What is ToK?
‘We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring shall be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’ T.S. Eliot
One of the best ways to explain the Theory of Knowledge course is to set out what it is not. Often people think it is a version of Philosophy or Critical Thinking. And while it takes aspects from those well known areas of study, it remains its own unique subject. The IBO rightly signals the uniqueness of the discipline within the Diploma Programme, noting how, “it encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself [...]. Its core content is questions like these: What counts as knowledge? How does it grow? What are its limits?” Now, while these are questions that all students (and people of any age) may ask themselves, what’s so enriching about this area of the Diploma is that students are actively required to grapple with these questions.
ToK is a course that aims to encourage students to reflect on things that they have previously taken for granted; to critically re-evaluate previously trusted sources of information; to challenge previously held assumptions, prejudices and biases; to become more aware of the factors that have influenced their perspective and the perspective of others; to become more internationally aware, more culturally sensitive and to take a fresh look at the world around them and see it in a way that they perhaps have not considered before. As such the lessons are very distinctive, for example: the syllabus consists of ideas and questions to be discussed rather than information that students have to learn; the classroom atmosphere is intended to be one of shared discovery and discussion rather than one of instruction; there is no final examination and instead students are assessed during the two year course through an externally marked essay and an internally marked exhibition task.
Engaging in weekly ToK lessons makes students think hard and often in ways they may not have done before. They grow accustomed to not finding answers, to sitting with uncertainty and to considering knowledge in ways they had previously never considered. While this can all sound very abstract, the discussions are always rooted in the real world; we build on students’ own experiences by focusing on real life concerns, current affairs and the knowledge issues affecting humanity.
Ms Clare Butterworth (ToK Coordinator)