Theory of Knowledge
What is Theory of Knowledge?
How is it assessed
Marked A, B, C, D combined grade with EE
The presentation
The essay
Class discussions
What are the Ways of Knowing? (WOKs)
These have to do with how we obtain and interpret information and knowledge
Language
Reason and logic
Sense perception: the senses; vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch
Intuition
Faith
Memory and past experiences
Emotion
Imagination
What are the Areas of Knowledge? (AOKs)
These have to do with how we classify groups of knowledge into specific branches that have specific methodologies and concepts in common.
The arts: Visual arts, Literary arts, Cinema, Music etc.
Ethics
Mathematics
History
Natural sciences: Biology, Physics, Chemistry etc.
Religious Knowledge Systems (RKS)
Human Sciences: Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, Economics, Law, Media studies, Anthropology etc.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
Areas of knowledge often overlap, depending on the RLS you are analysing
What is a real life situation? (RLS)
The importance of defining terms.
Tips for success.
Develop your analytical thinking skills.
Think of events you observe in all areas of your life, from pop culture to social interactions with different perspectives. Get used to asking yourself questions like why things are done the way they are, why people think of things in a certain way, how that knowledge is obtained, and providing thorough answers to them.
Develop your argumentative persuasion skills
Get used to making a claim about a certain situation, and defending it effectively.
Curate your RLS list
Take note of interesting situations that could be real life situations, and start thinking about how you would analyse them. You can look for these in the news, academic journals, podcasts etc.
Participate in class discussion,
Although talking during class discussions is a good way to improve your skills and get new perspectives, participation can be as simple as taking notes of the ideas presented and working on developing counter arguments, or taking note of how you would effectively use these ideas to analyse the RLS.
Use feedback to your advantage.
Make sure to put your best work forward so you can get the best feedback and work on improving the right things.
Resource
You can consider this a bank of RLS' that would be beneficial to expose yourself to. This site also has a large amount of relevant information
The Knowledge Framework
These are aspects of an Area of knowledge that we can bring up and use to analyse the RLS.
Scope or applications
Why is this AOK important, what does it tell us?
Ex: Ethics are more generally concerned with answering the question "what should one do?"
Human sciences aim to investigate and understand human behaviour.
Concepts or language
What role does the language used play in how the knowledge is interpreted? What are key concepts in understanding this area of knowledge?
Ex: Religious Knowledge Systems place an importance on metaphors and analogies.
In Ethics, there are categories of acts that are either permitted, prohibited, or required within each ethical framework.
Methodology
What are some common methods used in this area? And how are they used to generate knowledge?
Ex: Ethical principles can be refined by checking them against our moral intuitions.
In human sciences, questionnaires and polls are frequently used to obtain information about a population.
Historical development
How has this area of knowledge changed over time?
Ex: In religious knowledge systems, the impact of the development of scientific knowledge affects the way religious knowledge systems are viewed.
In ethics, there seems to have been a shift, from focusing on virtues to an emphasis on the rights and freedoms of people.
Links to personal knowledge
How can individuals relate to this area of knowledge?
Ex: Natural sciences allow us to view ourselves as material entities who behave in accordance to certain universal laws.
Ethics allow us to ask ourselves questions like " why does living a moral life matter?"
Tip: You can look up "..." knowledge framework to get a full view of the important concepts of that area of knowledge
Useful resources
contains very helpful examples of essays and discussion formats, and can be used as a bank full of RLS' to expose yourself to