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Agnosticism
The position of agnostics is that the existence or non-existence of god is unproven, but that either of these truths is a possibility. Typically they do not involve themselves in any form of worship, but refuse to say outright that a supernatural entity does not exist.
Anti-mimesis
In contrast to mimesis, is the idea that real life imitates art. It was most famously proposed by Oscar Wilde, in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying. The implication of this is that we base our understanding of concepts such as beauty on what we learn from art.
Areas of knowledge
Alongside the ways of knowing, TOK is divided into six areas of knowledge: the arts, ethics, history, human sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences. These areas of knowledge are how we divide up our knowledge of the world.
Note: if you are beginning the course in Autumn 2013, then there are two additional areas of knowledge: indigenous knowledge systems, and religious knowledge systems.
Artistic license
An artistic license is to have the right claimed by artists to express themselves without having to adhere precisely to the truth. This presents problems when artistic works (such as films) are used by historians as secondary sources (ie telling us about an event) rather than primary sources (ie representing evidence in themselves, in terms of their outlook, technical ability, etc.).
The arts
The arts are both a way of knowing and an area of knowledge in that they involve a method (like natural sciences) and a body of work. In TOK, we look at many different aspects of the arts, such as music, painting, literature, film, etc.
Atheism
Atheism is an active belief in the non-existence of god. Unlike agnosticism, which simply says that the existence of god is unproven, atheism says definitively that there is no god, citing the lack of evidence for this standpoint.
Barnum statements
A Barnum statement (also known as the ‘Forer Effect’) is the term given to a statement about a person that they believe correctly describes them, but which is, in fact, a general description that could apply to almost anyone. Meaning and sense is put into the statement by the person reading it, rather than the statement being based on their personality and character.
Blanket terminology
Blanket terminology is the name given to a term that assigns the same name to a range of often unrelated or disparate group of events, phenomena, or ideas. It is found most commonly in history, in which historical eras and long periods of time are assigned a name which tendentiously lends the impression of continuity. One such example is the ‘Cold War’.
Did you know this man was a god?
Cargo cults
Cargo cults, which have mostly died out, were quasi-religious movements situated in Pacific Islands that revered the material goods of Western colonizers. Natives of these islands, mostly unaware of how such goods were manufactured, ascribed magical properties to them, and in an attempt to access them, developed rituals and beliefs to summon them back after the colonizers had returned to their own countries.
The Categorical imperative
The Catagorical Imperative was the foundation of Kant’s moral philosophy, and a strict code of behaviour. Its first formulation stated that you should ‘Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.’ In other words, every action you take should be rigorously assessed in terms of its moral acceptability. Such things as lying, to give one example, were always and without exception unacceptable.
Causation
The causation of a phenomenon is what directly makes it occur. This is in distinct contrast to correlation, in which two phenomena are linked only by a third factor, or by accident.
Censorship
Censorship is related to propaganda, but differs in that it is the treatment of existing information or art to make it acceptable to the ideology of the authorities manipulating it. In other words, critical information is banned or altered, and favourable information is encouraged and circulated.
The coherence theory of truth
The coherence theory of truth states that something is true if it matches up to what we know to make sense. It is based on us using rational thinking.
Cold readings
Cold readings are employed by self-styled psychics in order to make their clients believe that they possesses the ability to contact the dead, or perform supernatural tasks. Such individuals use existing knowledge of the person they are ‘reading’, linguistic tricks, and hints from the subject’s appearance and body language in order to conjure up information about them that it seems impossible for them to know. They make extensive use of Barnum statements.
Connotation
The connotation of a word or phrase is a meaning we attach to it which is beyond its denotation, and may derive from emotional or cultural associations. One example would be the different connotations of the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’. They have very similar denotations, but one has a negative connotation, the other, a positive one.
The consensus theory of truth
The consensus theory of truth states that something is true if a majority or large number of people agree that it is true. It is universally regarded by philosophers as the least reliable of the theories of truth.
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is the ethical principle that you should judge how morally acceptable an action is on the basis of what its consequences are. It is the opposite viewpoint to intentionalism or deontologicalism
There is a strong correlation between shark attacks and the consumption of ice cream
Constructed languages
Constructed languages are languages that have been ‘artificially’ created; ie, made up by humans. Examples include the language ‘Esperanto’ and computer programming languages. This is in contrast to natural languages.
Correlation
Unlike causation, correlation suggests that two events or phenomena are linked only because they both share a third factor, or simply because they have happened at the same or similar time.
The correspondence theory of truth
The correspondence theory of truth states something to be true if it matches up to what we can see is the case. It involves us applying empirical knowledge.
Deduction
Deduction is a form of reasoning in which you go from a general rule to a specific rule. If you use deduction strictly, it gives you certain knowledge.
Denotation
A denotation of a word or phrase is its literal meaning, or the meaning defined by a literary authority (such as a dictionary). This is in contrast to the word’s connotation.
Deontologicalism
Although deontology is literally the study of duty, those who have a deontological approach to ethics believe that the morality of an action should be assessed purely on the motives (or intentions) behind that action. This was one of the cornerstones of Kant’s moral philosophy.
Emotion
It’s hard to define emotion, and say where emotion ends. If we rely on the OED we find out that it is ‘a strong feeling, such as joy or anger’ and: ‘instinctive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.’
Epistemology
Epistemology is basically just a more impressive term for ‘theory of knowledge’. Accordingly, it is used at most universities for philosophy courses that deal with ideas and thinking on the way we acquire and use knowledge.
Empirical knowledge
This is knowledge that we have gained personally, by experiencing it for ourselves – usually through our senses. It is sometimes termed a posteriori knowledge, meaning after experience.
Esperanto
Esperanto was the constructed language invented in 1887 that hoped to provide speakers with a non-political language that could bridge national divides, and unite the human race. Although it was popular in the period after the First World War, its usage never really caught on outside the intellectual circles of Europe.
Ethics
Ethics means the same as ‘moral philosophy’, or, the study of how to live our lives morally. It therefore has a different meaning to the word ‘morals’, and should not be used in quite the same way.
Euphemism
A euphemism is an alternative word to one which has undesirable connotations, used in order to give a more positive ‘spin’ to an expression.
Falsification
According to Karl Popper, for a scientific theory to be truly scientific, it must be possible to falsify it. If this is not possible, then the theory may well reside in the realm of supernatural, superstitious, or faith-based areas.
Do you see the dog?
Gestalt theory
The Gestalt (the word is German for ‘whole’) group of psychologists believed that we discern something in its entirety before we work out its individual parts. This is how we understand the information provided to us by our visual sense.
Golden ratio
The golden ratio is a measurable ratio of proportions that can be applied (sometimes with a little artistic license) to architecture, fine art, and other expressions of the art. Its effect is to produce a pleasing aesthetic feeling in us, and was supposedly drawn on by many major artists throughout history.
The Golden Rule
The Golden rule, an ethical principle found in many cultures and belief systems (religious or otherwise) states simply that you should behave towards others in a way you would like them to behave towards you.
Hawthorne effect
The Hawthorne effect, named after a study done into the Hawthorne Electrical Works in Chicago in the 1920s, is the phenomenon of human subjects behaving differently due to being studied by investigators. It is one of the problems that has to overcome in order to arrive at reliable knowledge in the human sciences.
Heliocentric theory
This theory, introduced by Copernicus, stated that the sun – not the earth – was the centre of the universe. It represented a paradigm shift in terms of how we viewed the universe, moving us forward from the geocentric paradigm.
History
Most people make the mistake of conceiving of history as the past (they refer to events that ‘happened in history’), but – and this is the reason why the subject is of interest in TOK – History is the study of past events. There’s a big difference.
Human sciences
The human sciences is the name given to a vast range of disciplines involving anything to do with human behaviour, and the workings of human society. Examples include sociology, anthropology, psychology, and law.
Induction
Induction is a form of reasoning in which you go from a specific rule to a general rule. Unlike deduction, induction never gives us certain knowledge, unless you are dealing with mathematics.
Inside method
In the human sciences, the inside method involves focusing on individual members of the society that is being studied, and trying to understand and empathise with them. It is the opposite, of course, of the outside method.
Interpretivism
Unlike naturalist observation, interpretivism involves the human scientist interacting and relating with the subject matter in order to understand it better. The German term for this is Verstehen.
Journal
During the two years of the TOK course, you are expected to keep a TOK journal. You should write down as many personal experiences, interesting news stories, books you have read, films you have seen, and anything else that has made you think.
Bertrand Russell had a lot to say on the nature of knowledge
Knowledge
Definitions vary, but Plato’s is as good as any: ‘Justified, true belief.’
Knowledge by acquaintance
Knowledge by acquaintance, a term used by Bertrand Russell, is anything that we know from personal experience.
Knowledge by description
Another Russell term, this is knowledge that we know by being told by other people, or finding out from another source.
Knowledge issues
Knowledge issues are exactly that, ‘issues about knowledge’. They are the implications of what we examine within real life case studies.
Language
The OED definition of language begins with: ‘the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.’ This will do for us.
Lateral thinking
Lateral thinking, a phrase coined by Edward de Bono, means thinking creatively and sometimes in an unorthodox manner, to arrive at a solution about a problem. It means the same as ‘thinking out of the box’.
Linguistic relativity principle
Also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, this is the idea that our understanding of the word depends to a large extent on the language which we speak. Different cultures perceive the world in different ways, because they express themselves in different ways. This opposes the idea of a universal grammar.
Logic
Logic is formal reasoning, or reasoning with strict rules.
Logical fallacies
A logical fallacy is a statement that uses incorrect reasoning to arrive at its conclusion. Fallacies may occur by accident, or be used by people deliberately to persuade others of the dubious truth of what they are saying.
Mimesis
Mimesis is the idea that art imitates life. The artist sees ‘reality’ and tries to express it on canvas, in marble, or using whatever medium at his disposal.
Morals
Morals relate to principles that are considered right or wrong. Action is determined as ‘morally acceptable’ or ‘immoral’ depending on whether it matches up to what is considered a ‘good’ of ‘bad’ way of behaving, usually measured by how it affect other members of society. Ethics is the study of morals, in the same way as history is the study of the past – try not to get the words mixed up!
Naturalist observation
In the human and natural sciences, naturalist observation relies on the investigator remaining removed from the subject matter, so as not to influence it in any way.
Nationalism
Nationalism is patriotism taken very seriously. It is the assumption that your nation is superior to others, and, for political leaders, it is the ensuing measure taken to promote your own interests with very little consideration of the needs of your international neighbours. It is also a psychological paradigm, and those who subscribe to it find it very hard to obtain an objective view of human sciences and history.
Be careful what you say – and how you say it…
Natural language
A natural language is our ‘native tongue/s’, the language/s we learn to speak from an early age by absorbing the sounds we hear around us. This is in contrast to a constructed language.
Natural sciences
The natural sciences is the area of knowledge dealing with the natural word. Obvious examples include chemistry, biology, and physics, but there are countless other fields that come under this term.
Newspeak
Newspeak was the language of the authorities in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Newspeak discarded any words that were not efficient, and placed highly utilitarian words in their place, in order to control the way people thought.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the name given to a word which imitates the source of the sound it describes. One example is the name of the bird ‘cuckoo’, which stems from the noise of its call.
Outside method
In the human sciences, the outside method involves focusing on the whole of society, and seeing individuals as a product of this. It also involves investigators remaining separated and distant from what is being studied, in order to remain objective. The alternative approach is the inside method.
Paradigm shifts
A term coined by Thomas Kuhn, who said that instead of our scientific knowledge progressing in a linear, passive fashion, new ideas occur violently, and completely revolutionize (or shift) our view of the world (our paradigm).
Periodization
Periodization is the term Arthur Marwick gave to grouping together often unrelated events and processes in history simply because they occurred at a similar time, and assigning them a name. It is therefore very similar to blanket terminology.
Perspective
Perspective in art was the big leap forward in technique which happened during the period we term the ‘Renaissance’. It meant that paintings and drawings became much more three dimensional and realistic, and represented a paradigm shift forward in the expression of artistic ideas.
The pragmatic truth test
This theory states that something is true if it works for us. It is connected to the philosophy of pragmatism, and to the key (though not necessarily the archetypal) figure of that movement, William James.
Ufology – a pseudo-science
Propaganda
Propaganda is the communication of ideas or images in such a way that we will be persuaded of a particular ideological standpoint or cause, and support it. It is frequently dressed up as art, but the difference is that it has a particular agenda, and is never impartial.
Pseudo-science
A pseudo-science is a discipline that may claim to follow the scientific method, but which does not do so in a strict way. Its results are therefore not as objective or reliable as a true science.
Punk music
Punk music first appeared as a protest against what punk musicians considered a betrayal of rock and roll, as performers composed increasingly pleasant music that appealed to all groups in society. Punks considered that rock should come laden with a political message that challenged the established order, and write music accordingly.
Qualitative data
Quantitative data is anything that gives us subjective information, that may involve values and opinions about something. It is the type of evidence valued more by those who follow the inside method in human sciences.
Quantitative data
Quantitative data is anything that gives us objective, value-free information about something. It is the type of evidence valued more by those who follow the outside method in human sciences.
Rational knowledge
Rational knowledge, unlike empirical knowledge, is knowledge we believe is true because it seems reasonable, and fits in with other things we know are true. It is often more theoretical than empirical knowledge, and often cannot be experienced with the senses, for example, mathematical knowledge.
Reason
Reason is a word with a huge amount of meanings, but in TOK we understand it to be the way of knowing which involves us in trying to make sense of the world using logic, rationality, comparison, judgement, and experience.
Reciprocity
Reciprocity means giving something back when you receive something. For Jean Jacques Rousseau it formed the basis of the ‘social contract’ between government and people, whereby the latter were according rights and protection in return for paying taxes.
Relativism
If you have a relativist outlook you believe that areas of knowledge (such as history and ethics) have malleable truths that depend on the perspective of the person or society studying them. It refutes the idea of objective knowledge, because such a thing can never be attained due to our infinitely varied way of perceiving the world.
Scientific method
The scientific method is what defines an investigation as truly scientific more than the subject matter of the investigation. It involves several strict stages, all of which must be followed, to arrive at a demonstrable conclusion.
Sense perception
Our senses are (according to the OED): ‘any of the faculties of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, by which the body perceives an external stimulus.’
Serendipity
Serendipity has one of the most specific meanings of any word in the English language. It means an accidental discovery or event that leads to a positive benefit for the person to whom it occurs.
Phineas Gage, whose strange story inspired Damasio
Somatic marker hypothesis
The somatic marker hypothesis is an idea of Antonio Damasio. The hypothesis states that emotional experiences we have in our lives leave a chemical trace behind in our brain, and these chemicals are unconsciously accessed when we are faced with a similar event again, helping us to find a resolution.
Stoicism
Stoicism was a Hellenistic philosophical movement that massively influenced the early Christian religion. It is based on many principles, but one of its central ones is that the effects of damaging emotions can be overcome simply by refusing to perceive of them as damaging.
Superstition
Superstition is either discerning a pattern in the natural world when there isn’t one, or not discerning a pattern when there is one, and then ascribing such a phenomenon to an entity ungoverned by the laws of nature.
Syllogism
A syllogism is an example of a logical argument in which two premises lead to a conclusion. If syllogisms use correct premises, their conclusion must always be valid.
Tabula Rasa
Literally, ‘blank slate’. This was John Locke’s idea that we are born without any innate (or a priori) knowledge, and that we build up knowledge about the world as we experience it. Some previous thinkers – such as Plato – had believed that we spend our lives trying to access the knowledge that we are born with.
Universality of beauty
The idea that beauty is universal is one that has interested art critics and aesthetic thinkers for centuries. Either one sees beauty as a cultural and social construct, or it is something that runs deeper into our psyches, and is atavistically related to human instincts and behaviour.
Universal Grammar theory
This theory, advanced by Noam Chomsky in the 1960s, states that our ability to acquire languages is hardwired into our brains, rather than being different in different cultures. By extension, we perceive the world in the same way, regardless of the language we speak.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is the position that believes that an action is morally correct if its actions benefit more people than it harms. It is related to consequentialism.
Verstehen
The German term for interpretivism, coined by the sociologist Max Weber.
Ways of knowing
Alongside the six areas of knowledge, the TOK course is divided into four ways of knowing: emotion, language, reason, and sense perception. These ways of knowing are how we gather our knowledge about the world.
The position of agnostics is that the existence or non-existence of god is unproven, but that either of these truths is a possibility. Typically they do not involve themselves in any form of worship, but refuse to say outright that a supernatural entity does not exist.
Anti-mimesis
In contrast to mimesis, is the idea that real life imitates art. It was most famously proposed by Oscar Wilde, in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying. The implication of this is that we base our understanding of concepts such as beauty on what we learn from art.
Areas of knowledge
Alongside the ways of knowing, TOK is divided into six areas of knowledge: the arts, ethics, history, human sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences. These areas of knowledge are how we divide up our knowledge of the world.
Note: if you are beginning the course in Autumn 2013, then there are two additional areas of knowledge: indigenous knowledge systems, and religious knowledge systems.
Artistic license
An artistic license is to have the right claimed by artists to express themselves without having to adhere precisely to the truth. This presents problems when artistic works (such as films) are used by historians as secondary sources (ie telling us about an event) rather than primary sources (ie representing evidence in themselves, in terms of their outlook, technical ability, etc.).
The arts
The arts are both a way of knowing and an area of knowledge in that they involve a method (like natural sciences) and a body of work. In TOK, we look at many different aspects of the arts, such as music, painting, literature, film, etc.
Atheism
Atheism is an active belief in the non-existence of god. Unlike agnosticism, which simply says that the existence of god is unproven, atheism says definitively that there is no god, citing the lack of evidence for this standpoint.
Barnum statements
A Barnum statement (also known as the ‘Forer Effect’) is the term given to a statement about a person that they believe correctly describes them, but which is, in fact, a general description that could apply to almost anyone. Meaning and sense is put into the statement by the person reading it, rather than the statement being based on their personality and character.
Blanket terminology
Blanket terminology is the name given to a term that assigns the same name to a range of often unrelated or disparate group of events, phenomena, or ideas. It is found most commonly in history, in which historical eras and long periods of time are assigned a name which tendentiously lends the impression of continuity. One such example is the ‘Cold War’.
Did you know this man was a god?
Cargo cults
Cargo cults, which have mostly died out, were quasi-religious movements situated in Pacific Islands that revered the material goods of Western colonizers. Natives of these islands, mostly unaware of how such goods were manufactured, ascribed magical properties to them, and in an attempt to access them, developed rituals and beliefs to summon them back after the colonizers had returned to their own countries.
The Categorical imperative
The Catagorical Imperative was the foundation of Kant’s moral philosophy, and a strict code of behaviour. Its first formulation stated that you should ‘Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.’ In other words, every action you take should be rigorously assessed in terms of its moral acceptability. Such things as lying, to give one example, were always and without exception unacceptable.
Causation
The causation of a phenomenon is what directly makes it occur. This is in distinct contrast to correlation, in which two phenomena are linked only by a third factor, or by accident.
Censorship
Censorship is related to propaganda, but differs in that it is the treatment of existing information or art to make it acceptable to the ideology of the authorities manipulating it. In other words, critical information is banned or altered, and favourable information is encouraged and circulated.
The coherence theory of truth
The coherence theory of truth states that something is true if it matches up to what we know to make sense. It is based on us using rational thinking.
Cold readings
Cold readings are employed by self-styled psychics in order to make their clients believe that they possesses the ability to contact the dead, or perform supernatural tasks. Such individuals use existing knowledge of the person they are ‘reading’, linguistic tricks, and hints from the subject’s appearance and body language in order to conjure up information about them that it seems impossible for them to know. They make extensive use of Barnum statements.
Connotation
The connotation of a word or phrase is a meaning we attach to it which is beyond its denotation, and may derive from emotional or cultural associations. One example would be the different connotations of the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘freedom fighter’. They have very similar denotations, but one has a negative connotation, the other, a positive one.
The consensus theory of truth
The consensus theory of truth states that something is true if a majority or large number of people agree that it is true. It is universally regarded by philosophers as the least reliable of the theories of truth.
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is the ethical principle that you should judge how morally acceptable an action is on the basis of what its consequences are. It is the opposite viewpoint to intentionalism or deontologicalism
There is a strong correlation between shark attacks and the consumption of ice cream
Constructed languages
Constructed languages are languages that have been ‘artificially’ created; ie, made up by humans. Examples include the language ‘Esperanto’ and computer programming languages. This is in contrast to natural languages.
Correlation
Unlike causation, correlation suggests that two events or phenomena are linked only because they both share a third factor, or simply because they have happened at the same or similar time.
The correspondence theory of truth
The correspondence theory of truth states something to be true if it matches up to what we can see is the case. It involves us applying empirical knowledge.
Deduction
Deduction is a form of reasoning in which you go from a general rule to a specific rule. If you use deduction strictly, it gives you certain knowledge.
Denotation
A denotation of a word or phrase is its literal meaning, or the meaning defined by a literary authority (such as a dictionary). This is in contrast to the word’s connotation.
Deontologicalism
Although deontology is literally the study of duty, those who have a deontological approach to ethics believe that the morality of an action should be assessed purely on the motives (or intentions) behind that action. This was one of the cornerstones of Kant’s moral philosophy.
Emotion
It’s hard to define emotion, and say where emotion ends. If we rely on the OED we find out that it is ‘a strong feeling, such as joy or anger’ and: ‘instinctive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.’
Epistemology
Epistemology is basically just a more impressive term for ‘theory of knowledge’. Accordingly, it is used at most universities for philosophy courses that deal with ideas and thinking on the way we acquire and use knowledge.
Empirical knowledge
This is knowledge that we have gained personally, by experiencing it for ourselves – usually through our senses. It is sometimes termed a posteriori knowledge, meaning after experience.
Esperanto
Esperanto was the constructed language invented in 1887 that hoped to provide speakers with a non-political language that could bridge national divides, and unite the human race. Although it was popular in the period after the First World War, its usage never really caught on outside the intellectual circles of Europe.
Ethics
Ethics means the same as ‘moral philosophy’, or, the study of how to live our lives morally. It therefore has a different meaning to the word ‘morals’, and should not be used in quite the same way.
Euphemism
A euphemism is an alternative word to one which has undesirable connotations, used in order to give a more positive ‘spin’ to an expression.
Falsification
According to Karl Popper, for a scientific theory to be truly scientific, it must be possible to falsify it. If this is not possible, then the theory may well reside in the realm of supernatural, superstitious, or faith-based areas.
Do you see the dog?
Gestalt theory
The Gestalt (the word is German for ‘whole’) group of psychologists believed that we discern something in its entirety before we work out its individual parts. This is how we understand the information provided to us by our visual sense.
Golden ratio
The golden ratio is a measurable ratio of proportions that can be applied (sometimes with a little artistic license) to architecture, fine art, and other expressions of the art. Its effect is to produce a pleasing aesthetic feeling in us, and was supposedly drawn on by many major artists throughout history.
The Golden Rule
The Golden rule, an ethical principle found in many cultures and belief systems (religious or otherwise) states simply that you should behave towards others in a way you would like them to behave towards you.
Hawthorne effect
The Hawthorne effect, named after a study done into the Hawthorne Electrical Works in Chicago in the 1920s, is the phenomenon of human subjects behaving differently due to being studied by investigators. It is one of the problems that has to overcome in order to arrive at reliable knowledge in the human sciences.
Heliocentric theory
This theory, introduced by Copernicus, stated that the sun – not the earth – was the centre of the universe. It represented a paradigm shift in terms of how we viewed the universe, moving us forward from the geocentric paradigm.
History
Most people make the mistake of conceiving of history as the past (they refer to events that ‘happened in history’), but – and this is the reason why the subject is of interest in TOK – History is the study of past events. There’s a big difference.
Human sciences
The human sciences is the name given to a vast range of disciplines involving anything to do with human behaviour, and the workings of human society. Examples include sociology, anthropology, psychology, and law.
Induction
Induction is a form of reasoning in which you go from a specific rule to a general rule. Unlike deduction, induction never gives us certain knowledge, unless you are dealing with mathematics.
Inside method
In the human sciences, the inside method involves focusing on individual members of the society that is being studied, and trying to understand and empathise with them. It is the opposite, of course, of the outside method.
Interpretivism
Unlike naturalist observation, interpretivism involves the human scientist interacting and relating with the subject matter in order to understand it better. The German term for this is Verstehen.
Journal
During the two years of the TOK course, you are expected to keep a TOK journal. You should write down as many personal experiences, interesting news stories, books you have read, films you have seen, and anything else that has made you think.
Bertrand Russell had a lot to say on the nature of knowledge
Knowledge
Definitions vary, but Plato’s is as good as any: ‘Justified, true belief.’
Knowledge by acquaintance
Knowledge by acquaintance, a term used by Bertrand Russell, is anything that we know from personal experience.
Knowledge by description
Another Russell term, this is knowledge that we know by being told by other people, or finding out from another source.
Knowledge issues
Knowledge issues are exactly that, ‘issues about knowledge’. They are the implications of what we examine within real life case studies.
Language
The OED definition of language begins with: ‘the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.’ This will do for us.
Lateral thinking
Lateral thinking, a phrase coined by Edward de Bono, means thinking creatively and sometimes in an unorthodox manner, to arrive at a solution about a problem. It means the same as ‘thinking out of the box’.
Linguistic relativity principle
Also known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, this is the idea that our understanding of the word depends to a large extent on the language which we speak. Different cultures perceive the world in different ways, because they express themselves in different ways. This opposes the idea of a universal grammar.
Logic
Logic is formal reasoning, or reasoning with strict rules.
Logical fallacies
A logical fallacy is a statement that uses incorrect reasoning to arrive at its conclusion. Fallacies may occur by accident, or be used by people deliberately to persuade others of the dubious truth of what they are saying.
Mimesis
Mimesis is the idea that art imitates life. The artist sees ‘reality’ and tries to express it on canvas, in marble, or using whatever medium at his disposal.
Morals
Morals relate to principles that are considered right or wrong. Action is determined as ‘morally acceptable’ or ‘immoral’ depending on whether it matches up to what is considered a ‘good’ of ‘bad’ way of behaving, usually measured by how it affect other members of society. Ethics is the study of morals, in the same way as history is the study of the past – try not to get the words mixed up!
Naturalist observation
In the human and natural sciences, naturalist observation relies on the investigator remaining removed from the subject matter, so as not to influence it in any way.
Nationalism
Nationalism is patriotism taken very seriously. It is the assumption that your nation is superior to others, and, for political leaders, it is the ensuing measure taken to promote your own interests with very little consideration of the needs of your international neighbours. It is also a psychological paradigm, and those who subscribe to it find it very hard to obtain an objective view of human sciences and history.
Be careful what you say – and how you say it…
Natural language
A natural language is our ‘native tongue/s’, the language/s we learn to speak from an early age by absorbing the sounds we hear around us. This is in contrast to a constructed language.
Natural sciences
The natural sciences is the area of knowledge dealing with the natural word. Obvious examples include chemistry, biology, and physics, but there are countless other fields that come under this term.
Newspeak
Newspeak was the language of the authorities in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Newspeak discarded any words that were not efficient, and placed highly utilitarian words in their place, in order to control the way people thought.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the name given to a word which imitates the source of the sound it describes. One example is the name of the bird ‘cuckoo’, which stems from the noise of its call.
Outside method
In the human sciences, the outside method involves focusing on the whole of society, and seeing individuals as a product of this. It also involves investigators remaining separated and distant from what is being studied, in order to remain objective. The alternative approach is the inside method.
Paradigm shifts
A term coined by Thomas Kuhn, who said that instead of our scientific knowledge progressing in a linear, passive fashion, new ideas occur violently, and completely revolutionize (or shift) our view of the world (our paradigm).
Periodization
Periodization is the term Arthur Marwick gave to grouping together often unrelated events and processes in history simply because they occurred at a similar time, and assigning them a name. It is therefore very similar to blanket terminology.
Perspective
Perspective in art was the big leap forward in technique which happened during the period we term the ‘Renaissance’. It meant that paintings and drawings became much more three dimensional and realistic, and represented a paradigm shift forward in the expression of artistic ideas.
The pragmatic truth test
This theory states that something is true if it works for us. It is connected to the philosophy of pragmatism, and to the key (though not necessarily the archetypal) figure of that movement, William James.
Ufology – a pseudo-science
Propaganda
Propaganda is the communication of ideas or images in such a way that we will be persuaded of a particular ideological standpoint or cause, and support it. It is frequently dressed up as art, but the difference is that it has a particular agenda, and is never impartial.
Pseudo-science
A pseudo-science is a discipline that may claim to follow the scientific method, but which does not do so in a strict way. Its results are therefore not as objective or reliable as a true science.
Punk music
Punk music first appeared as a protest against what punk musicians considered a betrayal of rock and roll, as performers composed increasingly pleasant music that appealed to all groups in society. Punks considered that rock should come laden with a political message that challenged the established order, and write music accordingly.
Qualitative data
Quantitative data is anything that gives us subjective information, that may involve values and opinions about something. It is the type of evidence valued more by those who follow the inside method in human sciences.
Quantitative data
Quantitative data is anything that gives us objective, value-free information about something. It is the type of evidence valued more by those who follow the outside method in human sciences.
Rational knowledge
Rational knowledge, unlike empirical knowledge, is knowledge we believe is true because it seems reasonable, and fits in with other things we know are true. It is often more theoretical than empirical knowledge, and often cannot be experienced with the senses, for example, mathematical knowledge.
Reason
Reason is a word with a huge amount of meanings, but in TOK we understand it to be the way of knowing which involves us in trying to make sense of the world using logic, rationality, comparison, judgement, and experience.
Reciprocity
Reciprocity means giving something back when you receive something. For Jean Jacques Rousseau it formed the basis of the ‘social contract’ between government and people, whereby the latter were according rights and protection in return for paying taxes.
Relativism
If you have a relativist outlook you believe that areas of knowledge (such as history and ethics) have malleable truths that depend on the perspective of the person or society studying them. It refutes the idea of objective knowledge, because such a thing can never be attained due to our infinitely varied way of perceiving the world.
Scientific method
The scientific method is what defines an investigation as truly scientific more than the subject matter of the investigation. It involves several strict stages, all of which must be followed, to arrive at a demonstrable conclusion.
Sense perception
Our senses are (according to the OED): ‘any of the faculties of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, by which the body perceives an external stimulus.’
Serendipity
Serendipity has one of the most specific meanings of any word in the English language. It means an accidental discovery or event that leads to a positive benefit for the person to whom it occurs.
Phineas Gage, whose strange story inspired Damasio
Somatic marker hypothesis
The somatic marker hypothesis is an idea of Antonio Damasio. The hypothesis states that emotional experiences we have in our lives leave a chemical trace behind in our brain, and these chemicals are unconsciously accessed when we are faced with a similar event again, helping us to find a resolution.
Stoicism
Stoicism was a Hellenistic philosophical movement that massively influenced the early Christian religion. It is based on many principles, but one of its central ones is that the effects of damaging emotions can be overcome simply by refusing to perceive of them as damaging.
Superstition
Superstition is either discerning a pattern in the natural world when there isn’t one, or not discerning a pattern when there is one, and then ascribing such a phenomenon to an entity ungoverned by the laws of nature.
Syllogism
A syllogism is an example of a logical argument in which two premises lead to a conclusion. If syllogisms use correct premises, their conclusion must always be valid.
Tabula Rasa
Literally, ‘blank slate’. This was John Locke’s idea that we are born without any innate (or a priori) knowledge, and that we build up knowledge about the world as we experience it. Some previous thinkers – such as Plato – had believed that we spend our lives trying to access the knowledge that we are born with.
Universality of beauty
The idea that beauty is universal is one that has interested art critics and aesthetic thinkers for centuries. Either one sees beauty as a cultural and social construct, or it is something that runs deeper into our psyches, and is atavistically related to human instincts and behaviour.
Universal Grammar theory
This theory, advanced by Noam Chomsky in the 1960s, states that our ability to acquire languages is hardwired into our brains, rather than being different in different cultures. By extension, we perceive the world in the same way, regardless of the language we speak.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is the position that believes that an action is morally correct if its actions benefit more people than it harms. It is related to consequentialism.
Verstehen
The German term for interpretivism, coined by the sociologist Max Weber.
Ways of knowing
Alongside the six areas of knowledge, the TOK course is divided into four ways of knowing: emotion, language, reason, and sense perception. These ways of knowing are how we gather our knowledge about the world.