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

II. THE ESSAY
Another weak approach is to offer
•
both in favour and against the
arguments
in both AOKs, effectively concluding
title,
This “both-sides-of-the-story”
nothing.
sounds as if you are doing
approach
without evaluating the relative
TOK—but
of the arguments in context, there is
merits
much to say at the end.
not
Another pitfall is to hang onto a strong
•
in the PT, such as “always”, and
word
that while there may be a tradeoff
argue
between accuracy and simplicity,
is not always the case in your chosen
this
This approach can be limiting
AOKs.
you only offer a counterexample and
if
it at that. However, if you can
leave
some discussion or analysis of the
offer
this approach may still
counterexample
the example of this prescribed title, you
In
make a more nuanced argument, such
can
Engaging with a diversity
II.3
perspectives and evaluating
of
the TOK essay you will need to demonstrate
In
of multiple points of view, as
awareness
as an ability to evaluate them. These
well
points of view can come from various
different
On a big-picture level, there are
perspectives.
perspectives of the different AOKs—the
the
the human and natural sciences, history
arts,
mathematics. Within each AOK there
and
different fields or disciplines, and within
are
of the disciplines there are subdisciplines
each
schools of thought. Even within a single
and
there can be a multiplicity of
subdiscipline
made by a variety of
perspectives—claims
For example, in the visual arts
claims-makers.
can have the perspective of the artist, the
we
critic, the student of art, the curator, the art
art
simplicity in one or both of your AOKs
and
best described as something other than
is
trade-off. You can then give examples of
a
specific conditions of the production of
the
in your AOKs, and how they
knowledge
the relationship between accuracy and
affect
the second part of the essay you may turn
In
the transfer of knowledge in the same two
to
Throughout this book we discuss
AOKs.
of the distortions that arise when
examples
is simplified for the purpose
knowledge
education—for example in the way it is
of
in textbooks. You might recall
presented
from genetics (Chapter 7), history
examples
9) or economics (Chapter 8). You
(Chapter
argue that this trade-off is inevitable
may
order for the transfer of knowledge to
in
and examine the effect—positive or
work,
sacrificing some degree of
negative—of
for simplicity.
accuracy
awareness of different perspectives is
Your
through the selection of points of
reflected
that you include in your essay. But more
view
than just having them represented is
important
you do with the different perspectives—
what
kind of analysis and evaluation can
what
offer? One thing that is often overlooked
you
students in such analyses is that the
by
among disciplines and AOKs are
similarities
interesting as the differences. When we
as
similarities between two academic
encounter
about what counts as evidence or what
fields,
means to give an explanation, it is important
it
pause and consider not only what makes
to
different, but also how they are similar
AOKs
the ways they produce, share and apply
in
whenever we focus on the differences,
And
we so often do in TOK, it is important to
as
where do these differences come from?
ask:
come reliability and accuracy take on
How
12
simplicity.
be successful.
as that the relationship between accuracy
differences
knowledge.
collector, the audience and so on.
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