To answer the question whether there are unknowable objects, we first need to understand what cognition is. The answer to this question rather depends upon how, and whether, we as teachers intend to incorporate artefacts into our regular teaching of TOK and how, and whether, we incorporate activities into TOK that encourage students to reflect upon the epistemological interest inherent in such artefacts. A photograph of a specific opera singer/dancer, taken at a performance one has witnessed, or connected directly to a performance one has witnessed (or studied, if the student studies Dance or Theatre Arts) would certainly seem to certainly fall within the scope of the comment on p.42 of the Guide, [objects] must be specific objects that have a specific real-world contextobjects that exist in a particular time and place. Your exhibition should explore either the core theme or one of the optional themes. But do I know . see this often when parents of screaming children smile in the mall. It was normal for people to think that way, as we tend to simplify matters. what could be some good objects to answer the ToK prompt "are some things unknowable?" How many grains of sand in the whole world. Because you can never verify that something has existed for eternity, it is literally impossible to verify that. A grade tok exhibition talking about the smiling assassin and much more. All three objects must be linked to the same prompt students are encouraged to root their exhibition in one of the TOK themeseither the core theme or one of the optional themes. The first calculation of Pi was done by Archimedes . Every even number is the sum of two primes.. Electrons are now thought of as probability functions rather than particles; we can calculate where they are likely to be, but not where they are they could actually be anywhere. -While most might think how E.T. Again, contextualisation is all. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings. Remember, you write a 950-word commentary, in which you will identifies your objects, consider its specific real-world context, and justify why you have included it in the exhibition. It is strongly recommended that the exhibition is based on. Por ejemplo, en el marco de conocimiento para la opcion Conocimiento y lenagaje, se lee la siguente pregunta de concocimiento: Todo conocimiento puede expresarse con palabras o smbolos? (p.21 de la Guia en Espaol). . Question: Are Some Things Unknowable? TOK Exhibition - are these objects ok : r/IBO - reddit Any help would be very much appreciated. Okay, how many real numbers are there? I have to look at it, and to look at it I have to illuminate it. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com. Keeping these cookies enabled helps us to improve our website. Well, there are a lot more than there are whole numbers between each whole number, there are an infinite number of real numbers; so the number of real numbers is a much bigger infinity than the number of whole numbers. Speed of Light Information can't be transmitted faster than the speed of light. According to some theories, there exist levels of consciousness3 that we are able to measure. My friend who is a Virgo did not see any of the future forecast true as per astrology predictions, yet she genuinely and regularly looks for horoscope speculations every week. Placing a cat in a sealed box with an instrument designed to have an exact 50% probability to kill the animal, is a part of a famous thought experiment designed by Erwin Schrdinger1. The concept dates back to 1900 when David Gilbert proposed 23 "problems" in mathematics that he would like to see solved in the upcoming century. A concept like Godel's Incompleteness Theorem or digits of pi is a go-to but it really depends on your ToK teacher if he/she counts this as an object for exhibition. Aside from the examples given of what sorts of things objects can be, the Guide only delimits this consideration in the following ways: Students are encouraged to choose objects that are of personal interest and that they have come across in their academic studies and/or their lives beyond the classroom (Guide, p.41), and The specific real-world context of each object is extremely important to the task. Your exhibition should explore either the core theme or one of the optional themes. To see examples of the kind of objects students can include, go to MyIB, and find the exemplar TOK exhibitions. As it is a requirement of the new syllabus, there was a lot of ambiguity surrounding examples of what would, or wouldnt be considered an acceptable object for students to pick. What role does imagination play in producing knowledge about the world? Clipping is a handy way to collect important slides you want to go back to later. The Guide offers the following comments regarding what counts as an object: An extremely wide variety of different types of objects are suitable for use in a TOK exhibition (p.41). is mainly used for entertainment purposes. 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A globe, belonging to the student or their family, or to the school, or a similar model of the Earth would seem to be a token of the same type as mentioned in the Guide: A basketball used by the student during their physical education lessons (p.42). It may be even possible that our idea of consciousness is a placeholder term for something we dont understand, like a god was a term for processes that humans didnt understand like weather or stars. If Einsteinian physics is right. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. To me, a poem is an object; if a tweet is an object, then is this also true of a poem? Moreover, they show that their unknowability comes from the complex nature of their objects, randomness associated with factors that shape them or from its specific mathematical nature. If, as was suggested in this and the previous webinar, we begin to use artefacts as knowledge question discussion starters in our classes, instead of or as well as textual or audio-visual stimuli,, and if we ask students to reflect on objects that they encounter, for example in a TOK Journal or in short, reflective pieces of writing, this will almost automatically generate a collection of objects, and reflections upon them, in advance of introducing students more formally to the IA task and the prompts. 35 IA prompts - TOK This subreddit encourages questions, constructive feedback, and the sharing of knowledge and resources among IB students, alumni, and teachers. here. This is called Berrys paradox and in fact, its a kind of sleight of hand with language were subtly moving from naming numbers to describing them, but still no-one can come up with that number! To what extent is objectivity possible in the production or acquisition of knowledge? This idea has been opposed by many famous physicists, including Einstein, who said God does not play dice with the universe.2 Many have been searching for hidden variables which would indicate a state of a particle before observing. 3. It could be an artwork such as a picture painted by a painter. So, for example, in the case of some of the objects you have mentioned, I can foresee how the periodic table, for instance, may open up interesting lines of inquiry into the knowledge question To what extent do the classification systems we use in the pursuit of knowledge affect the conclusions that we reach? (Guide, p.19). TOK exhibition is an individual task where specific objects of real-life and personal importance are connected with Internal Assessment (IA) prompts within one of the TOK themes. We tried to explain basic phenomena concerning our lives, such as weather, or nature using myths and legends, which indicate that this knowledge is beyond our grasp. But on that note, the question of whether this force would be known arises. When I was at school, we were taught that an atom was like a mini solar system with a sun-like nucleus in the middle with electrons orbiting, and the electrons were like tiny marbles. Explain what the image is and it's real-world context in your life-- where and how you used it. 21. He was born Alfred Teitelbaum in 1901. The mathematically provable idea that something exists but is unknowable has clear philosophical and theological implications. Levels of Consciousness and Self-Awareness: A Comparison and Integration of Various Views. How might the context in which knowledge is presented influence whether it is accepted or rejected? You can read the details below. Weve updated our privacy policy so that we are compliant with changing global privacy regulations and to provide you with insight into the limited ways in which we use your data. 28 is the next perfect number. Thank you for tuning into our webinar series about the new TOK syllabus! This should all link (ie answer) the IA prompt. Links to prompt and personal experience There are probably a large variety of different explanations others experienced in different areas of knowledge could come up with, but thatll take up quite a lot of words. The unknowability of the black swan comes from our epistemic limitations, philosophical and empirical. Others argue however, that these experiments simply measure advancement of the brain from which we reason that the being is conscious or not and consciousness isnt measured directly. Unknowable Thing: Whats in a set of sets that dont contain themselves? I was told I couldnt use greater force beyond our understanding as an object, so I chose an object that prompts thinking about said greater force. Additionally, if an audio recording is not an object, what about a video of the key moments of a famous speech? ; The objects may be digital rather than physical objects. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site might not then work. I dont really know that Exactly how many people are living right this minute. The uncertainty principle arose when studying sub-atomic particles and changed how we view the universe. The knowledge about the future is uncertain, requires justification, could be bias, has limitations and many other things. So, they not only can, they also should, and it is one of the central features of the assessment instrument that the students make clear the connections between each object, and the collective insights, and the IA prompt, and thus the thematic becomes the skeleton for orientating the analysis. For example, students could include a photograph of an object, such as a historical treaty, where it would not be practical/possible for them to exhibit the physical object. He has two categories: Things as they appear to us through the mediation of our sense, or in other words, empirical reality, and noumena, things as they actually are in an unknowable objective reality. Become a member of the site and make TOK amazing HERE. David has been teaching TOK since 1999, in a variety of countries including Ghana, the UK, Spain, Finland, Greece, Lebanon, Jordan and Italy. You must select 1 knowledge prompt out of the full list of prompts, and you will be building your TOK exhibition based on the prompt you pick. Are something unknowable Tok? One problem was to prove that mathematics was consistent which would be jolly nice to know. 20. Yes, no problem you could have a set of sets that contain other sets and that set would, obviously, contain itself. He told me that if the author was religious, he/she would insist that act was purely miraculous and that any other reason other than God expressing images through her is wrong. Double-dipping refers to using the same complete piece of work for more than one assessment. After all, youve explained that a generic photo from the Internet is not accepted. How long will human beings exist on earth. The IB prescribes the Assessment objectives to be as follows: (these will guide you to get a hands-on idea about what the IB expects of your TOK Assessments) To demonstrate TOK thinking through the critical examination of knowledge questions. It appears that you have an ad-blocker running. If you like the above content, dont forget to read more on the TOK November essay titles. The TOK guide lists the following examples as possible objects for the TOK exhibition: . Thank you so much for taking the time to provide all this feedback! Our unique TOK newsletter connects you with whats going on in the world right now, and helps you to explore it meaningfully. Teachers can give guidance, but they cannot edit the draft. If true, my ways of Gulp! The TOK Exhibition (also sometimes called the TOK IA) counts for one-third of your marks in the course. Well, much like the fossils, it is arguably unknowable because the size of the universe limits our ability to interact with 99.99% of the universe, in order to find and learn anything about alien life that lives there. remorseful, not happy. Could an image of a dynamic process (such as a captured phase of a dance performance, or an opera singer) be valid as an object? This is the first on the list because, in a sense, the concept of the unknowable starts with this paradox discovered by Bertrand Russell in 1901. Press J to jump to the feed. ), there does need to be some aspect of combination. There are so many territories or areas of knowledge that can be explored however, as mentioned in TOK 2022 guidebook, students must retain their thinking process to one of the optional themes or core-theme as it will help in making the right set of connections with the prospective TOK exhibition objects. It is possible to define truth for one system in a stronger system; but of course, you cant define truth in that stronger system, youd have to move on to a still stronger system and so on, indefinitely searching for the unreachable truth. It has been confirmed experimentally, that many quantum particles behave this way they have no exact state until observed, with each state having a certain probability, just like the cat. Top 10 Unknowable Things - Listverse or a DVD is quite clearly an object, as would be the reel on which the film was originally printed for distribution to cinemas. This brain-hurting theorem was developed by Kurt Gdel. (Extra-Terrestrial) who got stranded on Earth and became friends with a boy named Elliot. 7 Examples of the Unknowable - Simplicable If your school is a member of theoryofknowledge.net, youll also be able to see our example objects to help you get a clear picture of what works and what does not. Change). Most of these are mathematical; Ive tried to make it as nontechnical as possible apart from anything else, Im no mathematician so Ive tried to dumb it down enough so that I can understand it. This paper became the foundation for later research that verified this strategy. You can see these webinars onthis pageof the site. Miracle (religious) -Since Akiane herself said that she saw visions of Jesus Christ, followers of the Christianity religion (Christians) consider her feat a miracle, Training, genius (artist) -As mentioned before, eight year olds normally dont have the ability to do this -Others might consider Akiane an artistic prodigy, but might be more hesitant on the religious claims -Or wonder about what kind of special training she received -Or perhaps its absolute pure, sheer talent, Fraud (skeptics) -Some might even question whether Akiane was the one who really painted it -Nobody really has evidence to validly discredit her feat though. For the second object, when I first showed my teacher, he took out a piece of paper and started creating a mind map as to how different people might view it and the different perspectives that the painting is subject to. Are some things unknowable? What are some examples? - Quora Therefore we are unable to know what is the last digit of this number. However, a generic Internet image of the Buddha would fall foul of the explanation on p.40 of the Guide, which states that they must be specific objects that have a specific real-world contextobjects that exist in a particular time and place. Does our knowledge depend on our interactions with other knowers? For these reasons, the knowledge and the knower, both may remain unknown. What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge? In what ways do values affect the production of knowledge. Smiling Assassin 1. With our current technology, another beings consciousness is definitely unknowable, but with the scientific progression, in the future we may define this term differently, so it could be unknowable with that technology. But as stated before, we tend to assume that something is unknowable too rashly, and that happened in this case.