#5 May 2018 Quality of knowledge proportional to historical development of discipline. Ref 2 disciplines.

Please get the exact title from your ToK Teacher. I can’t write the exact title here as IB have Copyright to the titles.

Note that the question asks you to refer to ‘disciplines’, not AoK, a discipline is a subject within an AoK (e.g. Biology, Economics, etc). Please see more detailed guidance from the IB at the end of this post. The quote in the PT refers to “academic disciplines”, it would be useful to pay close attention that you write about such, and not non-academic disciplines.

The disciplines that you will partly determine the definition(s) of the “quality” of knowledge that you use, you should make it clear to the examiner how you are defining the quality of knowledge, obviously if you consider alternative definitions during your essay also make the clear to the examiner. Better essays will probably make reference to the Knowledge Framework, particularly the Scope and Applications section. There are countless ways to define quality, exploring this at the beginning of the essay, and testing your definition throughout the essay will be key. As with all ToK essays, a dictionary definition will probably be of limited use. The definition(s) of quality need to be drawn from reference to the characteristics of knowledge within the chosen disciplines. If you need more guidance on this be sure to see your ToK teacher.

Students could look at examples of ‘old’ & ‘new’ knowledge within each discipline, or compare an ‘old’ discipline with a ‘new discipline’. As such, for example I can see essays comparing the quality of knowledge about genetic splicing with quality of knowledge about the circulation system from Biology. On the other hand, I could see an essay which compared the quality of knowledge about genetic splicing from Biology with the quality of knowledge about soothsaying from religion. There are other ways that students could explore this essay.

Students could consider the speed of knowledge development within a discipline. Some disciplines have very rapid knowledge development (e.g. Genetics in the last 90 years), some slow knowledge development, and most variable knowledge development at different times of their historical duration. Consideration of the factors which lead to variable rates of knowledge development would be a useful way to approach this essay.

Another approach to the essay would be a consideration of what constitutes a discipline, particularly by looking at the methodology section of the knowledge framework. For example is knowledge about brain architecture generated through use of the fMRI scanner in the 21stC in the same discipline  as knowledge about brain architecture generated through surgery in the 19thC ? Are they both Biology, or is the former Neuroscience, and the latter Anatomy ? As such, does a unified discipline called Biology even exist either categorically in the current day, or historically over time ? Do any disciplines actually exist if their method of knowledge production changes / evolves ?

The words “directly proportional’ in the PT are interesting. Students may want to consider whether it is possible to measure the direct proportion of historical development ? Does this refer to the chronological or conceptual development of a discipline ? There is a danger of being drawn too far into a relativist argument here, it is important that clear distinctions are made within the essay.

The choice of disciplines is so important in this essay to enable students to draw the needed distinctions. For example the disciplines of Behavioural Economics (very new), and Human Geography (relatively old) share very similar methodologies, and it may therefore be harder to draw distinctions between the two. However,  the discipline of Anthropology (which could also be argued to be relatively old) has a very different methodology to both Behavioural Economics and Human Geography, and would therefore be easier to draw distinctions from.

Finally, if you are stuck be sure to read the Knowledge Framework sections of the ToK Guide for the AoKs from which your disciplines are drawn.

enjoy your writing !

Guidance from IB, published November 2017:

Prescribed titles 1 and 5 make reference to “academic disciplines”.
The term “discipline” in a prescribed title refers to an established academic subject.

Some areas of knowledge include a collection of disciplines whereas others comprise just a single discipline. Hence, for example, biology and chemistry are disciplines with the natural sciences as an area of knowledge, and economics and anthropology are disciplines within the human sciences as an area of knowledge, and theatre and music are disciplines within the arts as an area of knowledge. These are disciplines, but not areas of knowledge in themselves.

But history, mathematics and ethics, while also being disciplines, also each belong to their own area of knowledge respectively. They are disciplines and areas of knowledge.

Where a title asks for the candidate to address areas of knowledge, individual disciplines within the composite areas of knowledge (natural sciences, human sciences, arts – if selected) may be addressed as part of the analysis, but care should be taken that they are plausibly representative of those areas of knowledge.

Where a title explicitly asks for disciplines, that is what is required and not a general treatment of those areas of knowledge that consist themselves of more than one discipline as above. A treatment of two disciplines within the same area of knowledge would be one legitimate approach in these circumstances, but candidates should ensure that such a comparison can generate enough contrast for worthwhile conclusions about knowledge to be drawn.