WoK and AoK
What are the eight ways of knowing?
Sense Perception, Reason, Imagination, Memory, Language, Faith, Intuition, Emotion
What are the dangers of 'shared knowledge'?
Authority Worship, Groupthink, Power Distortions, Fragmentation
What is the maximum number of marks for the TOK essay?
10 marks
lowest 0
Define 'premise'
a proposition assumed to be true, on which an argument is based.
What are the three types of knowledge?
Shared, distributed and personal
What is a "mental map" and why is it important?
a personal mental picture of what is true and false, reasonable and unreasonable, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly
we need to question this in order to truly know
What is the word limit for the essay?
The word limit is 1600. The examiner will stop reading after 1600 words.
Define 'tacit' and explain which type of knowledge is associated with the word
Much of our personal knowledge is tacit, in that it cannot be easily communicated with others.
Explain the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning.
inductive: moves from particular observations, experiences, or data to general conclusions
deductive: move from the general to the particular
What are the eight areas of knowledge?
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Religious Knowledge Systems
Ethics
History
The Arts
The Human Sciences
The Natural Sciences
Mathematics
How much is the essay worth (in the overall course)?
67% of the total marks for TOK
Define 'positivism'
the belief that the only valid knowledge is that which is based on sensory evidence.
Which area of knowledge might be considered "the most perfect system of knowledge" we have.
Mathematical knowledge framework
How did Plato's view on art differ from Aristotle's?
-Plato believed that art weakened our ability to lead rational lives
-Aristotle believed that art provides a necessary cleansing quality
How many essay titles are there to choose from and how many do you need to answer?
Answer one from a choice of six prescribed titles.
Name at least 3 command terms that are essential to TOK
Evaluate, consider, how important, on what grounds, to what extent, discuss and examine.
What is the "definitional argument" and what are at least two of its criticisms?
The Definitional Argument: it is true that everyone is selfish
altruism - selfless behavior in which we put other people’s welfare before our own
-even when we make the altruistic choice we are sometimes doing it to avoid the feelings of guilt so we are in a sense being selfish
Criticisms of definitional argument
-if people are selfish no matter what they do - it reduces the meaning of the word selfish to nothing meaningful
-self-regarding desires - desires which are focused on the self
-other-regarding desires - desires which are focused on other people
-we rarely get praise heaped on us if we do something nice for ourselves but we do get praise if we do something for someone else...is that why we do it???
Define: argument ad ignorantiam
the fallacy of assuming that a proposition is true simply because it has not been proved false, or false because it has not been proved true
What are the two main elements in the TOK essay?
Real-life situations and knowledge questions.
Does the official word count include footnotes, maps, charts, diagrams, annotated illustrations or tables used and the bibliography, etc?
NO