Friday, October 2, 2009
TOK and Philosophy
I have heard from many people that TOK is not in anyway similar to Philosophy. Consequently, I will like know exactly the differences between TOK and Philosophy.
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3 comments:
Yeah, Gartaa that's actually a pretty good question.
Often times people ask what the point of joining a club like 'Socrates' Scribes' is since they're going to be doing TOK in school anyway. I have come to realise that i don't really have a concrete answer to give them except that Socrates' Scribes is a philosophy group and not a TOK remedial lesson.
Gartaa and Prez,
This is a thorny question that many TOK teachers have argued about! Let me give you one take on it.
I would say that TOK shares with philosophy the imperative to dig underneath the issues and events in our lives in order to try to reach the bedrock of our thinking. Again, in common with philosophy, TOK attempts to do this because uncovering these basics is key to understanding and avoiding unnecessary confusion about what we believe and know. The challenge for TOK teachers is to make this goal apparent to students; otherwise the course may appear abstract and aimless.
The architects of the IB programme believed this process to be too important to be left just to those who choose Philosophy as a subject in Group 3 of the diploma, and so we have TOK, which provides exposure to a philosophical way of thinking, but hopefully in a manner that makes it accessible to all.
Hope this helps a little.
Mr. Kitching,
If I understand you clearly, TOK is then basically a course in philosophy with less detail. If my understanding is correct then you have explained it very well to me.
Thank you.
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