Here are the TOK essay titles as published on the IB website. Your essay will be marked according to the assessment criteria. Remember to centre your essay on knowledge issues and, where appropriate, refer to other parts of your IB programme and to your experiences as a knower. Always justify your statements and provide relevant examples to illustrate your arguments. Pay attention to the implications of your arguments, and remember to consider what can be said against them. Include a word count and your list of references using the Harvard System.
Please see my other posts under "writing an essay" for help and advice. Examiners mark essays against the title as set, using the TOK essay criteria. Please make sure you are familiar with the criteria before starting your essay. Respond to the title exactly as given; do not alter it in any way. Your essay must be between 1200 and 1600 words in length. Remember also that your TOK presentation and essay must be submitted in the same language.
1. Knowledge is generated through the interaction of critical and creative thinking. Evaluate this statement in two areas of knowledge.
2. Compare and contrast knowledge which can be expressed in words/symbols with knowledge that cannot be expressed in this way. Consider CAS and one more area of knowledge.
3. Using history and at least one other area of knowledge, examine the claim that it is possible to attain knowledge despite problems of bias and selection.
4. When should we discard explanations that are intuitively appealing?
5. What is it about theories in the human sciences and natural sciences that makes them convincing?
6. ‘It is more important to discover new ways of thinking about what is already known rather than to discover new data or facts’. To what extent would agree with this claim?
7. ‘The vocabulary we have does more than communicate our knowledge; it shapes what we can know’. Evaluate this claim with references to different areas of knowledge.
8. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of using faith as a basis for knowledge in religion and in one area of knowledge from the TOK diagram.
9. As an IB student, how has your learning of literature and science contributed to your understanding of individuals and societies?
10. ‘Through different methods of justification, we can reach conclusions in ethics that are as-well supported as those provided in mathematics’. To what extent would you agree?
And the same titles in Spanish:
1. La interacción entre el pensamiento crítico y el creativo genera conociemiento. Evalúe esta afirmación en relación con dos áreas de conocimiento.
2. Compare y contraste el conocimiento que se puede expresar con palabras y con símbolos y el conocimiento que no se puede expresar de estas formas. Considere CAS y una o varias áreas de conocimiento.
3. Examine la afirmación de que es posible adquirir conocimiento a pesar de los problemas de parcialidad y selección en historia y al menos otra área de conocimiento.
4. ¿Cuándo deberíamos descartar explicaciones que son intuitivamente interesantes?
5. ¿Qué es lo que hace que las teorías en las ciencias humanas y las ciencias naturales sean convincentes?
6. 'Es más importante descubrir nuevas formas de pensar sobre lo que ya sabemos que descrubrir nuevos datos o hechos'. ¿En qué medida está de acuerdo con esta afirmación?
7. 'Nuestro vocabulario no solo comunica nuestro conocimiento: da forma a lo que podemos saber'. Evalúe esta afirmación con referencia a diferentes áreas de conocimiento.
8. Analice las fortalezas y limitaciones de utilizar la fe como fundamento para el conocimiento en religión y en un área de conocimiento del diagrama de TdC.
9. Como alumno del IB, ¿cómo ha contribuido su aprendizaje de literatura y ciencias a su comprensión de los individuos y las sociedades?
10. 'Mediante diferentes métodos de justificación, en la ética podemos llegar a conclusiones tan bien fundametades como en las matemáticas'. ¿En qué medida está de acuerdo con esta afirmación?
