ToK Presentation
Article in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper
on 19th September 2012
ToK Presentation
Real-life situation
Article in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper
on 26th September 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odprMkzOst8
ToK Presentation
Real-life situation
Questions raised:
• How sensible is it to believe without
carefully examining the evidence?
• What is the difference between
‘knowing that’ and ‘knowing why’?
• Is it necessary to accept some
things as ‘true’?
• How are we affected by such
knowledge claims?
• What evidence should we trust,
and why?
ToK Presentation
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
Discuss looking at:
• Arts
• History
• Human Sciences
• Natural Sciences
ToK Presentation
The Arts
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
“…one of the most important canvasses of the twentieth
century…”
Dr. Beth Harris
”…seminal in the early development of
both cubism and modern art…”
Wikipedia
”…an icon of twentieth-century art…”
Tate Gallery
“… the most important artwork of the 20th century…”
The Economist
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso 1907
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp 1917
ToK Presentation
History
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
Nanking Massacre (‘The Rape of Nanking’) 1937
‘Bloody Sunday’ - Derry, Northern Ireland, 1972
ToK Presentation
Human Sciences
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
Photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon July 20, 1969
Photograph of an alleged UFO taken
in New Jersey, taken on July 31, 1952
ToK Presentation
Natural Sciences
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
Structure of Matter
University of Toronto
Photograph of the Carina Nebula
– 6,500–10,000 light years from Earth
ToK Presentation
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we know
shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
• If we haven’t seen it,
heard it, smelled it,
touched it or tasted it –
then we have had to
accept it on authority
ToK Presentation
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
• We are more likely to
accept something as true
if we have confidence in
the methods and motives
of those who make the
claim
ToK Presentation
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we
know shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
• Knowledge by Authority is
necessary and inevitable,
but we should retain a
degree of skepticism
“Skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but him who
investigates or researches as opposed to him who asserts
and thinks that he has found.”
[Miguel de Unamuno, "Essays and Soliloquies," 1924]
ToK Presentation
Real-life situation
Article in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper
on 26th September 2012
Knowledge Issue
To what extent is what we know
shaped by authority?
(What evidence should we trust, and why?)
Conclusion…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odprMkzOst8