Theory of Knowledge
Talk about Theory of Knowledge.
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2,043 topics in this forum
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- 19 replies
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Hello, I'm starting to work on my TOK paper, and I was wondering if someone could give me a starting point for the following question: "How can the different ways of knowing help us to distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true?" Would this essentially be discussing how we use emotion, reason, sensory perception and language to analyze situations and ideas, in order to delineate which are in fact true, and which are not? I think this is the right path, but I have a feeling that it isn't (Reason vs emotion lol). So if someone would like to help me out, that would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Last reply by Lloydii, -
- 3 replies
- 932 views
Just as a matter of interest, if your essay is dued in tomorrow and you are ill (not faking) can you hand the essay in the following day. Because I am actually feeling really ill at the moment.
Last reply by ameatypie, -
- 12 replies
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Hi, I'm doing my preparation for TOK presentation.. Last time i did my trial for oral presentation, i got a very low mark, I'm doing "what is the meaning of life?" for my presentation topic, maybe, it's gone too far, and so I got a very low mark. Now, i'm thinking to change it into "how far should we use our emotion in a relationship (dating)?" do you think it will be better? I'm thinking to talk about how some people does not realize when should they stop thinking about emotions, for example when their partner already mentally pressured them and also how it may leads to dating violence, which is not good. So, we need to stop using emotion and think how to manage this thi…
Last reply by ameatypie, -
- 3 replies
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Hey guys, I have kindove hit a block in writing up my presentation and was wondering if you guys could help me out. The way we have been shown to do a tok presentation is to come up with a topic, take a side in regards to that topic, then analyse it and see if your stance was the right one. My friend and I took a stance and started to analyse our topic with the history area of knowledge. After doing this we realised that adding a parameter to our argument ie our stance is right IF......, would help us greatly in terms of proving it was the right side to take and also make it easier for us to do our presentation. I was wondering if we would be allowed to take this improve…
Last reply by ameatypie, -
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Ugh...I'm back again to ask more questions in regards to writing a TOK essay. Hence, as the topic title suggests, I was wondering how you write a really effective counterclaim and those that I seem to be putting together are very flimsy, and more like I am going off on a tangent as opposed to countering what I have just said I have searched online for how to write a counterclaim, yet none seem terribly befitting of this essay... Thus, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, Pathos
Last reply by Sandwich, -
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hey guyz, I need this for my ppt and essay... Is Chess an area of knowledge?? If not, can someone please tell me which category it would fall in?? I really need your help...please revert soon Thanks, Angad_Amarth (Any Amon Amarth Fan??)
Last reply by Angad_Amarth, -
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Hello all, I'm currently driving myself insane whilst trying to piece together my final Theory of Knowledge essay for May 2010- hence, I seek advice! I am attempting to construct a paper around topic #7 (" We see and understand things not as they are but as we are" discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing"- or something along those very same lines). The difficulty I am having is how to successfully integrate these ways and areas of knowing within my paper. I was to focus along the lines of subjectivity and objectivity in relation to this topic, but am a unsure of how to weave all of this into my paper successfully (as my first endeavor seemed to be f…
Last reply by Pathos, -
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What books did you use as sources for examples for your TOK essay? I know that they vary depending on the question, but if I could get somekind of recommendations as I am completely lost on where to start searching from..
Last reply by SharkSpider, -
- 2 replies
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I've been ill lately and I have an essay due tomorrow, I just found out about it today and I am not very sure about which of the prescribed titles to do. I was thinking that #3, would be fairly simple, but I can't really think of another area besides science. "Doubt is the key to knowledge" (Persian Proverb). To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge? And I am very interested in number 8, but I can't really think of anything to write on it. . "Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth" (Pablo Picasso). Evaluate this claim in relation to a specific art form (for example, visual arts, literature, theatre) I have an AP/IB Chem Midterm tomorrow and I don…
Last reply by sweetnsimple786, -
- 19 replies
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In my essay of TOK (10. What similarities and differences are there between historical and scientific explanations?) my idea is to compare some lab practice of sciencie with some source evalution that I have done in the year, is this ok?, I should focus of how I obtained the explanations and compare them or in the explanations only?
Last reply by KLSmash, -
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Hi, i was just wondering if you could argue that as well as maths being objective truth you can as well say that it could be pragmatic truth? "Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its verifying itself, its veri-fication." - William James I was thinking because calculating is a process and hence if correct it verifies the answer? Do anyone get what I mean? /Manda
Last reply by MybelovedTFB, -
- 3 replies
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Hi, I do not understand how to do the examples. I have understood that I need to have 2 examples... I have topic one ”To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts and ethics?” But I dont understand what kind of examples I am supposed to have, I don't get it at all and I am starting to freak out. God I hate TOK. First draft due soon... still got winter/christmas vacation... and as you IBOers know we never got vacation... Longing for May 18th my last Exam! (still dont want it... failure is inevitable.) I'm greatly thankful for some... insights to this problemo! Manda
Last reply by Sandwich, -
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Hey Guys, I choice the title "To what extent is truth in art, ethics and maths different?" I intend to bring out that truth in maths is objective, art is subjective and ethics is relative. In my introduction I intend to define what truth is which is knowledge that is fits the general belief, is repeatable and universal. But, if I do that truth would seem not in existence for all the other areas of knowledge except maths? What should I do to my title? In my other paragraphs I intend to take each area of knowledge and then analyse the nature of truth in all three areas of knowledge, but I have no idea how I include counterarguments and debunt it. For example for maths I wo…
Last reply by Sandwich, -
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Me and my group are doing a presentation on capital punishment for our IA. Our question (or Knowledge Issue, I really cannot differentiate)is: To what extent is capital punishment morally acceptable? How can we elaborate on this topic without it turning into a research presentation?
Last reply by Mahuta ♥, -
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My TOK essay title is 'What can be said for or against the view that if we cannot say something then we do not know it?' In my introduction i'm attempting to captivate the interest of the reader by given an example concerning a multiplication where I mention that language is needed in order for you to be able to conceive the thought and to be able to carry out the calculation. What do you guys think of this as an example? Reciprocally I'm going to mention how we are able to know without being able to say using quotes such as 'I know more than I can say' and give examples where thought can be conceptualised by image theory and then after that be translated into language. I…
Last reply by Bishup, -
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Hi, I am doing the question "We see and understand things not as they are but as we are." Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing. I have decided to go along the lines of sense perception and emotion. I am having a lot of trouble finding a good anchoring example for emotion affecting our understanding...any ideas? I am thinking of something psych related but I cannot think of a good study
Last reply by Peachez, -
- 2 replies
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we decided to do the topic creationism vs. evolution of mankind. our main focus for the creationism aspect of our presentation is describing how different religions believe mankind originated. the problem is, there is a muslim, sikh and hindu doing this project. we have no idea if our research on Christianity is correct. so far we know a little about the whole Adam and Eve story, but since there are many versions, we are not sure which ones is the commonly accepted one. please help! =)
Last reply by Abu, -
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Hi, for my TOK essay I chose the question, Discuss the claim that some areas of knowledge are discovered and others are invented. For AOK I chose natural sciences and mathematics and for WOK I chose perception, reason and language. I'm a bit worried about the choosing of a knowledge issue. I have already written my esay and I've gotten feedback saying that it is really good, I just don't know what my knowledge issue actually is. I was thinking something like: How do we know when something is invented or discovered? or How can we like discovery and invention to the real world? but i am really unsure that these are actually knowledge issues. Help? Suggestions? Advice? ED…
Last reply by SwedishPersian, -
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"We see and understand things not as they are but as we are." Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing. I'm thinking of sense perception and personal experience being my 2 ways of knowing. Can anyone help for me to develop this further? I'll include that sense perception is not reliable because it doesn't depict a complete "reality" or something like that. I'll also say that personal experience isn't reliable either because we create biases based on our experiences. I'll focus on saying that the claim is true, but I just need a little push because I really don't understand TOK at all.
Last reply by sweetnsimple786, -
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So my tok instructor is making us do a practice Tok esssay on past topics. mine is "All of the other ways of knowlege are controlled by language." What does this statement mean and do you think it is an accurate representation of the relationsihp between perception, emotion, reason, and language? So we need knowledge issues/problems. And I'm still having issues with that. help? I'm not expecting you to give me the knowledge issues, but I don't understand what a knowledge issue is or how to get one. Thanks.
Last reply by SharkSpider, -
- 1 reply
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Hey guys, I've got my TOK presentation coming up soon but im struggling to think up a solid knowledge issue. i was thinking Genetic engineering, with the knowledge issue: What role does ethics play in the advancement of Genetic engineering? but im not entirely sure yet. I was thinking of using the popes comments where he called human genetic engineering a moral sin. Any input would be greatly appreciated ASAP.
Last reply by Austin Glau, -
- 4 replies
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I had a couple questions about the TOK Presentation criteria, which I find to be rather vague and unhelpful. 1. For Criterion C (Knower's perspective), can the qualities described be implied throughout? What dictates a "distinctively personal use of arguments and examples or otherwise?" 2. For Criterion D (Connections), what does "considering their implications in related areas" mean? Do I have to talk about what I've discussed through my oral and how it might apply to other related real-life situations?
Last reply by Jakebert, -
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I just got feedback on my ToK essay. This is my title: Discuss e claim that some areas of knowledge are discovered and others are invented My teacher said it was good but that it was heavy on mathematics. I also talk about natural sciences, but still my teacher suggests that I remove a paragraph (i am 3 words under the limit ) and write about another AoK like ethics. But i dont want to lose the depth of my other areas. I link them to perception, language and reason. If i start talking about ethic, do i have to link it to all these ways of knowing to avoid losing marks? What's wrong with just having mathematics and natural sciences? would i lose marks for sticking to the…
Last reply by sweetnsimple786, -
- 1 reply
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My TOK essay is due in a couple of weeks and I chose to do topic 7, "We see things not as they are but as we are" does anyone have any examples or ideas for this topic? Anything would be appreciated!
Last reply by sweetnsimple786, -
- 2 replies
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i have a potential TOK Oral Presentation topic (knowledge issues) but my teacher is extremely stubborn and won't seem to accept it.. what do you think of something like this: something with standardized tests (mainly the SAT and ACT) not being reliable or trustworthy indicators of the knowledge a student has i have to present in a week and a lot of people i've talked to thought this was an acceptable topic but my teacher has a hard time accepting it.. should i change it around?
Last reply by Peachez, -
- 0 replies
- 911 views
Hi guys! We're just starting to plan our ToK presentations so I was wondering if any of you lovely people had some advice or constructive criticism, etc, about our topic at the moment (we're doing it in a group of two). It's only in the construction stages, so any advice we could get would be greatly appreciated. So here it is: To what extent do the easily accessible opinions on the internet colour (or discolour) the perception of literature? Thanks so much!
Last reply by rrswong, -
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Greetings fellow IB'ers Basically my TOK final draft is due next week Friday so currently giving the essay a few finishing touch ups. I haven't been working on it for quite some time because after getting my first draft checked, I just left it to focus on my other drafts. Upon reading and correcting the text, I thought about how the essay should be structured in order to make it more effective to the reader. I wrote on the topic "To what extent is the truth different in mathematics, the arts and the ethics?" My current format is actually answering the question in the first part of my essay then doing the counter arguments in the last part and then ending of with the con…
Last reply by sweetnsimple786, -
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Well, I actually have 2 possible topics. First is about pollution of our national park Stolby(probably you've heard about it). In fact, in this case I have an opportunity to do natural observation. Another one sounds like 'religion versus mass culture'. It's almost about movies , for example, 'The passion of the Christ' and what religious organisations feel about such things. Tell me, please, whether it is possible to take topics with close connection with religion. So what do you think about this? Can at least one of this topics be convinient for oral presentation?
Last reply by Lena, -
- 6 replies
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hi, my tok oral topic is due sometime next week, and ive been throwing around ideas but i am still having trouble actually grasping the concept of a "knowledge issue". im leaning towards doing something along the lines of instinct vs. belief, or even taking a psychological approach. wondering if anyone has any insight on knowledge issues/ how i could craft the instinct vs belief topic? thanks
Last reply by SharkSpider, -
- 3 replies
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Hi, What would be a good generic example of a presentation that would get very high marks? You do need to have a real-life case as well as the knowledge issues, but like what kinds of things do you need to discuss about them for it to be analytical enough? How much off the actual case can you go, for example to what extent can you link other cases and stuff, but does it go too much off the actual topic then?
Last reply by balloon, -
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my title is: ”All knowledge claims should be open to rational criticism.” On what grounds and to what extent would you agree with this assertion? Im just trying to brain storm some ideas at the moment. Right now I'm thinking of discussing natural sciences and possibly religion. However they seem to be two Areas of knowledge which are used pretty often. Anybody got any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Last reply by YdidIneedThis, -
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Anyone interested in buying TOK course companions. I have two. Richard van de Lagemaat - Theory of Knowledge - Cambridge Press theory of knowledge - Nicholas Alchin two great books to help anyone struggling in TOK. they helped me immensely to understand each of the aspects of tok and helped me get a 19/20 in my presentation earlier in the year. finished the tok aspect of the IB and just about to finish my exams. send me a PM for more details.
Last reply by journalism93, -
Discuss the claim that some areas of knowledge are invented and others are discovered. This is my TOK essay prescribed title and i need some help tackling it. Does anybody have any suggestions or ideas on the matter.
Last reply by KyleAdams, -
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Just wrtiting these up because they don't seem to be up yet. 1. Consider the extent to which knowledge issures in ethics are similar to those in at least one other area of knowledge. 2. How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge? 3. "Doubt is the key to knowledge" (Persian Proverb). To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge? 4. To what extent do we need evidence to support our beliefs in different areas of knowledge? 5. To what extent are the various areas of knowledge defined by their methodologies rather than their content? 6. "There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false." Discuss this claim. 7. How ca…
Last reply by laryxle, -
- 6 replies
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Hi everybody out-there! I am concerned about how exactly I should get the knower's perspective points. When I consider writing my own examples of how I've experienced things in the different ways like: 'with this teacher we..., but that teacher blah...', then it just sounds lame. But on the other hand our TOK essay is not suppose to be a source-based investigation (like the historical IA). What do you guys do?
Last reply by SharkSpider, -
N09 May10 Title 8 "People need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events"
by teresad- 2 replies
- 2.5k views
How can I find a relevant knowledge issue? I've given it allot of thought and nothing I come up with is relevant enough... And the full length draft is due on tuesday and I'm totally lost... Any suggestions or step-by-step instructions how to formulate a knowledge issue?
Last reply by SharkSpider, -
- 2 replies
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Although our teacher has promised us copies of the TOK essay titles, she is extremely forgetful, and we are starting to worry a little... I was wondering if anybody had a copy of the TOK titles which they could scan for us? I'd be very thankful!!!! xxx
Last reply by IB=hell, -
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My tok presentation proposal is due soon and I'm thinking of a topic along the lines of food. Do you guys this its a possible topic to explore? Thank you.
Last reply by Ruan Chun Xian, -
- 1 reply
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i think that i want to do something along the lines of faulty memory and "how do we know that memory is reliable?". im not really sure where to start, and i also am having some trouble finding a real life situation. i know i definitely want to use the Eyewitness testimony psych experiment but my tok teacher (who is an *******) said i need a real situation. any ideas would be greatly appreciated
Last reply by Jakebert, -
- 2 replies
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I was wondering if I could get random opinions about Language and perception. Does language affect sense perception as well as the interpretation of that sense data and to what extent if that be the case I seem to find a lot of stuff on the internet that pertains to linguistic philosophy and the arguments about whether the primary focus of philosophy is clarifying language and terminology. Currently, I'm not too interested in that and would like to know more about how language affects perception...if it does at all..
Last reply by CyanideandPseudophilosophy, -
- 3 replies
- 851 views
What we should be focusing on here is the kinds of justifications we have for claiming to know something. Do you guys have any thoughts? because i tried thinking about it so much, my brain hurts from it haha.
Last reply by Kristyna H., -
Mental maps
by ak93- 2 replies
- 964 views
Discuss the concept of “mental maps.” How are these maps useful and how are they problematic in our search for knowledge. Illustrate with at least two examples. ??
Last reply by ak93, -
- 6 replies
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Hey people, I am doing my TOK final presentation on the topic "is collateral damage in war morally justifiable?". I have identified three knowledge issues. 1) How to we know the acceptable amount of collateral damage? like in some cases people say 3 civilian deaths on bombing is better than 300 deaths. but how can we establish this limit? like is 4 deaths accepatable or 5 deaths acceptable... so on 2) On what grounds is a war just? like there is this geneva treaty underling regulations that parties at war should abide with. But can we really call something as "just war". 3) Who is morally responsible for colllatoral …
Last reply by ai2000, -
- 2 replies
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I need to find an article for class discussion dealing with the natural or social sciences, or ethics. I don't need a specific article (that's great if you have one ), but I'm looking for places to find good articles on the internet. My only idea right now is the New York Times and that may suffice, but if anyone has any other input that would be great. Thanks.
Last reply by Ratski, -
- 1 reply
- 902 views
Hi, my essay title is "Discuss the claim that some areas of knowledge are discovered and others are invented". When I thought about it i came up with some ideas for example: Invention results out of human intellegence mostly something which is build up like a plane but it is just working in theory and in praxis you have to discover how it actually fit in in the real world situation. To link this to the title i maybe thought that natural science for example is still there the humans just discovered how it actually works and who this can help us to explain phenomenas. Physics or chemistry it is working without the human but the human used the working things to apply it to o…
Last reply by ferdi91, -
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8199951.stm Click on the spoiler to read a copy/pasted version of the article's text, or click on the link to see the actual article with pictures. Just thought it might perhaps be some TOK essay/presentation food for thought! Seems like a very high scoring TOK thing to discuss. Even if I'm not 100% that those "emoticon" differences are ones I'd consider standing up to scrutiny. I rather thought people used them everywhere, both sets (and only older people with the noses!). That and it's also very interesting, but that's probably a secondary thing in the grand and on the whole boring world of IB!
Last reply by Sandwich, -
- 2 replies
- 644 views
I have started writing an outline and I´m just confused, I want to bring in a lot of history but I don't know when it is too much or what I should definitely include.I included truth and some ways of knowing but after writing other stuff I finally freaked out because I don't know where my essay is going!! Any help would be appreciated please
Last reply by xim, -
- 1 reply
- 991 views
Hey guys, I'd started an essay on the first of the new prescribed titles just in case the TOK remark hadn't resulted in a higher grade, which it has So I don't need it anymore and I've attached my latest draft, if anyone wants to have a look at it. It's too long and probably far from perfect, still, but it might be worth a read anyway if you're doing yours on the same topic
Last reply by -MD-, -
- 1 reply
- 897 views
Hey guys do you know where I can find the essay topics for TOK if I am going to take my exams in may 2010
Last reply by kankeel, -
- 3 replies
- 721 views
I'm having trouble answering this question: How do place value and our concept of zero affect our world? Could anyone help with a few ideas? Anything is greatly appreciated
Last reply by Tilia,
