The Core Theme - Knowledge and the Knower

The core theme - knowledge and the knower - encourages you to reflect as a knower in the world. It is why the IB recommends you use this theme as your way into the TOK exhibition.  What shapes your perspective as a knower?  Where do your values come from? How do we make sense of the world around us?

Importantly, this theme does not focus exclusively on the individual knower. You are also encouraged to think about knowledge is made collectively by communities of knowers. How is your knowledge of the world shaped by your relationships with others and the material world? What are the ethical implications of how knowledge might be used? 

Using the knowledge framework the following questions are designed to get you thinking about different approaches to your prompt and objects. In addition, you could try to see how many of the following key TOK concepts you are incorporating into your answer. 

​Evidence	​Certainty	​Truth	​Interpretation	​Power	​Justification
​Explanation	​Objectivity	​Perspective	​Culture	​Values	Responsibility

Scope

This is concerned with the extent and limitations of our knowledge. 

Examples of knowledge questions relating to scope include the following.​

• What criteria can we use to distinguish between knowledge, belief and opinion?
• How do we distinguish claims that are contestable from claims that are not?
• Are there situations where “knowing how” is more important than “knowing that”?
• Why should we care about acquiring knowledge?
• Why are the criteria for what counts as knowledge not obvious?
• Can other people know us better than we know ourselves?
• How do our interactions with the material world shape our knowledge?

Perspectives

This is concerned with how viewpoints are influenced by time and place. 

Examples of knowledge questions relating to perspectives include the following.

• What shapes my perspective as a knower?
• How much of our knowledge depends on our interactions with other knowers?
• Is the truth what the majority of people accept?
• How do empathy and imagination help us to understand other perspectives?
• Presented with the belief system of a community of knowers, how can we decide what we personally believe?
• Are there types of knowledge that are specifically linked to particular communities of knowers?
• How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement on past knowledge?

Methods and Tools

This is concerned with the ways and means by which we acquire knowledge. (See 11e critical thinking)

Examples of knowledge questions relating to scope include the following.

• How do we acquire knowledge?
• What constitutes a “good reason” for us to accept a claim?
• Are intuition, evidence, reasoning, consensus and authority all equally convincing methods of justification?
• Does knowledge always require some kind of rational basis?
• How do our expectations and assumptions have an impact on how we perceive things?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of requiring that all knowledge is verified by a group?​

Ethics

This is concerned with how scope, perspectives and methods might be influenced by what we consider to be right and wrong.

Examples of knowledge questions relating to ethics include the following.

• Are there responsibilities that necessarily come with knowing something or knowing how to do something?
• As knowers, do we have a moral duty to examine our own assumptions and biases?
• Under what circumstances, if any, do we have a moral duty to share what we know?
• In what ways do ethical judgments differ from other kinds of judgments?
• Is there knowledge that a person or society has a responsibility to acquire or not to acquire?
• If moral claims conflict, does it follow that all views are equally acceptable?
• ​What personal traits (such as taking seriously the knowledge of others) do we need in order to be ethical knowers?

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