The question “How do we know?” drives inquiry. When we ask it with the stress on the last word – know — it opens up overview questions on the very nature of knowledge and the forms it takes. When we ask it with the stress on the first word – how? – it takes an analytical edge applied to methods of giving answers. In this blog, we follow this question — sometimes seriously, sometimes lightheartedly — through issues and stories of our day. Eileen Dombrowski
Dombrowski, Rotenberg, Bick. Theory of Knowledge IB Course Companion. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Activating TOK on FACEBOOK
- analysis areas of knowledge argument art arts assumptions biases butterfly effect CAS causation/explanation cause cause and effect certainty classification cognitive bias concepts/language confirmation bias creativity critical thinking definition definitions emotion ethics evaluating sources evidence experiential knowledge explanation facts faith fallacies history human sciences hypothesis imagination implications indigenous knowledge interpretation intuition justification knowing how knowledge claims knowledge framework knowledge question knowledge questions language literature maps mathematics media memory metaphor methodology natural sciences naturals sciences objectivity personal knowledge perspectives photographs prediction psychology reason religious knowledge sense perception shared knowledge skepticism sources statistics stereotypes symbol symbolic representation teaching tips theory trends truth ways of knowing
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Recent Posts
- 2018 TOK blog posts compiled for download December 17, 2018
- Facts and feelings: knowing better by knowing ourselves December 3, 2018
- TOK Book Review: The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake. November 19, 2018
- Engaging TOK with the world…but softly November 5, 2018
- TOK double vision: lofty overview but critical engagement in the world October 22, 2018
- Retraction of major research on eating: a failure in scientific methodology, or a corrective in the process? October 8, 2018
- “Crisis of authentication”: true art, false art, and the science of detection September 25, 2018
- TOK Ethics: balancing detachment and engagement September 10, 2018
- “Deepfakes” and TOK: more trouble ahead for critical thinking? August 27, 2018
- “Stay cool. TOK teachers can handle this.” Astrology & belief. August 14, 2018
- “Art is dialogue about difficult subjects” June 25, 2018
- Want to download TOK resources? I’m getting myself organized. June 8, 2018
- Sense perception: Yanny or Laurel? May 23, 2018
- A TOK class for exam month: mathematics, nature, art, technology…and peaceful contemplation of beauty May 14, 2018
- “But then I checked the facts… “ May 7, 2018
- Exercise for awareness: facts, feelings, and changing your mind April 23, 2018
- Biases, fallacies, argument: Would you argue with a T-rex? April 9, 2018
- (Dis)trusting statistics: a one-page guide March 26, 2018
- Facts matter after all: rejecting the “backfire effect” March 12, 2018
- History: writing the past, drafting the future February 26, 2018
- “Fake news”: updating TOK critique February 12, 2018
- “How am I supposed to appreciate it?” Art, science, and some silly assumptions January 29, 2018
- Download TOK resource: 2017 TOK blog posts, collected January 15, 2018
- “2017, a good year”: Wasn’t it? December 22, 2017
- “Those experts!”: cartoon, class discussion activity December 18, 2017
- Signed language, symbolism, and reflections on inclusion November 20, 2017
- Do Nobel prizes distort public understanding of scientific knowledge? November 7, 2017
- SPOT and the cloak of invisibility: cognitive biases November 6, 2017
- That event in the past: what do we make it signify in the present? November 2, 2017
- Sharing knowledge – effectively! September 25, 2017
- Standing at the Centre of the World: TOK class discussion (with handout) September 11, 2017
- PS to “This is the nature of science.” August 29, 2017
- “This is the nature of science.” August 21, 2017
- Indigenous Knowledge: not a separable area of knowledge July 24, 2017
- Controversy in the Canada Day Party: analyzing perspectives for understanding July 16, 2017
- Love, betrayal, and physics: “Everything goes better with narrative” June 26, 2017
- Consuming the news: Is knowing harder than dieting? June 19, 2017
- Love, luck, literature, and logic: Who will win the lady? May 22, 2017
- “Moral robots” and that messy human factor May 8, 2017
- Red lines and “complex moral duality”: TOK and ethics of witnessing April 26, 2017
Activating TOK 
Hi, Eileen and others. I had some reflections, perhaps more appropriate to the OCC website chat groups, but thought that discussion here might create some light (and not just noise and heat). I have been quite troubled about references in TOK materials and from IB representatives to “religious knowledge systems” and to new definitions of knowledge itself which seem to be dismissive of justified-true-belief as at least a provisional definition. I maintain, as I’m sure many other instructors do, that religious ideas are matters of faith and/or belief (depending on how you want to define those terms) and use the simple and obvious example that mainstream religions have contrary ideas about divinity–the idea being of course that if they can’t both be true, then we can’t call either set of ideas/beliefs knowledge. Unless you hold to a gnostic or mystic set of beliefs, even if you are religious you have to admit that you can’t be certain of your perceptions. While tolerance and understanding of religious and cultural matters is no doubt beneficial we are doing our students a disservice if we allow them to treat their beliefs as knowledge and not faith. While it may be considered impious to open the door to faith and doubt in some faith groups, theologians surely would understand and maintain the necessary distinction between knowledge and belief. Any thoughts on this matter? Can anyone out there provide some perspective and background as to where these new tendencies are coming from, and what is motivating them?
Brian
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