Theory of Knowledge

TOK ESSAY PLAN
“… our knowledge is only a collection of scraps and fragments that we put together into a pleasing design, and often the discovery of one new fragment would cause us to alter utterly the whole design” (Morris Bishop). To what extent is this true in history and one other area of knowledge?

To what extent =
Ex: (Nat Sciences- atomic theory) (History- soviet archives opened- new outlook, perspective)

KI:
RLS:
Assumption:
Implication:
AOK:
WOK:

5: This is a bit of an intellectual joke. Does Bishop mean a collage, a mosaic, or a jigsaw-puzzle? This one requires you to think about how a design can be 'pleasing ' (which hints at the role of emotion in knowledge-construction) and how easy/difficult it is to cause a paradigm shift in history or another AOK.

5) That 's the joke: it assumes that knowledge is the product of intelligent design, rather than a pre-existing entity. That 's an old argument, something like constructivism. You must understand that what differentiates a humanities subject from a human science is the presence or absence of narrative construction with clearly-defined characters or other such elements.

Morris Gilbert Bishop (April 15, 1893 – November 20, 1973) was an American scholar, historian, biographer, author, and humorist.

Nat Sciences:
"Science is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks: but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a pile of bricks is a house."
-Poincaré

RLS:
KI:

Introduction
(Argument)

1.] Personal Engagement = independent thinking
2.] Different Perspectives
3.] Counter claims
Implications of title
References to knowledge issues
AOK
WOK

Conclusion:

“… our knowledge is only a collection of scraps and fragments that we put together into a pleasing design, and often the discovery of one new fragment would cause us to alter utterly the whole design” (Morris Bishop). To what extent is this true in history and one other area of knowledge?

KI: To what extent does our emotion and reason alter our perception of what is true in the area of History and the Natural Sciences?

#2 how do we know whether our ways of knowing influence the way we understand and interpret what is true in History and in the Natural Sciences?

This essay suggests that the extent to which the statement by Morris Bishop is true indicates the argument for or against the theory of Constructivism. This theory states that all knowledge is learnt and taught based on the principle of constructivism. This suggests that knowledge is a product of ‘intelligent design’ rather than something that exists separately and individually from humanity. Therefore, in this essay the debate over constructivism is implied by the idea that ‘we put [it] together into a pleasing design’ which indicates the creation of knowledge by intelligent design. Bishop’s statement also refers to the idea of creating knowledge that appeals to our sense/emotions/reason by putting knowledge into a ‘pleasing’ design. This statement about a ‘pleasing design’ also implies that knowledge is like a puzzle that we complete by putting it into the correct order in order to understand the entire design.
This statement by Bishop can be analysed using two different Areas of Knowledge i.e. History and the Natural Sciences. Both History and the Natural sciences involve a development in the area over time, by the establishment of facts, theories and evidence.

References: to knowledge issues AOK WOK Conclusion: “… our knowledge is only a collection of scraps and fragments that we put together into a pleasing design, and often the discovery of one new fragment would cause us to alter utterly the whole design” (Morris Bishop). To what extent is this true in history and one other area of knowledge? KI: To what extent does our emotion and reason alter our perception of what is true in the area of History and the Natural Sciences? #2 how do we know whether our ways of knowing influence the way we understand and interpret what is true in History and in the Natural Sciences? This essay suggests that the extent to which the statement by Morris Bishop is true indicates the argument for or against the theory of Constructivism. This theory states that all knowledge is learnt and taught based on the principle of constructivism. This suggests that knowledge is a product of ‘intelligent design’ rather than something that exists separately and individually from humanity. Therefore, in this essay the debate over constructivism is implied by the idea that ‘we put [it] together into a pleasing design’ which indicates the creation of knowledge by intelligent design. Bishop’s statement also refers to the idea of creating knowledge that appeals to our sense/emotions/reason by putting knowledge into a ‘pleasing’ design. This statement about a ‘pleasing design’ also implies that knowledge is like a puzzle that we complete by putting it into the correct order in order to understand the entire design. This statement by Bishop can be analysed using two different Areas of Knowledge i.e. History and the Natural Sciences. Both History and the Natural sciences involve a development in the area over time, by the establishment of facts, theories and evidence.