ToK Review: The BIG Picture in Minutes

In this inaugural podcast we confront the limitations of knowledge based on common sense and develop an alternate view based on the metaphor of map-making. It then examines how we determine truth within knowledge systems, followed by an examination of the implications of the first Western knowledge system, Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

This podcast focuses on our access to the world via the Ways of Knowing and examines 4 WoK's--sense perception, language, memory, and reason. It challenges the assumptions of the unreliability of the ways of knowing, arguing that the WoK's are usually reliable and serve as our primary lifeline to experience. When they prove unreliable, it is due to the conditions imposed by our own physiological constraints, and the argument draws upon research in psychology to examine under what conditions these WoK's are and are not reliable. In each WoK, the manner in which it influences knowledge is investigated.

This final introductory podcast explores the two different types of knowledge investigated in ToK, personal knowledge and shared knowledge, as well as the relationship between the two. The use of knowledge question to investigate these types of knowledge is also explained.

This final introductory podcast explores the two different types of knowledge investigated in ToK, personal knowledge and shared knowledge, as well as the relationship between the two. The use of knowledge question to investigate these types of knowledge is also explained.

This podcasts offers an overview of Ethics as an Area of Knowledge. It begins with a discussion of the scope of ethics and next examines the types of moral choices available. Next, the levels of moral choices are examined and the moral systems used by each. The remainder of the podcast focuses on the two areas most relevant to ToK, normative and applied ethics. There is a description of the viewpoints within normative ethics, along with consideration of how to evaluate their claims. Finally the podcast examines applied ethics, the area of ethics that is most relevant to examining such issues within any area of knowledge.

The podcast begins by dissecting the naive view of science and distinguishes "real science" from "pseudo-science". Next we deconstruct the traditional view of science in order to understand of how science gains knowledge. This revamped view of science is expanded, drawing upon the ideas of Bronowski (nature of certainty), Popper (the concept of falsifiability) and Kuhn (the nature of scientific systems and their paradigms). The aim is to provide a more sophisticated view of the natural sciences.

In this podcast we tackle the human sciences, beginning with an examination of their scope, and contrasting the human sciences to other Areas of Knowledge. Next, the podcast attempts to deconstruct the traditional theory of the human sciences, drawing on the work of John Kemeny from his book A Philosopher looks at Science. This lays the groundwork for a more sophisticated understanding of how the human sciences operate. This new understanding is the applied to two very different types of investigation in the human sciences, those of economics and psychology.