Shackle or scaffold?

An TOK presentation exploring how we approach knowledge

Tahlequah the Orca
● "Tahlequah united millions of people
worldwide in heartbreak and love as she
carried her dead calf for 1,000 miles."
(Greenpeace)

● a 'Tour of grief’ (CNN)

Our central Jules Howard: “When we interpret animal
behaviour as human-like, we risk simply seeing
knowledge ourselves.”
questions Preconceptions can ‘shackle’ us to premature
theories, and flawed knowledge, but in some ways
they can act as ‘scaffolds’ to help us construct
useful insights into the world.

‘Do preconceptions help or

hinder the production of
knowledge?’
Exploring our KQ

Knowers viewed this event as a process

of ‘mourning’ or ‘grieving’ did so via
their own experiences

This “diluted the emotions of a killer

whale by making it all about us”.

It mean false assumptions, confirmation

bias and the cherry-picking of evidence

OR a valuable paradigm through which

we can make sense of the world more
effectively.
How do preconceptions affect the way
we produce knowledge in the natural
sciences?

Shackle
● Cherry-picking evidence
● Confirmation bias
● See research on health effects of cell phones
● But cherry-picking - a trope favoured by the
pseudoscientific community?

Scaffold
● having a new preconception can support new
insights
● Jane Goodhall’s approach (similar to how some
saw Tahlequah)
How do preconceptions affect ● Shackle: Gorilla on the basketball court -
the way we produce knowledge psychologically priming leading to false assumptions
in the human sciences? about how the brain works
● Scaffold: The work of Beau Lotto & Donald Hoffman:
the preconception of evolution to explain the way we
construct our sensory realities.
How do preconceptions affect the way we
produce knowledge in history?

Our use of language and labels in history can

also strengthen these preconceptions.

Shackle
● Hindsight and periodization
● The case of Bj 581

Scaffold
● Applying concepts such as
authoritarianism & nationalism
Conclusion
Preconceptions can both
hinder and help our
production of knowledge.

Able knowers are the ones

who are most receptive to
being proved wrong, rather
than ones who cling on to
their beliefs no matter what
the facts prove.
Bibliography
● CNN, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, referenced in Section 1
● The Guardian, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. in Section 1
● The Independent, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. in Section 1
● The Guardian, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. in Sections 2 & 3
● Vox, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. in Section 4A
● Skeptical Raptor, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. in Section 4A
● Massive, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4A
● YouTube, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4B
● Aeon, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4B
● TED, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4B
● TED, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4B
● Wikipedia, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4C
● National Geographic, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 4C
● Huffington Post, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 5
● New Yorker Magazine, URL, accessed 15.08.2018, ref. In Section 5