BQ1 Foundations Lesson 6

TESTING
FOR TRUTH
I can explain which of the four truth tests I like the
best
STARTER
Why do you
think we value
knowing ‘the
truth’ so
highly?
PAIR, SHARE
How do you figure out whether someone is telling
the truth?

List some of the different strategies you could use,

trying to link them to different methods of acquiring
knowledge (eg language, reason, evidence, etc.)
ANALYSIS
For each of your ‘truth tests’,
try to identify how they may
be vulnerable to making
mistakes about the world.

Overall, which of your ‘truth

tests’ do you think provides
us with most certainty?
INTRODUCING Four of the most common ways of testing

THE 4 ‘TRUTH
for truth are called:

TESTS’ ●
●
The COHERENCE truth test
The CORRESPONDENCE truth test
● The CONSENSUS truth test
● The PRAGMATIC truth test

What are your initial hypotheses

regarding how these truth tests work?
PAIR, Research the four ‘traditional’ truth tests. For
the pair of truth tests you receive:
RESEARCH, ● Explain how they work (with an example),

EXCHANGE plus positive and negative aspects of it.

● Exchange your responses with another
pair to find out how a third truth test
works.
● Then find a different pair to learn about a
fourth truth test.
LINKS TO
Related exhibition prompt What
characterises a good justification for a claim

THE TOK (IAP-19)?

EXHIBITION
● Refer to the ideas from this lesson to
answer this question.
● For example, which of the truth tests rely
on strong justifications? Which of them
are based on weaker justifications? How
have you made your judgement?
● Which objects could help to illustrate
your answer?
Which of the four truth tests do you like the best? Why?

Which one seems to you to be the least helpful? Why?

 ● During this lesson, we consider the highlighted aspects of the TOK course
LINKING THIS LESSON ● The images used in the presentation slides can also give students ideas about
TO THE COURSE selecting exhibition objects; see also our link below to specific IA prompts

CORE THEME OPTIONAL THEMES AREAS OF TOK ASSESSMENT

KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge & the Indigenous societies The arts The TOK essay
knower
Language History

Politics The human sciences The TOK exhibition

Religion Mathematics Could be linked to

IAP-1 (knowledge),
Technology The natural sciences IAP-8 (certainty),
IAP-19 ( justification)
 Faculty members can explore the course in more depth via our Exploring
TOK and 12 Key Concept Padlets. These help you to take ownership of
TOK via hundreds of articles, podcasts, and videos, and provide you with
perfect examples to support essay and exhibition discussions.

We update the padlets EVERY month, so check back regularly for the
very latest media stories and unpacking suggestions!

EXPLORING TOK PADLETS 12 KEY CONCEPT PADLETS EXPLORATION POINTS

Access the 11 Exploring TOK
padlets via this page. Share
them with all members of your
faculty to encourage authentic
critical thinking within all your
subject classrooms!
Access the 11 Key Concept
padlets via this page. Non-TOK
teachers can also refer to the
stories as a way of developing
students’ understanding of these
essential ideas about the world.
Non-Faculty members of the site can
continue to access the original
Exploration Point documents via this
page of the site (although these are
no longer updated). If you’d like to
upgrade to Faculty membership, and
use the Padlets - get in touch with us.