November 2021 TOK Essay Title Breakdowns 1
In this post, I unpack the key terms from the first three November 2021 essay titles and suggest some ideas to consider when structuring your argument. For more extensive title breakdowns, as well as ways to apply the different AOK’s and other key TOK concepts to the questions, please check out my November 2021 essay guides here.
Title 1: Why is it so difficult to identify a clear line between accepted and disputed knowledge within a discipline? Answer with reference to two disciplines, each taken from a different area of knowledge.
Key Terms
‘Accepted knowledge’
This may be defined along the lines of knowledge claims which are widely considered to be true amongst experts in a particular field, or people in general.
‘Disputed knowledge’
‘Disputed knowledge’ may refer to those claims which are more contentious or lack a widespread consensus.
Ideas to Explore
Shared knowledge
Reason and rational criticism
Emotion and non-rational criticism
Justification of knowledge claims
Expert opinion
Declarative vs procedural knowledge
Title 2: "Knowledge gained through direct experience is powerful but problematic." To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Key terms
‘Direct experience’
How knowers interact with the world and acquire knowledge through sense perception. Such interactions can happen in many different contexts, for example within specific communities, educational contexts as well as out in the natural world.
‘Powerful’
Implies that information gathered in this way is given a significant precedence in the categorization, or organization of, an individual’s knowledge.
‘Problematic’
Implies issues with the reliability or validity of knowledge acquired through direct experience.
Ideas to Explore
Sense perception
Emotion
Memory
A posteriori knowledge
Innate ideas
Inductive reasoning
Title 3: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact." (Arthur Conan Doyle). Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.
‘obvious fact’
Facts which are immediately perceivable to a knower. This could imply that verifying them is unnecessary.
‘deceptive’
Conveys the idea of misleading someone or not conveying the complete truth of something.
Ideas to Explore
Common sense realism
Truthmaker theory
Appearance vs reality
Validity
Abstractions
Dogmatism