Core & Optional Themes

Vocab

• 1st order knowledge questions​

• 1st order knowledge claims​

• 2nd order knowledge questions​

• 2nd order knowledge claims​

• Areas of Knowledge​ (AOKs)

• Core: Knower​

• Optional Themes​

• TOK Concepts​

• Knowledge Framework (Scope; Perspective; Methods & Tools; Ethics)​

• Truth Checks ​

• Coherence Check​

• Correspondence Check​

• Consensus Check​

• Pragmatic Check​

• Justified True Belief​

• Gettier Problem​

• Meaningful doubt ​

• Dogma ​

• Fallibilism 

• Skeptism​

Helpful Resources

• Theory of Knowledge website - The Knower

• Scope - A Guardian video looking at the arguments of Flat-Earthers

• Perspective - A Brain Games video looking at the Asch Line Study and its impact on people

• Perspective - A Brain Games video about conformity in an audience

• Perspective - A Ted Talk from J. Marshall Shepherd, "3 kinds of bias that shape your worldview"|

• ​Method & Tools - A New Humanist interview on how we develop knowledge

• Method & Tools - A Big Think video on how we make new ideas

• Method & Tools - A Vox video for Why All World Maps are Wrong"

• Method & Tools - A Ted Talk by John Greene titled "Paper towns and why learning is awesome"

• Method & Tools - A Monty Python video on "Deductive Reasoning"

• Method & Tools - Park DC, Huang CM. Culture Wires the Brain: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2010 Jul;5(4):391-400

• Ethics - A Conversation article on why people do not fact check

• Ethics - An Effectiviology article on Debiasing: How to reduce cognitive biases in yourself and others

• Ethics - A CNN article from Willinham and Marco's publication "She took her life, but he’s accused of helping her and filming it. Is it murder?," October 21, 2017

Helpful Resources

• Scope - A Casper H video on Concept learning in pigeons. Sometimes they are smarter than humans

• Scope - A Bella Ross video on Ferdinand de Saussure and Structural Linguistics

• Scope - A PBS documentary on A Conversation With Koko The Gorilla

• Perspective - A Ted Talk from Steven Pinker titled What our language habits reveal

• Perspective - A BBC Earth documentary on Are Crows the Ultimate Problem Solvers? | Inside the Animal Mind |

• Perspective - A Fluent U article on 15 Untranslatable Russian Words and What They (Sort of) Mean

• Perspective - A Listverrse article on 10 Languages With Uniquely Bizarre Quirks

• Perspective - A Russia Beyond article 10 English words that DON’T EXIST in Russian

• Perspective - A Ted Talk from Lera Boroditsky on How language shapes the way we think

• Perspective - Weiler, Nicholas. “Speaking a Second Language May Change How You See the World.” Science, 15 Mar. 2017

• Perspective - A standup routine from George Carlin on Euphemisms

• Perspective - A Wikipedia article on the reason the Mars Orbitor failed due to conventions

• Perspective  - Oberheim, Eric and Paul Hoyningen-Huene, "The Incommensurability of Scientific Theories", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition)

• Method & Tools - A Conversation article on "A second look at the blue-eyes, brown-eyes experiment that taught third-graders about racism"

• Method & Tools - A Ted Talk from Donald Hoffman titled Do we see reality as it is? 

• Method & Tools - Healy, Melissa, "What would make a computer biased? Learning a language spoken by humans," Los Angelas Times, April 14, 2017

• Method & Tools - Yuning Han, Differences Between Chinese, English, and Russian Languages’ Reflections on Thinking, Atlantis Press, 2021

• Method & Tools - A TedEd video from Mia Nacamulli on The benefits of a bilingual brain

• Method & Tools - An Epoch Philosophy from Noam Chomsky's Linguistic Philosophy: Syntactic Structures, Language and Mind

• Ethics - Pratkanis, Anthony R; Aronson, Elliot, Age of propaganda : the everyday use and abuse of persuasion, New York : W.H. Freeman, 1992

Helpful Resources

• Theory of Knowledge Website - Technology & Knowledge

• Scope - A Guardian article looking at how the internet is changing the way we think

• Scope - Alex Gendler’s TED-ed video “The Turing test: Can a Computer Pass a Human Test"

• Scope - Searle, John, "Minds, Brains, and Programs," from The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 3. Cambridge University Press, 1980

• Scope - Brian Christian, The Most Human Human: What Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us About Being Alive, 2012

• Scope - How the "Most Human Human" passed the Turing Test, Quartz

• Scope - Adam Lash, ChatGPT Passed the Turing Test! This is REAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE!, 2023

• Scope - Joscha Bach’s TED talk “From Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Consciousness," 2016

• Scope - These Self-Aware Robots Are Redefining Consciousness, Seeker, 2019

• Scope - Chalmers, David, Artificial Consciousness, Serious Science, 2016

• Scope - "The Chinese Room Experiment: The Hunt for AI," BBC Studios

• Perspective - A Conversation article looking the reasons for biases in social media

• Method - A Wired article looking at the concerns of self-driving cars

• Ethics - A PEW Research Center article looking at US perspectives on their data collection

• Ethics - A USA Today article on how Facebook collects data

• Ethics - A Business Insider article on the biggest examples and secrets taken by hacktivists

Helpful Resources

• Politics - Working Class Document

• Theory of Knowledge website - Politics & Knowledge

• A Politico Quiz to find your political leanings that can be adapted for specific countries

• Scope - A Independent article looking at fake news during Brexit

• Scope - A CNN article on the how the media changed the perspective of a photo of an immigrant child

• Scope - A Washington Post article on how we misread data based on our political viewpoint

• Perspective - A New York Times article on why facts do not change our minds

• Method & Tools - A Ted Talk about the moral roots of Liberals and Conservatives

• Method & Tools - An Atlantic article looking at if children share the same political views as adults

• Method & Tools - A BBC article on the emotional factors that influence our voting

• Ethics - A Stanford University article on when civil disobedience is justified

• Ethics - A NACIA article looking at the Paros (Strikes) in Colombia in 2019