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Title #8 "Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth" (Pablo Picasso). Evaluate this claim in relation to a specific art form.


rrswong

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Hi everyone!

We haven't actually started really looking at the TOK essay titles in detail or anything yet, but I was looking at this one and I'm thinking that I'd really like to do my TOK essay on this title, and with regards to literature, possibly.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to approach it, or just general things to watch out for, they would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you! :no:

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Well here's the general direction I would take with this topic: you could talk about the ability of art to invoke thought and make us see things in different lights and open up possibilities etc, which makes us consider and reconsider the things that we believe/know and thus refine our knowledge. It's especially good that you picked literature, because 'language' is one of the Ways of Knowing and you could check out the textbook chapter on it to find some stuff to talk about in detail - there's the huge language-thought connection and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis about how language can influence thought and vice versa.

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You're required to have a certain amount of sources?...

I guess I'd start by looking into the author of the quotation. Look to see if there's some context to the quotation and look for more of his thoughts related to this.

After learning that Picasso said this, I wanted to look at his paintings in a new light. What was he trying to tell his audience? Did he have a message for me, someone who lives half a world away in a different time? You're certainly not limited to visual art. I find it easiest for me to look at literature and music. Anyways, for sources, I'd look into Picasso, and once I picked a form of art, I'd hone in research on that. For literature, I'd look into motivations behind dystopian lit writers. Orwell had a lot to say about English and grammar, and lo and behold! his 1984 reflected his understanding and ability to create a lie that perhaps brought us closer to the truth.

Where do you want your essay to go?

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I was considering doing this topic...

I talked to my TOK teacher today, and he said the bibliography can just be one or two sources.

About visual art...

You could look at the lie of art, and how the picture can be a literal lie but possibly a symbolic truth?

You could look into sites/books about cubism (because that was the time of Picasso) and how they would paint different parts of a head and mash it all up. You could also look at philosophy texts on truth and how truth is defined very ambiguously and the arguments about truth and then in cooperate that with art.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

same topic as me! how have you gone about discussing the "lie" part of the prompt? also, im focussing on literature. what would be the prime examples to use? i'm thinking some of the dystopian novels. they discuss a hypothetical society that is entirely fictional, but it shows the reader some truth about the world we live in.

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Well isn't fiction pretty much a lie? Writers often ensnare you into their world, and sometimes you start to believe you're there with the characters, but then you take a step back realize it's all a figment of the author's imagination. Does that mean you can't learn anything from it? About human nature? About culture and foreign traditions?

I think part of answering this title is figuring to what extent art is a lie. Are you going to take the quotation literally? You don't have to. That's where you get the wiggle room to make your argument. =)

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I'm doing this topic with the main theme of photography in relation to photoshop and editing.

There are a lot of people in my cohort who are picking this one.

One of my friends is doing it in Film... it should be very interesting!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know this isn't directly relating to the question about this topic, but does anyone have any ideas about doing this essay with regards to Theatre - mainly musical theatre? Do you think it would work out?

yea i'm doing my tok essay at the moment and i'm doing theatre for this question. i think it definately works...its easier for me because i actually do theatre as a subject. but pretty much what i've done is addressed, what is a lie, what is the truth, and therefore can theatre be classified as a lie and can it bring it closer to the truth, in steps.

hope that helps : )

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yea i'm doing my tok essay at the moment and i'm doing theatre for this question. i think it definately works...its easier for me because i actually do theatre as a subject. but pretty much what i've done is addressed, what is a lie, what is the truth, and therefore can theatre be classified as a lie and can it bring it closer to the truth, in steps.

hope that helps : )

cool, yes I'm also writing mine at the moment, and it seems to be working ok - similar to yours I suppose :D

It also helps to be interested in the topic :) makes it so much easier to focus :D:P

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm doing mine on Literature since I plan to use fiction works and poetry for the most part. Any tips in general on writing a TOK paper on the subject of literature?

Well, I know this may have been answered in earlier posts, but I am just asking for any more advice.

Edited by Adan Meza
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I'd be cautious not to limit it, in general. There is structure and logic in literature. Yes, it's a subjective area of knowledge, but there's a rhythm to it. There are context clues, there are rules that the writers first learn and then sometimes choose to break.

Specifically for this question, make sure you look at the claim from different perspectives and try to argue different answers.

And look different purposes of writers. You could go into satire and allegory. Animal Farm and The Crucible are two works that have blatant messages, but they're hidden under veils.

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