PDF forms are not compatible with the Google Chrome PDF viewer plug-in.

Chrome users should save the form, then reopen and complete with Adobe reader.

TK/PPD
For use from May/November 2018
Page 1 / 3

Candidate personal code:

Theory of knowledge presentation planning document

Title of presentation:
Cultural Knowledge

Indicate the duration of the presentation: minutes

Indicate the number of participants in the presentation:

CANDIDATE SECTION
Candidate responses on this document must be typed and limited to a maximum of 500 words for the whole of the
Candidate section (not per field). It is not permitted to exceed the two sides of the candidate section.

Describe your real-life situation:

In 2017, a Muslim man in India was killed by a mob of 100 people on suspicion of carrying beef.

State your central knowledge question (this must be expressed as a question):

What role do cultural beliefs play in the acquisition and production of knowledge?

Explain the connection between your real-life situation and your knowledge question:
The man being Muslim, influenced the mob to assume he was carrying beef. Here, the production of knowledge (carrying
beef) and interpretation of knowledge (amongst mob) was influenced by culture (Muslim).

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2016 English

International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®
TK/PPD
Page 2 / 3

Outline how you intend to develop your TOK presentation in the context of your real-life situation. Include analysis of your
main knowledge question and related knowledge questions as well as arguments and perspectives. Responses can be
presented in continuous prose or as a list of points:
Initially, exploring the KQ (defining culture and knowledge). Development 1: Implications of culture on interpretation of
knowledge. SKQ1: How does culture hinder the interpretation of knowledge?
Claim 1: Cultural perspectives can restrict our interpretation of knowledge. Example: History: Galileo Galilei was indicted by
Church for heresy in 1633. Church's cultural beliefs hindered the interpretation of substantiated knowledge produced by
Galileo Galilei. WoK: Faith
Counterclaim: Cultural perspectives help the interpretation of knowledge in Arts. Example: Arts: Malevich's Black Square
painting having multiple interpretations based on an individual's cultural background. WoK: Emotion
Development 2: Implications of culture on production of knowledge.
SKQ2: How does culture impact the production of knowledge?
Claim 2: The dominant culture in society decides what knowledge is to be produced. Example: RKS: Cow slaughter is
banned in India. Hinduism (dominant culture) says that cows are holy which is uniformly followed throughout India even by
cultures with different beliefs. WoK: Faith
Counterclaim: Multiple cultural perspectives can aid production of knowledge. Example: History: The Rosetta Stone scripts
were written in Egyptian and Greek languages. People from Egyptian and Greek cultures were required to decipher the
scripts and discover how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs. WoK: Language
The relation between culture and knowledge has clearly been established; however, the interpretation and production of
such knowledge can be unreliable at times.

Show the significance of your conclusions with particular reference to your real-life situation and indicate how those
conclusions might be relevant to other real-life situations:
-Various cultural perspectives can limit the interpretation of knowledge in the Natural Sciences. In the RLS (AoK-RKS)
though, cultural perspectives impede the formation of accurate knowledge and lead to misinterpretation.
-However, cultural perspectives in the Arts are imperative to interpret artistic knowledge through multiple lens as evidenced
by Malevich's Black Square painting which encouraged multiple viewpoints.
-Often, cultural authorities decide the fate of knowledge- cow slaughter is banned in India. In the RLS though, cultural
authorities might have influenced cultural intolerance which led to the killing of the Muslim man.
-Nevertheless, cultural perspectives can aid in the production of knowledge because to interpret the Rosetta Stone, people
from the Egyptian and Greek cultures were required. In the RLS, only two emerging cultural perspectives emerge but
perhaps, multiple perspectives will make individuals more tolerant towards other cultures and make them open-minded.

The central KQ can be applied to another AoK: Natural Sciences. Aristotle and Plato's postulates about the mechanisms of
the natural world are praiseworthy. They helped underpin natural phenomena in an attempt to understand the world as it can
be perceived. They gathered these insights about scientific knowledge through their cultural beliefs about the existence of
God.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2016

TK/PPD
Page 3 / 3

TEACHER SECTION

Enter your mark (0-10) for this presentation:

Provide brief comments to support your assessment of the presentation. These should include remarks on the extent to
which the knowledge question was well formulated and connected to the real-life situation, and on the effectiveness of the
arguments and TOK analysis.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2016