ToK Essay

Title 1: Ethical Judgments limit the methods available in the production of

knowledge in both the arts and natural sciences. Discuss.

 What are ethical judgments?

 What are the types of ethical judgments?
o Universal
o Relativism
o Utilitarianism
 Examples: Vegetarianism vs. Non-Vegetarianism
 Are ethical judgments to do with action or belief?
 Areas of Knowledge:
o Role of Ethics in Art
 Examples: Painting of Mother India Being Raped by Politicians
o Role of Ethics in Natural Sciences
 Hugh Grant’s Movie
 Genome / Stem-Cell Research / Genetically Modified
Organisms / Robotics in Defense (military, warfare)
o Limitations as brought about by Ethics in:
a) Art
b) Natural Sciences

Title 2: “When the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble
nails” (Abraham Maslow). How might this apply to ways of knowing, as tools, in
the pursuit of knowledge?

 What are the hammer and the tool a metaphor for?

o Hammer or Tool could be a metaphor for a way of knowing or areas
of knowledge
o Technology
 What are the limitations of these ways of knowing?
o Reason? How might this affect how much we know?
 Example: Emperors New Mind by Roger Penrose
(understanding consciousness)
o Consciousness
o Emotional needs being gratified by religion
o Perception? How might this affect how much we know?
 Examples: technology extends our senses; a telescope extends
our eyes, however that applies a limitation.
 Knowers Perspectives
o Idiot Savants
o Emperors New Mind by Roger Penrose
o Technology limiting our perception
Title 3: “Knowledge is nothing more than the systematic organization of facts”.
Discuss the statement in relation to two areas of knowledge.

 How do we know in any two areas of knowledge:

o Human Sciences
o Natural Sciences
 How does organization of facts apply in:
o Human Sciences
o Natural Sciences
 Examples: Sociology / Economics / Biology / Physics /
Chemistry / Anthropology / Psychology / Metaphysics
 Prove the other way around than just facts – Knowledge is more than
systematic organization of facts
 Examples: Multiplication of a Cell through mitosis (how does
this happen?)
 The architecture of the heart or they eye in our body (how is it
like that?)
 “Game of Life” – Internet Phenomena showing you the
creation of organisms through mathematics
 You cannot study economics in isolation – you need
geography, history and psychology (economic policies are not
just governed by economics)

Title 4: “That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded

tomorrow.” Consider knowledge issues raised by this statement in two areas of
knowledge.

 Is knowledge always “Discarded”, “Updated” or “Built Upon” what we

previously know?
o Discarded: what kind of knowledge is discarded? That which not
linked with reason
 Knowers Perspective from Natural Sciences and Human
Sciences
o Modified: through technology, experimentation, improvement in
understanding of human beings
o Building Upon: adding to – partially changing or adding to something
that already exists
o Laws: something that cannot be changed despite the situation (law of
gravity)
o Theory: can change if no longer relevant (new-classical and Keynesian
economists)

Title 5: “The historian’s task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by
contrast, is looking to change the future.” To what extent is this true in these areas
of knowledge?
Title 6: “A skeptic is one who is willing to question any knowledge claim, asking for
clarity in definition, consistency in logic and adequacy of evidence” (adapted from
Paul Kurtz 1994). Evaluate the approach in two areas of knowledge.