eBook
What counts as art? Free
An investigation into knowledge in the arts already faces a challenge in that there is a huge diversity of different artistic practices - from architecture through dance to music, painting, sculpture,...
eBook
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of patterns, structures, and relationships using abstract reasoning and symbolic language. It ranges from pure theory to practical applications in science, technology, and everyday...
eBook
What is mathematics about? Free
In mathematics, the first problem to face as ToK students is what it is actually about. One might answer glibly that it is about numbers, but as we know, this is not true. In maths class, we spend time...
eBook
History
History seeks to understand and interpret the past by investigating human actions, decisions, and experiences over time. It involves analyzing events, movements, individuals, and societies to make sense...
eBook
What are perspectives in History?
In the previous page, we looked at the sources that are inputs into the process of producing historical knowledge and saw that they were always written from a perspective. However, is perspective inevitable...
eBook
What is History? Free
In the Theory of Knowledge course, History holds a special place. Its methods are quite different from those of the natural sciences, and although it is a Humanities subject, it is somewhat different...
eBook
Ethics in the Human Sciences
Is it OK to run an experiment on a group of human beings without telling them beforehand precisely what the experiment is about? Most students answer 'no'. But things are not so simple. This is a regular...
eBook
Reductive vs holistic explanations in the human sciences
Two important perspectives in the human sciences concern what counts as an explanation. Should explanations try to reduce a phenomenon down to its smallest parts like chemistry or physics? For disciplines...
eBook
Perspectives in the Human Sciences
How rational are you? Do you list benefits and costs when you make decisions? The question of whether human beings are basically rational or the extent to which they are not gives rise to quite different...
eBook
Avoiding bias in the Human Sciences
Bias is one of the most misused words in ToK. Students often use the term as a catch-all for any kind of subjectivity in the process of producing knowledge - bias is often confused with perspective. But...