Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

I. Scope
What factors limit our knowledge in the
1.
domains, such as science, art
different
To what extent do the different areas of
2.
cover the range of what there is
knowledge
know? Use prompts (a) and (b) to guide
to
approach to this question.
your
simply, people tend to do what they
“Put
and fail to do that which they have
know
conception of. In that way, ignorance
no
channels the course we take in
profoundly
is a big subject. Ignorance
“Knowledge
bigger. And it is more interesting.”
is
consequences of our knowledge and
The
can be significant. At its most
ignorance
ignorance pertains to that which we
extreme,
not even know that we do not know. Less
do
are known unknowns, the limitations
extreme
knowledge in our present state. Ignorance
of
also be understood as uncertainty in
can
reliability of our claims, which can be
the
and overcome to an extent by further
improved
precision and iteration. There may be
study,
both known and unknown, to our
limitations,
to know more, and therefore we need to
capacity
Does knowledge in religion extend to
(a)
scientific knowledge cannot?
where
Does art take over from mathematics at
(b)
point?
some
How have humans overcome the limits to
3.
in the past?
knowledge
Could you definitively say something is
4.
our collective scope of knowledge?
beyond
ignorance is culturally induced, through
Some
failure to spread or acquire knowledge
a
This may present as gaps in
effectively.
(for example, scientific or cultural)
literacies
leave knowers and citizens vulnerable in
that
where they need to make decisions,
domains
example by voting, about things they
for
not fully understand. Collective gaps in
do
can lead to epistemic injustice,
knowledge
in cross-cultural situations; for more
especially
ignorance can be the deliberate
Finally,
of doubt, propagation of falsehoods
promoting
impact of ignorance depends on context
The
the nature of ignorance in question. Keep
and
on your mind as you move through
ignorance
textbook and the TOK course. It is easy to
this
when we are concerned with studying
forget
To what extent do we know
knowledge.
through studying knowledge? Could
ignorance
course accurately be called the theory of
this
1
For discussion
The limits of knowledge
or history?
How would you know this?
Box 1.1: The impact of ignorance
Think about the two views given below.
life.” (Dunning quoted in Morris 2010)
(Firestein 2012)
on this see IV.3.
or blocking of knowledge through censorship.
develop means to accept a degree of uncertainty.
ignorance?
6