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Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Theory of Knowledge
for the IB Diploma
COURSE GUIDE
Wendy Heydorn, Susan Jesudason

From original material by Richard van de Lagemaat
Cambridg
Third edition Digital Access
Panel
Together with IB teachers
Cambridge
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Theory of Knowledge
for the IB Diploma
COURSE GUIDE
Wendy Heydorn, Susan Jesudason

From original material by Richard van de Lagemaat
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

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© Cambridge University Press 2020
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
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no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
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First published 2011
Second edition 2013
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This work has been developed independently from and is not endorsed by the
International Baccalaureate Organization. International Baccalaureate,
Baccalaureat International, Bachillerato Internacional and IB are registered
trademarks owned by the International Baccalaureate Organization.
NOTICE TO TEACHERS
It is illegal to reproduce any part of this work in material form (including
photocopying and electronic storage) except under the following circumstances:
(i) where you are abiding by a licence granted to your school or institution by the
Copyright Licensing Agency;
(ii) where no such licence exists, or where you wish to exceed the terms of a licence,
and you have gained the written permission of Cambridge University Press;
(iii) where you are allowed to reproduce without permission under the provisions
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example, the reproduction of short passages within certain types of educational
anthology and reproduction for the purposes of setting examination questions.
NOTICE TO TEACHERS
The photocopy masters in this publication may be photocopied or distributed
[electronically] free of charge for classroom use within the school or institution that
purchased the publication. Worksheets and copies of them remain in the copyright
of Cambridge University Press, and such copies may not be distributed or used in
any way outside the purchasing institution.
> Contents
How to use this series vii 3 Knowledge questions and framework
Introduction 77
How to use this book viii
Knowledge questions and the knowledge
Introduction ix framework 81
The course ix Scope of knowledge 83
Knowledge questions ix Perspectives 85
Methods and tools ov -Ce 92
Part 1 Knowers and knowing Ethics 107
1 Who is the knower? Conclusion 124
Introduction 3 Linking questions 126
The knower as an individual 4 Check your progress 127
The knower as a member of Continue your journey 127
different communities 12
Objectivity and subjectivity 17 4 Truth and wisdom
Relativity, relativism and absolutism 20 Introduction 130
Common sense 29 Theories of truth 132
Conclusion 33 Post-truth 149
Linking questions 34 Conspiracy and conspiracy theories 152
Check your progress 35 How do we know if our beliefs are true? 158
Continue your journey 35 Wisdom 160
Conclusion 165
2 The problem of knowledge Linking questions 166
Introduction 38
Check your progress 167
What is knowledge? 38
Continue your journey 168
Types of knowledge 46
Levels of knowledge 52 Part 2 Optional Themes
Personal access to knowledge 55
5 Knowledge and technology
Misinformation, disinformation and fake news 62 Introduction 171
The question of trust 68 The impact of technology on the knower 172
Conclusion 71 Technology as a tool 181
Linking questions 72
How do we know if a machine can know
Check your progress 73 something? 192
Continue your journey 73 Technology and ethics 196
> THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR THE IB DIPLOMA: COURSE GUIDE
Dematerialisation and the future of knowledge 203 8 Knowledge and religion

Conclusion 205 Introduction 299
Linking questions 208 What is religion and what is its scope? 300
Check your progress 209 Perspectives and sources of religious knowledge 310
Continue your journey 209 Methods and tools 318
Individuals, religious communities and ethics 328
6 Knowledge and language
Ecumenism, inter-faith dialogue and
Introduction 212
religious fundamentalism 334
The scope of language 215
Conclusion 336
Language, meaning and the knower 218
Language and translation 232
The impact of language on the knower 236
Language and thought 241
Language and values 244 9 Knowledge and indigenous societies
Language and technology 249 Introduction 343
Language and ethics 252 What is an indigenous society? 343
Conclusion 253 Indigenous knowledge 349
Linking questions 255 Indigenous languages 357
Check your progress 256 Protecting indigenous knowledge 359
Continue your journey 257 Conflicts of interest 363
Cultural appropriation 366
7 Knowledge and politics
A false dichotomy 369
Introduction 259
Conclusion 371
Political scope, power and authority 260
Political perspectives 264
Political systems, methods and tools 269
The political spectrum 275
Ethics, ownership and resource distribution 277
Part 3 Areas of knowledge
Social justice 281
10 History
Knowledge economies 284
Introduction 379
Intellectual property 287
What is history? 381
International politics 288
Why pursue historical knowledge? 383
Conclusion 294
The historical method 387
Knowledge tools 396
How can the past be known? 401
Hindsight and historiography 404
Contents
Theories of history 412 Conclusion 526

History and the arts, science and technology 417 Linking questions 527
History and ethics 424 Check your progress 528
Conclusion 426 Continue your journey 528
13 The natural sciences
Introduction 531
The scientific method 532
The arts Limitations of the scientific method 537

Introduction 432 Objectivity 541
What is the scope of art? 433 Reasoning and falsification 547
The arts and the knower 443 Theoretical science 551
The purpose of art 446 The scientific community 555
The interpretation of art 457 Communication and popular science 561
Subjectivity and objectivity in the arts 459 Science and ethics 563
The role of the arts in communities 464 Conclusion 571
Knowledge tools: language, reason Linking questions 572
and emotion 467
Art and science 469
Ethics, censorship and the arts 472
Conclusion 479 14 The human sciences
Linking questions 480 Introduction 576
Check your progress 481 Observation 578
Continue your journey 482 Methods 582

Patterns and predictions 595
Mathematics Big data and the impact of technological
Introduction 484 development in human sciences 601
The universality of mathematics 485 Why are the human sciences contestable? 604
Mathematical reality 490 The relation with natural sciences 615
Mathematical formalism 495 Ethical considerations 620
Mathematics and certainty 502 Conclusion 624
Probability and statistics 508 Linking questions 625
Mathematical intuition 513 Check your progress 626
Aesthetics 519 Continue your journey 627
Mathematics and ethics 524
)> THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR THE IB DIPLOMA: COURSE GUIDE
Part 4 Assessment 16 The TOK essay

Introduction 630 Introduction 645
Your TOK toolkit 631 The IB Diploma Programme requirements 646

The role of your TOK teacher 647
15 The TOK exhibition
Introduction 636 Assessment criteria 647
The IB Diploma Programme requirements 636 Planning your essay - top tips 648
The role of your TOK teacher 637 Writing your essay 649
Practical suggestions for exhibition practice 637 After writing your essay - practical tips 654
What objects can I use in my Final checklist - practical tips for completing
TOK exhibition? 637 the essay writing process 655
Relating objects to IA prompts 639 Continue your journey 657
What is meant by ‘justification’? How can

I justify how my chosen objects relate to
Glossary 658
my chosen IA prompt? 642 Acknowledgements 670
Index 672
____
> How to use this series

This suite of resources supports students and teachers of the Theory of Knowledge
TOK course for the IB Diploma Programme. The Course Guide, the Skills Book and
the Teacher’s Resource work together to support teachers and students on their learning
journey, providing the necessary knowledge and skills required to succeed in the course.
Cambridge
The course guide with digital edition provides full coverage of
Theory of Knowledge the latest IB TOK guide. It includes activities that test students'
for the IB Diploma
understanding and develop critical thinking skills. It uses
linking questions to make connections across themes and areas
of knowledge, and provides examples of real-life situations
that help students see how TOK themes manifest in the world
around them. With clear language and style, the course guide is
designed for international learners.
Cambridge Ik
Panel ►► R
■w
Written in collaboration with TOK “j”

Cambridge
teachers from the Cambridge Panel,
this guide provides tried and tested Theory of Knowledge
activities that arm you with lesson for the IB Diploma
planning ideas, an ESL focus, Cambridge
essay-writing support, advice on

Theory of Knowledge
tackling common misconceptions, for the IB Diploma
activity worksheets and more.
Digital Teacher's Resource
Decoding
Theory of Knowledge
for the IB Diploma This flexible resource supports your knowers in their
SKILLS BOOK
exploration journey, helping to develop critical thinking
skills and the ability to make new connections between
areas of knowledge. It gives practical advice and plenty of
opportunities to unpack and practise the assessment tasks.
> How to use this book

Throughout this book you will find lots of different features to help your learning.
BEFORE YOU START
This short section of statements and questions

will help you to reflect on prior learning, check
what knowledge you will need for the chapter
and provoke your own thoughts about the topic.
EXPLORE
Explore activities are there to help you actively

LINKING QUESTION
engage in what you are learning by working
Linking questions encourage you to make through an interesting variety of tasks, such as
connections with areas of knowledge and other presentations, drawings or short written pieces.
subjects in your IB Diploma Programme.
Peer assessment
These are opportunities within 'Explore' activities
DISCUSS to assess the work of, and receive feedback
from, your peers in relation to how you are doing
Discuss questions are there to facilitate debate against the learning intentions
and help you dig deeper into your understanding,
while honing your communication skills. Self-assessment
These are opportunities within 'Explore' activities
to consider how you are doing in relation to the
REFLECTION learning intentions.
Develop your personal perspective by reflecting
on the development of your thinking and skills KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS
proficiency.
At the end of each chapter, a set of knowledge
questions will help you to apply what you have
KEY WORDS learnt in a longer essay form.
Key words are important words for you to engage

with. They are highlighted in orange and are
defined where they first appear in the text. Continue your journey
Focused further reading sections will signpost useful
resources to delve deeper into the topics covered in each
Check your progress chapter.
This interactive table helps you to check your confidence
level and progress against the learning intentions, and see
clearly what you need to revisit.
> Introduction
This textbook is designed to be used with the TOK course knowledge questions. A knowledge question, as the name
in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, suggests, is a question specifically about knowledge.
but it may also be useful for students following other
Such questions have various key features:
critical thinking courses.
1 They are second-order, knowledge-specific questions.
The main question in TOK is “How do we know?”
A first-order question is a question about the
The course encourages you to think critically about the
world; a second-order question is a question about
subjects you are studying rather than passively accepting
knowledge. In relation to academic subjects, first-
what you are taught. Critical thinking involves such things
order questions arise within a subject, whereas
as asking good questions, using language with care and
second-order questions are about a subject. For
precision, supporting your ideas with evidence, arguing
example, ‘Is the universe expanding?’ is a first-order
coherently and making sound judgements. You are, of
question which is dealt with by physics, whereas
course, encouraged to think critically in every subject that
‘How certain is scientific knowledge?’ is a second-
you study. TOK is designed to help you to reflect on and
order question, and is part of TOK.
further develop the thinking skills you are acquiring in
your other subjects. 2 They are expressed in terms of TOK concepts and ideas.
The focus of knowledge questions is on 12 concepts
that are essential to the process of gaining knowledge
or the methods involved, including evidence,
The course explanation and justification. They also draw on
The book is structured according to the three interrelated TOK concepts such as certainty, truth and culture to
parts and the assessments: explore how knowledge is constructed, and how that
knowledge is communicated, used and evaluated.
Part 1 Core theme: ‘Knowers and knowing’ it invites you
to reflect personally on the nature of your own knowledge, 3 They are contestable questions. Knowledge questions
and to think critically about the beliefs and ideas that do not have straightforward or certain answers, and
you have acquired. In addition, we explore the way we they are open to discussion and debate. For example,
construct knowledge and decide what is true. ‘To what extent can we gain certain knowledge
in human sciences and history if experts within
Part 2 Optional themes: in which you are asked to explore these disciples disagree?’. Since they are contested,
knowledge and knowing within two contemporary themes such questions require analysis of the different
from a possible choice of five: technology, language, perspectives and possible answers, personal thought
politics, religion and indigenous societies. and sound judgement. The various plausible answers
Part 3 Areas of knowledge: in which you will explore to knowledge questions may be ambiguous and
knowledge and knowing within the five compulsory areas uncertain. The fact that there are rarely definitive
of knowledge: history, the arts, mathematics, natural answers in TOK is sometimes a source of frustration,
sciences and human sciences. but it can also be intellectually exhilarating.
Part 4 Assessment: in which you will find out more about 4 They are general, open ended and comparative
the TOK assessment requirements, and how to go about questions. Knowledge questions are general, open-
completing them successfully. ended and sometimes comparative. We might, for
example, compare the different methods for gaining
knowledge, or different areas of knowledge such as
history and natural science. A relevant knowledge
Knowledge questions question here might be ‘How can we know what
ethical considerations should influence the pursuit
Enquiring and investigating the nature of knowledge and of knowledge in history and the natural sciences?’
knowing is the aim of TOK. All three parts of the TOK
course are built around the analysis and exploration of
y THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR THE IB DIPLOMA: COURSE GUIDE
The knowledge framework

The knowledge questions in each of the three parts
of the course are explored in relation to the following
framework: scope, perspectives, methods and tools, and
ethics, which we unpack in Chapter 3. The framework is
a tool for exploring links and comparisons between the
core theme, optional themes and areas of knowledge.
Concepts for the analysis and

evaluation of knowledge
As you work through the TOK course, you might find it
useful to keep in mind the following 12 concepts which
have an important place throughout all parts of the
TOK course. These essential concepts will enable you
to analyse knowledge. They are useful for comparisons
between the core, optional themes and areas of
knowledge. These concepts will help you recognise and
explore the similarities and differences between different
academic disciplines, themes and areas of knowledge. Figure A: 12 TOK key concepts
1 Evidence: What counts as evidence?
There is no ‘official’ TOK diagram, but as will be
2 Certainty: How certain is our knowledge? discussed in Chapter 1, diagrams and maps are useful
3 Truth: Can we ever be certain of the truth? ways of making sense of the corresponding territory - as
long as we do not take them too literally. Teachers using
4 Interpretation: What makes a justified this textbook should keep in mind that the IB Diploma
interpretation? Programme TOK subject guide explicitly states that the
5 Power: To what extent should we accept knowledge course ‘can be structured in a variety of ways, and can
by authority? start from a variety of different entry points’ and that
teachers ‘are encouraged to exerciseflexibility, creativity
6 Justification: What distinguishes a good and innovation in the design and delivery of their TOK
justification from a bad one? course’. With that in mind, Figure B presents one way
7 Explanation: What makes an explanation of making sense of the course and integrating its key
convincing? elements in a single diagram.
8 Objectivity: What does it mean to be open-minded
and unbiased?
9 Perspective: Are some viewpoints more justified
than others?
10 Culture: Does knowledge depend on the ideas and
traditions of our communities?
11 Values: Is knowledge influenced by ethical
considerations?
12 Responsibility: Where do our responsibilities as Knowers & knowing
knowers begin and end? Concepts

Areas of knowledge
and optional themes
Figure B: A TOK diagram
X >
> Part 1
Knowers
and knowina
> Chapter 1
Who is the
knower?
LEARNING INTENTIONS
This chapter will address the question of the knower and what the knower brings to the task of knowing.
You will:
• examine your own knowledge and sense of self, consider what shapes you as a knower and understand
how you can overestimate and underestimate your personal knowledge.
• learn how to discuss the self in relation to tribalism, and become aware of the importance of
knowledge communities for personal identity.
• learn how to discuss objectivity and subjectivity.
• understand the difference between relativity and relativism, and their implications.
• consider the role of 'common sense' for the knower.
1 Who is the knower?
BEFORE YOU START
Analyse each of the following quotations and discuss the questions that follow.
1 'The things that make me different are the things that make me.' A. A. Milne (1882-1956)
2 'If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.'
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
3 'When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.' Lao Tzu (6th century BCE)
4 'Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.' Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
5 'To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's.'
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
For each quotation, consider:
a To what extent do you agree or disagree with the quotation?
b How might you challenge the quotation?
c What assumptions underlying the quotation can you identify?
d Does the quotation challenge or affirm your own perspective on who you are?
e To what extent does your answer to question d depend on your answer to question a?
1.1 Introduction
The question of who is the knower has occupied the minds of philosophers and other
great thinkers for thousands of years, and is perhaps no closer to a definitive answer
than it has ever been. Yet if we cannot know who we are as knowers, how can we begin
to know anything? You might want to say, ‘Iknow who lam. When I look in the mirror,
I see me’, but every time you look in the mirror, you see a different ‘you’. Are you the
same person now that you were when you were five years old? And will you be the
same person when you are 60 or even by the end of today? How will you know?
More importantly, in the context of Theory of Knowledge (TOK), we will look at
what it is that each of us as an individual knower brings to the process of knowing,
how we might contribute to the pool of knowledge that humankind has access to, and
how we can best try to avoid deceiving ourselves or being deceived by others. In the KEY WORD
course of this chapter, and throughout the book, you will be encouraged to examine
where your current knowledge comes from, and what has influenced you to think the bias: prejudice,
way that you do. You will also be challenged to identify and question some of your unfairness,
assumptions and biases, and to raise your awareness of the extent to which who you favouritism
are shapes what you know.
1.2 The knower as an individual

REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.2
To what extent are you still the same person that you were before you began
the TOK course?
Who are you? said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather
shyly, I—I hardly know, Sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got
up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.
What do you mean by that? said the Caterpillar, sternly. Explain yourself!
I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir, said Alice, because 1 am not myself,
you see.
Lewis Carroll (1832 1898), Alice in Wonderland. KEY WORDS
Outside of philosophy, ‘personal identity’ usually refers to the features a person identity: how a
defines themselves by, or that make them ‘who they are’. For example, you might person, group
choose to identify yourself as an Inuit who loves psy-trance music, a vegan football or nation sees
player, an avid horse-riding enthusiast or perhaps you see yourself as a future engineer themselves in relation
with a passion for design. We all have multiple characteristics by which we might to other people,
choose to identify ourselves including (but not limited to) our age, gender identity, groups, nations,
nationality, physical characteristics, sexual orientation, dietary choices, culture, politics, ideas, and the world
religion, hobbies and preferred school subjects.
contingent: only
Interestingly, just because you have a characteristic does not mean you will choose true under certain
to identify with that characteristic. Just because you come from Tahiti does not conditions, and
necessarily mean that you identify as being Tahitian, or you may be a talented pianist dependent on other
but do not particularly regard yourself as a musician. It is also possible that you may things
choose to identify yourself with a characteristic you do not actually have. For example,
you might think of yourself as a singer, even if you are actually tone deaf. culture: the
shared ideas,
Our personal identity, in this sense, is largely contingent, and changeable. Our ethnicity beliefs, customs
and ancestry may be fixed, but almost everything else that we identify ourselves by may and practices of a
change. We express certain aspects of the culture and communities we belong to, but community or society
we might also challenge those norms and actively shape our culture in new ways.
perception: an
David Hume (171 1-1776) regarded the self as nothing more than a ‘bundle of
awareness of
perceptions’. He famously said, ‘ When I enter most intimately into what I call myself,
something in and
I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or
through the mind
shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a
perception and never can observe anything but the perception.' (David Hume, A Treatise
of Human Nature.)
DISCUSS 1.1
1 Do you think David Hume was right? Can you 'catch' or perceive yourself
without any perceptions?
2 What might this mean in terms of your self-understanding?
Many psychologists - and many of us - take the self as some kind of fundamental
core reality very seriously. We live in an age in which self-identity and self-esteem are
regarded as crucial to our health and well-being. At the same time, we are encouraged
to take part in self-improvement programmes, and the ‘selfie’ is perhaps the fastest-
growing genre in photography. Indeed, there seems to be a contemporary obsession
with portraying ourselves in particular ways on social media. We may feel under
pressure to show ourselves as having a particular look or living a particular lifestyle,
when the reality may be rather different.
EXPLORE 1.1
Write a page about yourself. What it is about you that makes you who you are?
Once you have written about yourself, analyse your work. If you were to take
out everything that relates you to other people (e.g., '/ am Mbongi's sister',
or 'I belong to the Ng family', or 'I am Miguel's best friend'), where you come
from or what you do, how much would be left? How much of what you have
written do you think will always be true of you? How much might be different
in one year? How much might be different in ten years? How much might be
different in 50 years?
CONTINUED
Look back on your description after a week. What, if anything, might you want
to add or subtract from your self-description? What might this say about you
as a knower?
Self-assessment
How well were you able to capture who you believe yourself to be in the
writing activity? Is there anything you have missed? Did you take into account
factors that have shaped you, and how you have learnt what you know?
The knower's perspective KEY WORD
All of us, as knowers, bring our own perspective to every situation - from the people perspective: point
and places we like to the political opinions we hold. If you think back to the things you of view, a particular
liked or disliked when you were very young, you would probably have very different way of seeing
opinions of them now. (Very few IB Diploma Programme students would regard or considering
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as one of their favourite songs, for example, although it is something
a great favourite for many young children.)
As our perspectives change, so too do our tastes and opinions. The more we learn
and the deeper our understanding, the more our perspectives alter. Sometimes, our
personal perspective can help us to empathise with others. At other times, it can
prevent us from understanding their position, or even wanting to. It can be difficult,
for example, if you have been the victim of a crime to have much empathy with
or sympathy for the perpetrator of that crime, because you have a very different
perspective on the event. However, as our experiences in life broaden, so too does
our personal knowledge, and so consequently do our perspectives. We might learn
to appreciate multiple shades of grey in things that once appeared to be only black
or white, and understand and empathise more with the circumstances that have, for
example, led a person to engage in crime.
One of the many reasons for promoting diversity in all aspects of society is that it
provides everyone with the opportunity to meet, appreciate and learn from people with
different ideas, experiences and perspectives.
Can you identify any significant experiences in your life that have caused your
perspective on something to change?
KEY WORDS
experiential: based
Personal knowledge on experience
Personal knowledge is the knowledge we personally have. Almost all of our personal innate: something
knowledge is experiential. The exceptions would be any knowledge that is innate, that we are born with
is, knowledge we are born with, or things that we can know a priori, that is, purely by
reason. An example of innate knowledge might be knowing how to breathe, how to cry a priori: purely by
or knowing to search for our mother’s nipple. Some people would say we are born with reason
an innate sense of God.
In his book Meno, Plato (c 427-348 BCE) wrote about a situation in which Socrates
questioned an uneducated slave boy about a geometry theorem. Although the boy had KEY WORDS
never studied geometry, he was able to answer Socrates correctly. Plato argued that this theorem: a principle
was possible because the boy had an innate knowledge of mathematics. Many people or statement that can
have argued that Socrates led the boy to the correct answer through leading questions. be demonstrated or
(You will learn about leading questions in Chapter 12 on mathematics and Chapter proved using logic,
14 on the human sciences.) Although it is true that Socrates led the boy to the correct but is not self-evident
answer, the objection misses the point of Plato’s argument, which is that the boy was
able to grasp the truth for himself as he answered Socrates’s questions. In principle, truth: in accord
this means that the boy could potentially have discovered the theorem by himself with fact or reality,
if he had thought long and hard about it. If Plato was right, we all have an innate or faithfulness to a
knowledge of mathematics that we could potentially tap into. standard
Figure 1.2: Is a baby bom with any knowledge?
Philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) completely disagreed with the idea of innate
knowledge, although he did accept that we do have some biological instincts. In his
essay entitled An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke argued that at birth
our mind is a tabula rasa, meaning a blank slate. He believed that everything we know,
biological instincts aside, is learnt from experience, whether directly or indirectly.
) THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR THE IB DIPLOMA: COURSE GUIDE
Although most people today would tend to agree with John Locke, the linguist Noam
Chomsky (1928 ) has proposed a modern, modified version of innate knowledge that KEY WORD
has enjoyed some popularity. Chomsky argues that humans have a unique, innate universal grammar:
capacity for learning language, which involves us intuitively recognising a universal the idea that all
grammar that he claims all human languages share. In a similar vein, more recently human languages, no
it has been suggested that many animal species, including humans, appear to have an matter how different
innate sense of number. they appear, share
some fundamental
similarities
Experiential knowledge can be first-hand or second-hand. First-hand knowledge is

knowledge that we learn from our own personal experiences. It can include knowledge
of people we have met and places we have visited, activities we have been involved in,
experiments we have performed, and so on. Second-hand knowledge is knowledge that
we learn from other people or sources. Some of this will be academic knowledge. For
example, the knowledge of academic subjects that we might learn in school or through
reading books, journals and articles, or through watching documentaries. Some of
our second-hand knowledge will be informal knowledge; that is, knowledge we pick
up through a wide variety of sources including friends, television, the internet and our
local communities, without necessarily being aware that we are doing so.
For example, if you were to volunteer with a Search and Rescue (SAR) organisation,
your first-hand knowledge would come from any training exercises you were involved
in, as well as any real-life SAR operations you might participate in. As a result of
your experiences with the SAR organisation, you might know how to communicate
effectively using two-way radios, how to navigate using a map and compass and
how to administer basic first aid. You could also have second-hand experiential
knowledge from listening to or reading about the experiences of other people who
are involved in SAR. This knowledge might include knowing how search teams are
deployed, how searches are controlled and managed and how scent patterns vary
according to different environmental factors. Informal knowledge you pick up could
include information such as knowing the different types of rewards individual search
dogs enjoy.
EXPLORE 1.2
If you were to write a 'personal encyclopaedia' summarising everything you

know, how comprehensive do you think it would be? And how accurate?
Try to estimate how much of what you know is first-hand and how much is
second-hand knowledge. Choose a field of knowledge that you are passionate
about. It does not have to be an academic subject; it could be something like
cricket, dogs or video games. Try to identify the main sources of this field of
knowledge, and create a mind-map showing how they interconnect. How have
the different sources contributed to shaping you as a knower?
REFLECTION
Think about how your answers and mind-map might have been different if you
had chosen a different field of knowledge. What does this tell you about how
you learn what you know? KEY WORD
Sometimes you have to make decisions about what to regard as knowledge and belief: confidence
what to reject. Such decisions are deeply personal. They can sometimes involve that something exists
taking a position that goes against popular opinion or widely held beliefs. or is true
Personal ignorance
‘The more we know, the more we know we don’t know,’ is a quotation sometimes
attributed to Aristotle. It expresses the idea that the more we learn about any field
of knowledge, the more we discover there is so much more to learn about it, and
the more we are able to appreciate that knowledge is rarely as certain, simple and
straightforward as is often supposed.
KEY WORDS
Given the vast amount of knowledge in the world, we are inevitably ignorant of
many things. Ignorance does not mean stupidity, and there is no shame in admitting ignorance: lack of
ignorance. Even the most knowledgeable, clever and/or intelligent people will be knowledge
ignorant about many things, because none of us can know everything. We all have
wide gaps in our personal knowledge across all areas of knowledge. In fact, being expert: a person
aware of our ignorance gives us a huge advantage over those who are ignorant of with specialised
their ignorance. Being aware of ignorance in any field of knowledge can spur us on to knowledge in a
explore, research and learn more. It can also encourage us to call on experts for help, particular subject
and be circumspect about our own conclusions.
"That’s the guy 1 hired to read Proustfor me.

EXPLORE 1.3
Look at the following problems. Which could you solve using your personal
knowledge? Which could you solve if you did a little research? Which might
you need to call an expert to help you with? What kind of expert might
you call?
a You need to know the name of the main protagonist in Les Miserables.
b You need to do a school project on palm oil production.
c Your knee is causing you pain.
d You have broken the screen on your mobile phone.
e You need to distil some water.
f You are unable to sleep at night.
g You want to improve your tennis skills.
h You have been asked to create a costume for the school play.
One serious danger in relation to ignorance is when we believe that we know all there
is to know, or that we know all that we need to know, in any field. For not only can KEY WORDS
we not know all there is to know, we also cannot even be fully aware of our own certainty: the quality
ignorance. This is why people who only know a little bit about a field of study often of having no doubt
answer questions with far more confidence and certainty than those who have a much
deeper understanding. This leads us to the illusion of explanatory depth. illusion of
explanatory depth:
If you were to ask a large number of people chosen randomly if they know how
the illusion that
computers (or other familiar gadgets) work, many would say that they do. The same
you understand
is true if you were to ask them if they understand about genetics, political systems or
something in detail
financial schemes such as mortgages, insurance, taxes, etc. If you then ask those same
when you do not
people to write a detailed explanation of how the object or system works, and then
ask them to re-rate their knowledge, their personal rating of their self-knowledge tends explanation:
to drop dramatically. an account or
Multiple studies have been done testing people’s self-knowledge on a vast array of statement that makes
objects or ideas, and the results always show a lower self-rating after participants are something clear
asked to explain what they know. You may have experienced the illusion of explanatory
depth yourself if, for example, in the middle of an exam you belatedly realised that you
did not understand something as well as you thought. This is one of the reasons why
teachers often ask for essays and written answers.
As more and more information becomes readily available to us via the internet, as well
as more traditional sources, we have a tendency to absorb a wide range of information
but rarely in any depth. This can contribute to our illusion of explanatory depth.
You have probably done a great deal of reading about climate change and
global warming, and the many contributing factors. How well do you think you
understand the issue? Could you write a detailed explanation of it?
It has been suggested that highlighting the illusion of explanatory depth could be useful
in combating political extremism, because it is found to underlie political issues too.
The more ignorant we are about any issue, the more confident we tend to be that we
understand it. Conversely, the more we know about an issue, the more humility we are
likely to show. By becoming aware of the illusion of explanatory depth, we are more likely
to recognise our modest understanding and be a little more open to other perspectives.
EXPLORE 1.4
Choose something that interests you and that you have some knowledge of. It
could be a topic you have studied at school or a passion you have outside of
the academic curriculum. Try to explain one aspect of it in around 300 words
so that one of your classmates, who does not have the same knowledge of it,
can understand your explanation clearly. How easy or difficult was it to write
the explanation? Did you find yourself uncertain at any point while you were
writing? To what extent does having to explain what you know help you to
understand what you know better?
Self-assessment
Read through your work critically. Have you given a clear and accurate
explanation of your topic? Do you think you have overestimated or
underestimated your personal knowledge?
Peer-assessment
Exchange your work with that of a classmate and give each other feedback.
Is the work as clear as your classmate thinks it is? Has your classmate
overestimated or underestimated their knowledge of the topic? What did your
classmate do well? What aspects of the work were most helpful? What could
have been done to make the explanation clearer?
1.3 The knower as a member

of different communities
DISCUSS 1.3
The social psychologist Hazel Rose Marcus (1949-) said, 'You can't be a self by
yourself.' What do you think she meant?
Each of us is a member of multiple groups; some of them we may identify strongly

with, and others, not so much. The groups that we identify strongly with are often KEY WORD
known as our ‘tribes’. Tribalism is the behaviour and attitudes that we exhibit as a tribalism: the
result of belonging to those tribes. behaviours and
A tribe can consist of any number of people - from a small number of close friends attitudes that arise
or a family group to a large global group, such as all the supporters of Manchester out of loyalty to a
United Football Club. Tribes can be bound by ancestry, friendship, political or social group
religious beliefs, common interests, etc. They typically demand loyalty in return for
the security of belonging, and can sometimes do your thinking for you, in that your
allegiance to your tribe may cause you to repeat the tribe’s position on an issue. Of
course, in being a member of a tribe, the tribe’s thinking will influence your thinking,
and your thinking might influence that of the tribe.
We cannot avoid belonging to tribes; it is part of human nature. But we can try to be
KEY WORDS
more aware of the way in which our tribalism shapes our perspective on the world
around us, and tempts us to form ‘blind allegiances’, even when our tribe may be outrage: intense
wrong. Our ‘side/tribe’ is not necessarily right just because they are ‘our side/tribe’, anger and shock
but sometimes challenging or abandoning the beliefs of a tribe can make us very
unpopular, or even cause outrage and place us in danger of retribution. retribution:
punishment inflicted
in response to an
REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.8 action
Can you think of a time when you have been watching a sporting event and
a player committed a foul? Fans on the same side as the offending player will
often argue that the player was treated unfairly if the referee penalises the
offending player, and the other side will shout that the referee was 'blind' if
the player was not penalised. To what extent does what we see in a sporting
event depend on where our loyalties lie: which tribe of fans we belong to?
Knowledge communities
Knowledge communities can be similar to tribes in that they consist of a group of
people with a common interest, generally in a specific field of knowledge or activity.
Members of the knowledge community will share competencies, information and

knowledge, often to achieve personal and/or collective goals. Examples of knowledge
communities include a culture, a mathematics society, a medical association, a
photography club and even a TOK class.
Some knowledge communities are formal organisations such as the Syrian Society
for the Conservation of Wildlife, the Chinese Chemical Society, the British Medical
Association or the African Institute for Applied Economics. Others are much more
low-key, such as your local scout group or chess club. Even very informal meetings of
people who gather together to enhance a particular aspect of their knowledge can be
considered a knowledge community.
EXPLORE 1.5
Make a list of some of the tribes you are most loyal to, and some of the
knowledge communities that you rely on. How easily can you disagree with
members of your tribe, or leave the tribe to join another one? Which of the
tribes you have listed contribute most to your knowledge and your sense
of identity?
Knowledge communities are essential for the development or construction of new

knowledge. Tt is largely within knowledge communities that knowledge is shared.
This is particularly true of specialised knowledge such as that found in the natural
sciences, but is also true of all accessible human knowledge. Knowledge communities
act to preserve, challenge, communicate and grow knowledge through the actions of
their members. Often they have a specialist language, their own sets of rules which
may be written or unwritten, and their own assumptions. For example, the scientific
community, which you will read about in Chapter 13 has very particular scientific
methods. Within the different scientific disciplines, it publishes journals, acts as
guardian and monitor of reliable and unreliable research, organises peer reviews and KEY WORD
promotes public understanding. The mathematical knowledge community similarly
shares more-or-less universally acknowledged standards of proof and truth, which is proof: conclusive
not to say that there are not vibrant arguments between professors of logic. The arts evidence
also have strong communities with their own experts and authorities, although arts
communities are perhaps more specialised in that their standards and methodology are
arguably less universal than in mathematics and the natural sciences.
Even the most solitary of thinkers are dependent upon knowledge communities for the
context in which they work, and for the language that allows them to think and explore
their disciplines. Also, any discoveries they make are subject to the scrutiny of their
knowledge communities before new claims to knowledge are accepted.
DISCUSS 1.4
1 In what sense could the whole human species be regarded as a

knowledge community?
2 To what extent does the internet allow people to by-pass the scrutiny of
more traditional knowledge communities?
13 >
Shared knowledge
Shared knowledge is all knowledge that can be communicated between people.
Knowledge communities, particularly academic knowledge communities, are large
contributors to shared knowledge. A great deal of our general knowledge was originally
produced by specialised knowledge communities. For example, the Event Horizon
Telescope (EHT) is an international network of radio telescopes and a knowledge
community of its collaborating astronomers, who maintain and work with those
telescopes. In April 2019, the EHT produced new knowledge in the form of the first image
of a black hole, which was shared around the world. If you have seen the image and now
know what a black hole looks like, you have the EHT knowledge community to thank.
However, contributions to shared knowledge are not limited to knowledge
communities. Individual knowers also contribute to shared knowledge whenever they
pass on new knowledge that they have discovered or created. If, for example, you were
to come across a fossil of a previously undiscovered creature and you send the fossil to
a palaeontologist, you will have contributed to the development of new knowledge in
palaeontology.
Can you think of any examples of knowledge that can only be personal, and is
not - or cannot - be shared by other people?
Shared knowledge is something that we all rely on. Almost everything we own and
use is the product of the collective knowledge of many people. The book that you
are reading not only requires the knowledge of the authors, editors, photographers,
proof readers, project managers and marketers, but also it needs the knowledge of the
printers, the paper manufacturers, the people in the paper mill, the people who tend
the plantations of trees from which the paper is made and many, many others. It also
involves the sharing of language.
Can you think of any examples of shared knowledge that has been lost?
Even a simple product like rice involves multiple people with different knowledge
and skills before we are able to buy the product. Look at the rice knowledge chain in
Figure 1.4. As useful as it might be in identifying some of the people involved in the
knowledge chain, it does not cover everyone. Missing are the packagers, advertisers
and transporters, all of whom rely on specialised knowledge and equipment. Also
missing are all of those involved in producing the equipment needed for production,
collection, processing and marketing, and the legislative and governmental bodies who
enable the coordination of the supply chains, and who control tariffs and international
trade deals. Even the simplest ideas and products require knowledge contributions
from a vast array of people.
Seed & fertiliser Wholesalers

suppliers Village collectors Millers Retailers
Farmers Consumers
Farmers Millers Large millers
Millers
Drying
ivities
Seed collection Growing Paddy collection Storage

Harvesting Paddy selling Wholesaling
Seed supply Milling Consumption
u Drying Rice trading Retailing
Fertiliser supply Grading
< Threshing Selling
Figure 1.4: The rice knowledge chain
EXPLORE 1.6
If you had access to a sufficient number of cotton bushes, would you have the
knowledge to be able to create a cotton t-shirt from scratch? Try to create a
flow diagram or knowledge chain to show the different kinds of knowledge
needed to go from harvesting raw cotton (or even from before the raw
cotton, for example the planting, cultivation and growing of cotton) to a
complete garment.
Can you think of anything that you could create from scratch using raw
materials, which would not depend upon shared knowledge?
Knowing yourself
It is important to bear in mind that who we are as individual knowers is very much
shaped by the tribes we belong to, the knowledge communities we participate in and
our access to shared knowledge. In other words, our individual T depends upon our
collective ‘we’. Think back to how you identified yourself in Explore activity 1.1.
REFLECTION
Imagine that you belong to different tribes than the ones you currently identify
with, participate in different knowledge communities and have a different
level of access to shared information. Would you still come to the same
conclusions, draw the same inferences, learn the same lessons and, in effect,
still be who you are today?
Everything that has happened in your life until now, the experiences you have had, the
people you have met, the books you have read and the films you have watched, etc.,
has contributed to making you the person you are today. Sometimes you are aware
of being changed; you might remember an event that suddenly caused you to see the
world differently, or a book that opened your mind to new possibilities. However,
most of the events that you experience in life do not change you in a way that you are
conscious of. Nevertheless, they can have a considerable effect.
EXPLORE 1.7
Try to imagine that you were swapped at birth with another baby, and instead
of growing up as you have done, you had grown up in an isolated community
with a different culture to what you have now. Instead of going to school,
you may have had to work from a very young age by fetching water, tending
animals and harvesting crops. You may have had no access to electricity, so
there would have been no television, radio or internet. You may have had no
access to books or newspapers. In what ways do you think you would still be
the same as you are now? In what ways might you be different?
Share your answers with a classmate. How similar are they? What do your
answers say about personal identity?
Simpłvh>»9.
Is’Enough
KEY WORDS
Here & Now
Simply Being
.'What, if?: objectivity: looking

>> • As I AmL- at the world in a
F.Here’&Now detached way that
What it- focuses on facts,
''jIs'Enouqhr.
largely independent
i As I Ami
of a personal
perspective, and
[AsTAml that expects to
(Experiencing!
Simply Being' be corroborated
by a knowledge
community
subjectivity: looking
at the world from
a personal point
of view, under the
influence of feelings
and emotions
interpretation:
an explanation of
the meaning of
something
Figure 1.5: Can you really know yourself?
16 >
Many people advocate 'staying true to oneself' - they will tell you to 'be
yourself'. Others might say they are 'trying to find themselves'. What might KEY WORDS
these experiences and pieces of advice mean if the self is continually changing?
scholasticism: a
method of learning
characteristic of the
1.4 Objectivity and subjectivity Middle Ages, and
based on logic and
DISCUSS 1.5 traditional beliefs
about what is true
What is the difference between objective knowledge and subjective knowledge?
scepticism: an
attitude of doubt; a
When talking about knowledge and knowing, the question of objectivity and method of obtaining
subjectivity usually arises. Objectivity involves factual and measurable information, knowledge through
whereas subjectivity is open to interpretation and personal judgements. There is systematic doubt and
a tendency for many people to see mathematics and the natural sciences as being continual testing
particularly objective and the arts as being particularly subjective, with history and the
human sciences as being somewhere in between while, perhaps, aspiring to be objective. values: standards of
behaviour; regard for
In the 17th century, the French philosopher, mathematician and scientist Rene things of important
Descartes (1596-1650) set out to extend the scientific method to all fields of human moral worth
knowledge. He did this by renouncing scholasticism and beginning with doubting
everything, thus initiating scepticism. Famously, he decided that the only thing he authority: the moral
could not doubt was doubt itself. Therefore, he came to claim that, as a doubting thing, or legal right to make
he must also be a thinking thing, and as a thinking thing, he must also be an existing decisions in, and take
thing: Cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). From this point, Descartes went on to responsibility for, a
deduce the existence of himself as a thinking being, and after several steps, reached the particular field of
conclusion that the physical world is mechanistic and totally separate from the mind. knowledge or activity;
the word can also
Although most of us would struggle to accept much of Descartes’s reasoning today, his be used to denote a
thought experiment has nevertheless been extremely influential. Since the 17th century, person or group who
under the influence of Descartes and others, the natural sciences have sought to attain has that authority
objectivity. From this perspective, scientific knowledge should not be influenced by
personal perspectives, values or interests. Nor should it depend upon personal decisions. polymath: a person
Indeed, many claim that objectivity is a characteristic of scientific claims, methods and with expertise in
results, and that objectivity is the basis for scientific authority and a strong reason for several different
valuing scientific knowledge. But what exactly is ‘objectivity’, and can any of us claim to fields of knowledge
know anything completely without any kind of presupposition or prejudice?
knowledge claim: a
Some people go so far as to insist that any knowledge that is not objective is not statement in which
real knowledge; that the only true knowledge is objective and verifiable. From their we claim to know
perspective, the task of the knower and the knowledge community is to achieve something
detachment from whatever is being studied. However, as the physical chemist and
polymath Michael Polanyi (1891-1976) demonstrated, this kind of detachment is not hypothesis (plural
achievable, and arguably not even desirable. hypotheses):
a proposed
In 1958, Michael Polanyi delivered the Gifford Lectures, later published as Personal explanation or
Knowledge, in which he demonstrates that all knowledge claims rely on personal starting point, based
judgements. Knowers cannot stand apart from the world around them; they on limited evidence
participate in it. This means that no knowledge can be entirely objective. Scientists that can be tested in
(and all knowers) choose which questions to ask, which hypotheses to investigate, an investigation
which data to accept and include, and so forth. These decisions are not dependent on
any mechanical method. Rather, they are the result of the passionate commitment
of the knower, and all knowers are dependent on the culturally-relative (tribal)
presuppositions of their time.
Some people still regard the world as simply being ‘out there’ as a set of concrete
objects, with permanently-defined characteristics that exist independently of all
knowers and knowing and are available for observation. However, there is a growing
understanding that the world the knower sees is largely a product of the knower’s
particular values and sensory attributes. To some extent, this is a reformulation of the
philosopher Immanuel Kant’s claim that we filter and shape our sensory experiences
using prior categories of knowing and understanding. In The Critique of Pure Reason,
Kant (1724 1804) argues that the mind plays an active role in forming the features
of experience. In this context, achieving objectivity might be considered an ethical
enterprise in which rules are applied fairly to all sides, and bias is eliminated. Therefore,
objectivity involves a commitment - on behalf of the knower and their knowledge
communities - to honesty and fairness.
Everything we perceive about the world is perceived through our senses, so

everything we know about the world is our brain's interpretation of the sensory
information it receives. What are the implications of this for objectivity?
In his book The Scientific Attitude, biologist Fred Grinnel (1945-) observes, ‘It is not
unusual for two investigators to disagree about their observations if the investigators
are looking at the data according to different conceptual frameworks.’ Much more is
involved in observing than we sometimes realise.
Figure 1.6: What do you see in this photo?

EXPLORE 1.8
Look at Figure 1.6 of a young woman hugging a Yorkshire terrier. Describe

what you see before reading on. Is the woman happy? Is the dog happy?
Many observers would see this simply as a ‘sweet photo’ of a young woman showing
affection to a dog. Social media is flooded with such images. However, people with a KEY WORD
basic understanding of dog behaviour would see something very different. While the
woman looks relaxed and comfortable, there is evidence to show the dog is far from evidence: signs that
happy about the attention he is receiving. The dog is licking his lips, which is a sign of you can see, hear,
anxiety, and it appears as if he is trying to pull his head away. The white of his eye is experience or read to
showing, again indicating that the dog is uncomfortable and anxious. To someone who support the truth of
knows what to look for, the dog is clearly signalling that he is not happy with the hug. an assertion
It is situations such as this that can easily lead to the dog biting. The dog is trying to
give warnings but the warnings are not being seen by the woman or, presumably, by
the photographer.
Even if you try to view the photograph objectively, your observations will be subjective
because they are always informed by your knowledge and what you look for. If
you were a keen photographer, you might analyse the photograph in terms of its
composition, lighting, depth of field and so on, but you might not necessarily notice
the dog’s discomfort. However, a dog trainer might see the dog’s discomfort but may
not appreciate the technical attributes of the photograph. Even when aiming to be
objective, we tend to see what we know.
DISCUSS 1.6
1 When you first looked at the photograph, did you see a cute photo or a
potentially dangerous situation?
2 How does knowing something about how to read dog behaviour
make your observations any more or less objective, or any more or less
subjective?
To what extent is the misinterpretation of other people's body language

(and, sometimes, spoken language) due to different contextual frameworks,
amounts of background knowledge and degrees of understanding?
REFLECTION
Think about something you know from first-hand experience. To what extent is
that knowledge subjective or objective? How do you decide?
1.5 Relativity, relativism and

absolutism
DISCUSS 1.7
1 Is there such a thing as truth?

2 Are some things always right (such as compassion) and some things
always wrong (such as cruelty), or does everything depend upon the
context in which it occurs?
However thoroughly we scrutinise our knowing, we always know from a particular

frame of reference. Even if we travel widely, understand many languages and have
studied many different perspectives from the point of view of multiple cultures, we
still must in the end know from somewhere. That ‘somewhere’ defines our frame of
reference. Pure objectivity is unattainable; as the philosopher Thomas Nagel (1937-)
put it, there is no ‘View from Nowhere’.
Because there is no ‘view from nowhere’, our knowing is always necessarily affected by
(and relative to) our frame of reference, which is the entire conceptual system defined KEY WORDS
by our knowledge, beliefs, language, culture and so on. This means that knowledge
relativity is unavoidable and inescapable, but that is something quite different from relativity: recognising
relativism as a philosophy of knowledge. that knowledge
claims are dependent
Like relativity, relativism accepts that all knowledge is relative to a context and frame
on contextual factors
of reference, but relativism adds something more - it claims that in the end, what
or frames of reference
we take to be knowledge or truth is entirely a matter of our point of view. A strict
relativist will say that if we want to believe that the moon is made of green cheese, relativism: the belief
that is up to us: we are entitled to our point of view; all things are ‘relative’ in a much that what might be
more serious and potentially damaging sense. Relativists will allow us to believe in both true or right for one
creation science (the belief that science supports the creation narratives in the Book of person or group
Genesis) and evolution (the change in characteristics of a biological population over need not be true
many generations) with equal fervour because it is, in the end, a matter of opinion and or right for another
therefore up to us. Relativists will allow us to believe that the Earth is flat, that hanging person or group;
garlic in the window deters vampires and that carbon-dating is unreliable because all that all truths are of
of the carbon got wet in Noah’s Flood, if we want to. equal value
While this may seem like a list of silly ideas, there are some people who believe responsibility: a duty
them. Equally there are people who believe potentially dangerous ideas such as or moral obligation
‘homosexuality is sinful’, ‘males are superior to females’ or ‘vaccines cause autism’.
The question each of us faces is, when should we be content to ‘agree to disagree’
and allowing that it is ‘true for them’, and when do we (or our communities/
educational institutions) have a responsibility to argue that some beliefs are wrong?
How can we decide which beliefs are acceptable and which are not?
Almost all countries restrict the behaviour of people living in them - whether as
residents and citizens or merely as visitors - by applying the laws of that country
irrespective of the beliefs or cultural practices of those people. For example, parents
are not permitted to arrange or perform acts of female genital mutilation (FGM) on
their daughters in countries where FGM is banned, nor can they take their daughters
to countries that allow it for the purpose of having it done. Similarly, child marriage
cannot be conducted or enforced in countries where it is banned, nor can the child
be taken overseas to be married. In some countries, gay marriage may be prohibited.
Most laws are not relativist; they usually apply equally to all residents, although some
countries have different laws for men and women, and some countries have different
laws for indigenous peoples.
DISCUSS 1.8
1 Where do you think the balance between law, culture, personal belief and
freedom should lie?
2 How might a shift in the balance between law, culture, personal belief and
freedom affect our perspective and what we regard as knowledge?
EXPLORE 1.9
Many countries have outlawed FGM, but male circumcision is widely practised
by Jews, Muslims and some western societies (e.g. the USA). It is not outlawed
anywhere in the world, although Greenland attempted to ban it except for
health reasons in 2018 but withdrew the bill in the face of world-wide lobbying.
Although male circumcision is usually not as extreme as FGM, it does carry
risks, and is an unnecessary surgical procedure performed on children who are
too young to give their consent, in the name of religion or culture.
1 Research the statistics of male circumcision in the country you live in, and
consider whether your own attitude to male circumcision reflects that of
the community you live in.
2 Write 500 words on the following: To what extent do our personal beliefs
about what is normal, acceptable, tolerable or unacceptable mirror those
of the community we are raised in?
Peer-assessment
Exchange your work with a partner and give each other feedback, using the
following questions: Does the work focus on the question you were given?
Are different perspectives considered? Does the work provide evidence in
support of different perspectives?
In a world of uncertainty and conflicting belief systems, with many voices competing
with different ideas about what is true, just or moral, many people embrace relativism
because it appears to offer a ready resolution to the conflicts that could otherwise arise
between people with different points of view. Relativism about truth, at its simplest, is the
idea that just because something is true for one person or group does not mean that it is
necessarily true for another person or group, and that we can all have our own truths.
) THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE FOR THE IB DIPLOMA: COURSE GUIDE
We must be clear when talking about relativism not to confuse it with relativity. The
fact that your idea of what is ‘true’ might be different from that of someone from a KEY WORDS
different culture is an example of relativity. The idea that all competing ‘truths’ are absolutism: belief in
equal is relativism. The opposite of relativism is absolutism. absolute truth and
absolute cultural,
Relativist and absolute truth religious, political
and moral standards
The idea that truth is relative can promote tolerance when people have conflicting against which all
truths, but what happens when different cultures have different truths that they each other views can be
hold to be absolute? The area of knowledge in which this is perhaps most clearly judged
seen is religion. If your culture, religious authorities and personal beliefs all tell you
tolerance: acceptance
that there is only one true God, and that all other gods are idolatrous or fake, you
of different
hold it as an absolute truth that your God is the only God. However, if you take
perspectives and
a relativist position, you can say, ‘My God is true for me and your God or your
behaviours, even if
atheism is equally true for you.’ This promotes a live-and-let-live attitude, which
you disagree with
sometimes appears very attractive in today’s world where many of us want to avoid
them
conflict wherever possible.
People who hold absolutist religious views, including absolutist atheistic views, tend conviction: a firmly
to be absolutist about morality as well. This can sometimes bring them into conflict held belief
with people who hold more moderate or tolerant views, people from different religions
and people with no religion. Absolutist political positions can also be divisive, whether
between socialists and capitalists, progressives and conservatives, monarchists and
republicans or any other polarised positions.
It should be clear that having a definite preference for any one side in an argument,
or where there is a choice, does not necessarily mean that you are absolutist. It may,
for example, mean only that you hold a particular position with passion and deep
conviction. Nor does accepting that other people think differently from you make
you a relativist. If you understand that all views are relative to the contexts in which
they arise, you are in a better position to try to listen to, and understand, different
perspectives.
Religion and politics are not the only areas of knowledge where perspectives can range
from relativism to absolutism. History, as the discipline where we try to understand,
account for, and learn from the past, can also be written from both absolutist and
relativist positions. A great deal of tampering with and rewriting of history happens
because of politics and national interest.
One example where there are entrenched positions on both sides involves the massacre
of Armenians by the Turks between 1915 and 1923. Both the Turks and the Armenians
agree that many Armenians died, but Turkey disputes the one-and-a-half million
deaths claimed by Armenia. Turkey argues that the Armenian alliance with Russia
led to assaults on Turkish villages, so the Ottoman rulers had no choice but to drive
out the Armenians. Turkey also claims that it had tried to relocate the Armenians
as humanely as possible, but the violent political aims of the Armenians, along with
war-time conditions, banditry, general famine, health epidemics and a collapsing state,
all combined to bring about the tragedy in a way that the Turks of the day had not
expected. It argues that many Turks also suffered and died during the hardships of the
period. In the Turkish perspective, there was tragedy affecting all sides, but definitely
no genocide.
Armenia, on the other hand, claims that the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire were all part of an orchestrated genocide, and that many Assyrians, Greeks
and Arabs were also massacred. The Armenian massacres have been recognised as
genocide by a number of countries and international organisations because of the
organised way in which the killings happened, but other nations have stopped short of
using the word ‘genocide’, sometimes for political reasons.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Turkish students learn very little in school about
the events of the early-20th century, and they do not learn about a genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians because in their ‘truth’, there was no genocide
to study. However, in Armenia, the Armenian genocide is taught as an absolute fact
in every Armenian school, and plays a significant role in the formation of modern
Armenian identity.
DISCUSS 1.9
To what extent does our understanding of the past shape us as knowers?
Cultural relativity and cultural relativism

Acceptance of cultural relativity provides a pragmatic approach to dealing with
cultural differences. Different societies, each with their own cultures, have different KEY WORDS
ideas about how their members should behave. They often have different rules,
laws, moral ideas, mythologies and worldviews. Whereas inevitable differences mythology: a
collection of
traditional stories
usually belonging to
a particular religious
or cultural tradition
worldview: an
overarching theory
about the nature
of the universe and
human beings' place
in it
Figure 1.7: Tipping is not acceptable in all cultures

in perspectives make cultural relativity a fact, cultural relativism maintains that all
cultural perspectives are equally valuable and valid. Cultural relativism, then, can be
helpful in teaching us to be respectful of different societies, cultures and religions.
What is acceptable or even mandatory in some cultures might be unacceptable in
others, but relativism says that no one set of cultural values is better than another.
The practice of tipping (paying a gratuity in return for service) offers an interesting
example. In some cultures, such as in the USA, tipping is an important feature of
life, and there is a strong expectation that you will give a tip of 15—25% of your bill
to people who provide a service such as waiting staff, taxi drivers and hairdressers.
Tipping provides a substantial portion of the incomes for many service workers, and
although it is not illegal, it is considered very rude not to tip in America.
In China, on the other hand, offering a tip to waiting staff or taxi drivers is considered
quite offensive. In Chinese culture, offering a tip is seen to imply that you think the
person you are offering the money to is incapable of supporting themselves without
charity. This causes them a ‘loss of face’ and is viewed as very rude. KEY WORDS
This kind of cultural relativity is interesting and might seem quaint, but few people quaint: pleasantly,
would feel uneasy about it. Whether tipping is a feature of a culture seems somewhat amusingly or
arbitrary, and neither system seems unequivocally superior to the other, therefore interestingly strange
cultural relativism would seem to be a reasonable position in this case. Most of us
could learn to tip in America but not in China without any qualms, and most travel benign: harmless,
information sources are able to tell travellers about the tipping expectations in the non-threatening,
countries they might be visiting, so as to avoid inadvertently causing offence. innocent
Cultural relativism can be valuable in that it encourages us to not judge other

cultures by our own standards of right and wrong, or some sense of what is ‘normal'.
Instead, we are encouraged to try to understand different cultural practices within
their own cultural contexts. However, not all cultural differences are as benign as the
topic of tipping.
Moral relativism KEY WORDS

What is regarded as ethical or moral can also vary between cultures, and this is where ethical: conforming
relativism becomes rather more contentious. For example, some countries regard to accepted moral
child marriage as unethical, whereas in other countries, including the USA, it may be standards
acceptable, commonplace and even encouraged. Similarly, the drinking of alcohol is
acceptable in some countries but banned in others. moral: following
one's personal
principles of what is
REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.16 right or wrong
1 If you come from a culture in which child marriage is regarded as unethical
and harmful to the child, do you have a responsibility to speak out against
the practice in cultures which allow it, or should you accept it as an
example of cultural relativity?
2 If you come from a country in which practices like child marriage are
acceptable, even if not encouraged, does this make them ethical? How
would you decide?
EXPLORE 1.10
Everyone has different ideas about when we can live with moral and cultural relativity and when we should
try to enforce our own beliefs.
In pairs, look at the following table and try to decide whether the activity listed on the left should be
mandatory for every culture, banned in every culture, left up to each culture as to whether they ban or
enforce it or left up to each individual according to their own preferences?
Should be Should be Should be the Should be

mandatory in all banned in all choice of each the choice of
cultures cultures culture individuals
Hunting whales
Racial segregation
Gender segregation
Child marriage
Tipping
Safeguarding human rights
Eating meat
Drinking alcohol
Using recreational drugs
The death penalty
Animal welfare
Child labour
Slavery
Teaching creationism
Teaching evolution
Gay marriage
Safeguarding women's
rights
Smoking
Carrying guns in public
Polygyny
Polyandry
CONTINUED
Do you and your partner agree in very case? In cases where you do agree, do you agree on the reasons
why? How many of your reasons are based on received cultural or religious values (i.e. 'our culture/religion
believes...')?
In cases where you do not agree, what are your reasons for the position you hold? Why are you not
persuaded by your partner's reasons? How might you decide which of you is right? Is it even necessary for
only one of you to be right? Explain your answers.
How you filled in the table will partly depend on how relativistic you are. If you found yourself wanting to
ban most or all things, you have very fixed views. If you found yourself wanting to leave most things to
individual conscience or preference, you are correspondingly liberal or relativist. If you think everything is
relative, you believe that nothing is universally true or false, right or wrong. Many people oppose moral
relativism because it seems to imply that there is no objective reality or truth, and it appears to give people
licence to do whatever they like.
Of course, few of us are totally absolutist or relativist. We tend to be open-minded about some things but
have definite ideas about right and wrong about other activities. The question remains: How do we as
knowers decide which activities we should keep an open mind on, and which we should be clearly for or
against?
DISCUSS 1.10
1 When different countries disagree on what is morally acceptable and what

is not, who gets to decide and how?
2 Are all points of view equal? Why? Why not?
Figure 1.8: Not all cultures accept gay marriage

Despite its attractions, relativism can lead to many problems. The fact that we
take seriously the idea that someone might be wrong in their beliefs suggests that
in general we believe that relativism is false. Indeed, it could be argued that the
statement 'All truth is relative' is self-contradictory: if it is absolutely true that all
truth is relative, then this means that there is at least one absolute truth - namely
the truth that all truth is relative.
DISCUSS 1.11
Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970) made the claim that the distinction between
moral relativism and moral absolutism is sometimes blurred because
excesses in either can lead to the same practical result. What does he mean?
Do you agree?
Linguistic relativity
Cultural relativity is strongly linked to linguistic relativity because culture shapes
language, and language shapes culture. The literature on how language works is vast,
and there are many theories about the ways in which language defines our world. The
philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) once famously wrote ‘The limits of my
language mean the limits of my world’ and many philosophers have tried to say that we
cannot think things unless we have the language to express them.
This is particularly important when we consider the interconnectedness of words.
Language forms a web of meanings that shift constantly as we use it to express
different things and adapt it to new circumstances. The philosopher and logician
Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000) spoke of language as being like a rubber sheet
that distorts and stretches as usage changes. This image suggests that language both
influences what we can think and is influenced by the things we want to say.
Linguistic relativity refers to the idea that the way we think is strongly influenced
by the language we speak. There are certain thoughts that we might have in one
language which cannot be expressed or understood adequately in another language,
because the word equivalents, and the concepts underlying those words, do not
exist in all languages. This is particularly important in the context of cultural
relativity.
Learning a new language does not just involve learning new words and a new grammar.
We have to learn the cultural contexts that are embedded in the language. Languages
reflect cultural experiences, and understanding a language properly requires knowledge
of the cultures that shaped them. KEY WORD
Some people might argue that although languages differ from each other in many
linguistic
ways, the ways in which humans experience the world are very similar, and therefore
determinism: the
we should expect to be able to convey similar ideas, regardless of the language we use.
idea that language
Others claim that differences between languages not only influence the way that people
and its structures
think, but may also actually influence the way cultures are organised. This is known as
determine human
linguistic determinism.
knowledge, thought
Linguistic determinism can be seen where a language draws attention to particular and thought
aspects of experience. A simple example of this would be the use of the second-person processes
address. In English, we use the word you for both singular and plural, and this is
appropriate for any individual you are speaking to. In French, there are two words:
vous and tu for speaking to an individual. The word tu is an informal word mostly
used for addressing children (unless they are of higher social status), close friends and
family, although not always for spouses or parents. The word vous is more formal, and
is used in most other situations (and is also always used for second person plural). In
other words, before you can know which form of address to use when speaking French,
you must first categorise your relationships.
Chinese also has two words for the second-person singular: the more informal and
widely-used (nf), and the more formal word, /£> (niri). In Chinese, the formal word
for you, S run, is used in a deferential way, quite unlike the use of vous in French.
DISCUSS 1.12
If one culture divides people into two groups - those to whom a person is
close and others, and another culture divides people into two different
groups - people of high status and others, how might the linguistic differences
be reflected in daily interactions within those cultures?
It should be noted that there has been a tendency towards a more informal approach
in French in recent decades, with more people using the word tu in wider situations,
just as in English there has been a tendency to use first names to address people rather
than using titles and surnames. However, in both cases it is possible to cause offence
by being too formal or too informal. We will consider the impact of language on the
knower and knowledge in greater detail in Chapter 6 on knowledge and language.
EXPLORE 1.11
Make a list of 20 people from different situations that you might come into
contact with. Which of them would you address as tu and which would you
address as vous? Are there any that you find difficult to decide on? Then
decide who you would address as (ni) and who you might address as
S (nz'n). Was this easier or more difficult to decide?
If your native language has only one word for second-person singular, how might
having two words change your thinking? If your native language has two or more
words for second-person singular, in what way does using the availability of just one
word in English affect the way you think?
In some schools, students are expected to address their teachers as Ma'am

or Sir. In others, students are expected to use titles and surnames (e.g. Ms
Granger, Mr Zavala). There are some schools where students address teachers
by their first names.
REFLECTION
Have you ever made assumptions about someone based on the way they
use language or the style of language they use? Are such assumptions
reasonable? Why? Why not?
1.6 Common sense

DISCUSS 1.13
You may have heard the expression, 'The trouble with common sense is that
there is nothing common about sense.' What do you think it means? Do you
agree and why?
Common sense consists of those layers of prejudice laid down before the age of 18.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Common sense might be described as the idea that we can make sound judgements
in every-day situations, and understand every-day concepts without having any
specialised knowledge. People who are regarded as having common sense are usually
regarded as reasonable, sensible, down-to-earth, practical and reliable. It is called
common sense because it is assumed to be held by a large number of people. In other
words, it is widely found and commonly held.
Many people would regard common sense as plain, self-evident truths that need no
proof and can be grasped easily, because they accord with the common experiences of
almost everyone. It is a basic awareness and ability to judge that most people would
‘naturally’ share, even if they cannot explain why.
Common sense is believed to be largely based on experience, so people who are
regarded as having more life experiences are often thought to have more common sense
than those who have had a more sheltered background. There is a general expectation KEY WORD
that if people were to use their common sense, the world would function more
smoothly, and fewer errors or accidents would happen. There is a popular caricature caricature: comic
of intellectuals and academics that portrays them to have led sheltered lives and lack exaggeration
common sense.
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Dematerialisation and the future of knowledge 203 8 Knowledge and religion

Theories of history 412 Conclusion 526

The arts Limitations of the scientific method 537

Check your progress 481 Observation 578

Continue your journey 482 Methods 582

Part 4 Assessment 16 The TOK essay

Your TOK toolkit 631 The IB Diploma Programme requirements 646

Relating objects to IA prompts 639 Continue your journey 657

What is meant by ‘justification’? How can

> How to use this series

Written in collaboration with TOK “j”

essay-writing support, advice on

Digital Teacher's Resource

> How to use this book

BEFORE YOU START

This short section of statements and questions

Explore activities are there to help you actively

Key words are important words for you to engage

The knowledge framework

Concepts for the analysis and

knowers begin and end? Concepts

Figure B: A TOK diagram

BEFORE YOU START

1.2 The knower as an individual

Who are you? said the Caterpillar.

The knower's perspective KEY WORD

REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.4

Figure 1.2: Is a baby bom with any knowledge?

Experiential knowledge can be first-hand or second-hand. First-hand knowledge is

If you were to write a 'personal encyclopaedia' summarising everything you

"That’s the guy 1 hired to read Proustfor me.

REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.6

1.3 The knower as a member

Each of us is a member of multiple groups; some of them we may identify strongly

Members of the knowledge community will share competencies, information and

Knowledge communities are essential for the development or construction of new

1 In what sense could the whole human species be regarded as a

REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.9

REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.10

Seed & fertiliser Wholesalers

Seed collection Growing Paddy collection Storage

Figure 1.4: The rice knowledge chain

REAL-LIFE SITUATION 1.11