Theory of Knowledge

May 2016 TOK Essay

Hey Everyone!

All students in the May 2016 session who are aiming to receive the full IB Diploma must complete a Theory of Knowledge Essay on one of the following prescribed essay titles: 

1. “In gaining knowledge, each area of knowledge uses a network of ways of knowing.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of Knowledge.
2. “Knowledge within a discipline develops according to the principles of natural selection.” How useful is this metaphor?
3. “The knower’s perspective is essential in the pursuit of knowledge.” To what extent do you agree?
4. “Without application in the world, the value of knowledge is greatly diminished.” Consider this claim with respect to two areas of knowledge.
5. To what extent do the concepts that we use shape the conclusions that we reach?
6. “In knowledge, there is always a trade-off between accuracy and simplicity.” Evaluate this statement in relation to two areas of knowledge.

I decided to do number 2 on the list! I'll be honest with you - up until about a week ago, I had NO idea how I was going to develop my essay. However, I recently completed my rough draft and thought  would share a section of my essay with you!

I liked question 2 since it gave me the liberty to discuss any Area of Knowledge of my choosing. I had researched through several examples that either proved the usefulness of the metaphor mentioned or showed why it was not useful. After narrowing down my examples, I developed the following structure for my essay:

1. Introduction and Thesis 

 - Make sure to address any key terms in your question at this point. In my situation, I explained what natural selection was in my own terms to get myself and the reader on the same page.

2. Development Example #1

 - Here I used an example using History. My example was to show that the metaphor was quite inaccurate and not useful at all!

3. Development Example #2

 - Here I used an example using natural sciences and human sciences. I talked about the debunked theory of telegony, and how in some cultures it is still followed in modern day! This example was to show that the metaphor had some levels of usefulness, but there were still holes in its overall accuracy.

4. Development Example #3

 - Here I used an example from mathematics. I discussed how the Pythagorean philosopher Hippasus falsified the general Pythagorean school of thought of that time, but now his discovery is the basis of our mathematics! This example showed that the metaphor had a high level of accuracy.

As much as I would like to insert  my rough draft on this blog, I know it's not a good idea in case someone decides to copy and paste my work. But, I will give you a little snippet of my essay! Earlier I mentioned that I had a historical example to show that the metaphor does not hold much value. Here's what I wrote to support this argument:

"Gustav Stresemann, former Chancellor of the Weimar Republic in 1923, kept a detailed record of his work as Foreign Minister in Germany. Following his death in 1929, Stresemann’s family saw it as appropriate to commemorate his work in the form of three massive volumes. Bernhardt, secretary to the late Foreign Minister, sifted through 300 boxes worth of Stresemann’s documentation and produced Stresemanns Vermächtnis. A short while after Bernhardt’s volumes were published, Hitler rose to power in the Weimar Republic. Almost immediately, Gustav Stresemann’s name became taboo and most copies of Stresemanns Vermächtnis were no longer in circulation. Nevertheless, Stresemann’s reputation in Western Europe remained strong. Come 1935 and an English publisher produced a condensed and translated version of Bernhardt’s Stresemanns Vermächtnis. At least one-third of the original information was omitted; yet, Stresemann’s work in Western politics remained reputable. Bernhardt’s volumes and their English interpretation were only few sources that depicted Stresemann’s work as Foreign Minister. As a result, the public eye highly regarded Stresemann for a matter of years. Luckily, Stresemann’s original documentation did not perish over time and instead fell into the hands of British and American governments in 1945. The Allied powers photographed Stresemann’s documents and filed it in London’s Public Records Office and in the National Archives in Washington DC. Naturally, scholars who were interested in European foreign policy of that time examined Stresemanns Vermächtnis and found discrepancies in Bernhardt’s work. In his volumes, Bernhardt overrepresented the successes of Stresemann’s career concerning Western Foreign Policy. This included deep insights into the successes of the Treaty of Locarno, admitting Germany into the League of Nations, the Dawes Plan, and much more. However, the scholars found that Bernhardt’s volumes severely lacked information of Stresemann’s Eastern policies. Had Bernhardt accurately represented Stresemann’s work as a whole, readers of Stresemanns Vermächtnis would understand that much of Stresemann’s Eastern policies with the Soviet Union yielded few rewarding results and added nothing to his reputation. Thus, further analyses of Gustav Stresemann’s documentation a decade or-so after the publication of Bernhardt’s volumes changed our knowledge of Stresemann’s work as a whole. However, the pre-existing knowledge on Stresemann’s foreign policies was not superseded – it was simply added to. This example shows that although historical evidence may be proven to be less accurate than previously thought, it must remain in circulation otherwise our knowledge of historical events may change forever. Therefore, the metaphor can be considered ineffective as pre-existing knowledge was not replaced by more accurate knowledge."

The above text in quotations were entirely my own words. However, I retrieved my facts from E.H. Carr's book, What is History? I hope this post helped any of you that were stumbling on ways to structure your essay, or what approach to take when explaining your examples!

Thanks for reading,

Sophie F.

Theory of Knowledge

Creating your TOK Presentation

Hello Everyone!

A few weeks ago, we wrapped our presentations for TOK. Since there were only 4 people in our TOK class, we split up into groups of two. Towards the brainstorming phase of our presentation, my partner and I were very confused on how to approach our presentation and how to get started. So, this blog post will focus on how the steps we took to complete our TOK presentation. There is by no means a specific way of approaching a TOK presentation - I just hope this post will give you some inspiration!

1. Find a Real Life Situation you are PASSIONATE about.

You will be spending countless hours researching this topic, so you have to be interested in what you're doing. My partner and I found an article published in the Huffington Post that outlined the case of Michelle Carter - a teenage girl who encouraged her then-boyfriend into committing suicide through a series of text messages. We had no idea why someone would want to harm anyone in this way, so we decided to investigate it!

Also, a hearty Real Life Situation often leads to a great Knowledge Question. For example, your neighbor's dog giving birth isn't exactly a good foundation for your presentation, unless there was something seriously controversial about it.

2. Discuss your Real Life Situation and pinpoint key elements that you would like to include in your presentation. For example, see if your Real Life Situation can relate back to a TOK Way of Knowing or Area of Knowledge. 

One of my mistakes was that my partner and I tried to brainstorm a Knowledge Question before we knew what we were dealing with. After taking a step back and discussing what questions arose from our Real Life Situation, we started to come up with ideas. Referring back to our Real Life Situation with Michelle Carter, we discussed the following: we wondered whether Michelle's action were carefully orchestrated as a result of her intense emotions, pure reason, or a combination of the two. We recognized that emotion and reason were two of the Ways of Knowing (WOK) in TOK. However, after referencing research conducted by Antonio Damasio on a brain-injury patient, we found that the two WOKs cannot be separated in a healthy human brain. Without evidence of Carter’s possible psychological imbalance, we can conclude that she, like all of us, used some combination of emotion and reason in her decision to harm her boyfriend. From this, we wanted to further explore the relationship between emotion and reason and decided to question the extent to which emotion helped or hindered the reasoning process.

3. Finalize the key elements you would like to include in your presentation and isolate a few Ways of Knowing or Areas of Knowledge that you would like to explore. Then, outline a Knowledge Question!

In Step 2, we found that we wanted to focus on emotion and reason in our presentation. Our main idea was to research whether emotions helped or hindered the reasoning process. From there, we developed the following Knowledge Question that served as the basis for our presentation: "Are emotions an enemy of, or necessary for, good reasoning?"

4. Begin researching specific TOK-related examples/claims that link to your Knowledge Question and organize them in a coherent manner.

Of course, your Knowledge Question shouldn't have a straight forward answer. You should explore every aspect of your question that you find is relevant. This is the time when you should dig into your TOK notes from class and see if you can find any theories, claims, or examples that will help answer your Knowledge Question. For my presentation, we found 3 claims that were extremely relatable to our Knowledge Question. Under each claim, we found evidence to both prove and disprove it to make sure that we eliminated any bias. For example, one of our claims was the following: "Emotions serve as automatic biasing mechanisms that have positive effects on the reasoning process".  The example we used for this claim was the 'Deck of Cards' experiment conducted by the University of Iowa. In this experiment, test  subjects were asked to pick cards randomly from 4 decks. 2 decks contained safe outcomes, whereas 2 decks contained risky outcomes. After pulling 10 cards from random decks, the subjects experienced intuitive/emotional responses (sweaty palms, faster heart rate, distress, fear) but were not consciously aware of them. After 70 cards, the subjects were able to logically identify their intuitive/emotional response and they associated them with the riskier decks.

5. After organizing your examples/claims, create your PowerPoint!

Your PowerPoint should never be a collection of slides with tons of information on them. Make sure that your slides only contain important vocabulary words or an eye-catching picture. This way, your audience isn't too busy concentrating on your slide and will have no other choice but to listen to you. Also, I would suggest for you to include your Knowledge Question on every single slide. This will remind your audience what question you are trying to answer and will make your presentation easier to follow. 

6. Include interesting and exciting elements to you presentation!

TOK presentations can last as long as 30 minutes. That's a pretty long time for an audience to sit down and listen to you ramble on about complicated topics. Make sure that your tone of speaking is interesting enough to engage your audience, and even throw in some funny elements to keep your audience's attention. For example, there was a part of my presentation where we played a clip of a therapist describing the time his patient held a knife up to his neck. To help the audience visualize this scenario, my partner held an actual knife up to my neck while the audio clip was playing! 

I hope these tips will be helpful to you if you are about to embark on a TOK presentation of your own. I'm not going to lie - at first, I saw the task of creating a TOK presentation as an absolute drag! But, with hindsight, I am excited by all of the knowledge I gained and thoroughly enjoyed presenting my findings. 

 

Thanks for reading,

Sophie F. 

Miscellaneous

Higher Education in the US or the UK?

Hey, Everyone!

I am near finished with my university application process, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share my experience with you all. I have been applying to schools in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Whenever I mention this to people, they are always astonished by my choice and ask why I would choose to study overseas. Although my situation is slightly unique, I hope that reading this may clear up any reservations you may be having about where to continue your education. 

Before I jump in, here's a little background information. I plan on studying the subject of PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) if I choose to study in the UK, or Political Economy if I choose to study in the US.

Applications in General

In the US, there are two ways of applying to a university: either directly to the school or through the Common Application - a system where you complete one application that can be sent off to multiple schools. The Common Application allows you to apply to a total of 20 universities. Some schools in the UK offer international students the choice of applying through the Common Application, but there's a catch! If you read the fine print, you will notice that the UK schools on the Common Application ask for a separate 500 word-or-so essay. They typically do not take into account the portion of your application that states all of your extra-curricular activities, part-time jobs, etc. Therefore, it is really important to sell yourself on the separate essay when applying to UK universities via the Common Application so that they can get a true sense of your character. 

With the exception of the few British schools that offer international students the luxury of applying via the Common Application, all UK universities require you to apply through a system called UCAS. This application system only allows you to apply to 5 universities of your choice. I won't go into detail of how the UCAS application system works, but there are some things to note. First, you must know what you want to major in before you apply. Otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete. Also, UCAS doesn't beat around the bush. Yes, they ask for your personal information just like the Common Application. However, they do not have separate sections asking if you've ever had a part-time job or if you play any sports. Instead, they graciously give you 4,000 characters to cram in the following: why you want to study a particular major, why you think you're ready for university, what your personal and academic achievements are, what sports or musical instruments you play, and what your extracurriculars are! 

Entrance Requirements

College entrance requirements in the US are a lot more lenient than they are in the UK. All you really need to be considered for an American University is a completed high school transcript with sufficient credits in each subject, as well as an SAT/ACT composite score. Once you have this information, you can send it off to the university and they will review your application. Each university processes applications at different speeds. But once you receive your offer, you're either in or you're out. There is no so-called "conditional offer" stating that you must meet a specific grade on your final exams to officially be admitted. However, more prestigious and academically demanding schools may require you to maintain a certain GPA for the remainder of your final year in high school. 

In the UK, however, the system is far more nerve-wracking. A simple American High School Diploma isn't going to cut it.  British schools typically accept the American High School diploma and SAT/ACT scores for international students. However, they require for you to have one of the following in addition to your SAT/ACT composite: AP subject scores or 3 SAT Subject Tests. Once you receive your results for your AP tests/3 SAT subject tests, you can send it to the university and they should give you an "unconditional" offer based on the quality of your results - "unconditional" means you're either admitted or you're not. There's no catch. You can also apply to UK schools through UCAS without ACT/SAT scores if you have an IB diploma. If you are expecting to receive the IB diploma, be prepared to receive a "conditional" offer - meaning you will only be admitted depending on what final score you receive. Students enrolled in the IB diploma receive their scores the July before University starts. So, they have to wait until July before they find out if they're admitted!

Why does this matter for IB students? American universities don't really care about your final IB score. The only time they do is if they offer you college credit for your IB score. So, you can find out from as early as mid-November to as late as March to find out if you got admitted. When applying to the UK, however, you have to bite your nails until July to see if your IB scores were good enough to get you into the British school of your choice. 

Studying Options

I have no experience so speak of when it comes to the ultimate university experience in the United States versus the United Kingdom. However, my brother recently graduated from the University of Exeter in England so I will pull from the information I gathered from him. 

In the United States, students typically spend 4 years at university before they complete their undergraduate degree. However, depending on how well they performed on their IB/AP tests, they may earn college credit that will shave a couple of semesters off of this 4 year total. Additionally, I found that many universities do not offer many majors that consist of multiple subjects. For example, I originally intended on studying Political Science and Economics. A lot of schools only offer either Political Science or Economics as a major. I did not want to study either of those subjects exclusively, nor was I particularly keen on doing a major/minor degree. So, I made sure to apply for schools that offer Political Economy as a major - therefore, I could get the best of both worlds. 

In the United Kingdom, it only takes 3 years to receive your undergraduate degree. It is important to note that some universities offer a " sandwich" course - you study for two years, your third year is spent completing industrial experience, and then you complete your fourth and final year of studying. I love this option because by completing a sandwich course, you have work experience under your belt to add to your transcript. This makes it much easier to find work after graduating. My brother, for example, complete his industrial experience year with IBM in London. Once he graduated, he was offered a paid job at IBM in London because they had already worked with him and trained him in a particular field. In addition to the 4-year "sandwich" courses, some UK universities will allow you to study for only 4 years and graduate with a Masters degree depending on your major. This Masters degree is recognized outside of the UK as well. As far as subject choices available, I would say hat the UK has better options for integrating subjects in your major of choice. For example, I would be able to study PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics), which is a perfect mixture of what I wanted to study in the first place. At the end of the day, your major is what's really important. I'm sure the Pre-Medical programs are far better in the US than they are in the UK, for example. 

Fees and Finances

It is difficult to compare the cost of going to university in the US versus the UK.

In the US, the fees of each university depend on whether it's a private or public school, where it's located, how prestigious it is, etc. However, there are tons of scholarship opportunities available for students studying in the US. There is also a huge emphasis on financial aid, with no shortage of organizations to supply it.

In the UK, the fees of universities are not drastically different (depending on your major, of course). Unfortunately, there are few, if any, scholarship opportunities to students studying in the UK. 

Final Thoughts?

The choice of where to study is completely an independent decision. I would not recommend relying on the internet to make the decision for you. Each student's situation is unique. Also, I would not stress early on about where you would like to study geographically. I am in my final year of high school and I haven't even decided yet. What I would suggest is to apply to every school that appeals to you and see what kind of offers you get. Then, take out a yellow legal pad and make a pros and cons list!

To avoid writing a novel, I tried to keep this blog post short and to the point. If you should have any questions or clarifications about anything I wrote, please do not hesitate to comment or email. Well, there's my two cents! :)

Until next time,

Sophie F.

Theory of Knowledge

TOK History - Summarized

Hey Everyone!

     We are all IBDP Year 2's now, and the deadline for the Theory of Knowledge essay is creeping up on us. Some of the prescribed titles for our essay are great prompts to talk about History as a Ways of Knowing, so I thought I'd share some of the key points with you. Even if you're not in IBDP Year 2, read over these notes and impress your teachers when you see them next ;) We hope this helps:

 → Three important features of history:

• History is the study of the present traces of the past
• History is only concerned with significant events (ex. JFK assassination vs. What I ate for dinner on 06/19/02)
• History is concerned with explaining and understanding the past

→ Why do we study history since it has no immediate practical value? History can be justified on the grounds that it:

1. Gives us a sense of identity
2. Is a defense against propaganda
3. Enriches our understanding of human nature

1. History gives us a sense of identity:

• If you don’t know where you come from, you can’t make any sense of the present or what you should do in the future
• You must have a good background knowledge about a situation to have an informed opinion about it

2.            History is a defense against propaganda:

• Governments often exploit history to dictate a one-sided interpretation of the past to highlight achievements and overlook mistakes
• We know that the Stalinist era had mass propaganda so it is frowned upon today
• George Orwell: “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past”

3.            History enriches our understanding of human nature:

• History shows us what human beings have thought and done in a wide variety of circumstances
• History focuses on the concrete and particular and reminds us that human behaviour can never be fully explained in terms of neat and tidy models
• History causes beliefs to become self-realizing expectations - if you think something cannot be changed, you won’t even bother changing it (ex. War is inevitable)

    → How can the past be known?

• Things that happened long ago seem unrealistic, makes it hard to believe it really happened
• It can be argued that since the past no longer exists, it cannot be changed and is therefore completely objective
• Clear distinction between the past and our knowledge of the past
• the past is objective
• We cannot abandon objectivity or ele we cannot distinguish history and fiction/propaganda
• our knowledge of the past is subjective because memory is fallible, evidence is ambiguous, and prejudice is common

→ The nature of historical evidence

• Primary source - “the bedrock of history”
• Written by someone who was there at the time
• Secondary source
• Written at a later time, second-hand account of what happened
• Primary sources are already contaminated:
• Fallible eyewitness - no two individuals see an event the same way
• Perjury = crime defined as knowingly making a false statement
• Memory bias - Memory is affected by retelling stories, which causes bias to creep in (to exaggerate certain events, etc)
• Social bias - reflects the interests of one particular social group rather than society as a whole
• Deliberate manipulation - photo on page 304 where Trotsky was photoshopped out of picture of Stalin

→ History is a selection of a selection

• Historians make a selection from available evidence
• Knowledge is already filtered through the eyes of those who witnessed/experienced it
• Surveying all secondary sources of an event is impossible - historians must select what they think is most important (ex. History textbooks in Texas only select the information they want to teach students/Amount of words in textbooks reflect importance)
• Heroification - removes unfavorable characteristics of historical figures of the past (ex. Woodrow Wilson - not much mention of segregating government, vetoing equality clauses, etc.)
• Proselytizing - making people believe

→ The advantages of hindsight

• Historian holds an advantage because he knows how things turned out
• Terms like “the Renaissance” are retrospective ways of trying to capture the spirit of a particular historical era (ie. people during the Renaissance period did not call it that)
• Writing of history is influenced by era in which it is written
• As an event recedes into the past, it is usually easier to see it in historical context

→ The disadvantages of hindsight

• Distorts our understanding of the past
• When you look back on an event that you lived through, you tend to feel that it was inevitable and could not have turned out any other way
• It is easy to be wise after an event (ie. It is easy to see Hitler as being bound to lose WWII from the beginning, because we know what happened)

→ The problem of bias

• History is more prone to bias than natural sciences
• Topic choice bias
• Historians choice of topic may be influenced by current preoccupations
• Questions he asks and doesn’t ask may influence what he finds

• Confirmation Bias
• Historian might be tempted to appeal only to evidence that supports his own case and to ignore counter-evidence
• National Bias
• Since people come to history with a range of pre-existing cultural and political prejudices, they may find it difficult to deal objectively with sensitive issues

→ The pluralistic approach

• History should reflect all perspectives (women, poor, ethnic minorities, etc)
• Cubist history:
• Speak of history as a plural ( histories) in order to look at multiple perspectives

→ The theories of history

• There is rarely one cause of an event
• “The human universe is so enormously complicated that to speak of the cause of any event is absurdity”
• Multiple factors make the difference:
• Geographical conditions
• Social/economic conditions
• Individual motives
• Chance occurrences

→ The ‘great person’ theory of history

• If a certain great individual had not existed, the course of history would be different

→ The history of thought

• All history is the history of thought
• We can understand one’s actions only be delving in to their minds and trying to make a sense of their motives
• Important to be empathetic when viewing history

→ Economic determinism

• History is determined by economic factors
• Karl Marx:
• Technological and economic factors are the engines of historical change
• Changes in technology determine how society is organized, thus determining how individuals think
• By analyzing these changes, you could predict future events
• Karl Popper:
• If you could predict the details of such events/discoveries, you would have discovered them by now and not in the future

→ The role of chance

• No meaning in history; it is all controlled by chance
• ie. What if Hitler died in a car accident in the 1930s

• Historian without facts is rootless and futile
• Facts without historia are dead and meaningless
• History = continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, and unending dialogue between the past and the present

- Sophie F.

HL History

Writing a GOOD Historical Investigation

Hi Everyone!

     Welcome back to IB Survivalists. This week, I have been busy with writing up the first two sections of my historical investigation. I am an HL History student studying the European History route, but I did not pick a research question that fell within my syllabus. Even though it is highly recommended to pick a topic from your syllabus, it is not mandatory. The IB provides an outline for how to write the historical investigation, but I wanted to do more research to find out what exactly I should include in each section and also what I should avoid including in each section. Anyone who has completed the historical investigation knows that the criteria is extremely strict when it comes to each section of the paper, so it is crucial to follow it to a T. I found an incredibly helpful PDF that outlined the Don'ts of a historical investigation. You can read about it here. This is my quick summary of what the PDF had to say:

10 Things To Avoid When Writing Your Historical Investigation

1.  Choosing an inappropriate/unclear question

Much like any other subject, choosing too broad of a question usually leads to an underdeveloped essay. Being specific is highly recommended here!

2. Failing to properly structure you investigation into the 6 sections

As I mentioned above, the criteria for your investigation is tough. If you mistakenly mix up your sections and add something that belongs in Section C to Section B instead, you won't be awarded any points even though you included the information! Also, make sure to organize your essay in a way that it i easy to follow. Use sub-headings. They are greatly appreciated!

3. Omitting key information in Part A

Part A requires you to state your research question, mention the scope of your investigation, and summarize the methods you will use for answering your question. If you miss out any of these three things that are fairly easy to answer, you will be marked down!

4. Failing to properly cite sources

Okay, this one's a given. You can use any format you want for this investigation, but MLA is recommended since it is widely recognized. In Part B of the paper, you are required to summarize every bit of information you will use later in your essay. If you don't cite this information, even if you paraphrase, you will lose a ton of marks (and your teacher's respect). 

5. Plagiarise

We have been lectured about this several times. But for any internal assessment, it is a BIG no-no. 

6. Using short bullets instead of writing in paragraphs

You are allowed to use bullet points in Section B of the investigation, but it isn't recommended. This is because it's easy to write in short sentences and not have proper grammar/clear language. Instead, you should bullet your subheadings for this section and write a small paragraph for what it's about underneath. This will also help with the organization of your paper when it comes to your analysis!

7. Not analyzing the origin, purpose, value and limitations for 2 sources in Part C

Part C asks for an OPVL analysis of two sources. Why two? Because it is much easier to focus on your two biggest sources rather than analyze each and every one individually. Try and pick one primary source and one secondary source. Also, even though origin and purpose are the easiest to answer, they are often overlooked. Don't forget about them!

8. Confusing your summary of evidence with your analysis

Part C asks for a detailed analysis of all of the information you included in Part B. Therefore, Part B should be all about stating the facts. Don't interpret them - save it for later. Also, don't analyse a piece of information that wasn't included in Part B. 

9. Exceeding the 2,000 word limit

This one is pretty straight forward. You won't get marked for anything you write past 2,000 words. And who wants to read that much, anyway? (By the way I am guilty of doing this in other classes so don't feel bad about yourself)

10. Forgetting to have someone proofread for you

Sometimes it's hard to recognize your own mistakes (not just when it comes to essays!). Have someone you trust proofread for you!

     I hope that helps. This was the kind of things I was looking to find during my research before I started writing, so I hope it's a jackpot for you too!

- Sophie F.