Introduction: What is TOK?
The TOK course is structured according to the three interrelated parts:
Part 1, Core theme: Knowers and knowing – it invites you to reflect personally on the
nature of your own knowledge, and to think critically about beliefs and ideas that you
have acquired. In addition, we explore the way we construct knowledge and decide
what’s true.
Part 2, Optional themes: in which you are asked to explore knowledge and knowing
within two contemporary themes from a possible choice of five: technology, language,
politics, religion and indigenous societies.
Part 3, Areas of knowledge: in which you explore knowledge and knowing within the
five compulsory areas of knowledge: history, the arts, mathematics, natural sciences
and human sciences.
Knowledge questions
All three parts of the TOK course are built around the analysis and exploration of
knowledge questions. A knowledge question is a question specifically about knowledge.
Such questions have various key features:
1. They are knowledge specific, second-order questions.
Meaning: a question about a topic instead of within a topic
Example: a first-order question: Is the universe expanding? (physics)
Example: a second-order question: How certain is scientific knowledge? (part of TOK)
2. They are expressed in terms of TOK concepts and ideas.
Focus on: 12 concepts that are essential to the process of gaining
knowledge or the methods involved.
Including: evidence, explanation, justification, certainty, truth, interpretation, power,
objectivity, perspective, culture, values and responsibility.
These will help analyze knowledge and are helpful for comparisons between the core
theme, optional themes and areas of knowledge.
1. Evidence: What counts as evidence?
2. Certainty: How certain is our knowledge?
3. Truth: Can we ever be certain of the truth?
4. Interpretation: What makes a justified interpretation?
5. Power: To what extent should we accept knowledge by authority?
6. Justification: What distinguishes a good justification from a bad one?
7. Explanation: What makes an explanation convincing?
8. Objectivity: What does it mean to be open-minded and unbiased?
9. Perspective: Are some viewpoints more justified than others?
10. Culture: Does knowledge depend on the ideas and traditions of our
communities?
11. Values: Is knowledge influenced by ethical considerations?
12. Responsibility: Where do our responsibilities as knowers begin and end?
3. They are contestable questions.
Open to discussion and debate and not straightforward
Such questions require analysis of the different perspectives and possible
answers
4. They are general, open ended and comparative questions.
Might compare the different methods of gaining and knowledge, or
different areas of knowledge such as history and natural sciences.
The knowledge framework
The knowledge questions in each of the three parts of the course are explored in
relation to the following framework:
Scope, perspectives, methods and tools, and ethics.
The framework is a tool for exploring links and comparisons between the core theme,
optional themes and areas of knowledge.
