2013 TOK Essay Titles Brainstorming Session Notes
Title
In what ways may
disagreement aid the
pursuit of knowledge
in the natural and
human sciences?
Potential Knowledge
Issues
How does the role of
disagreement change in
the human sciences
compared to the natural
sciences?
Strengths
Easy to come
up with good
natural science
examples
Is disagreement
necessary for knowledge
to progress?
“Only seeing general
patterns can give us
knowledge. Only
seeing particular
examples can give
us understanding.”
To what extent do
you agree with these
assertions?
How are knowledge and
understanding different?
Does knowledge lead to
understanding?
Easy to work in
almost any
AOK.
Traps
Human sciences examples
may be hard to come by.
Easy to answer the
question without explicitly
addressing knowledge
issues. (by referring to
examples only and not the
nature of knowledge in the
human and natural
sciences)
Easy to answer the
question without explicitly
addressing knowledge
issues.
Is understanding
necessary for knowledge?
General Notes
Could work in Popper’s theory of falsification
Kuhn’s scientific revolutions will be relevant as is conflict
theory in the human sciences
May need to define disagreement
May be worth looking at Imre Lakatos’ work
Disagreement is usually in the interpretation of data and
not the data itself
History and natural sciences would be excellent AOKs for
title
Looking at the role of generalizations in human sciences
could be helpful
Is this title about macroscopic vs. microsopic views?
Could link reason (inductive logic vs. deductive logic)
We are always generalizing because we can never see
EVERY specific example.
“The possession of
knowledge carries an
ethical
responsibility.”
Evaluate this claim.
Does the strength of
knowledge impact on the
level of ethical
responsibility?
What types of knowledge
Easy to work in
implications of
the essay.
Students
generally like
Easy to write an opinion
piece. Essays need to be
supported with recognized
ethical theories and
thinkers (e.g. Hobbes,
Rousseau, Nietzsche,
The IB command term “Evaluate” means to assess the
implications and limitations.
Could work in Right and Responsibilities of human beings
(UN Declaration of human rights?)
carry the greatest
responsibility?
ethics.
Utilitiarian ethics)
Counterclaims may be
difficult
Is there a hierarchy of
knowledge that
corresponds to a
hierarchy of ethical
responsibility?
Depends on what is
selected
Crime and Law. Do we share knowledge of crimes?
What about “ratting” on friends?
Internationalism and colonialism could be interesting
links.
In what circumstances is
this claim true?
The traditional TOK
diagram indicates
four ways of
knowing. Propose
the inclusion of a
fifth way of knowing
selected from
intuition, memory or
imagination, and
explore the
knowledge issues it
may raise in two
areas of knowledge.
Results of human experiments (Nazis and Japanese) do
we use this data?
Do we need to define “ethical responsibility”?
What about being told things in confidence?
VERY wide
open so lots of
scope for
individuality
Easy to discuss the nature
of intuition, memory or
imagination without going
into the knowledge issues
raised.
Do we need to define what
is a WOK?
Essay title may require
students to think about KIs
that arise as a result of
adding this new WOK. This
may be difficult.
Asylum seekers, refugees, charity work etc.
Intuition:
 The nature of intuition changes in different AOK
 Is intuition an amalgamation of other WOK?
 Instinct vs. intuition
Memory:
 Is memory a WOK? Need to accept that it is for
this title
 Memory changes over time
 Memory can distort truth/reality
 Memory is selective
 Is memory recorded perception? Is it our
internal record of our life?
 Personal vs. Collective memories
Imagination:
 Nature of imagination changes depending on
AOK
 Imagination is needed for empathy
 What is the role of imagination in
interpreting data or information?
“That which can be
asserted without
evidence may be
dismissed without
evidence” Do you
agree?
Do we use the same
criteria for accepting and
rejecting claims?
What counts as evidence?
Easy title to
understand.
Easy to work in
any AOK.
Need to make KIs explicit –
too easy to agree or
disagree without going into
knowledge issues.
Link to faith and religion obvious
Examples involving the supernatural could be helpful
Easy to answer the
question without addressing
knowledge issues.
Science, Mathematics and Art may be good AOK to
consider as the other AOK.
How do we distinguish
between strong and weak
evidence?
Can we know when
to trust our emotions
in the pursuit of
knowledge?
Consider history and
one other area of
knowledge.
To what extent are our
emotions informed by
reason?
Easy to work in
bias (selection
bias, emotional
bias etc.)
Could be easy
for the history
students.
We have an emotional drive to succeed that applies to
any AOK
Link to ethics and ethical decision making
Link to faith
When emotion and reason conflict, when do we choose
emotion and why?
Mathematical descriptions of beauty. Is this an attempt
to use reason to further justify emotion knowledge?