How Far have we come....really?

Wow, it's been such a while,

I guess my title says it all, but there's no harm in reiterating it in the body of the post. So, after 3 semesters of TOK: from class presentations, to running around like crazed villagers at Abadi to our final presentations, from the 800 to 1500 word essays and duplichecker by our side to make sure we didn't falter, how much have we really learnt? Has our introduction to the world of TOK really changed anything about the way we think or appreciate knowledge? do you actually stop and think about things in terms of how they can be applied to the various areas of knowledge or if it is subject to one of the ways of knowing? I think it would be very helpful to take some time to reflect (boy, don't i sound like Mr. Kitching?! :D ) on what we've learnt.....or haven't learnt for that matter and see the effect it has had on our learning experience as a whole.....that is, if you actually even see this post...

intelligence squared

Hi everyone,

It's all a bit quiet here these days, what with all the other stuff going on. But this blog is still up and running.

I hope you have enjoyed the presentations you have seen so far. Remember that they are an integral part of the course and so you should see them as learning opportunities.

In the mean time, I would like to recommend some of the debates shown on the BBC at:

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/

This morning I've been watching the most recent one on the Catholic church's role in the world - it's interesting to see how the arguments are constructed. Check out the briefing link on the web site.

JHK

Women used to shrink from creating art. Now they're taking over. And I think I know why

I found this interesting article while I was researching for my TOK essay.

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.

Why not Ethics ?

We have been repeatedly advised to avoid questions on ethics as much as possible in our presentations. I will simply like to know from anyone who has answers (particularly TOK teachers) what exactly we have not been equipped with in order to efffectively tackle these questions.

TOK Essay: Question 2

Examine the ways empirical evidence should be used to make progress in different areas of knowledge.

In this context, is it right to consider progress as "getting closer to the truth"?

knowledge issues and assessment tasks

Hi Everyone,

Nice to see the blog picking up a little after the vacation.

I would like to say that the lesson we had today (and the follow-up tomorrow) are crucially important for you to be successful in your essay and presentation.

We will be going through a number of activities to help you with these tasks, but this one is arguably the most important. Please make sure that you have taken down all the information presented in lessons this week for your own good.

The entire success of your presentation rests on your being able to formulate a REAL LIFE SITUATION and a KNOWLEDGE ISSUE that are properly connected.

The entire success of your essay depends on your being able to formulate KNOWLEDGE ISSUES from the prescribed titles and illustrate them using EXAMPLES (which are the essay's equivalent of real life situations).

Right, Wrong, Scenario

Recently, we had a discussion in class on ethics that resulted in me rethinking and modifying certain beliefs.

We were given certain scenarios on which a character was faced with an ethical dilemma. In one the persona 'had' to steal to get to his friends wedding at which he was supposed to be the best man. In another an IB teacher was torn between reporting a student he caught cheating and destroying his life, and letting the situation go (or take some other kind of action).

There are certain values i hold dear, like honesty and intergrity but I have recently also had to consider scenarios... If the situation was such that the bride would die of cancer the next day, and it was unequivicably imperative that the bestman was present, and his only means of getting there was by stealing..., as far as I'm concerned right and wrong becomes muddled up. I believe that there is no right or wrong, only scenario...not completely, otherwise we would not have a credible world, but to a large extent (maybe 70%).

What would you say?

Questions that you may not be able to answer...

1, When you think of a number, for example 7, what color do you think it has?
2, When you think of a days of a week, for example friday, what color do you think it has?
3, When you think of alphabet, like E, what color do you think it has?

It is better if you could give reasons for your answers. Thank you!

vacation time!

Dear All,

On behalf of the TOK teaching team, I would like to wish you all a restful yet stimulating long vacation.

Don't forget about all the outstanding tasks related to your IB learning - you will be doing some work on your extended essay, world literature assignment and - not least - your final TOK essay.

You have the prescribed titles, your last teacher spent some time with you discussing them, and so you have the opportunity to think carefully about which title to choose. This choice is one of the most important stages in producing a successful essay, so DON'T try to make an instant choice - if you do, this will very likely be a BAD choice. You need to spend some serious time thinking about what you can do with each of the titles before making any choice - we know from long experience that the titles that look initially appealing are often the most troublesome. Look carefully at the structure of each title. What are the key terms? How do they relate to the categories discussed in the TOK course? How much guidance does each of the titles give you? This varies.

We will have a bit more time in August to discuss the nature of the titles, but by all means go ahead and think about them for yourself now. Make some notes, do some exploration - look at the last thread below for some ideas about how to do this...

And allocate some time during the vacation to read and keep yourself abreast of things going on in the world. See you soon...

Essays: exploring the concepts in the titles

Dear Everyone,

Now that you have completed your first full-length essay, I think we need to emphasize the importance of the planning process in writing a TOK essay. That planning process must start with some wide-ranging thoughts about the title you have chosen. Actually you should do this with all the titles available so that you can make the best choice.

These are the ones we offered you:

Prescribed Titles

1) "We are more likely to be mistaken in our generalizations than in our particular observations." Do you agree?

2) In areas of knowledge such as the arts and the sciences, do we learn more from work that follows or that breaks with accepted conventions?

3) Consider the meaning of justification in different areas of knowledge. Is any one kind of justification more compelling than any other?

Now here are some thoughts from your TOK teaching team. Notice that what is written below is NOT beautifully written and perfectly logically structured - it's not supposed to be – that comes later when you write a formal plan. What we are trying to do here is just explore with our minds how we can develop each title to meet the demands with which you are familiar from the TOK course. It’s not quite brainstorming – that suggests random reactions to a topic – it is more controlled than that, but still not a rigid way of thinking. I think “exploring” is the right word.

Title #1

Key Terms: Observations and Generalizations

Can we link these to Ways of Knowing (WoKs)? We could link observation to sense perception, and generalization to reason. Furthermore, maybe we could characterize generalizations as inductive – what is logical induction again? Review your notes. The title suggests that we make mistakes with generalizations – what is it about inductive generalizations that could lead to error? There is the problem of induction, poverty of data, etc.

Now we could also move on to think about Areas of Knowledge (AoKs) – where do we use inductive reasoning? In the sciences, in history, maybe in ethics? Can you think of some real examples from classwork or general knowledge? Mathematics is likely to be a poor choice for discussion here because mathematics is mainly deductive, perhaps not a promising area (don’t confuse generalizations in mathematics with definitions).

Observations – relate to the work we did on illusions and whether they are representative of wider problems. Is our sense perception unreliable? Illusions suggest that it is, but there is good support for the idea that it isn’t – we often agree about what we perceive, the actions that we take on the basis of our perception are usually effective and not unexpected…

So is the title suggesting more generally that sense perception is more reliable that reason? This could be examined, but be careful not to extend the question too far.

Interrelations – the fact is that most of the time we use observation and generalization together as one overall process. Individual observations can lead to generalizations, but also individual observations can be affected by prior generalizations – ‘all observations are theory laden’. Lots of implications here...

Don’t forget that you can disagree with the premise in the question - for example, focusing on the weaknesses of generalizations (the title seems to nudge in that direction) but generalizations are also necessary. Though generalizations can be mistaken, their importance in knowledge acquisition needs to be identified. Generalizations in the human sciences, for example, may fail to explain every observable phenomenon but they can explain vital factors in way that enables us to make progress. Also, perhaps “to know is to be able to predict” and prediction is enabled by generalization.

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Title #2

Key Term: Conventions

What is a convention? You could look up the dictionary if you want, but only as a stimulus for thought. Let’s say that conventions are agreed ways of doing things…

Can facts be conventions? – this doesn’t seem to make sense, given the characterization above. If a fact is merely conventional, then it isn’t really a fact. Are conventions true? Again this doesn’t really seem to make sense – it could lead to relativism unless carefully treated – true for you and true for me… Dangerous territory…

So what might be the agreed ways of doing things in AoKs? In science we talk about “the scientific method” – is there a single scientific method? In any case this is a good candidate for a convention. Then we might have wider sets of beliefs in science – paradigms, etc. – beliefs can be conventional where they conform to what lots of other people believe… In the arts, we discussed movements – artists often operate within the confines of certain schools of thought or ways of doing things. can we think of some examples of all these things in science and arts?

Now what about following and breaking with conventions? Following the scientific method as a convention would seem to be a good thing as it seems to be very effective. But then again is there just one scientific method? Different sciences maybe need different methods – experimental and historical sciences, for example…

Once again, conventions could be wider sets of beliefs, as in paradigms. Following the paradigm would be good because it directs you to suitable questions to ask. Maybe the beliefs are wrong, in which case breaking with them is good. This needs historical examples.

We need to show that we learn both from works that accept and break with conventions. Some important things:

How do we get new knowledge within existing conventions? One way science progresses is by modifying the limitations of older theories – going from circular orbits to elliptical ones.

When and why do need new paradigms? Is it because the existing theories reach dead ends? Look at some examples from scientific revolutions and see in what way are they are different from the theories they replaced. Are they completely different? Does it mean that the older theories are plain wrong?

In the Arts things take a slightly different turn. Unlike in the sciences, in the arts differing conventions can coexist, can be equally valued. New artistic movements are invented not because the old one is wrong as such but because of new historical contexts and new ideas. Accepted conventions in the arts can be too stifling to the artist leading to the invention of new styles and movements. Can we say one artistic movement expresses more truth or beauty than the other? On the other hand it is undeniable that each brings its own style…..

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Title #3

Key Term: Justification

We need justification as support for knowledge claims. Perhaps it is even necessary for knowledge – justified true belief and so on…

There is a certain ambiguity here – justification as a method of reaching a knowledge claim, or rationalizing a pre-conceived belief, finding support after the fact. Maybe we need to look at both…

We could take WoK-based approach – empirical, rational, authority types of justification, justification through sense perception, reason, language… We could develop the WoK approach by examining the WoKs themselves – how reliable is sense perception, reason, etc.?

We could place the WoKs in context of AoKs, such that we can see how they operate in real circumstances… The WoK angle alone will not be enough - the danger is that we would end up saying ‘sense perception is used to justify our knowledge claims in the natural sciences and as we know our sense perception is limited and therefore…….’ It is easy to forget that we use WoKs in combination and they kind of correct each other. Therefore, it is important to explore the concept of justification in the different AoK without being too judgmental – don’t say “nothing can be justified in History”.

It would be very good to analyze why the different kinds of justification we employ in different AoK are the best we have (at least currently) despite their limitations.

to get or lose..............

i think there are only 2 conditions to live with....before a situation and after a situation.....lets take this final exam case ....... .Thus, to what extent does our sense perception are limited in determining what is coming on exams..??????

Synesthesia?

can we hear shapes and taste sound?

£3m Henry Moore sculpture 'sold as scrap for £1,500'

'The mysterious disappearance of a £3m Henry Moore sculpture appears to have been solved, with police believing it was melted down and sold for no more than £1,500. '

What might this tell us about the value of art? Personally, I think the value of art is extrinsic, as evidenced by this story, fluctuating art prices, and the fact the creator and history of a work of art is as important as its content when it comes to determining its value.

Tate Gallery Glossary

I found this useful glossary on the Tate website (the Tate is an organisation that runs several art galleries in England). It has definitions of various art-related terms.

knowledge, fascination and empowerment

Hi Everyone,

It's been a bit quiet around here for a week or two. Maybe the internet downtime has had a role in this.

Anyway, thanks to the 33 of you who contributed to our poll on the TOK aims. I'm particularly interested in the 5/33 score for the first one (I suspect that we would have got a higher score for the last one on responsibilities if we had already spent time on ethics). Actually, what we put up there as the aims was a compressed version of what the actual aims are, so here is the first one in its full glory:

To develop a fascination with the richness of knowledge as a human endeavour, and an understanding of the empowerment that follows from reflecting upon it.

Doesn't that sound grand? I think some discussion on this aim would be great - what you think it means, whether where and when you have become fascinated or felt the force of this empowerment, why you perhaps don't always feel fascinated or empowered, whether it is worth promoting this aim and if so how...

I know - exams, extended essay, CAS evaluation - but that's the lot of the IB student, you need to be a juggler, keep all those plates spinning, don't let the TOK plate fall...

swine flu

Hi everyone,

You have no doubt been following the news about the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and beyond. Click on the title above to connect to an interesting piece written about the limits of our knowledge of what is going to happen.

Those of you who have been thinking about knowledge as justified true belief should try to make the connection here. If Simon Jenkins (see article for details) claims that nothing serious is going to happen and that the disease will die out and disappear, and then indeed nothing serious happens and it does die out and disappear, does this mean that Simon Jenkins knew this was going to happen? It would then seem, with hindsight, that he had a true belief, but can we say that he was justified in making the claim at the time that he made it? What would count as an acceptable justification for such a belief NOW (not after what happens happens!)? Would it make sense to say that he was "right"? The author of this piece is saying that, as things stand, there can be no acceptable justification for this claim, and that we cannot be "right" about it. This seems to suggest that being right about something entails having good grounds for claiming it in the first place.

This matters because we are presently bombarded with claims in the media and from other people about this issue, and we need to be able to evaluate what they are saying. What do you think about all of this?

This is a second really good current example of the problems of knowing the future - the other one that comes immediately to mind is the economic recession. These sorts of examples illustrate what we sometimes call "knowledge at work in the world", and I hope that they show how TOK is really important to real-life situations.

Can pornography be considered art?

This arose in our most recent TOK lesson. What do you think?

Barack Obama's presidential plane causes panic in New York

I thought this was funny. Perhaps I have a very sick sense of humour.

In terms of TOK and ways of knowing, did people's emotion override their reasoning in assessing what was happening? Was their reaction 'reasonable'?

An Art Show Review by Germaine Greer

What do critics have to add to our understanding of art? Should they be critical or constructive?