TOK essays due on 23rd February
Before you hand in your essa,y please check this file to see that you have answered/covered the key
points that I have mentioned.
While my suggestions are by no means are the last and final word on the subject and you may
choose to interpret it as you see fit , my advice on WOK and AOK issues is definitive. It’s the
discussion on what constitutes JTB or definition or discussion of WOK and AOK that makes the essay
a TOK essay and not a science or history or English Literature essay as many of these topics can be
used for subject specific essays.
For me, I want to see the essay complete with the following :
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Essay # and Title exactly as it is stated on the titles sheet.
Word count on page 1 of the essay
Every page should have a header or footer with your name, school and student number for
the exam
Numbered pages
Bibliography in alphabetical order. For websites , the date accessed
Any idea that is not your own is to be footnoted and cited ( failure to acknowledge ideas is
heavily penalised)
Regardless of how many trees in Indonesia need to be cut down, the essay must be double
spaced.
Regardless of what happens on the 23rd, I need to see a copy of your essay along with the
essay plan. If I don't see one, then you don't get to upload your essay.
Last and final warning about the essay: please make sure that you do a good job with it. It
constitutes 2/3rds of the TOK grade. The Oral presentation is 1/3rd only and that alone will not
ensure a good grade for TOK.
Some advice:
Please avoid the following:
1. Excessive references to the Holocaust. Its such a tired example that examiners are truly fed
up
2. The Heliocentric theory. Again another very tired example.
3. In Maths 1+1=2. If another student uses that example I think the examiner is going to give
up examining permanently!!
Always use personal examples, they make the essay enjoyable to read and are refreshing. Of course
be sure that the example is in context.
The examiner wants to hear your interpretation of the knowledge claims in the essay title. How do
you understand, interpret and defend the knowledge issues.
1. Consider the extent to which knowledge issues in ethics are similar to at least one AOK
KI in ethics: Surrogate parenthood
Euthanasia
Ethics is about morality.....social do’s and donts
Whats the link?
Human Sciences: genetic engg. Has human implications... think Gattaca
Euthanasia : Right to life
Ethics and history; ethnic cleansing ...in Rwanda ...
Colonizaton: do we have the right to destroy another culture
Slavery and history
Can an artist put lives at risk? House of Wax?
Ethics issues: right and wrong, duty Refer to Immanuel Kant, Utilitarianism, Peter Singer
In this essay the EXTENT needs to be clarified. W/o it, the essay becomes weak
For similarity pick an ethical issue and test how it links to an AOK
2. How important are the opinions of experts in the search of knowledge
Opinion: what is an opinon: How is this the basis of knowledge?
Expert: Who is an expert? What defines an expert? Academic qualifications? Experience?
Knowledge? What constitutes knowledge: JTB alone? CCP?
So does all knowledge come from experts?
Bedouin Boy who found the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Emperor and the New clothes? Did he need an expert to tell him he was duped?
How about the role of chance? How many discoveries are because of chance?
Experts create the boundaries but there is a place for chance
Opinion: its a judgement. Can it be absolute?
Are there absolutes?
Experts of today are the fools of tomorrow
Heliocentric theory: Church punished those who believed it. Did that make them experts or keepers
of knowledge?
The reason for highlighting this is to show the debate between religion and science as AOK
Ex. Who is the expert the mother of a sick child or a doctor?
Again, for this essay the discussion of opinion and experts has to link to WOK and how they create
expertise and or opinions in different AOK
3. Doubt is the key to knowledge ( Persian verb) To what extent is this true in 2 areas of knowledge
Define doubt
Doubt questions challenges. Scepticism
If you don't ask why you will never find out. Risk takers... Columbus, Leonardo da vinci, Martin
Luther
Doubt in Ethics: challenge social values mores customs.
The Bhagwad Gita the holiest book of the Hindus is an answer to a doubt. The answer forms the
basis of Hindu philosophy
In Sciences doubt: Karl Popper or Paradigm shift by Kuhn
In History: doubt is in the question why? Historians always want to find out; leads to Revisionism,
interpretation
CC doubt in history can destroy as in a revolution but a new regime often borrows from the old
Arts: doubt may lead to experimentation with new methods and styles. Discovery of oil painting,
surrealism
Doubt in religion: Martin Luther and Protestantism
Doubt in maths
CC: doubt can push boundaries but there is a lot to be said for rules and structure . Music notations .
Rules laws theories provide the super structure of our reality
Doubt and conviction are mirror images. If there wasn’t doubt there wouldn’t be progress. But
doubt alone would not be enough.
For this essay you need to refer to the WOK and how they can either create doubt or remover
doubt. W?O reference to WOK you weaken the essay
4.To what extent do we need evidence to support out beliefs in different AOK
Define evidence: what is evidence> IS the need for evidence the same for all AOK
The key in this essay is not TYPES of evidence but the NEED for evidence.
Also WOK provide the evidence. They are the tools and creators of evidence
Mona Lisa : Evidence of the Arts
Evidence in History
Mulitple role of evidence; Mona Lisa is evidence that a wealthy Florentine nobleman oculd afford
the services of a painter
CC. do we need evidence? IS all Science based on evidence?
Black Holes?
Religion is there evidence that God exists?
This essay also questions the ideas of chance , intuition and faith. Be sure to explore one issue wher
the evidence is not always available yet constitutes knowledge
5. To what extent are the various AOK defined by their methodologies rather than content
Methodology define it
What does methodology do? It provides a structure a way to establish an AOK and it content.
Content: what is it
The question is : which is more important the chicken or the egg?
Chicken leads to egg: Methodology defines Science
Where would science be w/o scientific method? In fact its the divergence of Science away from
religion during the Age of Reason that has led to the idea of the fallibility of faith and the validity of
Science.
How often do we fall for the idea: ‘Scientifically proven’?
Its the emphasis on reason logic testability etc. that give science its validity
Scientfic method established dominant role of science and this was also used for other disciplines
CC
How about intuition in the development of knowledge? Is there no place for intuiton and chance?
Does methodology alone define an AOK?
This is an open ended essay, So be sure to use examples from a range of AOK
6. There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false
Define true and false
What are the linguistice ethnic cultural parameters?
True: does a loaf of bread hold the same truth for a destitute woman witha starving child and a
wealthy socialite
He is dead... He is only sleeping is that false?
How far do language reason perception make those distinctions
Language and ambiguity
Reason and fallacies : A loaded question can make it difficult
True and false are not separate entitities
What may be true for me is false for you.
This essay must have a discussion on the role and purpose of WOK to establish distinctions between
true and false.
This essay is incomplete w/o a discussion on the term absolutes
Is absolutes desirableor necessary? E.g. Kant’s categorical imperative? This is an absolute. Is it worth
it? Can you have absolutes is Ethics? Murder? Manslaughter ? Homicide ? what are the difference
between these if any?
Terrorists? Can he be called a freedom fighter?
Gooks/VC and patriotic Vietnamese?
7. How can we recognise when we have made progress in the search for knowledge. Consider two
contrasting areas of knowledge
Progress: how is it defined?
Is progress always forward looking?
How do you recognize it? WOK feature here in a big way
Science v/s Arts
Ethics V/S Sciences
Be sure to discuss the idea of progress? How is it defined? Is it new ideas? Is it questioning what
exists? Is it abandoning of traditional practices?
The key in this essay the questioning of the idea of progress?
So the role of WOK is critical?
Some thoughts?
Slavery? Is it completely abolished? Trafficking in women? Isnt it a form of slavery?
Medicine ? how about traditional medicine?
History? Revisionism is that true for say science? Does science look at re-interpretation for
progress? At some level it does? Gravity is not quite what Newton said it was, but do we dump that
theory entirely?
8. Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth...Pablo Picasso
Explain this claim in relation to a specific art form ( example visual arts, literature , theatre..)
What is lie? Whats truth
Lie: a persons biased truth?
Does that make a biased view a lie? If so how does it tell the truth
Start with Guernica is it a lie? Yes distorted
Does it tell the truth?
Literature: fantasy... is a lie Lord of the Rings...truth? camaderie, courage under fire
Theatre: Shakespeare a fanc y world but truth about society values of the time
Be sure to link WOK
Remember the role of the WOK in creating the lies and truth
Don't get fooled this is not a definition of Art but really questioning if there is a Yin and Yang
connection between lie and truth.
Art is the medium of the exploration but not the issue to be explored
9 Discuss the roles of language and reason in history
Language and reason are the handmaidens of history
History is recorded using language: letter, poems, memoir treaties et..
History is a record of event past but its also an enquiry so the creations of language are the basis of
enquiry
Reason on the other hand tries to create order and method
CC. While they work hand in hand they can alos work against each other. Language can create false
perceptions propaganda
Language can skew emotion...
Reason can be threatened.....
AGAIN here the interplay on WOK. Language and reason impact on emotion and perception
10. A model is a simplified representation of some aspect in the world. In what way may models
help or hinder the search for knowledge?
Define model: A representation of reality. Use of WOK to create that reality This is the most
important aspect that you need to focus on,
Is it the real thing?
Another point to challenge: is simplification always needed or necessary?
Is it always feasible
In Science models help us understand phenomena of nature: Predict, test, create and refute theories
Can any model explain the horror of the Tsunami of 2004
Mathematical models prediction etc. Can they explain all human behaviour. MIlgram Experiment?
Did it succeed? Did it prove what it set out to prove?
History: if we expand the definition ... to documentaries....yes gives us understanding but does it
give us complete knowledge?
Can you model everything