TO

TOK 2015
Questions
1. There is no such thing as a neutral question. Evaluate this

statement with reference to two areas of knowledge. Mr. Beekmeyers Class
-First question, neutral is not clear
-A neutral question is not a question that is for or against its about intention
-Its the idea that every question shapes the context in its own way, that every question is based on some kind of
intention and in some way, has already pre-shaped the world
-However, it does assume certain things
-Wiame doesnt understand the question
-Kenza agrees with the claim
-What does it mean to agree or disagree, this question is about EVALUATING the statement
-EVALUATING IS A KEY WORD TO PAY ATTENTION TO IN THIS QUESTION
-Evaluating is about good, bad, and about value which is different from disagree or agree
-What makes something good? Here, there is no such thing as a neutral question, does it have any value? You have
two things if this is true, then what is the value? How does this statement help us?
-Maybe, by understanding this, this reminds us that knowledge can be extended
--THIS QUESTION HERE IS TOUGH UNLESS YOU REALLY REALLY GET THE IDEA OF EVALUATING. IF YOU
DONT, I DONT RECOMMEND IT, BUT CAN BE WELL DONE-

statement with reference to two areas of knowledge.
Mr. Wettlers Class
Black and White text from Theoryofknowledge.net. My edits in red.
A quick look in any dictionary will give you a workable definition of neutral its essential meaning is
unbiased, non-partisan, or something that does not take sides.
In other words, the prescribed title is suggesting that questions within the different areas of knowledge
lead us in a certain direction, and have some sort of agenda. Gathering knowledge in this way can also
be termed confirmation bias.
The essay is therefore suggesting, that all questions are leading questions, and that it isnt possible to
ask or investigate knowledge without having a preconceived notion of what you want to find. Actually, a
question about what you had for breakfast this morning can hardly be faulted as a loaded question or
question guided by some confirmation bias. So really the all here likely means all research questions.
no is a catagorial term like all, every, always, only etc. The IB expects youll see the need to argue
there are exceptions. Basically, youll need to argue that confirmation bias is often a problem.

Mr. Wettlers Class
c. What knowledge issues & associated WOKs/AOKs could be explored?
Try eliminating the WoKs youd be unlikely to use. Are intuition, memory and
faith used in research as much as reason, perception and imagination?
d. What sort of real life situations could be drawn on?
You were wondering whether penguins like snow
e. Which perspectives and implications could be considered?
Bias exists but can / cannot be overcome.

Mr. Mcnerneys class
2.There are only two ways in which humankind can

produce knowledge: through passive observation or
through active experiment. To what extent do you agree
with this statement?
Mr. Beekmeyers Class
More than two words: passive observation/ passive experimentation active experimentation / active
observation
Ex: Science, you can see a leaf burn, and that produces knowledge (active observation)

Mr. Wettlers Class
a. What are the key words & terms that need pinning down?
Do you see the categorical term here? Only is very unlikely and must be qualified. There are
other ways. You might also note the use of the term ways.Neither of these are IB ways of
knowing, but there might be a connection. Do the 8 IB WoKs divide up as either passive or
active?
The terms that need special attention in order to set up your essay are passive observation
and active experimentation. The first suggests that the knower makes no impact on the
phenomenon he or she is studying.. The second suggests that the knower is able to
manipulate, and perhaps even help to determine, the outcome of what they are studying.

Mr. Wettlers Class
b. What are the difficulties and challenges of the question?
Trying to film people acting natural as if the presence of a camera doesnt make a difference.
This could be about research methods. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics might relate.
Anthropologists also have to be careful not to interfere in the cultures they study--or transform them by
their presence (e.g introduce diseases). In math, knowledge production doesnt suffer from these
dilemmas. So active research influences the subject, but with passive research the subject is
unaffected. Are these the only two ways? Does all research fall between these two extremes as just
depending on a matter of degree of activity or passiveness? What about researching history or code
breaking a language as was done with the Rosetta stone. Never mind whether to regard that as active
or passive because one could always regard any kind of thinking as active. The real issue is why
categorize this as affected or unaffected. History is just different.

Mr. Mcnerneys class
3. There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories

across disciplines and create a common groundwork of
explanation. To what extent do you agree with this
statement?
-What does linking facts and theories across disciplines and create a common groundwork of explanation mean?
-Disciplines are areas of knowledge
-Across disciplines: Linking an idea between different disciplines and creating common understanding, for example you
take the idea of prime numbers and say that is a useful tool for codeology if you take music, you also have the idea of
prime numbers, prime number beat, makes music shift and there is no harmony the idea that prime numbers can
create unique spaces and composition and sound. This could link common stuff
-If you look at narrative in English, you can discuss it in Science, narrative science
-Common groundwork of EXPLANATION- In physics, for instance, the theory of everything, experimental physicistss
kind of law dictate everything, the idea that we always aim towards the theory of everything, read stevin Hawking A
brief history of time
-You probably have to read this book, or at least a bit of it, to understand the question
-Its not a theory its an ideal
-Without this physical explanation, you have no shot at this question
-Its a hard question unless youre willing to do a lot of research
3. There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories across

disciplines and create a common groundwork of explanation. To what
extent do you agree with this statement?
Mr. Wettlers Class
According to Theoryofknowledge.net peope, this question reduces to Do areas of knowledge overlap?
The categorical term or phrase in the original question is no reason why not. So a more likely argument
would be that ...there are some reasons why we cannot link or that ...there are some reasons why
AoKs do not overlap.
b.What knowledge issues & associated WOKs/AOKs could be explored?
Consider, for example, how reductionism tries to explain human anatomy by analogy to computer science
(intelligence with artificial intelligence) and the brain as a purely mechanical machine. Reductionists do
this because they assume materialism and do not like the idea that anything transcends matter--not mind,
not God--nothing. This will never be proven. Reductionism/materialism already faces enough trouble
trying to account for morality and personal responsibility. And so the controversy will always exist. And
with controversy, there is no agreement. And with no agreement, there is no consensus or common
groundwork of explanation. What is at issue here is knowledge production or how your research, your
interpretation of facts, your way of explaining is determined by your ultimate assumptions--God, no God,
matter is all that exists or is reality multidimensional. Such ultimate assumptions do not fall neatly into any
AoK but all research is affected by them!

explanation. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Mr. Wettlers Class
c. What are the difficulties and challenges of the question?

d. What sort of real life situations could be drawn on? I noticed todays generation is learning more from virtual
reality than from reality itself and Im wondering how much that is true of me as well.
e. Which perspectives and implications could be considered?Read the story flatland about how two
dimensoinal creatures would know nothing of our three dimensional world. And by analogy we wouldnt know
anything about creatures from a four dimensional world.

explanation. To what extent do you agree with this
statement?
Mr. Mcnerneys class
4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way

in which shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge.
-Wiame: Yes!
-Theres no to what extent
HINT: plenty of stuff in the TOK handouts on shared knowledge and personal knowledge. USE THE
RESOURCES
pretty easy marks, easier to do than most other questions
to get full marks, AVOID: over generalization. STRONGLY AVOID: religion(unless you can do it well)
you have to consider 2 areas of knowledge. Talk about ACADEMICS and not cultural life.
easiest AoK; history (knowledge about ourselves & events), human sciences or natural sciences
shared knowledge affects us in many ways, can enforce ideas, reject certain ideas, create systems of authority
and power

Mr. Wettlers Class
This prescribed title focuses on the two main knowledge categories of shared and personal
knowledge, about which the IB is quite helpful in the subject guide to TOK (get your teacher to
show you pages 16-19 this should be considered essential reading for this question!).
The IB identifies two types of shared knowledge: first, the areas of knowledge themselves,
produced by collaboration between many people, and subject to change over time; second, the
different groups (national, ethnic, gender, age, etc.) to which we belong.
Personal knowledge, in contrast, is gained by our own experiences, education, backgrounds,
and so on. The big difference between the two is that personal knowledge is harder to share,
and because it is possessed by us alone, does not rely so heavily on linguistic forms of
description.

Mr. Wettlers Class
Although this does specify two areas of knowledge, shared knowledge and personal knowledge
means essentially all knowledge, so again, the boundaries of this essay are wide-ranging. In addition,
what it wants you to do with that knowledge (shape) can mean many different things. So whilst there
is undoubted potential to run with this question and do something quite creative, there is also the
danger that your essay will end up being very unfocused, and lacking in both depth and detail.
The wording of the title mean that you write a fairly descriptive essay, talking about how you personally
have been influenced by different areas of knowledge, and you should be careful not to fall into this
trap. Connected to this, it may be hard to identify and develop clear counterclaims, given that its fairly
clear that shared knowledge does play a huge role in shaping our personal knowledge.
Lastly, TOK essays need a good balance of real life examples, so just drawing on your own
experiences and personal knowledge wont take you as far as you need to go to properly answer the
question.

Mr. Mcnerneys class
5. Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive

judgments. To what extent do you agree with this
statement?
What is instinctive judgements? first judgement? what feels right? unconscious judgement.
Talks about ways of knowing as a concept. The question is talking about the very purpose of TOK.
By being aware of WoK, by knowing that there are Wok and we dont know, it creates a check to just
making instinctive judgements. (If you are aware that your sense perception is not perfect, that you
have a limitation of what you see, you look for evidence to reinforce ideas that you already have)
ex: if your politics are leaning towards the left, you might read articles about leftist ideas without
realizing that you are reading leftist ideas in order to justify your ideologies.
To what extent are our humans extents too strong?
ex: Even if you know that your memory is flawed, our memory is a patchwork, we do not remember
everything but our memory patches images to create a reality.
Are ways of knowing going to make a huge difference about how we judge the world?

statement?
Mr. Wettlers Class
Although none of the prescribed titles this session have an area of knowledge or way of
knowledge specified for consideration, this one comes very close. Given that the Oxford
Dictionary defines intuition as The ability to understand something instinctively, without the
need for conscious reasoning, its fairly clear that instinctive judgements equates to intuition.
In terms of what the question wants you to do with this, the word check is the command term,
meaning verify, regulate, or control. So the question is asking you to look at the extent to
which the knowledge produced by this way of knowing is affected by the others.

statement?
Mr. Wettlers Class
Theres a lot to do with this prescribed title. Not only do you need to assess how at least three
ways of knowing interact, you also need to consider more than one area of knowledge to show
that this interaction may vary according to the context of the knowledge. So although this is in
some ways the most specific of all the questions, it is still potentially a wide-ranging essay.
Writing essay primarily on ways of knowing often leads to vague knowledge questions, and
non-specific real life situations. So you need to make sure that you also provide plenty of
reference to areas of knowledge in order to ensure your essay is sufficiently TOK-like.
5.Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive

statement?
Mr. Mcnerneys class
6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both

meaning and purpose in our personal lives. To what extent
do you agree with this statement?
the question is talking about the theory of knowledge
What WoK and what AoK to explore for this question.
AoK: History, Language
One of the best ways to approach TOK is through socratic dialogue
Do you think we would think and and act differently if we were unaware of certain things in the world?
Raja is the best team in the world - how do judge the idea of the best football team. What is the definition of the word best?
Contention: raja is the best football team
(one way to judge best is from statistics)
Qualification: what kinds of statistics? (1. Goals scored, 2. Number of wins)
What makes the best football team?
(what kinds of statistics should we use) (over what period of time?) (best team has the best fans?) (best
team attracts the best players?)
One way to judge best is from statistics
Developed Question (Qualified Argument): Raja is the best football team in Morocco based on their wins over the past five year.
How can we produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives without knowledge?

Mr. Wettlers Class
Again, the ToK question deliberately exaggerates with a categorical that needs to be qualified. Producing meaning and
purpose in our lives, could be a point , but not the whole point of knowledge. Note also that the IB has personified
knowledge here and that requiries you to use the principle of charity in supplying a coherent interpretation. Is meaning
and purpose produced for us thank you, knowledge or do we produce those things ourselves? If someone else does
this for us, at least, that someone else should be a person--God? A possible exception is language, but that is a
different question. Is there a WoK connection here? Could they mean ... the whole point of LEARNING...?
NOTE: The IB added new WoKs and AoKs and so we should expect to see prescribed titles dealing with these new
topics. And surprise,, surprise, LOOK at what they write in their introduction to the Religion AoK.
Religious knowledge systems offer answers to fundamental questions about the meaning and purpose of human
life. This area of knowledge incorporates a diverse range of different beliefs and systems;
NOTE: Is the activity of acquiring knowledge ultimately religious/existential in nature --i.e. an attempt to make sense of
the world? There is a tradition that regards theology as the queen of the sciences and of course, if everything has been
designed and ordered by God, one can see the kind of sense this makes for our personal lives. This can quickly begin to
seem trite as one can only say so much about love which is usually the ultimate purpose. And what has learning to do
with that? Learn to be creative in love? And does your physics class seem designed for this?. See my comments about
AoKs next slide.
6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning

and purpose in our personal lives. To what extent do you agree
Mr. Wettlers Class
You need to pin down both meaning and purpose, two words that mean different things. Meaning suggests
something worthwhile, enriching, and fulfilling; purpose suggests a path or calling that you should follow.. The title
also uses the term personal lives, which implies that you should not be investigating professional or career-related
achievement. This question prompts you to consider your personal life, and how knowledge from the different AOKs
adds meaning and purpose to it. This may tempt you to approach this as a first order knowledge question in other
words, explain how historical knowledge or scientific knowledge provides you with meaning and purpose (for history,
perhaps you might consider saying that learning about the past helps you avoid making mistakes in the future; and
how in science, medicine has helped cure you of a particular ailment). But in TOK, were more interested in second
order knowledge questions in other words, how we acquire and process knowledge related to the AOKs. This is
definitely harder to link to the idea of meaning and purpose in our personal lives.
c. What knowledge issues & associated WOKs/AOKs could be explored? Is the production of meaning the same as
the production of knowledge (a knowledge issue). I dont actually see a knowledge issue unless ones makes the
learning through language connection. (acquisition / production) but even that seems off topic. Some AoKs relate
more than others--Art, Ethics, the human sciences (psychology, Maslow) more than the natural sciences. d. What
sort of real life situations could be drawn on? Dealing with depression.
e. Which perspectives and implications could be considered? one may argue that some AoKs are more about
producing meaning than others. The natural sciences tend to be more bent towards practical applications.

Mr. Mcnerneys class

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TOK 2015

1. There is no such thing as a neutral question. Evaluate this

1. There is no such thing as a neutral question. Evaluate this

1. There is no such thing as a neutral question. Evaluate this

Bias exists but can / cannot be overcome.

1. There is no such thing as a neutral question. Evaluate this

2.There are only two ways in which humankind can

2.There are only two ways in which humankind can

2.There are only two ways in which humankind can

2.There are only two ways in which humankind can

3. There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories

3. There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories across

3. There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories

c. What are the difficulties and challenges of the question?

3. There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories

4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way

4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way

4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way

4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way

5. Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive

5. Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive

5. Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive

5.Ways of knowing are a check on our instinctive

6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both

6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both

6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning

6. The whole point of knowledge is to produce both

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