I.B. Assessment - Essay planning

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Please fill out the following questions to help prepare and keep you on task towards completing the required I.B. Theory of Knowledge assessments: the essay (800-1600 words) and the presentation (5-10 minutes per person, with a suggested maximum of 3 people). For each question, write "none" if you do not have any thoughts on this yet, or write "help" if you will need help developing an answer

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Which of the following I.B. TOK essay titles are you currently leaning towards writing about (you may later change your mind): *

Knowledge is generated through the interaction of critical and creative thinking. Evaluate this statement

Compare and contrast knowledge which can be expressed in words/symbols with knowledge that cannot be expressed in this way

When should we discard explanations that are intuitively appealing?

"It is more important to discover new ways of thinking about what is already known than to discover new data or facts" To what extent would you agree with this claim?

How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge?

“There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false”. Discuss this claim.

A model is a simplified representation of some aspect of the world. In what ways may models help or hinder the search for knowledge?

How can the different ways of knowing help us to distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true?

All knowledge claims should be open to rational criticism. On what grounds and to what extent would you agree with this assertion?

“We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.” Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing.

When should we trust our senses to give us truth?

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of reason as a way of knowing.

“Seek simplicity, and distrust it” (Alfred North Whitehead). Is this always good advice for a knower?

“In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance” (Henry Miller). Is this true?

“The knowledge that we value the most is the knowledge for which we can provide the strongest justifications.” To what extent would you agree with this claim?

“There can be no knowledge without emotion…. until we have felt the force of the knowledge, it is not ours” (adapted from Arnold Bennett). Discuss this vision of the relationship between knowledge and emotion.

Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions?

Are some ways of knowing more likely than others to lead to truth?

Is it an oversimplification to claim that some Ways of Knowing give us facts while others provide interpretations?

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails” (Abraham Maslow). How might this apply to ways of knowing, as tools, in the pursuit of knowledge?

Do good explainations have to be true?

"The production of knowledge requires accepting conclusions that go beyond the evidence for them" Discuss this claim

"One way to assure the health of a discipline is to nurture contrasting perspectives" Discuss this claim

"It is only knowledge produced with difficulty that we truely value" To what extend do you agree with this statement?

“There are only two ways in which humankind can produce knowledge: through passive observation or through active experiment.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

“Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive judgments.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

“The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

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