TOK: A NarrativeTheory of Knowledge – a narrative

1. We can think of knowledge as simplified map of reality

2. We use knowledge to solve problems (even internal ones)

3. Knowledge can take many forms depending on the problem it is designed to solve

4. We can make a distinction between shared and personal knowledge

5. Most knowledge is shared knowledge

6. Much of this shared knowledge is organised into areas of knowledge

7. In order to examine these areas of knowledge, here is the knowledge framework. The framework specifies: scope, applications, concepts, methods, history; and the contributions of individuals 8. Within this framework, ways of knowing occupy a part in some of the sub-sections these can be useful in analyzing personal knowledge

ToK studies how knowledge is produced and how it is able to solve the problems that it was designed to solve. It deals in second order questions – questions about knowledge rather than questions within a particular area of knowledge. These questions are called Knowledge Questions.

Maps as Representations of

Knowledge“The Map is Not the Territory”

What types of Maps?

• Geographical• Political• Socio-Economic• Topographic• Subway• Locators in Malls• City Maps

Knowledge is a Simplified

Representation of a Complex World• Complex Real World • Simplified Representation• TOK Knowledge Questions

Is there knowledge that mankind has

lost?

Consider:• Certain types of

architecture/construction• Some languages• The lost plays of Euripides• Some musical instruments

What evidence do we have that this knowledge once

existed?• Existing artifacts/constructions• Illustrations• References in existing texts

What made this knowledge

vulnerable to loss?• Overly specified• Loss of peoples• Loss of need

What characteristics

does comparable surviving

knowledge share?

Personal and Shared Knowledge• SHARED KNOWLEDGE• Knowledge that CAN be shared

survives• PURELY PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE • Knowledge that cannot be shared

(or is not shared for some reason) does not

Six Conditions for Shared Knowledge•There are shared problems that motivate the production of shared knowledge and an incentive for sharing the knowledge at all.

•The required knowledge exists in a form that CAN be transported over distance (and time)

•There are technologies that can TRANSPORT the knowledge over distance and time

•There are shared concepts and conventions that allow knowledge PRODUCED in one place to be UNDERSTOOD in another

•There are shared METHODS for PRODUCING this shared knowledge

•There is some element of shared HISTORY that allows this knowledge to have a shared significance

Possible Groups for Shared Knowledge

Family groups Religious groups Groups associated with particular academic fields such as mathematicians Groups associated with particular views within an academic field such as neo-classical economists Groups sharing a particular culture Groups sharing particular artistic knowledge such as sculptors Groups sharing particular interests such as fishing Political groups National groups Ethnic groups

Characteristics of Shared Knowledge• Impersonal • Shared Criteria for Evaluation• Systematic• Map like or Model like• Collective Endeavor• Self Checking• Strongly Language Based• Propositional Knowledge• Global (not local to one person)• Can be analyzed using the Knowledge Framework• Produces group perspective

Characteristics of Personal Knowledge• Knowledge by direct “experience”

• Knowing how it “feels”• Knowledge of self• Personal reflection is an important part• CAN be map like but may be more story like (narrative)• Experiential or Procedural knowledge• Less reliant on language• Local to person (not global)• Difficult to truly communicate to others• Uses the Ways of Knowing• Produces Personal Perspective

Some examples of Personal

Knowledge Skills and abilities I gain through practice and habituation, such as, being able to play football, ski, play the piano, dance, paint portraits and so on Knowledge of my own personal biography through my memory. Knowledge of myself – how I might react in certain situations Knowledge of my mental states including emotions Certain (but not all) knowledge required in personal decision-making processes – why I decided to do X Knowledge of other people – what they might be thinking and how they might react Quasi-Systematic knowledge of the world around me gained through my senses Internal maps of practiced acts of sensing – for example making sense judgments such as those made by an experienced tea taster Knowledge that is possible to share in principle but there are good reasons (say commercial ones) for not sharing it. An example here might be Antonio Stradivari and his ability to build violins. Perhaps this sort of knowledge cannot be formulated using language (digitalized let us say). But it might also be true that Stradivari had a strong disincentive to share what was, to all intents and purposes, highly commercially sensitive knowledge.