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

I. Scope
of an idea or theory coming from any
Think
of the human sciences that describes or
one
an important part of the human
explains
one that you have
experience—perhaps
which words you would use to
Consider
the power of this idea or theory.
describe
you say it determined, defined, shaped,
Would
or influenced aspects of the world?
affected
your answer with a partner or in a class
Share
Together or individually consider
discussion.
is called the human sciences in TOK is
What
referred to as social sciences outside of
usually
course. Both terms appear interchangeably in
this
chapter but perhaps the difference is that one
this
its starting point the human individual,
makes
other the collective society. Whichever
the
point is used, the great diversity of
starting
within the human sciences challenges
disciplines
coherence and cohesion of this AOK. Is
the
more that distinguishes rather than unifies
there
human science disciplines? Do they have
the
in common than not? Does it even make
more
to refer to them collectively as the human
sense
To explore those questions, this chapter
sciences?
at their historical origins, methodological
looks
conceptual frameworks and
approaches,
in the real world, that may justify
applications
to them collectively.
referring
quest for scientific answers, in the narrow
The
of the term, to fundamentally social and
sense
questions dates back to the Enlightenment
human
of the 18th century. What was then called
thinkers
moral sciences set out to advance freedom
the
humanity. The aim of Enlightenment thinkers
and
to produce knowledge about humans and
was
societies based on disinterested and value-free
our
To what extent does knowledge in the
1.
sciences derive its value from its
human
If knowledge in the human sciences has
3.
consequences on the world, in
material
the concepts of value, neutrality and
Keep
in mind, and trace how they come up
power
this chapter, and in the production,
throughout
and application of knowledge in
acquisition
of the main objectives of the TOK course
One
to interrogate the extent to which knowledge
is
be disinterested and value-free. Refer to the
can
debate between Hobbes and Boyle,
17th-century
the relationship between knowledge and
about
with which we open Chapter 2. It would
politics,
be until the intellectual debates of the 20th
not
that the human sciences, as the social and
century
theorist Peter Wagner argues, gained
political
independent status to provide knowledge
enough
was considered valid and useful. These
that
about the big questions of humanity
debates
sociology, psychology, anthropology and
shaped
into the disciplines we recognize today.
economics
brought doubts about the value of the
They
sciences to the surface, to be acknowledged
human
grappled with. And there was, even then, a
and
group “inclined to entirely abandon
significant
attempt to render the social world intelligible
any
the face of its complexity and lack of evident
in
(Wagner 2001). And therefore we see that
order”
starting assumption of the human sciences is
the
chapter explores some of the attempts,
This
and failures of the human sciences to
successes
with the messiness of human nature and
engage
reality.
social
8
For reflection and discussion
Explanations, neutrality and power in
the human sciences
potential for application?
Can you think of an idea or theory in the
2.
sciences that has value, but no effect
human
on the world?
encountered in your studies.
what sense can it be neutral?
Which words did you choose and why?
the human sciences.
the following questions.
that humans are knowable to themselves.
evaluation and analysis of empirical evidence.
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