Prompt 11: Can new knowledge change established values and beliefs?

I know this will likely bother anyone who is interested in order and logic, but I've decided to break the order of prompts so I can publish them as I record them. Turns out the most interesting topics to those around me are not necessarily in the order the IB has given them. Who knew? Anyway...

Today I’m joined by Theatre Teacher, Bob Scheer. We get together and discuss TOK Exhibition Prompt 11: Can new knowledge change established values and beliefs? Bob has also created the harmonies for music on today’s podcast, they’re really beautiful. Enjoy!

Links & fact checks can be found on www.TOKTalk.org

Guest: Bob Scheer

Can new knowledge change established values or beliefs?

Today I’m joined by Liu Yu, aka Mr. LY, teacher of Chinese Humanities and Assistant Principal at ISF Academy in HK. We discuss Prompt 6: How does the way we organize or classify knowledge affect what we know? We explore Confucian values in China as a way of organizing knowledge (and by extension society) within Chinese culture. We also consider language and culture as ways we organize knowledge, and explore how in our personal experiences we’ve been able to step outside our own individual cultures in order to understand more about the world. 

We also really get into the challenge of language as a way we know about the world, and the complexities of translation, as well as how having more varieties of language allows us to become more aware of the nuances of our experiences around us. 

Thanks again to Bernard Wun for the guitar that brings us in and out of this one!

Links for further investigation on www.TOKTalk.org

Guest: Liu Yu 劉宇老師

How Does The Way That We Organize Or Classify Knowledge Affect What We Know

In this episode, I sat down with Donna Gee (IB Design Technology Teacher) and Michael Stewart (IB Psychology and TOK Teacher) to unpack and wrestle with 2023 TOK Essay Title 1: Is replicability necessary in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge. We had a rich discussion which I hope you’ll find insightful into the role and relevance of replicability in different Areas of Knowledge. 

Links several examples discussed can be found on www.TOKTalk.org

Guests: Donna Gee, Michael Stewart

Replicability: 2023 TOK Essay Title 1

Today I enjoyed tea and Talked some TOK with Kevin Hoye (IB English Literature and TOK Teacher) about 2023 TOK Essay Title 5: Are visual representations always helpful in the communication of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and mathematics. We talked a lot about different ways into understanding this question.. 

Links to several examples discussed can be found on www.TOKTalk.org

Thank you to the random street Shanghai musician, once again for the music bringing us in and out of this track.

Guest: Kevin Hoye

Visual Representations: 2023 TOK Essay Title 5

After we finished the last episode, Kevin Hoye and I kept our conversation going about each of the titles, and I decided to keep the mic on to capture our conversation in the form of a quick little bonus episode to point out some things to watch out for and some interesting bits about each of the 6 titles. Class of 2023 TOK students… listen up!

Again, thank you random musicians… speaking of which, if you’re a musician and would like to be featured, reach out to me! You can contact me here: https://www.toktalk.org/contact.html

Guest: Kevin Hoye

Bonus Episode: All the titles 2023… beware!

Prompt 9: Are some types of knowledge less open to interpretation than others?

In this episode, I met with one of my favourite teachers here in HK, Anastasia Stitch. She is a DP History teacher & examiner, and she holds a Masters of International and Public Affairs from University of Hong Kong, and was a DP History student herself. Looking through a Historical lens, I was really interested to hear what she had to say about Exhibition Prompt 9: Are some types of knowledge less open to interpretation than others? 

We explore the beauty of history, literature and arts as being constantly open to interpretation, and try to dig into what kinds of knowledge might not be as open to interpretation, even in these areas. We talk about the key methods of historiography, and how that plays a valuable role in interpretation of historical events, as well as the role of the historian in removing the subjective “I” and to consider a range of contrasting evidence to get a sense of what took place. We get in deep in this one about the nature of knowledge in history and the role of interpretation. Hope you enjoy it and it gets you thinking a little more about the history you know!

And again, thank you Bernard Wun for the intro/outro music!

Guest: Anastasia Stitch

Are Some Types Of Knowledge Less Open To Interpretation Than Others

I met with Jon Rees, another TOK Teacher (as well as teacher of Human Technologies and IB English) here in Hong Kong, and we discussed TOK Exhibition Prompt 23: How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge?

It was a fascinating discussion! Students, you need to be careful in this question about the difference between producing knowledge and producing things. While there is a connection (knowledge is needed to produce things), it is not an obvious connection so an exploration of the knowledge being produced (not just the thing) is required here. I think it would be very hard to argue that material tools (and conceptual tools by extension?) are not essential - and yet there’s room for exploration as you can hear from our conversation. I hope to talk with Mr. Rees again soon, as it was a very interesting and thought provoking conversation. 

Books & Resources that we referenced and discussed in relation to this talk (for links to all of these, check out www.TOKTalk.org):

‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah Harari - this book is essentially an exploration of the role of material tools in the development of humankind, but is especially interesting when he talks about “fictional realities”.  

‘Techno Feudalism’ by Yanis Varoufakis - he does a great job from a Marxist perspective explaining how his father taught him the concept of historical materialism, how technological development creates the tools/conditions for the advancement of the socio-cultural context. Then who controls the means of production, power/authority. 

‘How to Understand E= MC2’ by Christophe Galfard

‘The Sane Society’ by Eric Fromm - criticism of our focus on consumption in a nuclear age where we can annihilate ourselves 

‘Song of the Cell’ by Siddhartha Mukherjee - deep exploration of our understanding of biology - the first chapters are specifically focused on development of the microscope and its influence on the entire field of microbiology and beyond

‘Guns Germs Steel’ by Jared Diamond outlines the theory of geographic determinism, and thus the access to materials and the tools we can therefore make are everything in the development of humankind

‘Knowledge Illusion’ by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach - the illusion of explanatory depth, mistaking shared knowledge for our own

Justice with Michael Sandel 

Little Museum of the World in Chai Wan - A time machine for building peace

‘The Vanishing Face of Gaia’, by James Lovelock - essential wake-up call for humankind

‘Donut Economics’ by Kate Raworth - a hopeful perspective! Nibbling away what we need (not beyond our planetary boundaries)

Special Guest: Jon Rees
Music from the ISF Student Brass Band playing outside the school gate one morning in December 2023

How important are Material Tools?

This is one that I could discuss endlessly. Who doesn’t love imagination? I actually recorded this (and a few more episodes) nearly a year ago and have been waiting for the right time. Now seems like the right time for this one, especially as we’re talking about the role of imagination in allowing us to understand and empathize with circumstances outside of our own world.

We did go down a little LOTR rabbit hole in this one, let me know if you agree with what we said! But to bring it back to TOK, we talked about imagination in arts, literature, science, history... But we also just discussed the nature of imagining - how do we all imagine differently? Is your imagination a blank canvas? An audio box? Is it a recreation of senses in your mind? How much does it infiltrate your daily narrative? What is imagination? How is it different from reasoning or brainstorming? Are logic and imagination different versions of a similar way of thinking? Is it enough that imagination plays the role of fun and entertainment in producing knowledge about the world? Does it just make things more real and more fun?

I really enjoyed this conversation and am immensely grateful for my guests on this (and all episodes) as well as the musicians that help me to put these together. If you’re interested in joining me, please contact me via www.toktalk.org and fill out the contact form.

Links we discussed can be found on www.toktalk.org

Guests: Brett Fisher, Monica Wahl
Music: Hilary Ng playing in the hallway at school

Role of Imagination!

2025 TOK Essay Title 5: To what extent do you agree with the claim “all models are wrong, but some are useful” (attributed to George Box)? Discuss with reference to mathematics and one other area of knowledge.
Guest: Rob Bradshaw 
Sounds: Sri Lankan street musicians


Models are Wrong

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Today’s topic is a previous TOK Essay title:  “Do good explanations have to be true?” To help me explore this question, I am joined by four fellow IB & TOK Teachers: Mr. Bill Kyzner representing Political Science, Mr. Francis Wynne, representing the Classics, including Latin Language & Greek Mythology, Mr. Jordan West-Pratt representing Natural Sciences, and today I’ll be representing the Arts.

Questions we discuss in relation to Natural Sciences, Political Science, Classics and the Arts: What does each discipline seek to explain? What might a “good” explanation look like (as opposed to a “bad” one)? Are there some explanations in your subject that are good but not necessarily true? What is the role of truth in each discipline?

Three things that stand out to me after this conversation:

1.  I was really struck by Mr. Wynne’s example of explanations in Greek Mythology that he argues are “good” and metaphorically true, but not literally true. I like this idea of different layers and kinds of truth.

2. Mr. West-Pratt’s distinction of the role of truth in Natural Science - that truth in philosophy of science being different than the practice of science… For a practicing scientist, there is no distinction between a good explanation and a true explanation - they are one and the same. Whereas philosophers of science are not necessarily truth seekers but model builders.

3. I was disturbed by the idea that truth may be irrelevant in Political Sciences. However, upon reflection, I think this is very much because of our overly liberal use of the word “truth” as a word to describe one’s understanding of reality in this discussion. I do still think there is room for further exploration of the role of truth, perhaps especially as it comes to description of facts and how this then translates into interpretations in different political lenses. Certainly, there is a danger as accepting anyone’s perspective as “subjective” truth, especially in today’s political climate.

​Finally, I still am left wondering about the relationship of truth to the goodness of an explanation, and how that might differ depending on the audience of the explanation - who is the explanation for? what is its’ purpose? and does that determine what makes it good rather than its truth quality? There’s still much to be considered here. A title like this one seems so simple, and yet so complex once we start to unpack it.

No matter if you’re a TOK student, teacher or knowledge enthusiast, I hope that our discussion got you thinking about the relationship of good explanations and truth in your areas of interest or expertise. Tune in again next time for the next episode of TOK Talk.

Thank you to the random street performer in Shanghai for the intro and outro music.

Guests: Bill Kyzner, Francis Wynne, Jordan West-Pratt

Do good explanations have to be true?

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