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Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge Course
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Theory of Knowledge
How is TOK structured?
Theory of knowledge (TOK) plays a special role in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (DP), by providing an opportunity for students to reflect on the nature of knowledge, and on how we know what we claim to know.
It is one of the components of the DP core and is mandatory for all students. The TOK requirement is central to the educational philosophy of the DP
What is the significance of TOK?
Introduction
TOK aims to make students aware of the interpretative nature of knowledge, including personal ideological biases – whether these biases are retained, revised or rejected.
It offers students and their teachers the opportunity to a) reflect critically on diverse ways of knowing and on areas of knowledge, and b) consider the role and nature of knowledge in their own culture, in the cultures of others and in the wider world.
The following 12 concepts have particular prominence within, and thread throughout, the TOK course:
evidence, certainty, truth, interpretation, power, justification, explanation, objectivity, perspective,
culture, values and responsibility. Exploration of the relationship between knowledge and these concepts
can help students to deepen their understanding, as well as facilitating the transfer of their learning to new
and different contexts.
Core Theme
Knowledge and the Knower
provides an opportunity for students to reflect on what shapes their perspective as a knower, where their values come from, and how they make sense of, and navigate, the world around them.
Core Theme and Optional Themes
Optional Themes
Knowledge and Technology
.
This optional theme focuses on issues relating to the impact of technology on knowledge and knowers, and
how technology helps and hinders our pursuit of knowledge. It examines the ways that technology can be
seen to shape knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and exchange, and even the nature of knowledge
itself.
Knowledge and Technology
Knowledge and Politics
This theme provides an opportunity for discussions about the practice of politics and our everyday interactions with politics in the world around us. For example, this theme is intended to provide an opportunity to engage with high-profile contemporary debates and examples, such as those around “fake
news” and “post-truth politics”.
Knowledge and Politics
Knowledge and Language
This theme encourages students to reflect on the role of language in allowing knowledge to be shared with others. Language plays a key role in the communication and dissemination of knowledge; it also enables
knowledge to be accumulated for, and passed down to, future generations
.
Knowledge and Language
Knowledge as Religion
This theme provides an opportunity for students to think carefully, critically and respectfully about
knowledge and religion, and to reflect on the significant impact that religion has on how we view the world. Religion is often regarded as a sensitive area in which discussions should be had with caution, in part because people have very personal and deeply held convictions regarding religious matters.
Knowledge and Religion
Knowledge and Indigenous Societies
.
This optional theme provides an opportunity to undertake a more detailed exploration of knowledge that is principally bound to a particular group, culture or society. It focuses on knowledge that is deeply embedded in the culture and traditions of particular communities of knowers, and how what might be seen as “traditional” indigenous knowledge and societies operate today.
Knowledge and Indigenous Societies
Areas of Knowledge
At the highest level of general overview, different perspectives exist about how knowledge itself is constructed.
Different areas of knowledge provide their own responses appropriate to their subject matter and methods.
At a lower level of organization, different perspectives exist within areas of knowledge, interacting in ways characteristic of the discipline.
In History, for instance, perspectives operate rather differently: explanations in history often co-exist without one disproving another because they trace different causal connections through human experience in the past.
Areas of Knowledge
Natural
Sciences
The Natural Sciences
Why might some people regard science as the supreme form of all knowledge?
The natural sciences are often seen to rely on evidence, rationality and the quest for deeper understanding.
Observation and experimentation play a key role, and terms such as “theory” have a special meaning in the
natural sciences compared to how they are used in daily life and in other areas of knowledge.
Do the natural sciences rely on any assumptions that are themselves
unprovable by science?
How can it be that scientific knowledge changes over time?
Is science, or should it be, value-free?
The Human Sciences
The human sciences include a diverse range of disciplines, such as psychology, social and cultural
anthropology, economics, political science, and geography. These disciplines share a common focus on the
study of human existence and behavior.
Human Sciences
Are predictions in the human sciences inevitably unreliable?
The Arts
“The arts” is used in TOK to include a diverse range of disciplines such as visual arts, theatre, dance, music,
film and literature. The forms and methods of these disciplines are often dissimilar, so the diversity within
this single area of knowledge can itself be an excellent stimulus for TOK discussions.
The Arts
Are the arts best seen as a system of knowledge, a type of knowledge or a
means of expressing knowledge?
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of pattern -- abstract pattern that places concepts in a systematized relationship to one another, expressed in a symbolic system that we can manipulate using reason alone.
Mathematicians have long posed the question, "Do we discover mathematics in the real world, or do we invent it with our minds?"
Mathematics
History
History provides particularly interesting material for TOK discussions because of the challenges presented
by not being able to directly observe the past, and because the historian is unable to utilize some of the
methods of inquiry that are used in other areas of knowledge. Studying history can also promote empathy with, and understanding of, people living in diverse places and at different times. These characteristics open up many interesting issues and questions that are unique, or particularly pertinent, to history as an area of knowledge.
History
Is all knowledge in some sense historical knowledge?
• Is truth the goal of all historical inquiry?
Centrality of the TOK course
KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
Knowledge Questions
Claims
Knowledge questions underlie much of the knowledge that we take for granted and are often the motivation for many disagreements and controversies. Exploration of knowledge questions can therefore help us to have a deeper understanding of how knowledge is constructed and evaluated in different areas, as well as helping us to make sense of the world around us.
Counter-claims
Assessment
Assessment of TOK
For example, the essay may ask students to discuss the claim that the methodologies used to produce knowledge depend on the use to which that knowledge will be used.
The TOK course is assessed through an oral presentation and a 1600 word essay.
The presentation assesses the ability of the student to apply TOK thinking to a real-life situation, while the essay takes a more conceptual starting point.
THE EXHIBITION
The TOK exhibition explores how TOK manifests in the world around us. For this reason it is strongly recommended that students base their exhibition on one of the TOK themes (either the core theme or one
of the optional themes).
What does it comprise of?
a title clearly indicating their selected IA prompt
• images of their three objects
• a typed commentary on each object that identifies each object and its specific real-world context,
justifies its inclusion in the exhibition and links to the IA prompt (maximum 950 words)
• appropriate citations and references.