IB DP Core: Theory of Knowledge 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Ethics as a TOK area of knowledge, moral relativism is the view that:
- There is a single universal moral standard applicable to all cultures
- Moral judgments are true or false relative to cultural or individual standards (Correct answer)
- Moral knowledge is impossible because emotions cloud judgment
- Only empirical science can determine ethical norms
Correct answer: Moral judgments are true or false relative to cultural or individual standards
Moral relativism holds that ethical claims are valid only within a particular cultural or individual framework, denying universal moral truths.
Question 2: The 'Gettier problem' challenges the traditional definition of knowledge as 'justified true belief' by showing that:
- True beliefs are always justified
- A belief can be justified and true yet still not count as genuine knowledge (Correct answer)
- Justification is unnecessary for knowledge
- Only scientific claims can constitute real knowledge
Correct answer: A belief can be justified and true yet still not count as genuine knowledge
Gettier's 1963 counterexamples demonstrated situations where a belief is both justified and true but is knowledge only by accident.
Question 3: In TOK, 'emotion' as a Way of Knowing is most valuable because it:
- Provides infallible moral guidance in all ethical decisions
- Can motivate inquiry and provide access to knowledge about values and interpersonal experience (Correct answer)
- Eliminates the need for reason in personal decisions
- Is the only reliable source of aesthetic judgment
Correct answer: Can motivate inquiry and provide access to knowledge about values and interpersonal experience
Emotion can orient knowers toward what matters, fuel curiosity, and access dimensions of human experience that pure reason may miss.
Question 4: Which scenario best illustrates the concept of 'tacit knowledge'?
- A student memorizes the rules of grammar from a textbook
- A surgeon who cannot fully verbalize every micro-decision made during an operation (Correct answer)
- A historian who reads primary sources to form an argument
- A chemist who follows a published protocol step by step
Correct answer: A surgeon who cannot fully verbalize every micro-decision made during an operation
Tacit knowledge is the embodied, practical 'know-how' that experts possess but cannot completely articulate in explicit instructions.
Question 5: When a TOK student says a mathematical truth is 'necessarily true,' they mean it is:
- True only in the physical world as confirmed by experiment
- True in all possible worlds given the axioms, regardless of empirical observation (Correct answer)
- True because a majority of mathematicians accept it
- True only within a specific cultural context
Correct answer: True in all possible worlds given the axioms, regardless of empirical observation
Mathematical truths are necessary truths: they follow logically from axioms and cannot be otherwise within the chosen system.
Question 6: The IB TOK exhibition requires students to explore how TOK manifests in the real world by:
- Writing a 1,600-word essay arguing for a prescribed title
- Selecting three real-world objects and connecting them to a TOK concept (Correct answer)
- Conducting a scientific experiment and reflecting on its epistemological implications
- Debating a classmate on an ethical dilemma in front of an examiner
Correct answer: Selecting three real-world objects and connecting them to a TOK concept
The TOK exhibition asks students to identify three real objects and use them to demonstrate how TOK applies to the world around them.
Question 7: A researcher deliberately keeps her national background hidden when publishing findings in a cross-cultural psychology study. This addresses which TOK concern?
- The problem of induction affecting generalizability
- Potential bias arising from the knower's perspective influencing the interpretation of data (Correct answer)
- The distinction between analytic and synthetic statements
- The role of peer review in validating knowledge claims
Correct answer: Potential bias arising from the knower's perspective influencing the interpretation of data
By hiding national background, the researcher tries to reduce the influence of her personal perspective on how readers evaluate the findings.
IB DP Core: Theory of Knowledge 4
In Ethics as a TOK area of knowledge, moral relativism is the view that: