Nature+of+Knowledge

=The Nature of Knowledge=

[Remember, you need to write at least 3 important take-aways under each of the topics below, in your own words.]

1. What TOK can do for you. Perspective on subject-matter learning. How knowledge "works in the world". Grounds for personal belief-systems. Assessing claims urged on you on all sides, demanding your money, time and attention.

2. The meaning and acquisition of beliefs. Possible problems with common sense. The paradox of cartography: "the map is not the territory".

3. Possible bases for knowledge, the "Ways of Knowing": sense perception, reason, language and emotion. Possible reasons for doubting each of these. The twin dangers of gullibility and over-scepticism; the "narrow path" between them. The role of judgement.

4. Origins and tests of knowledge, kinds of knowledge: knowledge by description ("knowing that..") and alternative ways of knowledge (by acquaintance, practice, conviction, introspection, and instinct).

5. Truth and truth tests: Characteristics of truth: public, independent and eternal. What makes a statement true? The pragmatic, coherence, and correspondence theories of truth.

6. Knowledge as justified true belief. You must believe it, it must be justified in the right kind of way, and it must be true.