WAYS OF KNOWING
In the classic TOK diagram “Knower(s)” are placed at the center surrounded by four “Ways of Knowing.” According to the 2008 TOK Guide:
The senses, through perception, seemingly provide a window on the world as it really is, and the emotions drive us onward without always giving time for reflection. Additionally, the acquisition of a first language occurs so easily for most people, and communication with others is so natural, that the influence of language in shaping thought is not obvious. Finally, a sound argument can be recognized as such without any formal training in logic or other forms of reasoning.
According to the TOK Guide, the decision to prescribe four ways of knowing “should not be taken to imply either that there are only four ways of knowing, or that everything is known solely through one or other of these four ways” The guide suggests exploring “what other ways of knowing there might be, and how the various ways interact and overlap.”
CLASS ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES
ACTIVE SENSE PERCEPTION
Umwelt
Optical illusions online workshop
Blindspot Active vision
Identify plastic animals by touch alone
Yarbus eye tracking experiments
The seven senses: Written response
London Underground map
“The Map is not the Territory”
LANGUAGE
Orwellian “doublespeak”
Problem of definition: beef and cows
The urge to generalize and classify: big cats
Invent your own (language) games
Wittgenstein: more on the polysemy of language
Forms of representation: Shostakovich 8th string quartet
Entirely by Louis Macneice: in praise of the poetic voice
Speech recognition: dealing with ambiguity
Is there a language instinct?
Gorilla language and personhood
EMOTION
Evoked emotions art gallery
Damasio's Feeling of what happens
Tension and release
The big five personality traits
The madding crowd
REASON
Introduction to systematic thinking and a review quiz
The Singer Nicholson Fluid Mosaic Model
Ideal gas law compared to Euler’s relation
Revisit Monty Python’s Argument sketch
Induction and deduction
Informal logical fallacy
Analytical vs. synthetic knowledge revisited
Can a machine think?
OTHER WAYS OF KNOWING
Linking questions that explore Memory, Recognition and Intuition at Homo discens