Theory of Knowledge

1. What is TOK?

TOK is a IB subject in which students have the opportunity to reflect on what we know and
how we know that knowledge.

2. List down the 12 components of TOK

Evidence, Certainty, Truth, Interpretation, Power, Justification, Explanation, Objectivity,

Perspective, Culture, Values and Responsibility.

3. how do you been a discerning knower about the world?

How do I become a knower about the world? (Scope)

1. there are many criteria that can be used to distinguish, like which information do scientist
believe in, evidence to support the information, while a belief cannot be support by evidence
like the belief of god cannot be supported by evidence and opinions can be distinguish by the
language used like I believe or I think or u should which are usually used for state ting an
opinion about an item or an action.
2.We can distinguish them by seeing which claims are contestant allowing us to know that
the claim is most likely the right knowledge or the known knowledge that majority of the
population know (doesn’t have to be the right answer).
3. Yes there are situation where knowing how is more important than knowing that, for
example many people know that global warming is occurring and its harmful for us and the
planet but majority of them may not know how global warming occurs, the process of global
warming.
4. I think we should care about acquiring knowledge as more knowledge can lead to
innovation which will allow us to invent new things that can either help humanity or cause
more harm to the earth.
5.The criteria is not obvious as when a new thing is discovered and the knowledge gained by
that can be false but people can believe information for many years as it might fit in the
“criteria at that point” until someone else may have other information which can prove the
old information wrong making it not knowledge.
6.Yes other people can know us better than ourselves as we might not like to see some
obvious things about ourselves which can lead us to forgetting about it or acting like that isn’t
who I am, etc. While other people can see it leading them to know us better than ourselves.
7. Our interaction with the material world shape our knowledge as by experimenting with
with the materials allows us to gain knowledge and we can shape our knowledge depending
on how we interact with the material, how many experiment we do with the material as if we
experiment more we would gain more knowledge allowing us to shape or make a
understanding of it in brain’s.

1.Evidence can shape my perspective and belief can also shape my perspective as one thing
can be positive while the same thing can be negative in another belief.
2. Some of our knowledge depends on our interactions with other knowers, because we do
get influenced by others and what we are being told, their knowledge is passed on to us and
etc.
3. Yes and no people will accept the truth is most cases but not always like they can
sometimes believe the lie or false information and it can take time for them to find out the
real information/truth or someone can try to convince them that this is the truth and not what
you know and etc.
4. Imagination can help us understand other perceptive by allowing us to visualize it in our
heads and allow us to put the information in a more simpler understanding that works for us
and makes it easier for us to remember it.
5. If your part of a community that you share beliefs with but there are some things that you
don’t agree on that would be your personal belief and it can be identified by the feeling you
get when you do it or think about it, if you get the feeling that this is right while other don’t
get that feeling then that would be counted as a personal belief.
6.There are knowledge that are linked to specific communities like if there a community that
is more religious then they would tend to have more knowledge then other communities
about the religion.
7. We can know that it is an improvement as we have discovered more and we know that it’s
an improvement by the consent result we get, like we perform an experiment 100 time and
still get the same answer and by how we have developed causing us to gain more info.

1.scientist value the knowledge that is proven to them by showing or providing evidence,
researchers value knowledge that can be common for example
2. some knowledge is viewed less reliable then other due to the lack evidence supporting the
facts or the claims at the same time there is also different religion that have different beliefs
about the dreams causing them to believe in the religion information rather than scientist.
3. I think we need to have traits like open-minded, thinker, reflective, understanding and etc.
4. Yes I think they do as we except our self to be able to complete uncertain task at some
extent meaning that we should know our limit allowing us to set objectives that we can
achieve and at the same time we can perceive knowledge in different ways based on the
objective for example one may look at the information negatively while the other positively
depending on their objective with that information.
1. Yes there are responsibilities that come with knowing certain knowledge, as it can be vital
knowledge that can be only learned by having a higher education and there are people in our
world that can’t get higher education which gives us the duty to help them or teach them.
2.Yes, we do have a moral duty to doubt our assumptions and find out if they are true or not
and if they are not then, it is also our duty to either get the right information or not to believe
in our assumptions.
3.We do have a moral duty to share information but at the same time we don’t, like for
example you’re doing a group task with your peers and one of them doesn’t know the
information needed and does try to find out but still can’t then I would say that you have a
moral duty to share information but if they don’t try to find out themselves then I wouldn’t as
if people have the resource then they should learn how to use them.
4. Ethical judgement can differ from other judgment like a judgement on a person’s
knowledge will be different form the judgement on the person ethics as they would be two
different things, like they can have some knowledge but can more ethical knowledge making
them a better ethical knower.
5.Yes, there is knowledge that a person or a society has to acquire as, we learn basic
knowledge when we are younger and it allows us to know the basic understanding of the
world and how it works and etc. This knowledge that we acquire can be shared in a society
that doesn’t know it or a society can inform person.
6. When our morals are conflicted to other views it cannot be accepted equally as we believed
in our moral more than the other view we just found out or looked at, but at the same time if
that view makes sense to a person but goes against their morals, they can either change their
moral and accept it or argue against and not accept it
7. We would need a traits like open-minded, understanding and the ability to research to
become an ethical knower as, not all ethical information is always true and by using these
traits we can find out the true information allowing us to become a better ethical knower.
Whistleblower:

Definition: It is when a person informs the public about organization regrading immoral or
unlawful activity.

1. Edward Snowden

2.Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Manning joined the Army in 2007 and was sent to Iraq in 2009. There she had access
to classified information. Manning gave much of this information to WikiLeaks and was later
arrested after her actions were reported to the U.S. government by a hacker confidant. On
July 30, 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison and President Barack
Obama reduced the sentence, and she was released from prison on May 17, 2017. In 2009,
Manning was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq. Her duties gave her
access to a great deal of classified information like videos that showed unarmed civilians
being shot at and killed. Manning reportedly made her first contact with Julian Assange's
WikiLeaks in November 2009 after having made attempts to contact The New York
Times and The Washington Post. In February 2010, she passed information, which had
hundreds of thousands of documents like a video that showed a helicopter crew shooting at
civilians after having confused a telephoto lens for weaponry.

3.Linda Tripp

In 1992 when President Bill Clinton took office, Linda Rose Tripp worked in the U.S.
Pentagon's public affairs office. She recorded her conversations with Lewinsky and got
Clinton impeached. Tripp was insulted by what she saw to be sexual harassment in the White
House. In a 2017 interview, Tripp indicated that the housekeeping staff was afraid to bend
over in his presence. Tripp also supported claims by Kathleen Whilley, the White House
volunteer who confided in Tripp that Clinton had groped her in 1993.

To what extent is whistleblowing acceptable?

Scope:

2. A whistleblower use to work in the organization that it is whistleblowing about and they
can bring evidence with them to support their point/claim about the organization which then
the government can assess and investigate if the evidence is reliable or not.

7. The information that a whistleblower brings forward can change our interaction with the
material world shape as by bring that information forward we will know certain things that
were kept a secret form us which then leads us to do certain things that can be in the martial
world becoming a part of your routine leading to a change in our knowledge.

Perspective:
3. When it comes to truth and a whistleblower majority of people usually accept what the
whistleblower states as the person is an ex-employee of the organization and has seen this
with their own eye’s or may have also experienced it.

Ethics:

1. A whistleblower would believe that ,yes there are responsibilities that come with knowing
certain knowledge, as it can be knowledge of something that the organization is doing or how
the organization is doing that thing which can be morally wrong to them or make them feel
that the world should know about this leading them to becoming a whistleblower.

3.Whislteblower would not share or come forward with the information they know unless
they felt like they have moral duty of letting the public know about the organization, the
moral can be that this is wrong or this goal is being achieved in a wrong way which leads to
the whistleblower being morally conflicted.

Concepts in TOK:
Interpretation – examine the facts is a particular case and then figure out what they mean

Justification – a type of explanation that include an attempt to persuade the listener that the
action taken were correct. An attempt to convince the listener that what is being said is
correct.

Power - The ability to exercise one's will over others. Knowledge can give us ........., and we
also need to know how those in ......... control the knowledge that is being created and
distributed.

Values - Reflects what we consider to be important or beneficial. Often influenced by our

culture, education, and social background.

Explanation – accounts for why something is the way it is, but does not necessarily try to
persuade the listener to believe what is being said.

Evidence – any fact of claim that someone offers in support of another claim

Perspective – the particular viewpoint form which an individual or group takes in info and
decides what is important or what something means.

Truth - A statement or belief that accurately reflects reality.

Certainty – is a term we use to describe knowledge that has been established beyond any
reasonable doubt

Culture – tradition, values, religion, language, habits of a society

Objectivity – the ability to observe, interpret analyze and report something without the
influence of our personal wishes or opinions

Responsibility - An obligation to use something (e.g. knowledge) wisely, for the common
good or for a good outcome.

Article on Chelsea:

Concept: Responsibility, Evidence, Values

Responsibility – She had the responsibility or he felt like she had the responsibility to let the
public know what was happening and that innocent people were being killed and there were
no consequences for the people that killed them.

Evidence- Manning had leaked number of documents that supported her claims on the
killings and had video evidence.

Values- Manning brings an question forward should we believe everything that the
government tells us about war’s or missions about the army and what is seen on the tv about
the army, which can make as reflect if we can trust the government.

Chelsea Manning was born on December 17th, 1987 and joined the Army in 2007 and was
sent to Iraq in 2009. There she had access to classified information. Manning gave much of
this information to WikiLeaks and was later arrested after her actions were reported to the
U.S. government by a hacker confidant. On July 30, 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35
years in prison and President Barack Obama reduced the sentence, and she was released from
prison on May 17, 2017.

In 2009, Manning was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer in Iraq. Her duties gave
her access to a great deal of classified information like videos that showed unarmed civilians
being shot at and killed. The evidence she saw did not sit with her right, as she saw soldiers
just killing innocent people without thinking about it and without consequences, which gave
her the feeling that she had a responsibility of sharing or getting this information out to the
public. Manning reportedly made her first contact with Julian Assange's WikiLeaks in
November 2009 after having made attempts to contact The New York
Times and The Washington Post. In February 2010, she passed information, which had
hundreds of thousands of documents like a video that showed a helicopter crew shooting at
civilians after having confused a telephoto lens for weaponry.

To conclude, what Manning had brought forward to the public through various leaks showed
us what was planning in army’s mission and make use question should we believe everything
that the government tells us about war’s or missions about the army and what is seen on the
tv about the army, which can make as reflect if we can trust the government?
1) What are the benefits of technology?

Technology allows us to do many things, for example it allows to retain all the knowledge we
have discovered and have it stored for future generations, they also help us with space travels
and explorations and day to day activities are made more easier. Technology can interpreted,
they can explain and justify.

2) What could go wrong if lots of Sophia's are built?

There can be were humans depended on robots so much that we lose our way to and when all
the robots stop working humanity will have trouble to survive and there can be also a case where
their intelligence increase beyond human intelligence and their can uprising type thing. They can
be used for the wrong purpose.

3) What could Sophia help with? Write up the advantages and disadvantages of Sophia being
built.

Adv:
Store information about everything humanity has learned
Help process new findings and other calculations
New point of view on certain pieces of information

DisAdv:
Not much mobility so physical task are difficult
Technical issues can be expensive to fix
 Knowledge and Language
 You can use language to shape other people's thoughts and to maintain certain
relationships of authority.

 Language can show our ideas and pass on knowledge, however it is important to be
aware of the fact that the connection between language and thought is less
straightforward than may appear.

 The way in which we use language to refer to something else is called the
"denotational"(the literal meaning of the sentence or word) quality of language.

 To these denotational differences (what language refers to), language can have
different connotations.

 We use language to make sense of the world and to pass on knowledge.

 We use language to represent ideas, to make sense of the world, and to talk about
what is out there.

 language you speak may shape your experience of the world and in its turn, the way
in which you gather knowledge.

 We can manipulate how people think about important issues by playing with
connotational language.

 Nevertheless, the language you speak is closely connected to your world experience.

 your environment and your way of life require a certain type of language and certain
expressions.

 the words we use may mean different things for different people.