2020TOK EssayTitle 5

"Given that every theory has its limitations, we need to retain a multiplicity of
theories to understand the world." Discuss this claim with reference
to two areas of knowledge.

Word Count: 1600

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The phrase ‘multiplicity of theories’ has a lot of meaning attached to it. A general

definition of a “theory” refers to "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of

the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed

through finding evidence from the past, through observations and experiments.”

Many theories whether it comes from the field of sciences or history will have minute

details missing or, it wouldn’t have been found. In general, these theories will have

limitations. In this way, to concoct an answer, one needs to accompany numerous

hypotheses or a "variety of hypothesis" to comprehend the situation. The multiplicity

of theory is a theory which states that there are at least two different versions or

explanations required for a phenomenon. For instance- the history of the periodic

table- The theory by Mendeleev and another scientist by the name Lothar Meyer had

similar theories that came out at the same time. These theories give us an insight

into the area of knowledge of natural sciences. (Uppal, 2018) All these theories had

a lot of limitations because of various reasons, but due to a “multiplicity of theories”,

it legitimizes the law of the periodic table in a much clear view.

We can link this title with many AOKs. But this essay will focus on two- History and

Natural Sciences. Both of these areas are filled with many examples which we will

take into account in this essay. There is a scope of many knowledge questions to be

made for this title, but our main KQ is- “To what extent do ways of knowing influence

one’s thoughts to understand a phenomenon?” There are many WOKs which can be

used to get to understand this situation. We can use faith, sense perception for

natural sciences and reason and memory in history.

In history, the multiplicity of theories can be used in many stories from the past. The

word “story” brings up a knowledge issue. For every single instance in history, there

have been tons of evidence found. But, since, no human was alive to see it, they

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made theories based on their findings, due to this, humans called it a story. So, to

get a broader perspective of the “story”, we require a multiplicity of theories. For

instance- how the pyramids of Giza came into existence. Theories like the water

shaft theory- where rocks were carried from the lake to the site of construction, or,

where the emperor at that time actually used human slaves to build the pyramids,

(Grem, 2019). But even though there are a multiplicity of theories, there is still a

difference between what the truth is, and what a story is. However, this isn’t true for

autobiographies such as Mein Kampf, an autobiography by Adolf Hitler, since, these

are written about the author and by the author, we can say that it is legit.

Despite humans having the same internal faculties, they still have individual

differences. But, our trajectories of imagination are unique. This is the main reason

why humans have evolved drastically in the past 20 years. For example, Steve Jobs

and Bill Gates, both great inventors of the same field, have revolutionized the entire

software technology. We could say that the ability to imagine mainly comes through

reading “stories” based on history, which tells us how humans evolved, how

individuals at that point concocted explanation that changed our lives. History gives

us a basic understanding of our identity which could be found from civilizations such

as- the Harrapan civilization, Mesopotamian civilization, etc.

Humans need a sensibly precise perspective on the world to survive. To provide this

“view”, many people rely on empirical evidence. This is where the knowledge of

history helps us. ​however, truth and exactness are not by any means the only things

that brings issues to the human psyche. Humans also seem to have a deep desire to

belong. This is another knowledge issue, since, it is human nature to want be

accepted by everyone. This has been there since the very beginning of time, in every

aspect of life and circumstance. For example, John Rock, was an American scientist

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who invented the birth control pill. He was a Christian, and despite everyone

criticizing the very idea of going against the act of religion, his faith and intuition kept

him going, which brought about one of the greatest achievements in history.

(Gladwell, 2000)

Coming back to our KQ, our claim related to the AOK of history is- “The greater the

number of theories involved, the better the chances of reaching a conclusion.​” ​This

means one cannot get to know the whole story if he/she only listens to one side of it.

Sometimes a story may be false or may be exaggerated in such a way that the

whole story is changed. So, to get a much clear picture of the whole story, we need

to listen to at least two sides of the story. The cold war could cite as an excellent

example for this. Both the US and USSR had their own agenda of why they took part

in the war. This is one of the many instances where multiple theories helped to get

us to get to closure.

However, we can say that- despite the multiplicity of theories, there are a few cases

where a conclusion is yet to be derived. There are many instances in the world

where humans have come up with so many possible theories that there isn’t enough

proof for which theory is true, hence no conclusion can be derived from it. ​There are

numerous instances of this, for example, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose's passing. He

was an Indian political dissident who was strangely proclaimed dead for the past 75

years. N​o one really knows what happened to him. Some possible theories were that

the plane in which he was traveling to Tokyo would have crashed and he was

cremated there. Some say, he was tortured and killed by the English. According to

the French street service, he survived the crash and died due to old age. (Nagarajan,

2018)

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Humans have advanced far since the hour of the dinosaurs. From creating the wheel

to flying out to space, there has been stunning development. We say that the world

has “evolved.” Now, how do we get to know about this “evolution?” We get to know

about this by proofs, shreds of evidence and proved theories in the field of natural

sciences. For instance- there were many theories which were built on the position of

the electron. Scientists such as Thompson, Dalton, and many other scientists tried to

find out the position of an electron. Finally, Heisenberg came out with the uncertainty

principle which gives us the approximate position of the electron and not where the

electron actually is. (Brown and Ford, 2014)

The field of natural sciences is filled with significant numbers of proved theories,

which gives us quite an exquisite understanding of our methods for living, and how

this world came into existence. For example, the Lewis Acid and the Bronsted-Lowry

acid, both came out around the same time, and both of them give us a much broader

and better understanding of what an acid and a base are. (Brown and Ford, 2014)

When we connect this AOK to our KQ and title, we can concoct numerous

statements. Therefore, our claim is- “Theories sometimes complement each other to

understand a phenomenon better.” So, given any circumstance, there has to exist a

multiplicity of theories which would support one another, with the goal that one could

get a much clear view on what the entire theory is. For instance, in organic

chemistry, there were many theories that were made to understand the structure of

benzene and why it was so unique- Kekule’s theory was the first to come, which told

us that benzene has a hexagonal shape with 3 single and double bonds. After many

more theories, it was found out that benzene doesn’t form double bonds but instead

forms a stable electron structure. This is a typical example where many theories

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support each other so that we come to a better understanding of the situation.

(Brown and Ford, 2014)

On the other hand, theories sometimes contradict each other, making it difficult to

understand the situations. There are many theories in science that contradict each

other making it difficult for the observer to draw up a conclusion. For example, there

was a huge conflict on whether light is a particle or a wave. When light passes

through a single slit, it acts as a wave, but when light with increased frequency falls

on a metal plate, particles of light or photons are emitted by it. This confused many

scientists to come up with a conclusion on whether light is a wave or particle. Later,

they came up with a conclusion that light acts as both waves and particles, hence,

the term- the dual nature of light. (Brown and Ford, 2014)

Through the above two claims and counterclaims, we get a much clear view of what

this title brings into light. There’s a vast number of theories which can be connected

to both the AOKs used. For e.g. Jack the Ripper, who was an unidentified serial

killer, active in the district of London in the year 1888. To date, his/her identity is

unknown, but there are multiple theories of who the possible convict is. (History.com

Editors, 2010) To conclude, a multiplicity of theories could make it difficult to get to a

conclusion, but it also sheds light on the many possible outcomes of the situation.

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Bibliography

“Acids And Bases, Organic Chemistry, Atomic Structure.” ​Higher Level Chemistry,​ by

Catrin Brown and Mike Ford, Pearson Education, 2014.

Gladwell, Malcolm. “John Rock's Error.” ​The New Yorker,​ The New Yorker, 9 Mar.

2000, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/03/13/john-rocks-error-2.

Grem, Kevin C. “10 Most Plausible Pyramid Construction Theories.” ​Listverse​, 6

Feb. 2019,

listverse.com/2019/01/10/10-most-plausible-pyramid-construction-theories/.

History.com Editors, History.com Publishers. “Jack the Ripper.” ​History.com,​ A&E

Television Networks, 8 Nov. 2010,

www.history.com/topics/british-history/jack-the-ripper.

Nagarajan, Abirami. “Here Are 4 Conspiracy Theories about Subhas Chandra Bose's

Death. Which One Is True? .” ​The New Indian Express​, 23 Jan. 2018,

www.edexlive.com/news/2018/jan/23/death-mystery-the-untold-stories-of-subh

ash-chandra-bose-that-could-possibly-be-true-1931.html.

Uppal, Shweta, editor. “Classification of Elements and Periodicity in Properties.”

Chemistry, Part 1, Textbook for Class 11, CBSE,​ NCERT, 2018, pp. 75–79.

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