Inter+Cultural+Exchange

=Welcome to the TOK Interaction Class: Today we will be pondering the following knowledge issues. =

Nature of knowing • In English there is one word “know”, while French and Spanish, for example, each has two (savoir/connaître and saber/conocer). In what ways

do various languages classify the concepts associated with “to know”? • In English, French, Spanish or Chinese, for example, what is the relationship between the different ways of expressing “know”: “they know of

it”, “they know about it”, “they really know it”, “they know that person”, “they know that this is so”, “they know how to do it”? Are there other

ways of using the verb “to know”? • How do “believing that” and “believing in” differ? How does belief differ from knowledge? • What are the differences between the following: information, data, belief, faith, opinion, knowledge and wisdom?

Knowledge communities • In the TOK diagram, the centre is represented as both an individual and a group. To what extent can we distinguish between knowing as an

individual and knowing as a group or community enterprise? • How much of one’s knowledge depends on interaction with other knowers? • Are there types of knowledge that are specifically linked to particular communities of knowers? • To what extent can we act individually in creating new knowledge? What are the strengths of working in a knowledge community? What are the dangers? • Is common sense just what is taken for granted in a community? How can we decide when to question common sense? • Presented with the belief system of a community of knowers, how can we decide what we personally believe? How can we decide which

beliefs we ought to check further? In the end does it just amount to a question of trust? If so, how can we decide who to trust, and on which

issues? • Do we need to grow up in a human community in order to develop ways of knowing (sense perception,language, reason and emotion)? Or are

we born “hard wired” to be able to use them? Is community more important in some ways of knowing than others? • In what sense is a community of knowers like bees constructing the labyrinths of their hive or a group of builders constructing a building?