KNOWLEDGE AND THE

KNOWER
KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
 DEFINITION
• TOK centers on the exploration of knowledge questions.
Knowledge Questions are contestable (possible to argue)
questions about knowledge itself.
• Knowledge Questions are crafted with intention to be open, general
and. Contentious (argumentative). They are succinct (brief),
grammatical and use precise concepts and vocabulary. They provoke
discursive (conversational) evaluation rather than any single,
definitive response.
 KNOWLEDGE QUESTION EXEMPLARS AREA OF KNOWLEDGE CONTENT
• To what extent do we need art technique or art • In economics, how do supply and demand
history training in order to appreciate an determine the price of a commodity?
artwork? • Why was the lock-and-key model for enzyme
• What is the relationship between hands-on activity superseded by the induced-fit model?
experimental work and theory in the natural • Should I give money to this homeless person?
sciences?
• What metaphors in William Blake's Auguries of
• What do we mean by elegance in mathematical
Innocence evoke the positive value of freedom?
proof?
• To what extent was the siege of Stalingrad the
• How should we approach academic history
turning point of the Second World War?
written under the auspices a totalitarian regime?
• What is the role of intention in making ethical
decisions?
• Knowledge Questions: First order questions
• Content Questions: Second order questions.
• You are encouraged cognitively to “zoom in and out” and, in so
doing, travel back and forth across an imaginary line between
the “second order” world of meta-thinking and the “first order”
real world.
• One way of differentiating knowledge claims from mere
information is that knowledge explains and can be
instantiated. (represented)
TOK FRAMEWORK
 TOK FRAME WORK
The four elements of the TOK framework provide a universal, systematic structure for
approaching the core and optional themes and all five Areas of Knowledge.

1. SCOPE
What is the nature of this particular theme? What is it about? What makes it intriguing? What
are some of the intrinsic strengths and limitations? For Areas of Knowledge: what is being
studied, and what kinds of problems can be solved? Where are the frontiers? What are some of
the current open, unanswered, or contentious questions?
2. PERSPECTIVES:
What is the role of the individual knower and in this particular theme or Area of
Knowledge? What is the role of the individual in relation to others in the community of
knowers in this domain. How important are different perspectives? How do individuals
contribute, and what responsibilities rest upon them when they do?
What are some of the key concepts and key terms used? What metaphors pertain to this
area?
3. METHODS AND TOOLS
What are some the conventions and rituals involved in this particular theme or Area of
Knowledge? What methods or procedures are used? What kinds of skills or initiations
are required? What assumptions underlie them? What role do models play? What is the
role of technology in this domain?
4. ETHICS
What are some of the ethical constraints on the methods used in
the scope of inquiry in this particular Theme or Area of
Knowledge?
WHAT COUNTS AS KNOWLEDGE?
 WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Magritte, René (1929) La Trahison des images (Ceci n’est

pas une pipe) The Treachery of Images (This is not a
pipe) Oil on canvas. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
 famil
y Peer
Much of what we think – many of our school
groups
beliefs – are the result of other people
casting their truths into our world, Clubs and Religious
which we often accept without much teams groups

reflection. They are, in a sense,

Ethnic or
responsible for our understanding of the cultural
Political
groups
world around us. Who are these people background

affecting our lives? work Mass

place media
The idea is that we, as knowers, do not stand in isolation from others around us.
Thinking about who or what has influenced us is very much at the heart of the TOK
Programme. As children, we find ourselves living in a world where there are already
many ideas about how the world works, about what is real, about how people should
behave and about what is important or valuable. The point of living in families and
societies is so that we can learn from these groups. It is therefore the responsibility of
these groups to pass their understanding and approaches on to the young in their groups.
As we become older, we begin to develop a certain distance from those groups and to
think about which of the beliefs provided to us we want to believe and why. Many of
those beliefs are not worth thinking about, but some are very much worth believing, for
a variety of reasons, and we must decide which is which. The TOK course is one way in
which we can understand the importance of this task and develop the skills and
processes to make these decisions.