I This link will keep the exhibition original, and prove your engagement with TOK. In the first place, an example is provided in the Guide of a student being present in a photograph: A photograph of the student playing in an orchestra (p.42). Mathematicians used to think that there is no strategy to win in blackjack, assuming that its just a card game, based on randomness. Identification This is an image of an girl named Akiane Kramarik posing next to a painting she did The painting is called Prince of Peace'', and she was only eight years old when she painted it. 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! For example, 6 is a perfect number 1 + 2 + 3 = 1 * 2 * 3 = 6. The Guide is clear that objects cannot be tailor-made specifically for the Exhibition: They may be objects that the student has created themselves, but they must be pre-existing objects rather than objects created specifically for the purposes of the exhibition (p.42). Now there is a new youngest uninteresting person, and they can also be removed from the list, and so on until the list must be empty. Can new knowledge change established values or beliefs? So I decided to put in different perspectives to explain its real world context and he said it was a good idea. For this TOK exhibition sample, I have chosen, The Core theme. The mathematically provable idea that something exists but is unknowable has clear philosophical and theological implications. In fact, you can split sets into two types those that contain themselves and those that dont. You or your friend need our assistance. It is, therefore, important that students identify specific objects to discuss rather than using generic objects and generic images (p.42). But guesses arent confirmed knowledge, so is the unrecorded past unknowable? As is made clear on p.40 of the Guide, Students must select one of the following IA prompts on which to base their exhibition, and all three objects must be linked to the same prompt.. Heisenbergs reasoning goes like this: How do I find out where a particle is? World War II started in 1939 but Turing had been working on code-breaking at Bletchley Park for a year before that; trying to decipher the German Enigma code. Does S contain itself? Object 2: Akiane Kramarik - Prince of Peace. The question if there are unknowable things with our current technology is easy to answer yes, there are, but as it is impossible to predict the future, it is impossible to say whether these things will remain such. The other slightly crazy thing about it is that its not possible to determine what is its an uncomputable number, which is a real shame if we could compute , then its been shown that most unproven problems in mathematics could actually be proved (or disproved). His argument is based on the infinite consequences of God existing either eternal damnation if one does not believe, or heaven if one does. You can see these webinars onthis pageof the site. Unknowable Thing: In mathematics, there are true things that can't be proved true - and we don't know what they are. Learn about the 950-word exhibition commentary, ways to link it to your IA prompt, and how to set it within a theme. Keeping these cookies enabled helps us to improve our website. Youll meet great thinkers and ideas, hone your understanding of key TOK concepts, and build up a library of examples for the essay and exhibition. 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. The only way we can know that this kind of god exists, is by stating that we believe this fact to be true, which will be a purely personal experience. Are Some Things Unknowable Tok? Its easier to consider something unknowable than to find that knowledge, thus we often hastily recognise something as unknowable, even though its not. It says Links between each of the three objects and the selected IA prompt are clearly made and well explained, and There is a strong justification of the particular contribution that each individual object makes to the exhibition (Guide, p.47). This collapses the superposition and the cat falls into one of the two possible states. Here, the IA prompt presents the opportunity to choose an object that is unknown to a student. looks and acts as a fragment of Spielbergs imagination, the possibility that actual aliens planted those ideas into Spielbergs head cannot be completely discarded -Maybe the outer force previously explored are aliens beyond our comprehension -Maybe Jesus is an alien -But are all those things unknowable because of human limitations? Things that were beyond our comprehension for that time, were simply acknowledged as unknowable. Can one of the artefacts for the Exhibition be an audio piece? The TOK exhibition object 3 is a case of our knowledge about astrology. 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. Pi is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Are there any limitations on the type of item that can be used? Chaitins constant is the probability that a random computer program will halt. The three TOK exhibition objects which I have chosen are: The complete details of TOK exhibition object 1 can be taken from here. Follow the link below to take you to knowledge & the knower. While the third object can be objectively proven to be something unknowable, its important to notice that in case of both objects one and two and the introduction we have to assume that some popular belief is shared by everyone, while its provably not true there were economists that predicted the 2008 financial crisis just as there where attempts in the ancient times of creating a way of viewing the world not based on myth. 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). 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. Imagine someone proving that a number could be simultaneously even and odd, its similarly worrisome to that. (LogOut/ So, conceivably, a corporate logo could be used to illuminate knowledge issues raised in this specific context but, as with every object chosen, this contextualisation would have to be very precise. Here are a few things that are unknown or unknowable: The size of the universe. I'd suggest you check the assessment criteria and ask your teacher once again. Students may also use digital objects such as a tweet by a political leader. Either of these could stimulate the kind of discussion suggested here. Well done. Are something unknowable Tok? Faith is the only way to make the existence of a god knowable, but as there are no clear arguments to make one believe, there will always be people claiming they do not believe and therefore do not know. My pedagogical instinct would be to go with the first of these two strategies so as to make the IA task as natural an extension to daily TOK teaching and learning as possible. My prompt: Are some things unknowable?DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE TOK PACKET (THIS NEW ADDRESS WORKS)http://www.getanaintok.com/freestuffTOK Essay Tutoringhttps://www.fiverr.com/share/NEAQ6VTOK Exhibition Tutoring:https://www.fiverr.com/share/V7AB8BGet a great score in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme by scoring as high as you can in Theory of Knowledge! To me, a poem is an object; if a tweet is an object, then is this also true of a poem? Create your own unique website with customizable templates. After all, youve explained that a generic photo from the Internet is not accepted. happiness? 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. We often invalidate and consider some things unknowable, even though theyre not, and on the other hand, we tend to make assumptions or forecasts on inherently unknowable matters, ranging from such a simple thing as the future to more complex paradoxes or cognitive limitations. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. It was later published as a strategy for blackjack in the famous book Beat the Dealer, written by Ed Torph, who was a mathematician at MIT. He had no thought that he was escaping from Poland he left his children behind thinking he would be returning soon. Is the intention that these three objects together represent the methodology of the field? Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Our limits of comprehension may result from insufficient technology or lack of prior knowledge in this matter. Not only are they unknown now, they can never be known. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. While the TOK essay connects the prescribed title to the relevant AOKs, the TOK exhibition explores how TOK manifests in the real world through the specific real-life objects of personal importance with an IA prompt within one of the TOK themes. But just because something is not accessible for us now, it doesnt mean that it wont in the future, therefore its sometimes mistakenly to assume that something is unknowable, when it is just inaccessible for us. Its fairly easy to argue that there are no uninteresting people: Consider making a list of uninteresting people; one of those people will be the youngest and being the youngest uninteresting person is, itself, interesting so they should be removed from the list. Can a model of Earth be used as an object? You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site might not then work. Press J to jump to the feed. The exhibition aims to assess how you can apply TOK concepts to the real world. These will familiarize you with the IA prompts, how to select effective objects, and the assessment rubric. The assessment instrument for the IA task mentions two criteria (in the 910 mark band) which give us some insight into what this unpacking might look like. The Teacher Support Material offers the following advice: Students are encouraged to select objects that have personal relevance or that link to areas of personal interest. The assessment instrument for the Exhibition places great emphasis on the specific real-world contexts (Guide p.47) of the objects chosen. His children survived the war and they were reunited in 1946, although most of his extended family were killed by the German occupiers. What role do experts play in influencing our consumption or acquisition of knowledge? 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. Activate your 30 day free trialto continue reading. We've updated our privacy policy. I think you need stronger consideration of what does or does not make something unknowable. Back to the theorem: Tarski proved that arithmetical truth cannot be defined in arithmetic. The same prompts remain available for the duration of this specification (this means that they don't change every year, as opposed to the essay titles). Students begin their exhibition by selecting one IA prompt and three objects, or images of objects, that show how this question manifests in the world around us. The examples given in both cover a wide range of types of objects, and the sample Exhibition files in the Teacher Support Material likewise all feature different types of objects. 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. cultures, we may never be able to know the truth. Should some knowledge not be sought on ethical grounds? To judge by extrapolation based on what is explicitly stated in both the Guide and the Teacher Support Material, the sheet music and/or lyric sheet, or a physical recording, perhaps even a photograph of a recital or concert, would certainly count as objects, in the strictest sense. Address Keep in mind that the entire purpose of a ToK Exhibition is to show how the objects you've . 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. But we can prove that even though Chaitin's number exists, we can also prove it is unknowable. Chaitins constant is an example of what seems normal and sensible to a mathematician, but crazy sounding to the rest of us. Can new knowledge change established values or beliefs? Werner Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who worked closely with the Danish physicist Niels Bohr in the 1920s. With this concept firmly in place; you can reason thus: Suppose you start writing computer programs to generate real numbers, one for each real number. Saying that something is "eternal" and "always existed" isn't an answer, it's just admitting you don't know so you're guessing. Yes. If why these three rather than others is key to top marks, wont students be prevented from gaining top marks by not being able to access a physical object? By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. This idea was created by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and later developed in his book called The Black Swan. If we invent a hypothetical entity, define it as supernatural and claim that it is impossible to prove its existence by mere humans, it can become something unknowable. It can be a math problem which a student finds difficult to understand. Follow the link below to take you to knowledge & politics. This is another mind bender proved by Alan Turing. But this metaphor extends to events outside the financial market. Subscribe HERE! He also extended this to any formal system; truth for that system cannot be defined within the system. I have difficulties coming up with looking forward to your comments. As you know, you need to choose one of the 35 IA prompts to base your exhibition on.. Even now, as I write this, I imagine him feeling a bit of happiness. Is it correct that a photograph can be *of* an object, or the photograph can *be* the object? This will assist in justifying the use of the objects to connect well with the Unknowable part of the IA prompt. It's a feature of your computer programming language. The uncertainty principle arose when studying sub-atomic particles and changed how we view the universe. 2- Broadly connecting some regular object with IA prompt is a complete NO-NO. Why might that be UNKNOWABLE (as opposed to unknown). This exhibition explores three objects that are by some considered unknowable, but others are tirelessly trying to prove them wrong. This is why I mentioned that perhaps the safety first approach of insisting upon the use of physical objects might be best for the first cohort of students, until we have seen comments from moderators and the publication of the first Subject Report, which may offer further clarification regarding what does, and does not, count as an object. To see examples of the kind of objects students can include, go to MyIB, and find the exemplar TOK exhibitions. This belief, if it were to be considered as a way of knowing, would make God be known to the believer. Mathematics, however, it equally poses challenges about the knowledge we possess about prime numbers. Object 1: Pterodactyl Fossil Identification: My first object is this is a pterodactyl fossil found by a fossil hunter in the Sandown Bay on the Isle of Wight, UK. It is a pure pseudo-science and knowledge claims about it are relatively untestable. TOK Home > TOK exhibition > TOK exhibition objects. Your objects should be connected to you personally, and be things that you have encountered at school, or your life beyond the classroom. By accepting, you agree to the updated privacy policy. For the exhibition itself, you should try to present the actual object, although for some objects (a church, for example, or an electron microscope), this wont be possible, so an image will do. His idea was strongly related to the 2008 market crash that surprised most of the economists and later was tried to be rationalized. However, the final item describes things that might be true but that cant be known. It is strongly recommended that you have a personal link to the objects, either from your experiences inside school, or beyond it. In what ways do our values affect our acquisition of knowledge? Subscribe HERE. The Guide informs us that For example, a discussion and photograph of a students baby brother is an example of an object that has a specific real-world context, whereas a generic image of a baby from an Internet image search is not (p.42), and the Teacher Support Material reiterates the same point (substituting baby brother for teddy bear). Thats why I used the cover of the book Beat the Dealer as an example of the knowledge wrongly considered as unknowable but later proved to be able to comprehend and use in our life. The following are illustrative examples. The main one is the TOK Assessment 2022 webinar, but we also consider this form of assessment in our free webinars on the 2022 course. Plastic Octopus. Does all knowledge impose ethical obligations on those who know it? 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. 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. Then consciousness may become a term for something more advanced, like a living brain. (LogOut/ digital/analytical , chemicals from the lab as objects? The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics: A Translation of Schrdingers Cat Paradox Paper, 2 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/God_does_not_play_dice_with_the_universe (retrieved 16.05.21), Unless something fundamental in our understanding of the world changes, which is very much possible, as we have not yet developed a concise theory of everything, we will never have a deterministic model of the universe and some phenomena will remain unknowable. Also, there is a potential danger to visit the site. A prime number is only divisible by itself or 1 and its a curious fact that, so far, every even number thats been tested is the sum of two of them for example: 8 = 5+3 or 82 = 51 + 31. What would NOT be considered appropriate as an object? Throughout human history we considered much knowledge to be unknowable. (LogOut/ They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. When I learnt the theorem, it was suggested that the famous Fermats Last Theorem might be such a true thing that cant be proved true, but that was spoiled as an example when Andrew Wiles proved it true in 1995. It is assessed internally, but moderated externally. They may be objects that the student has created themselves, but they must be pre-existing objects rather than objects created specifically for the purposes of the exhibition The specific real-world context of each object is extremely important to the task. For a start, there is more than one infinity. For example, how many positive, whole numbers are there? For instance, the knowledge question How has technology had an impact on collective memory and how is knowledge preserved? (Guide, p.17) might well produce interesting discussions about if and how recording technology, or transcription technology, has had such impacts. Does this mean that a Buddha could be an object, if we are concerned with which Buddha (historical context; produced for a purpose/place), but it cant be a standard Buddha image which we dont know about? People are always trying to find a <meaning= and <significance= in the world to satisfy themselves for the future and life after death. bombing and murder of over 200 people in Indonesia. 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). Double-dipping refers to using the same complete piece of work for more than one assessment. It is hard to define whether the knowledge is unknowable or not. Thus, it is clear that synecdoches (a part representing the whole) are not acceptable because they are not objects, rather they are symbolic representations, such as the one mentioned in the question.