: uncomfortable,
potentially fatal and, above all, contagious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If we graft the metaphor of natural selection onto the metaphoric use of
the idea of a virus, what insights can we generate?</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Very simply put, a virus needs a ‘vector’ or host and like any
reproductive organism, it uses the host to replicate itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The contagious part ensures that the cycle of
replication continues…</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">But what makes the virus resistant and ensures its survival?
Like with any organic species, it must have a ‘survival value’, a trait or
quality that is selected for by nature that allows it to adapt to its changing
environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the case of a viral
cell, it appears this trait is its ‘ability’ both to merge so fully with its
host cell and to mutate so quickly, that it often resists detection by our
immune system or other lines of defence like drugs.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">What of knowledge then? It can be uncomfortable and potentially fatal,
but contagious?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems odd to describe
knowledge as something that infects us, but surely the mechanism that ensures
the survival of some knowledge at the expense of other knowledge works in the
same ‘evolutionary’ manner.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Consider creation myths about the origins of the universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were once infectious and are now more
dormant and exist in the form of entertaining stories for most of us and we
resist them in favour of scientific explanations of the ‘Big Bang’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A stronger, though more clichéd example
(resist using it, even though it clarifies the point here!), is the development
from ‘flat earth theory’ to ‘sphere earth theory’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what makes the spherical earth and Big
Bang theories survive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One possible
response is that its central ideas are compatible with the available empirical
evidence: the survival value of such scientific theories lies in their internal
logical consistency, the strength of their predictive power and, of course, the
cogency of the correlation between the theories and the data.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Where does this leave knowledge that is not so easily adaptable
to evidence? Religious knowledge is notoriously ‘viral’: great numbers of
people are drawn together by religious ideas and values either for good or
evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Religious knowledge, like Jesus’
instruction to ‘turn the other cheek’, has survived for millennia and still has
an impact on our personal lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such
knowledge is based less on available evidence than it is on deep rooted moral
intuitions about what is right or wrong, so its ‘survival value’ must be in
something else (emotion?) Has religious knowledge ‘evolved’ in any way? People
pray and meditate in the same way as they’ve always done; their religious
texts, on which they base much of their personal behaviour and value systems,
never have bits added to them or taken away, so what exactly changes in
religious knowledge? What makes it adapt to its modern environment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One response is linked to the notion of how
historical knowledge is constructed: it’s our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">interpretations</i> of religious ideas and values that change and
evolve…</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Where does the
metaphor of natural selection lose its explanatory force?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a counter claim: evolutionary
development of a species or knowledge implies a linear progress – new knowledge
is built from previous knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we
know that sometimes, knowledge breaks completely from what has gone on before and
is ‘revolutionary’ – new knowledge arrives in the form of paradigm shifts
(another cliché in waiting, so please find a fresher example!)…</span></span></o:p> </span><br />
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-71892891205154087522015-09-09T21:27:00.000+01:002015-09-09T21:27:24.346+01:00ToK Essay Prescribed Titles (May 2016)<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The new ToK Essay titles have been published for students who will be examined in May 2016 - the deadline is March 2016:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1. “In gaining knowledge, each area of knowledge uses a network of ways of knowing.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of Knowledge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">2. “Knowledge within a discipline develops according to the principles of natural selection.” How useful is this metaphor?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">3. “The knower’s perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.” To what extent do you agree?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">4. “Without application in the world, the value of knowledge is greatly diminished.” Consider this claim with respect to two areas of knowledge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">5. To what extent do the concepts that we use shape the conclusions that we reach?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">6. “In knowledge there is always a trade-off between accuracy and simplicity.” Evaluate this statement in relation to two areas of knowledge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Good luck and watch this space for some guidance on how to approach the titles... </span>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-33229647935637426652015-07-13T18:21:00.000+01:002015-07-13T18:22:34.818+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (November 2015): Question 1<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #990000;">“The main reason knowledge is produced is to
solve problems.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="color: #990000;"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://livescanprinting.com/scanner/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Fingerprint-2x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://livescanprinting.com/scanner/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Fingerprint-2x.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
The production of scientific knowledge to help solve crimes
has its roots in the 19<sup>th</sup> Century. Consider these two real life
examples, one of which has been consigned to the realm of pseudo-science and
the other which has evolved significantly as part of the area of forensic
science.<br />
<br />
William Herschel and Henry Faulds’ work on <span style="color: #002060;"><a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/fingerprinting3.htm"><span style="color: #002060;">fingerprinting</span></a></span> to help identify people was
developed into a science by Francis Galton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Galton’s used a form of <span style="color: #002060;"><a href="http://www.genetics.org/content/140/3/857.full.pdf"><span style="color: #002060;">mathematical analysis</span></a></span> to produce the
verifiable knowledge that <span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that fingerprints do not change over the course of an individual's
lifetime, and no two fingerprints are exactly the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on this knowledge, he devised a method
of categorising fingerprints based on patterns of loops, whorls or arches as a
way of identifying people. This scientific knowledge was adopted by Scotland
Yard in 1894 to complement their approach to solving a range of crimes by using
fingerprints as empirical evidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today, DNA fingerprinting is part and parcel of the forensic approach to
crime solving, whose discovery can be explored as one of those curious </span><span style="color: #002060;"><a href="http://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local-news/code-killer-interview-man-who-8969663"><span style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘eureka’
moments</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> in the history of science.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On
the other hand, compare the earlier work of Cesare Lombardo, whose interest in
psychology shaped his researches into the criminal mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lombardo’s central theory came to be known as
<a href="http://studysites.sagepub.com/schram/study/materials/reference/90851_04.1r.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">‘characterology’</span></a>:
simply put, the physical features of a person’s face and head give clues about
the likelihood of their mental state (or criminal behaviour.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
for example, unusually oversized ears, the short distance between a person’s
pupils or having long hands was a mark of criminal psychopathology. Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lombardo theorised that they were ‘<a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/cesarelombroso.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">atavisms</span></a>’:
regressive, physical traits that resembled traits of humans in earlier stages
of development and which could spontaneously appear down the line of
evolutionary development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So innovative
did this ‘scientific’ approach seem that Lombroso was invited to give evidence
at trials to solve ongoing criminal cases. However, his knowledge was later
discredited as being more pseudo-scientific than anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly, we now know that some of Lombroso’s ‘atavistic’
traits involve the work of extremely rare genes: eg. ‘werewolf syndrome’ where
a person can be covered completely in bodily hair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secondly, apart from its link to the discredited theory of <a href="http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/overview.htm" target="_blank">phrenology</a>, Lombroso believed that not only
could a person be born a criminal, but also that a criminal was under-evolved:
a violent beast or savage akin to our primitive ancestors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This had, of course, great social implications:
if we want a society with less criminality, why not genetically engineer people
with the right kind (ie. Non-criminal) of facial features?</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So
you see, in the field of criminology, new scientific knowledge is specifically
produced to solve crimes, but the application of it doesn’t always lead to
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the key concepts to
apply in this analysis is the distinction between shared and personal
knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which part of the distinction
applies to which example and HOW?...</span></span>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-53258282840010083872015-05-21T11:35:00.001+01:002015-05-21T11:35:14.363+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (November 2015): Question 6<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #990000;">Is explanation a prerequisite for prediction?
Explore this question in relation to two areas of knowledge.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/editor/static_files/One%20of%20the%20lessons%20being%20learned%20with%20the%20new%20TOK%20Essay%20marking%20criteria%20is%20the%20need%20for%20a%20clear%20and%20explicit%20attempt%20at%20unpacking%20the%20key%20terms%20of%20the%20title.%20%20Usually,%20this%20should%20be%20done%20concisely%20and%20precisely%20in%20the%20introduction,%20alongside%20the%20presentation%20of%20a%20thesis%20that%20sets%20the%20direction%20of%20your%20essay.%20By%20all%20means,%20go%20to%20a%20dictionary%20and%20remind%20yourself%20of%20the%20meaning%20of%20words,%20but%20avoid%20reproducing%20them%20wholesale%20in%20your%20essays:%20it%20takes%20too%20much%20TIME%20and%20involves%20much%20word%20wasting%20on%20definitions%20which%20have%20little%20or%20nothing%20to%20do%20with%20TOK." target="_blank"></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/editor/static_files/One%20of%20the%20lessons%20being%20learned%20with%20the%20new%20TOK%20Essay%20marking%20criteria%20is%20the%20need%20for%20a%20clear%20and%20explicit%20attempt%20at%20unpacking%20the%20key%20terms%20of%20the%20title.%20%20Usually,%20this%20should%20be%20done%20concisely%20and%20precisely%20in%20the%20introduction,%20alongside%20the%20presentation%20of%20a%20thesis%20that%20sets%20the%20direction%20of%20your%20essay.%20By%20all%20means,%20go%20to%20a%20dictionary%20and%20remind%20yourself%20of%20the%20meaning%20of%20words,%20but%20avoid%20reproducing%20them%20wholesale%20in%20your%20essays:%20it%20takes%20too%20much%20TIME%20and%20involves%20much%20word%20wasting%20on%20definitions%20which%20have%20little%20or%20nothing%20to%20do%20with%20TOK." target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTFzzX_aM7Il4Yqj7lSpwPF9JQyiOPGuZLlPgmsMM2xyHMbCRQ2uoNxbVnj9tzNNaE3IBV_UQFqNrmJieOWliNiGjL00OV0ZrbFqBdld-rjWtXSlZaCNMmKEDOjwyDhNbPj04ynpgmijhb/s1600/MendsOldTabl.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/One%20of%20the%20lessons%20being%20learned%20with%20the%20new%20TOK%20Essay%20marking%20criteria%20is%20the%20need%20for%20a%20clear%20and%20explicit%20attempt%20at%20unpacking%20the%20key%20terms%20of%20the%20title.%20%20Usually,%20this%20should%20be%20done%20concisely%20and%20precisely%20in%20the%20introduction,%20alongside%20the%20presentation%20of%20a%20thesis%20that%20sets%20the%20direction%20of%20your%20essay.%20By%20all%20means,%20go%20to%20a%20dictionary%20and%20remind%20yourself%20of%20the%20meaning%20of%20words,%20but%20avoid%20reproducing%20them%20wholesale%20in%20your%20essays:%20it%20takes%20too%20much%20TIME%20and%20involves%20much%20word%20wasting%20on%20definitions%20which%20have%20little%20or%20nothing%20to%20do%20with%20TOK." target="_blank">Click caption to listen to Tom Lehrer's 'Periodic Table Song'</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">One of the lessons being learned with the new TOK Essay marking criteria
is the need for a clear and explicit attempt at unpacking the key terms of the
title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually, this should be done
concisely and precisely in the introduction, alongside the presentation of a
thesis that sets the direction of your essay. By all means, go to a dictionary
and remind yourself of the meaning of words, but avoid reproducing them
wholesale in your essays: it takes too much TIME and involves much word wasting
on definitions which have little or nothing to do with TOK.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So here goes: </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Explanations involve giving reasons for why you believe
what you believe and can fall into two broad categories that tie in with the
TOK definition of ‘knowledge’ as ‘justified true belief’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">First, evidential reasons in the form of objective, empirical evidence,
data or statistics that help support or refute a specific knowledge claim. For
example, the observational data generated by Tycho Brahe which helped Kepler
formulate his mathematical calculations to explain elliptical orbits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, the preponderance of evidence gathered to
refute the claim that the Bermuda triangle is a place in which weird,
paranormal activities take place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Second, non-evidential reasons in the form of subjective, personal
testimony based on emotion, intuition or faith, which help or hinder the
justification of our knowledge claims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For example, the intensely felt experience of the ever present force of
Brahma is explained by Buddhists in terms of mindfulness, a form of
intuition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, the ideals of terrorists,
of whatever denomination, which are often grounded in extreme interpretations
of sacred writings, a form of faith.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Prerequisite’ implies
that there is a step by step order in the process of knowledge building, in
which certain steps come before, first or are a basis for, or ground or
foundation of other steps. Finally, in a basic sense ‘prediction’ means a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">best guess</i> about the future; more
specifically, it involves making specific claims about future conditions or
events based on general laws or statements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At least, if you’re aiming to be objective and scientific! So yes, you
can have predictions based on both empirical and non-empirical kinds of
explanation; and yes, you can have predictions made on nothing resembling an
explanation at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just depends on how
reliable you want your predictions to be and how you KNOW this…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This should give you the
KIND of thing you may do in your introduction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The direction of your essay will then focalise on two AOKs, one of which
could be the Natural Sciences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s an
example many of you will no doubt explore: Henry Mosely and the periodic table…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/patterns/periodictablerev4.shtml"><span style="color: #5588aa;">Mendeelev</span></a>
invented the periodic table but the explanations for ordering them were largely
based on their perceived chemical properties and a subjective, intuitive sense
of their relative atomic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">masses</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mosely’s experiments provided a more
objective, measurable basis for explaining why elements should be ordered in
specific ways: the mathematical link between the protons in an element’s
nucleus with that element’s atomic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">number</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Now, the strange thing is, both Mendeleev and Mosely were able to
predict the existence of elements missing in their versions of the Periodic
Table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Mendeelev’s intuitive based
prediction was that an element was missing from the table, Mosely’s more
experimentally based prediction could actually pin point WHERE in the Periodic
Table the gaps were…</span></div>
</span><br />TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-53787391600020131452015-04-12T13:34:00.000+01:002015-04-12T13:34:28.489+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Title (Nov 2015): Question 4<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">“In some areas of knowledge we try to reduce a complex whole to simple components, but in others we try to integrate simple components into a complex whole.” Discuss this distinction with reference to two areas of knowledge.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIkxVci-R4k" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIkxVci-R4k" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTWUOrblf_DNTHEdmG95kpSd34YzXN_rhdJk2PJH92ZCCSMp3RvOFcRrlRazYApFQDpzYCZHQdsjy5xy8UWeQ296NibH8Y5ZsrWZ0kwsV-ZPf5Lt60VtJ9Cup6elz0BT8LhXwKMS4NX3Z0/s1600/5f9fe9caaeb38f0a8b815d8ce0e0395a_large.jpg" height="320" width="255" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">[</span></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Note: A version of this post appeared here on Sept 19 2013.]</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
</em></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Our meddling intellect
</em></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:--
</em></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><em>We murder to dissect.</em>
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">(From 'The Tables Turned', by William Wordsworth)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">These lines are from a pair of poems in Wordsworth's <em>Lyrical Ballads</em>, which encapsulate the central tension between emotion and reason within his revolutionary project of writing poetry which we have come to know as belonging to the 'Romantic Period'.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In these lines, Wordsworth appears to argue against the 'meddling intellect' of the learned community of minds in 18th Century Age of Enlightenment whose focus on Reason has been at the expense of human empathy. Wordsworth's criticism seems to be aimed specifically at the scientific spirit whose need to discover the laws of nature have led only to one thing: the destruction of the natural environment. He was quite possibly pointing to the mass industrialisation and its adverse effects on society which was made possible by the very scientific discoveries made by intellectuals such a Newton in the 17th Century. Newton's laws of motion not only gave us a mechanistic view of the world, but also gave us a means of controlling and shaping that world to our most immediate social and economic needs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The last line of the verse stands out, however, as underlining the main thrust of Wordsworth's criticism of the scientific urge for new knowledge: science, in its attempt to know how the natural world works, is a form of 'murder'; it fails to see natural objects, or even the natural world, in their wholeness. By trying to find the essence of life by dissecting nature into its parts, we kill that essence. The life force of nature is something more than its individual parts.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Wordsworth's lines appear to make two assumptions: first, that what makes nature work in the way that it does somehow inheres invisibly in natural objects like a hidden essence or soul-like element just waiting to be seen, without physical interference, by someone who has the right skills (this is the 'essentialist' assumption). And second, Wordsworth doesn't seem to take into account that science works in both directions: reducing things to their simple parts and putting them back together in imaginative and often more efficient ways. So one of the key knowledge questions embedded in this question are: in what ways do the parts of an object relate to the whole? To what extent is a natural object more than the sum of its parts?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Think of someone new to mechanics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How is she going to know how an engine works?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading about it in theory is one half of the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If, however, she takes an existing engine apart and learns about the different roles played by each physical component, in time, she’ll know enough about them and their interrelationships to put them back together in working order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The engine is itself is nothing more than the sum of its parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this true of knowledge?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to be an economist, is it enough for you to pick apart all the various facts about how an economy works (‘the engine’ of an economy’) to be able to claim that now you have economic knowledge?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What ‘more’ do you need?</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Let’s continue the thought experiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presumably, if our mechanic ever came across an alien engine, given sufficient time, she’d be able to learn about the individual alien components and reverse engineer the engine using components with which we’re more familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This alien engine too would also be nothing more than the sum of its parts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Can we reverse engineer an entire economy?)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Now extend this analogy to living things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say human minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we reduce a mind to the component parts or physical functions and chemical reactions of the brain?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely a mind is MORE THAN the sum of its parts (we have discussed this idea in a series of posts under the tab ‘<a href="http://ibtokspot.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Consciousness" target="_blank"><span style="color: #5588aa;">Consciousness</span></a>’ - read posts from bottom up!).</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Implicit in this Q is the idea of ‘reductionism’ or ‘materialism’, which is a view of knowledge held by most scientists: all material things can be reduced to their smallest physical particles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Combined with this view is the idea of ‘mechanism’: to think of living things as organic machines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientists who believe in reductionism tend to be ‘monists’ (only matter is real – no place for immaterial entities); whereas those who take the ‘essentialist’ position are dualists (mind is something separate from its physical and chemical brain functions).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It gets a little more complicated than this especially when you take account of recent developments in technology and AI.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Coming back to the question of mind or consciousness: if mind IS only a system of organised facts (just like a human or alien engine, the mind is a ‘brain engine’), then presumably we can reverse engineer it like any other engine (click the picture above to view the TED Talk on this issue)...</span></span> TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-72914843071553173182015-04-11T11:37:00.001+01:002015-04-12T13:46:19.575+01:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles for November 2015A little belated, but here are the titles for the November 2015 Examination session:<br />
<br />
1. “The main reason knowledge is produced is to solve problems.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?<br />
<br />
2. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of using models to produce knowledge of the world.<br />
<br />
3. “Without the group to verify it, knowledge is not possible.” Discuss.<br />
<br />
4. “In some areas of knowledge we try to reduce a complex whole to simple components, but in others we try to integrate simple components into a complex whole.” Discuss this distinction with reference to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
5. “No knowledge can be produced by a single way of knowing.” Discuss.<br />
<br />
6. Is explanation a prerequisite for prediction? Explore this question in relation to two areas of knowledge.<br />
<br />
All the best!TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-52359582700772625102014-11-20T13:40:00.000+00:002014-11-20T13:40:58.291+00:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (May 2015): Question 6
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rVOKTPVukV45mE_iqqcYuhqA5HjHhwpCFFYnFRFBkDJ8GIM2xONC8aRD0bqzLt9PnXJrLyIkBIdlSS-bTs_uiTvFK-YwGgBTzsJh98Dbel71kJVfVfznLCH6USkSsZYzAneI5-U8HTMH/s1600/virtual_reality-wallpaper-1280x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rVOKTPVukV45mE_iqqcYuhqA5HjHhwpCFFYnFRFBkDJ8GIM2xONC8aRD0bqzLt9PnXJrLyIkBIdlSS-bTs_uiTvFK-YwGgBTzsJh98Dbel71kJVfVfznLCH6USkSsZYzAneI5-U8HTMH/s1600/virtual_reality-wallpaper-1280x1024.jpg" height="256" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"></span></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">“The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our
personal lives.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span> </div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This post considers three
areas of knowledge that attempt to produce ‘meaning and purpose’ in our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Religious Knowledge
Systems</span></u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">: religions, especially the monotheistic ones,
promote the idea that the universe has a specific design which is conceived and
executed by a higher power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this
design that gives ‘meaning and purpose’ to our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meaning comes from the dualistic conception
of the self – we are both flesh and soul, but it is the soul which must be
nurtured while the flesh is merely functional and houses the soul for a short
while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this life, the soul is to be
made ready for the after-life in which it can exist either in God’s paradise or
Satan’s hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This brings us to the purpose
of life: while each individual is given a personal will, it’s up to us to merge
this will with the higher Will of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is what prepares the soul for the after-life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who deviate from God’s Will take the
path of evil; those who conform, take the path of good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See how this religious narrative carries
within it a wide range of moral values and ritualistic elements that shape our
day to day lives from the moment we are born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Out of this narrative are born ethical systems such as deontology (eg
‘The Ten Commandments’) and artistic traditions (eg. medieval iconography), as
well as culturally evolved groups based around different faiths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What happens when one group’s perception of
the meaning and purpose of life clashes with another groups perception of
meaning and purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there a meaning
and purpose we can all share? (Some would argue that ‘science’ gives us such a
meaning and purpose…)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Indigenous Knowledge
Systems</span></u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">: indigenous tribes gave us creation myths to
shape our day to day lives with meaning and purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These narratives accounted for the origins of
the universe and many of them reveal a deep connection between man, animals and
the environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thread running
through these creation stories is the idea of ‘interconnectedness’: the fates
of every living creature are linked in an unpredictable environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meaning comes from imposing a coherent story
to make sense of the apparently random cycles of life and death; purpose comes
from devising rituals to create balance between harmony or chaos in the
environment. Much of this knowledge is handed down the generations through the
oral tradition and guarded by individuals specially raised and trained to
minister it to other members of the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this sense, indigenous knowledge and religious knowledge seem to be the
same thing: a way of organising society according to a set of, what many
scientists would now call, superstitious beliefs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A potential problem of this approach to
knowledge is, of course, how do we know that the ministers of this knowledge
aren’t abusing it…?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Science & technology</span></u><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">:
Those of you who are hooked to your computer games will know how sometimes you
get so involved in the game that the distinction between virtual reality and
reality itself becomes blurred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
reflect on how sometimes your dreams are so powerful that when you initially
wake up, you still feel as though you’re in the dream. Now what would happen if
we could harness this power of imaginative engagement with virtual or dream
worlds and use it to shape our personal lives in a purposeful and meaningful
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, scientists have developed
virtual reality technologies to such an extent that it can be used in such a
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The military have been doing this
for years with flight simulators and now <a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2014/05/virtually-free-range/"><span style="color: #5588aa;">chicken farmers
can use technology</span></a> to give their birds the illusion of wandering happily in
a field, when in fact they continue to be caged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In an attempt to use a cost effective method of producing ‘free range’
yet factory farmed eggs…Think ‘The Matrix’ (gone mad!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, is this so farfetched?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Star Trek’s idea of a ‘holodeck’ showed us
the vast possibilities of virtual reality for entertainment purposes; today,
the proliferation of online roleplaying games suggests that many people find
more meaning and purpose in their simulations and simulated universe than in
the physical universe of their day to day lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Bob the builder feels he is more
himself in the sim version of Bob the dragonslayer, than he is in his mundane,
poorly paid job of fixing the plumbing for a living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What does this tell us about the nature of
technological knowledge through which such games are constructed…?<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-69961110475854205142014-11-16T07:53:00.001+00:002014-11-16T07:54:47.421+00:00ToK Prescribed Essay Titles (May 2015): Question 5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb6diFPTanNKS6E1XMc-d81EHsMiYhxS8gJt6_9fcTPDdI8gTTZE8-IS-Tp3S0E4aRJF3fd9zuExTILi-P9jsp0UAsVuhY_vYKdYg-AI9X7xXcEuSMx6PHMdvNa5XsR2KNLK-hOZToKZD8/s1600/captainKirk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb6diFPTanNKS6E1XMc-d81EHsMiYhxS8gJt6_9fcTPDdI8gTTZE8-IS-Tp3S0E4aRJF3fd9zuExTILi-P9jsp0UAsVuhY_vYKdYg-AI9X7xXcEuSMx6PHMdvNa5XsR2KNLK-hOZToKZD8/s1600/captainKirk.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #990000;">5. “Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive
judgments.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">How
many times has someone told you to ‘trust your instincts’?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when you do trust them, how many times
have you felt disappointed about the outcome? This title is built around a central
human tension between our need to trust our instincts and the unreliability of
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instincts are closely connected to
our emotions and impulses and rooted in our subjective experiences of the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some would argue they are
remnants of our evolutionary ancestors and tie us to our animalistic
origins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve outgrown our instinct,
the argument goes, since our bigger brains allow us to override our primal
instincts by means of reason and language and perception which are the basis of
our more objective experiences of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But as we know, even reason, language and perception aren’t completely
infallible when it comes to knowledge building, so the central tension of
trusting instincts remains in the subjective-objective dichotomy built into our
very nature. Conceptually, we need both the subjective and objective approach:
the former allows us to build personal knowledge, while the latter enables us
to shape this into shared knowledge by means of collaboration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Nowhere
is this tension more apparent than in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star
Trek</i>, dramatized in the interactions between Dr McCoy (instinct and
emotion) and Mr Spock (reason and logic) with the Captain as a bridge between
both, which Michael Shermer explores in terms of what he calls ‘<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-captain-kirk-principl/"><span style="color: #5588aa;">The
Captain Kirk Principle’</span></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It’s
often when we’re faced with moral dilemmas that the tension between instinct
and reason surfaces and raises the knowledge question: how do we know which
course of action to take? Should we follow our instincts or reason?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the later Next Generation series of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Trek</i>, the tension is explored
through the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">concept
of ‘<a href="http://www.wimp.com/primedirective/"><span style="color: #5588aa;">the Prime Directive</span></a>’, in
which Captain Picard is forever faced with the ethical dilemma of interfering
with an indigenous population when he knows that it might be faced with
genocide or mass destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A common
argument for ethical NON-intervention is the ‘natural order’ argument – let
nature take its course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
implications does this have?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are
the counter arguments? Another argument is the ‘cause and consequence
argument’: if we didn’t intervene in a situation, the outcome would be so bad
that this justifies action to intervene – this is another version of the ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle"><span style="color: #5588aa;">precautionary
principle’</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, all these
arguments are based on reason and logic and presuppose that in any given moral
situation we have the TIME to think out the problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we know from experience, we often DON’T
have time and have to make a spontaneous judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this the place for instinct?</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We
explore a possible response to this knowledge question in a review of the
recent movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://toktutor.hubpages.com/hub/theory-of-knowledge-filmography"><span style="color: #5588aa;">Star
Trek: Into Darkness</span></a></i>...</span>TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6716914942383541738.post-24815035030448086092014-10-12T16:29:00.001+01:002014-10-12T16:29:26.860+01:00ToK Essay Prescribed Title (May 2015): Question 4<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #990000;">4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way in which shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: #990000;"></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=2567" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=2567" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjouvbLjq-JhYa8FMI9VWFTFw6ySgPCKVmlyO4Zh6SpyAvu8Z3InqjdM2V0D8CuEXLpvFGfDsDhpZA4KS3wq0vZzh_iOdR4k1iFPrPmpFKJlRkFlh-FIAQucaGlfn-TD42TDwN4e-Iuh0KM/s1600/Mendez_figure2.jpg" height="290" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on picture to visit site about the neurobiology of moral behaviour</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ethical
situations are perhaps the best examples to highlight how shared knowledge can
shape personal knowledge. Consider, for example, how the ‘Universal Declaration
of Human Rights’ can bring nations together under the umbrella of a single
moral code.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This doesn’t always mean
that nations adhere to the rules as we know from the various Human Rights’
abuses by member states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the fields
of sport and medicine, for example, have ethical codes to guide the behaviour
of individuals, though again, we still come across incidents of medical
malpractice and cheating in sports (you may be able to recall some recent
examples.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the fields of Religion and
Ethics, the shared knowledge encapsulated in the various ethical theories such
as Utilitarianism and deontology, provide a framework within which individuals
can think through their personal morality and act in a rational manner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But
here’s the central knowledge question underlying this topic: does our personal
sense of right and wrong always follow a rational path towards shared knowledge
of morality?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not according to <a href="http://www3.nd.edu/~wcarbona/Haidt%202001.pdf"><span style="color: #5588aa;">Jonathan Haidt</span></a>, whose
famous example (presented below) is the basis of a fascinating argument
promoting the idea that our ethical behaviour is driven by intuition which
shapes our personal knowledge of right and wrong:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">‘Julie and Mark are brother and sister. They are
traveling together in France on summer vacation from college. One night they
are staying alone in a cabin near the beach. They decide that it would be
interesting and fun if they tried making love. At the very least it would be a
new experience for each of them. Julie was already taking birth control pills,
but Mark uses a condom too, just to be safe. They both enjoy making love, but
they decide not to do it again. They keep that night as a special secret, which
makes them feel even closer to each other. What do you think about that? Was it
OK for them to make love?’</span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When
confronted with this scenario, Haidt argues, most people are automatically and
quickly repulsed and answer with an emphatic “No!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked to justify their answer, people
often turn to the incest argument: such sex leads to deformed babies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haidt then points out that the couple used
two forms of contraception.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, instead
of accepting the union, people reach for a consequentialist argument to justify
their revulsion, such as “It might harm the relationship and be devastating to
the family.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Haidt then mentions that
the couple actually feel ‘closer’ after the episode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point, people tend to stay with their
original answer but claim not to be able to find the words to explain why they
believe what they believe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
point? Haidt argues that moral knowledge is like aesthetic knowledge:
subjective and personal in nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
you see a work of art you instantly and automatically know whether you like it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When someone asks you to explain why, you
fish for explanations: you don’t really know what makes something beautiful,
but the rational part of your brain needs some justification and will make one
up when it can’t find one, based on colour, light, structure and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, in a moral argument between two
people, their feelings come first; the reasons are invented after the fact, so
to speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reason is secondary to
emotion, or as Hume, put it: in the world of morals, “Reason Is and Ought only
to be a slave of the passions.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
implication of this argument is that the shared body of ethical knowledge often
has little or no impact on we personally know right and wrong in the world of
human affairs…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
TOK Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00660629356630454287noreply@blogger.com0