THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

PART 2
 WHAT IS TOK?
Course that looks at the nature of knowledge across various fields or disciplines. It also
explores the way we come to have that knowledge and how it is used in our personal,
professional and political lives.
Encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself.
Reflects on our own learning and what you include in your system of beliefs.
It will help you think more clearly and deeply by looking at both the subjects we study
(the areas of knowledge) and how we perceive them (the ways of knowing), and then
trying to work out the connections between them and ourselves as knowers.
TOK is about issues, about debate, about forming opinions, and about trying to
improve the way we structure our thoughts and ideas.
TOK is an extremely PRACTICAL SUBJECT. It can be applied in all your IB
subjects and in almost any aspect of your daily life.
 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Aims
Develop fascination with K
Develop self awareness as knowers and how
K is constructed.
Encourage respect for diversity of ways of
thinking and for different ideologies.
Encourage responsability about K.
Objectives
Analyse critically
Generate ideas in response to K issues.
Demonstrate understanding of different
perspectives on K issues and draw links
between them.
Demonstrate an ability to stand up for
yourselves in front of others and generate
thoughtful view to test ideas trough
arguments.
 ACTIVITY 1
Activity 1: Pair up with a partner. One person asks the other to
Name one thing that you used to believe and now do not and follow up
question to ask
What made you believe it in the first place?
How did you come to change your belief?
What beliefs that you have now that may be similar, but so far have not
changed?
What might occur to make you change these beliefs and make them
weaker?
What might occur to make these beliefs stronger?
ACTIVITY 2
ACTIVITY 3
K IS A JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF

JUSTIFIED:Justify belief in the

right kind of way to be reliable.

TRUE: Beyond reasonable

doubt ( objective requirement)

BELIEF: You must believe that

is true ( subjective
requirement)
 SOME WORDS ABOUT K

We all have a vast range of opinions, perspectives and belief by which

we make hundreds of decisions, sometimes consciously, sometimes
without thinking.
K is a true belief that has been arrived at by a reliable process or
indicator of truth.
K is the outcome of a process which continues over time, the quest of
K is endless and daily. K seeking never stops.
K is not static. Yesterdays revolution in thought becomes today
common sense and tomorrows superstition.
K are facts related one to another in a systemic way
We acquire K trough language, reason, sense perception and
emotion, but none of these ways can give us certainty. We have to rely
more in judgement ( evidence and coherence).
 BELIEFS

The unexamined life is not worth living ( Socrates)

Make your beliefs and opinions genuinely your own by subjecting them to
critical scrutiny.Have another person as a witness of your evolution.
There is more reality beyond we can see and touch.
Ignorance kills you
KNOWER IN THE CENTRE.

People who believe absurdities will commit atrocities (VOLTAIRE)

People beliefs define who you are as a person and affect their actions. We have
the responsability to take a critical look at our own beliefs and prejudices.
(ETHICAL ELEMENT IN THE PURSUIT OF K)
We are confronted with a bewildering array of contradictory beliefs.
 INFORMATION VS KNOWLEDGE

The genuine K does not merely have info about it but understands how the
various parts are related to one another to form a meaningful whole. Info is to K
as bricks are to a building.
 COMMON SENSE
Vague and untested beliefs ( prejudice, hearsay and blind appeals to
authority)
Mental map of reality. We dont check it out all the time, so we can fall in
inaccuracies and falsehoods.It may give us a distorted picture of reality
Cultural biases in our picture of the world
The map is not the territory
 ORIGINS OF KNOWLEDGE
K is true belief that has been arrived at by a reliable process or indicator of
truth. From all the ideas we absorb, combined with al our personal
experiences, we shape our own belief and our own K.
The origins of K are really vast ( internet, TV, books, teachers) we need to
work in our skills of discernment and discrimination.
 KNOWLEDGE CATEGORIES

K by acquaintance is based in K by description is not acquaired

personal experience. Knowing how by direct experience. Knowing that.
EMPIRICISM RATIONALISM
 THE BASIS OF K

RATIONALISM: Reason has precedence over all other ways of acquiring K.

Descartes: I think therefor I am . We can doubt about everything.His reason
told him that he existed. We have innate ideas (implicite K)

EMPIRICISM: The senses are primary with respect to K. Much closer to

common sense. People were a blank slate to be written upon by experience.
Locke said the empirical process begins at birth. All we know is taken in by
our senses as raw material to be worked up into ideas by the mind.

Most of us use both ways to acquire K

 TRUTH TESTS
K begins in doubt and wonder and is a triumph of passing hurdles known as truth tests or
achieving proofs.
What is true and what is not , because there are degrees of truth.
The correspondance theory of truth: Go and check!
State of affairs correspnd to a fact. Wether the proposition matches up to what we know
trough our senses. Demands that we rely on our own personal experience to be able to
figure out if something is true or not.
The coherence theory of truth: Think! Does this fit with what I already know?
Fit with other statements you take as true theories, they hang together trough their
coherence.
The consensus theory of truth: Truth is what the majority of people believe.
The pragmatic theory of truth: Does it work?
Truth is whatever is useful and profitable to us and whatever brings us benefit.
 TRUTH TESTS

If the truth tests were perfect, we could clear away so many

uncertainties. Yet we must conrtinue the search of truth. Our awareness
of the tests imperfections can help us remain open to new information
and prevent us from falling into the complacent attitude of believing we
know it all.
Truth for me?
 JUSTIFICATIONS FOR BELIEF
Reasoning: Your figure it out logically or understand by following someone
elses rational thinking. ( coherence test for truth)
Observation: Your sense perception of the world gives you a justification for
belief. ( correspondence truth test)
Reliable source: You heard it from someone you trust. Expressed in language.
( Expert source or general consensus)
Memory:You remember previous claims and their justifications. Look
inside
Emotions: You accept the claim because you feel that it is right. ( intuition or
faith)
Revelation: You accept the claim because God showed himself to you. This
applies to metaphysical beliefs.
 CERTAINTY
Is what distinguishes K from mere belief. We must support your beliefs with
evidence and be able to consider and respond criticism. In accepting
plausibility and probability for most of our K claims we lay aside the
expectation of finding absolute, unmistakable truth.
EVIDENCE: To be reasonable there should be some positive evidence in
support of it ( difficult prove negative FALLACY OF ARGUMENT AD
IGNORANTIAM)
COHERENCE: It coheres or fit with our current understanding of things.
Examine them one at the time against the background of our other beliefs.
 COMMON SENSE
Vague and untested belief CERTAINTY
Mental map of reality By truth tests
Cultural biases Objective requirement: Beyond
Some evidence reasonable doubt
Subjetive requirement: You must believe that Evidence and coherence
is true.
RELATIVISM-SCEPTICISM-GULLIBILITY
Relativism says there is no such thing as ABSOLUTE TRUTH that exists
in an objective way. Instead truth is relative and may be different to individuals.
All points of view are equally valued.
Good judgement is needed to balance scepticism with open mindeness. If we are
too sceptical the danger is that intellectual progress will stagnate.
 K CLAIMS
Rational claims: Justified by reasoning and tested for their
consistency within a system by the coherence truth test.
Observational claims: Statements we can observe with our
sense perception.
Value claims: These claims embed evaluations on a scale that is
not calibrated in measurable units. Until the claim is put in
observational terms, it is not fact but opinion.
Metaphysical claims: These are statements about the nature of
reality outside physical reality.They cannot be tested with sense
perception.
 SECOND HAND K
If we have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants (NEWTON).
We can make progress by building on the accumulated achievements of past
generations.
Not fall into AUTHORITY WORSHIP and blindy accept what we are told without
thinking about it.
K by authority or by testimony
CULTURAL TRADITION
SCHOOL: Not what is thought but how ! ( indoctrination?)
INTERNET: Source of disinformation vs accesibility and speed
EXPERT OPINION: Specialized. They are fallible and they have a limited
range of competence.
NEWS MEDIA: There is some bias in both selection and presentation news.
 LIMITATIONS OF SECOND HAND K
It is not a original source.
Our K claims must ultimately be justified and not only rely on our own
judgement, we have to talk to people with different opinions.
We must balance between taking K on authority and relying on our own
resources.
 FINAL SUMMARY
K first is a subcategory of belief. It is a claim that you have accepted. K is
a belief that is true for ALL. Is a belief that is held in areas where the
truth tests work. It cannot al least be proven false. K is a belief that is
pubicly justified and currently passes tests for truth.
TRUTH is defined in different ways and tested imperfectly, that
JUSTIFICATION for beliefs takes many different forms which are
varyingly persuasive to different people, and that KNOWLEDGE in its
most publicly demonstrated form, is not fixed and certain.
Let us aknowledge and accept imperfection but try to believe as truly as
we can.