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
bothcubismandmodern 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 dAvignon 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
6,50010,000 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 havent 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
Skeptic does not mean him who doubts, but
degree
oforskepticism
him who investigates
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