TOK notes. The problem of knowledge There are three possible solutions to the problem of knowledge:

The problem of knowledge There are three possible solutions to the problem of knowledge: Common sense - a starting point for knowledge - creates a mental map of reality - is based on conventions which make it too subjective - contains lots of inaccuraccies and biases Paradox of cartography - if a map is useful, then it must be imperfect - The map is NOT the territory Radical Doubt - the most certain statement is "I exist" and even that's not completely certain Relativism - no absolute truth. Truth is different (relative) for each individual. Different based on their experience. But the fact that we take seriously that somebody may be wrong in their beliefs proves that relativism is FALSE. Judgment - important deciding factor - the balance between skepticism and open-mindedness - since there are few black and white certainties in the world, we have to rely on judgment Danger of Gullibility - Do not believe everything you read Danger of Scepticism - keep a healthy amount of skepticism. Some things which seem impossible at the moment may be proved to be true later Reasonable knowledge Evidence - argument ad ignorantiam - using inability to prove negative as proof - fallacy. confirmation bias - noticing only the evidence which supports a given theory Coherence - extreme theories require extreme evidence Beliefs should be occasionally questioned to be

  • Word count: 3574
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

Whats going on in Gaza?

TOK Essay Gaza By Jude Batayneh "This was 1,815 years ago, and yet the Jews solemnly pretend they still own Palestine! If such fantasy were allowed, how the map of the world would dance about!... If solid, uninterrupted Arab occupation for nearly 1,300 years does not make a country 'Arab', what does?" (King Abdullah I) List of facts: * Palestinians live their lives with no nation and no citizenship. Their power over their own lives is stripped from them. * The state of Israel, a product of European Jewish colonialism, came into existence through the 1947-49 war. * It was created on 78% of the land previously called Palestine, which had been populated by (10%) Christian, (4%) Jewish, and (86%) Muslim Arabs living in peace. * 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were violently pushed out in order to create this Jewish state. * They have never been allowed to return to their homes * In 1967, Israel simply conquered the final 22% of the set "Palestine". Since then, Palestinian lived under occupation. * Despite there being a Palestinian autonomous entity which was able to continue with public functions (i.e. health care, education, policing...), there is no doubt that Israel maintained overall power. * International law states that an occupying power has the responsibility of the civilians that are under its control. It seems that either Israel did not understand this

  • Word count: 2358
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

Humanities Today Paper. Humanities can be considered the combination of culture, history, art, literature, and mythology in some cases. It constitutes life, destiny, past, present, and the future of a society.

Humanities Today Daric M. Grant HUM/102 University of Phoenix June 25, 2011 Nancy Erickson Humanities Today Paper Humanities can be considered the combination of culture, history, art, literature, and mythology in some cases. It constitutes life, destiny, past, present, and the future of a society. What moves through time or becomes stagnant is vital to the building or re-building of a nation based on our ancestors and children. With humanities we are able to locate and unlock the secrets of our unique existence. Humanities help individuals within different ethnic backgrounds and cultures identify, comprehend, and determine the significant differences of American history. Society as a whole has literally become completely dependent on conspicuous consumption and leisure; and is being deprived of how we actually evolved into the world of today. The lessons we learn are taught to a multitude of generations through the evolution of humanity. The cultures of the world were definitely shaped by past events. Things such as technology solidify distinct areas which can be incorporated to further the exploration of our history. Art provides our society with a specific visual that is tailored towards our thoughts, feelings, freedom of expression, and ideas; the World Wide Web displays all aspects of this. Traditional museums which were once the main attraction for displaying

  • Word count: 797
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

Sense Perception - The Theory of Knowledge

Rohan Mahtani TOK - Sense Perception From the statistics, we can easily see that people consider the following senses from most important to least important: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, and intuition (aka the sixth sense). This data in my opinion makes complete sense, and my options were similar to those, except for taste and touch being out of step. Sight had the majority of votes in the first preference. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, sight can be used to communicate, it could be a similar 'replacement' for touch, as you can see texture, and helps generally to move around. In the class experiment of navigating in the classroom in a zig zag manner, with sight, and no other senses used, one could navigate the easiest. Hearing was considered 2nd preference by many. The most important thing about having hearing is the fact that one can communicate to another. The thought of even having to communicate using sign language seems very difficult. Thirdly, taste; taste is not as important to me as is touch. Taste allows you to enjoy the different varieties of food, to please oneself. Although this is very important, touch would be considered by me as more important because not only can you communicate with touch (putting someone's hand in another and using signs), but you can also get your way around things, and not bumping into things. This again draws a

  • Word count: 541
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

In what way does the problem of evil lead to atheism?

In what way does the problem of evil lead to atheism? Philosophy Leatitia Teboh 2.08.2011 Word Count 3880 Content Page Abstract................................................................................................................3 Introduction......................................................................................................4-5 What is evil and suffering.................................................................................5-7 Is there a God or Not.......................................................................................7-9 The philosophical and theological problem of evil and suffering...................9-10 God is not perfectly Good.............................................................................10-11 God is not all-powerful.................................................................................11-12 God is not all loving............................................................................................12 Evil is a punishment...........................................................................................13 Evil is a test...................................................................................................13-14 Evil is inevitable..................................................................................................14 Evil allows God's love to

  • Word count: 4258
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

Perception - ToK essay

To do this homework, I had to use only my ability of perceiving things in the environment around me. I tried this in several situations to see how the world would work without the use of our rational thinking. This was indeed very interesting, because if we weren't able to analyze everything in our minds - this world would be a completely different place. I will describe one of the environments around me and how I felt while I was only reacting to my perception. The first situation was during the biology class. We were in the middle of a group work. As I remembered about the Theory of Knowledge homework, I tried not to pay attention to the biology exercises. I looked around - the first thing that I noticed was the fact that we are inside a room, which might be a place, where people meet to socialize and do some of the daily work. Second was the fact that the people around me are trying to convince each other of something - afterwards some other emotions on the faces were noticeable. Some of the people got into despair; some were happy and were lost in thought and did not show any signs. It seemed that in this place people experience many emotions, which may appear in other environments - this place looked like simulator, a place to get ready for the real life. I looked at the window and I saw that people outside had much more thicker clothes than we all had - clothes are like

  • Word count: 632
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

ToK Presentation. My knowledge issue and research question is under what circumstances it can be morally justified to lie?

Slide 1 * My knowledge issue and research question is under what circumstances it can be morally justified to lie? Slide 2 * What is lying? I have defined it as (an inaccurate and false statement, used with deliberate intent deceive in order to get oneself out of a difficulty) * To answer the question we have to differentiate between a regular lie and a so called "white lie" * A white lie being "a harmless or trivial lie, told to avoid hurting someone's feelings" * However, in my presentation I have decided to center my attention on white lies and under what circumstances it can be justified to use them. * I have chosen three different viewpoints on lying, the first one being a religious perspective, the second being a utilitarian perspective, and a third being consequentialism. Slide 3 * Ever since we were kids, our parents and authority figures whether they are religious or governmental , have taught us not to lie * Scaring us with stories such as Peter and the Wolf, we were encouraged/ ordered not to lie * yet, most, if not everyone has in in some scenario told a lie Slide 4 * In order to answer my knowledge issue "under what circumstances can it be morally justified to lie" I also have to define moral * And in my IB English class we defined moral as "values and customs with respect to what is right or wrong." Slide 5 * Personal connections and

  • Word count: 661
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

The Matrix And Plato's Cave

The Matrix - TOK Assessment Task The point of the matrix is to make viewers ask the basic questions of philosophy regarding the world and reality. It is intellectually stimulating and unique in a way of seeking important queries regarding our worldly enigmas, by perceiving them in a slightly different way. It is, like demonstrated long ago in Plato's cave, designed to create wonder about the real limits and boundaries of our own behavior. When Morpheus asks Neo: "What is real? How do you define real?"1 He is recalling Plato's philosophy. Morpheus tells Neo that "no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."2 With this, a direct reference is made to Plato's cave allegory, where he informs readers that language alone cannot be used to reveal the truth to the prisoners and free them from their psychological imprisonment. This is again referred to when Morpheus says "you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch, a prison for your mind."3 In the cave, when one of the prisoners is released, they are 'enlightened'. The idea of enlightenment is emphasized in scene at the end of the movie when everyone is moving around in a trance-like way and neo seems to be the only one in that sense that is awake. It takes the released prisoner a long time to absorb the entire truth, but when

  • Word count: 1206
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

"There is no such thing as a consistent ethical point of view: in reality, everyone's ethics are a mixture, if not a muddle." To what extent do you agree? A personal response

"There is no such thing as a consistent ethical point of view: in reality, everyone's ethics are a mixture, if not a muddle." To what extent do you agree? There are many different standard ethical points of view. These include consequentialism, deontologism, ethical nihilism, ethical relativism, egoism and utilitarianism. Some might say that 'there is no such thing as a consistent ethical point of view' and that, 'in reality, everyone's ethics are a mixture if not a muddle.' This essay examines this belief by firstly considering what constitutes a 'consistent ethical point of view' and to what extent it is possible to live your life by any one ethical viewpoint. One could argue that a person who has an ethical point of view which they do not change and does not contradict itself would have a 'consistent ethical point of view'. However, the statement uses the term 'consistent ethical point of view' to mean a 'standard, defined ethical point of view'. There are many such points of view, so a short summary of each of the most prominent ones is clearly required. The main branch of ethics is moral absolutism which states that there are some morals or ethics which are universal. Moral absolutism includes consequentialism which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action. Thus, on a consequentialist account, a

  • Word count: 850
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay

Perception and Art. Someone can view a picture and interpret the meaning of the painting as a positive thing; while someone that is looking at the same image can view something negative.

Perception and Art Art is one of the aspects of life that can be appreciated by nearly anyone. But the way that someone views a particular piece of art can be affected by their perception. Perception can be affected by the culture that someone has. For example, art can be interpreted in many ways. Someone can view a picture and interpret the meaning of the painting as a positive thing; while someone that is looking at the same image can view something negative. An example of this type of situation would be the picture by Salvador Dali which we were asked to analyze.1 One of the students in my class believed that the picture by Salvador Dali was showing how the earth is the place where all life is born and how everything that is alive is because of the earth and how the picture is a tribute to this. But one of the other people in the class believed that the meaning if this picture is to show how the United States is expanding around the world, due to the arm that is coming from the North American continent, and how their growth is hurting the world which is represented through the blood coming from the Earth, and how everyone else in the world is blaming the united States for the death that is occurring due to their expansion. The difference between opinions can be a result of their different belief systems. By this I mean how one person may honor and respect the earth, which

  • Word count: 523
  • Level: International Baccalaureate
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
Access this essay