Tok Essay 2013
Writing a TOK essay by Richard van de Lagemaat
Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma
Richard van de Lagemaat 978 0 521542 98 2 www.cambridge.org/uk/education/international/ib/tok/ For information on the author’s education consultancy service: www.inthinking.co.uk For information on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: www.ibo.org/diploma/
© Cambridge University Press 2007
Writing a TOK essay
‘Most people would rather die than think; in fact they do so.’ BERTRAND RUSSELL, 1872–1970 ‘You aren’t going to have good ideas, unless you have lots of ideas and some principle of selection.’ LINUS PAULING, 1901–1994 ‘It is dangerous to read about a subject before we have thought about it ourselves . . . When we read, another person thinks for us; we merely repeat his mental process.’ ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788–1860 ‘I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.’ WILLIAM FAULKNER, 1897–1962 ‘What is written without pain is read without pleasure.’ SAMUEL JOHNSON,1709–1784 ‘Just as the sentence contains one idea in all its fullness, so the paragraph should embrace a distinct episode; and as sentences should follow one another in harmonious sequence, so paragraphs must fit into one another like the automatic couplings of railway carriages.’ SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1874–1965 ‘Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.’ MATTHEW ARNOLD, 1822–1888 ‘Deep people strive for clarity; those who wish to appear deep strive for obscurity.’ FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, 1844–1900 ‘Thoughts obey the law of gravity to this extent, that they travel much more easily from head down to paper than they do from paper up to head, so that for the latter journey they require all the assistance we can give them.’ ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788–1860 ‘Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.’ ALBERT EINSTEIN, 1879–1955 ‘Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the subject is new.
Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma
Richard van de Lagemaat 978 0 521542 98 2 www.cambridge.org/uk/education/international/ib/tok/ For information on the author’s education consultancy service: www.inthinking.co.uk For information on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: www.ibo.org/diploma/
© Cambridge University Press 2007
Writing a TOK essay
‘Most people would rather die than think; in fact they do so.’ BERTRAND RUSSELL, 1872–1970 ‘You aren’t going to have good ideas, unless you have lots of ideas and some principle of selection.’ LINUS PAULING, 1901–1994 ‘It is dangerous to read about a subject before we have thought about it ourselves . . . When we read, another person thinks for us; we merely repeat his mental process.’ ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788–1860 ‘I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.’ WILLIAM FAULKNER, 1897–1962 ‘What is written without pain is read without pleasure.’ SAMUEL JOHNSON,1709–1784 ‘Just as the sentence contains one idea in all its fullness, so the paragraph should embrace a distinct episode; and as sentences should follow one another in harmonious sequence, so paragraphs must fit into one another like the automatic couplings of railway carriages.’ SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1874–1965 ‘Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style.’ MATTHEW ARNOLD, 1822–1888 ‘Deep people strive for clarity; those who wish to appear deep strive for obscurity.’ FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, 1844–1900 ‘Thoughts obey the law of gravity to this extent, that they travel much more easily from head down to paper than they do from paper up to head, so that for the latter journey they require all the assistance we can give them.’ ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER, 1788–1860 ‘Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.’ ALBERT EINSTEIN, 1879–1955 ‘Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the subject is new.