Theory of Knowledge: Sample Presentation Topics
Identify an issue of global significance which introduces a conflict of concepts and values. Examine
the facts, language, statistics, and images used by at least two sides in the conflict in their
representation of the issue. In the process, identify assumptions, justifications, values, and
emotions which diverge. To what extent can you find the truth of the issue?
1. Poverty (also more specifically beggars and begging)
2. Social concepts of time (e.g. Mainstream concepts vs. First Nations’ concepts)
3. Science vs. religion (with reference to Evolution, Abortion, etc.)
4. The Quebec problem.
5. The death penalty.
6. Do video games promote violence?
7. Artificial Intelligence (more specifically robot “beings”)
8. WWF: entertainment or exploitation?
9. Euthanasia.
10. The uses and misuses of the Internet
11. UN economic sanctions against Iraq, or any other country.
12. Drug testing in modern sports.
13. Television violence
14. Xenotransplantation: the use of animal organs to save human lives.
15. Violence in the Middle East: Israelis and Palestinians.
16. Animal rights.
17. Mass media reports.
18. Genetically modified crops.
19. Genetically engineered food.
20. Rapid technological development: human implications.
21. Cloning of sentient beings.
22. The ethics of copyright laws.
23. Technology and the ownership of ideas/information.
24. Are human beings naturally violent?
25. Violence in sports/video games: the boundaries of the acceptable.
26. How does violence in the media affect children?
27. Arranged marriages/love matches.
28. What purposes do labour unions serve?
29. Emigration.
30. Religious faith: the challenges.
31. The rights of robots.
32. Abortion: the problems and challenges.
33. The ethics of cloning/bioethics.
34. The last U.S. election: why all the confusion and uncertainty?
35. Electoral reform.
36. Obesity and eating disorders.
37. Decriminalization of pot.
38. Expression of Anti-Americanism.
39. Child labour.
40. Sex offenders.
41. Health care: private vs. public.
42. Cultural assimilation.
43. Right to life.
44. Suicide bombers.
45. Pirating music.
46. Youth prostitution.
47. Youth offenders.
48. The boundaries of art (the transgressive artists, e.g. the use of excrement).
49. Governing: what are governments responsible for?
50. Medicare and its challenges.
51. The Canadian family is in the throes of profound change.
52. Green house effect/global warning.
53. China’s one child policy.
54. Refugees: Chinese migrants (summer of 1999).
55. Bullying.
56. Elitism.
57. Industrial pollution.
58. Reality TV.
59. Reparation for slavery/colonial wrongs.
60. Consumerism and its limits: Fay Weldon, a British novelist, merges “fiction and blatant product
placement in a novel commissioned by a jewellery company.”
61. Extremism in modern art.
62. Good art/poor art/junk?
63. Politically subversive art.
64. Embryonic-stem-cell research.
65. The prevalence of terrorism in modern society.
66. Deforestation of Earth’s rainforests.
67. Does history tell us the truth?
68. Are authorities justified in knowingly withholding information?
69. Premarital sex.
70. Does TV watching harm children?
71. Materialism: how do humans relate money and happiness.
72. Where are the boundaries between sport and art?
73. Value judgements in art.
74. Can we distinguish between good and bad mathematics?
75. The development of AI and its effects on the human race.
76. Will there be an end to the pursuit of truth through the study of physics?
77. Lookism: do we discriminate on the basis of looks?
78. Poverty in North America: is it our responsibility to help the less fortunate?
79. The European Union.
80. Is there a crisis in humanism?
81. Same-sex marriages.
82. Brainwashing.
83. WWII.
84. Aids in Africa.
85. Pop princesses.
86. Assisted suicide.
87. Graffiti.
88. Discoveries in the universe.
89. Sweatshops.
90. Wind farms.
91. Capital punishment.
92. Diets.
93. Cosmetic surgery.
94. Is misleading the public justified?
95. Comparison of gender theories.
Remi Vicente
Ms. Galanis