THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE ESSAYS
Essays
May 08
Title |
Candidate name School name |
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|---|---|---|
1. |
Evaluate the role of intuition in different areas of knowledge. |
Rabat American School |
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Gandhi Memorial International School |
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Kolegium Europejskie |
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2. |
Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions? |
United Nations International School |
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Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu |
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American School of the Hague |
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3. |
“History is always on the move, slowly eroding today’s orthodoxy and making space for yesterday’s heresy.” Discuss the extent to which this claim applies to history and at least one other area of knowledge. |
The American School Foundation, A. C. |
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United World College of SE Asia |
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James S Rickards High School |
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4. |
Does language play roles of equal importance in different areas of knowledge? |
Cajon High School |
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Canadian Academy |
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5. |
“…we will always learn more about human life and human personality from novels than from scientific psychology.” (Noam Chomsky). To what extent would you agree? |
British International School, Jakarta |
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Allen D Nease High School |
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Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School |
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6. |
In areas of knowledge such as the arts and the sciences, do we learn more from work that follows or that breaks with accepted conventions? |
James W Robinson Jr. Secondary School |
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Albert Einstein High School |
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Jyväskylän Lyseon Lukio |
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7. |
Our senses tell us that a table, for example, is a solid object; science tells us that the table is mostly empty space. Thus two sources of knowledge generate conflicting results. Can we reconcile such conflicts? |
International School Bangkok |
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Winter Park High School |
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8. |
Are some ways of knowing more likely than others to lead to truth? |
Malvern College |
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Tualatin High School |
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9. |
Mathematicians have the concept of rigorous proof, which leads to knowing something with complete certainty. Consider the extent to which complete certainty might be achievable in mathematics and at least one other area of knowledge. |
Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu |
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Yew Chung International School - Hong Kong |
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10. |
“Context is all” (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean that there is no such thing as truth? |
United World College of SE Asia |
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Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet |
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November 08/May 09
Title |
Candidate name School name |
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|---|---|---|
1. |
“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” (Henri Poincaré). Discuss in relation to science and at least one other area of knowledge. |
Kelvin High School |
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Lauriston Girls' School |
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American International School, Vienna |
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2. |
When should we trust our senses to give us truth? |
Old Scona Academic High School |
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St Paul's Grammar School |
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3. |
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of reason as a way of knowing. |
Pembroke School |
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Woodcroft College |
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4. |
“Seek simplicity, and distrust it” (Alfred North Whitehead). Is this always good advice for a knower? |
United World College of SE Asia |
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Anonymous |
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5. |
“In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance” (Henry Miller). Is this true? |
King Edward's School Witley |
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Ivanhoe Grammar School |
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Sha Tin College |
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Old Scona Academic High School |
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6. |
Compare and contrast our approach to knowledge about the past with our approach to knowledge about the future. |
American International School, Vienna |
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British School, Rio de Janeiro |
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7. |
“Moral wisdom seems to be as little connected to knowledge of ethical theory as playing good tennis is to knowledge of physics” (Emrys Westacott). To what extent should our actions be guided by our theories in ethics and elsewhere? |
King George V School |
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Trinity Grammar School |
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8. |
To understand something you need to rely on your own experience and culture. Does this mean that it is impossible to have objective knowledge? |
St Paul's Grammar School |
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International School Moshi |
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Anonymous |
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9. |
"The knowledge that we value the most is the knowledge for which we can provide the strongest justifications." To what extent would you agree with this claim? |
The British International School Bratislava |
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Lauriston Girls' School |
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Pembroke School |
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10. |
“There can be no knowledge without emotion…. until we have felt the force of the knowledge, it is not ours” (adapted from Arnold Bennett). Discuss this vision of the relationship between knowledge and emotion. |
Skyline High School |
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Aiken High School |
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