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The TOK Essay prescribed titles for the May 2023 session has been released. The six prescribed titles are:

1. Is replicability necessary in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.
2. For artists and natural scientists, which is more important: what can be explained or what cannot be explained? Discuss with reference to the arts and the natural sciences.
3. Does it matter if our acquisition of knowledge happens in “bubbles” where some information and voices are excluded? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.
4. Do you agree that it is “astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power” (Bertrand Russell)? Discuss with reference to the natural sciences and one other area of knowledge.
5. Are visual representations always helpful in the communication of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and mathematics.
6. To what extent is the knowledge we produce determined by the methodologies we use? Discuss with reference to history and one other area of knowledge.

Some general thoughts before I go on to elaborate on each of the prompts:

• Prompts 2 to 4 require some work in interpreting the title correctly. I would advise that weaker TOK students choose one of the other, more straightforward titles if you are not willing to put in the time to put some thought into the title itself.
• Prompts 2 and 5 have both AOKs prescribed and I think the pairings given promote excellent discussion. While some might be put off by Prompt 5, I think it is one of the most interesting prompts this session, and especially in the world of big data and data visualisation, the importance of understanding the role of visual representations in our lives is paramount.
• The other prompts are relatively straightforward. From the exhibition task, students should be familiar with the theme of “Knowledge and the Knower” which most prompts can relate to. This means students can apply their understanding from the exhibition to the essay as well.
• As is the case with TOK Essays in the past, the broadness of many of these prompts mean it is very important for students to suitably and precisely define their understanding of the TOK concepts. With many prompts featuring at least one and more often, two concepts, that require students to carefully consider before selecting examples.

Prompt 1

Is replicability necessary in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.

First, consider the key concepts that are introduced in the prompt. Replicability and necessary are the key concepts here and students should come up with a suitably narrow definition for this that you can keep referring back to in your essay. The trap for students is to take very black-and-white stances when answering the prompt. A good way to show a depth of understanding and lucidity is to approach it as a degree of necessity and not a binary decision. Finally, you must focus on the production of knowledge. Many students often tangentially refer to the sharing of knowledge or transfer of knowledge, but this prompt is concerned with the initial stages when knowledge becomes knowledge. Thus, it should be focused on the methodologies that are used to do so and provides ample opportunities to refer to the knowledge framework, particularly under “Methods and Tools”. Theses tips are all outlined in my how to plan a TOK Essay article.

The prompt doesn’t prescribe any specific AOKs but a likely entry point for students would be the Natural Sciences. As you may have already learned, the scientific method does place heavy emphasis on the replicability of results.

Perhaps the greatest characteristic of the Natural Sciences is the ability to make observations, devise experiments and have these experiments inform the creation or falsification of knowledge. This is not the case with other Areas of Knowledge and provides a prominent point of contrast with other AOKs. The methodology of knowledge production in the Sciences (Natural and Human) fundamentally revolves around replicability through experimentation. However, other areas of knowledge such as the Arts may not value the qualities of similarity and replicability quite to the same extent. For some, like History, having alternative perspectives and thus a lack of sameness that would be suggested by replicability could even be preferred. Therefore, the importance of replicability can be approached by examining the methodologies in which each AOK produces and verifies knowledge.

It is likely expected that students who attempt this prompt will have the Natural Sciences as one of their AOKs. So, it is even more important that you choose examples that are unique and facilitates an original, convincing argument. You can check if your examples are original by reading my list of overused examples that you should avoid.

On a related note, AOKs should be selected to promote comparison as is implied by the prompt. Thus, make sure that you select your AOKs with the ability to list pros and cons, similarities and differences in the methods in which they produce knowledge. By listing them out and selecting the ones which relate to replicability will ensure you address the requirements of the prompt and avoid being overly generic. Good pairings are generally intuitively found based on students’ understanding of the subjects they have studied during their time in the IB. AOKs such as Natural Sciences and Mathematics contrast well with History or the Arts. Human Sciences could also be considered but the limitations or possible advantages in the nuances of replicability compared to the Natural Sciences needs to be considered.

Overall, this is not an especially challenging prompt and shares overlaps with the Exhibition task which students already completed. You may already have an intuitive answer to the prompt. Examples can generally be found in each AOK when you consider unique discoveries or impactful products of each subject.

Prompt 2

For artists and natural scientists, which is more important: what can be explained or what cannot be explained? Discuss with reference to the arts and the natural sciences.

The prompt already prescribes the two AOKs you must consider and is overall a good one if you are indecisive. The two AOKs provides good contrast with respect to the approach to uncertainties in knowledge between disciplines. This prompt provides solid discussion with respect to the “Scope” of the knowledge framework, considering the unique issues or challenges faced by different AOKs and how they differ in setting clear boundaries and guidelines in addressing them. Alternatively, “perspectives” and “methods and tools” are good options as well.

Initially, the prompt can be tricky as there are some points of confusion. Firstly, this title asks for an evaluation of the importance between what can be and cannot be explained. So do not dwell on the importance of the explanation itself or how it is created but think about the merits of having or not having explanations. Secondly, the title is phrased from the perspective of ‘artists and natural scientists’ implying that students should focus on how producers of knowledge in these AOKs think about explanations, not how students themselves do.

The key concept in the prompt is explanation. Students must clearly define this concept and this will naturally lend itself to the discussion of the importance of knowing the presence of explanation or the lack thereof. Explanations can often give us certainty and so this concept of certainty can also be introduced to facilitate meaningful discussion. Discussion then, should be focused on how knowing or not knowing something in each AOK contributes to either how we produce, accept or share knowledge.

The points of contrast between the two AOKs is relatively subjective and you may have your own arguments between the two. One interpretation could be that the Arts live in ambiguity and that plays a big role in allowing the freedom to interpret produced knowledge while Natural Sciences is more black-and-white. So in the arts, it may be advantageous and thus more important to be able to understand what can be explained, while Natural Sciences pursue further knowledge by chasing what is not yet explained.

Prompt 3

Does it matter if our acquisition of knowledge happens in “bubbles” where some information and voices are excluded? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.

When you think of “bubbles”, what do you think about? There is a common saying of “living in your own bubble” that suggest the isolated way in which we surround ourselves with a false reality. This TOK prompt extends this concept of a bubble to the way we learn, and how we often acquire knowledge such that we filter out things that don’t ‘fit’ within our own ‘bubble’.

Having a read of this article and watching the below video gives you some insight around the idea of ‘bubbles’ and how it can limit your perspectives. Although it is related to the idea of social media, you can extrapolate this to how we learn and acquire knowledge in a range of AOKs and mediums.

The biggest challenge with this prompt is that learning in ‘bubbles’ is unlikely to be a concept you have engaged with before in the TOK course. However, broken down simply, it is essentially how we ignore certain perspectives to fit a sort of preconceived notion of what the knowledge we acquire ‘should look like’ in our minds. So the key concept in this prompt can be perspective. When defining this, make sure you link back to the idea of bubbles. A good way to start the essay is to briefly explain ‘bubbles’ and then introduce the concept. You can see how a 10/10 introduction effectively explains the key concepts in the title here. Ultimately, the goal is not to explain how this happens, but consider the implications this has on our understanding of the world.

You may already have some idea of examples that could fit with this idea of ‘bubbles’. From the prominent political divisions in America, pro and anti-vaccination camps to abortion debates, people tend to consume and thus, acquire knowledge that fit their own narratives while ignoring the merits of alternative perspectives. Of course, politics is not an AOK. However, they do lend themselves to discussions for example around the Natural Sciences. While anti-vaccination research is an overused example, the different health guidelines, vaccination requirements, and even the type of mask that best prevents infection has been debated heavily as our understanding of the virus evolved. It is easy for us to hold firm to a certain belief of pre-existing knowledge rather than accept new perspectives that come along as researchers produce new findings on the pandemic. Indeed, we see that many criticised the u-turns that governments made around the world to adapt to new research.

Other AOKs with more fluid methodologies such as Arts and History could provide interesting contrasts. Particularly, the concept of having different schools of thought in the Human Sciences and History could provide interesting points of discussion, as often different schools have radically different believes and ideologies and thus the knowledge produced in each can be contradictory.

Remember that you are not required to make a judgement on whether this approach to acquiring knowledge is good or bad, but rather comment on how significant this is to the process of knowledge acquisition. So, each argument you form must relate to significance.

Prompt 4

Do you agree that it is “astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power” (Bertrand Russell)? Discuss with reference to the natural sciences and one other area of knowledge.

The original quote that this prompt is inspired from is actually:

We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.

Bertrand Russell

There are a couple of traps within this prompt. Remember that you are not critiquing or commenting on the quote itself or pointing out the flaws within it. Rather, you are giving a personal response to the prompt. This is supposed to be opinionated and you must specifically agree or disagree, or preferably, give a nuanced response that elaborates on the degree which you agree with the statement. In addition, students might already know about Russell and his believes. Do not let them colour your own TOK Essay. The IB is not interested in hearing about what you think about Russell’s ideologies but rather what you personally receive from the title.

The premise of the prompt is that we do not have a lot of knowledge in our respective AOKs. Do not debate this premise, but if needed, simply explain why this could be the case as a starting point to your essay.

Additionally, pay attention to the requirements of the prompt for you to debate whether we should be shocked or not by this. You are not debating whether little knowledge gives us much power. In fact, this is again, the premise of the essay.

It is intuitive that power is the key concept within this prompt. By defining this, you should have a good framework to approach the rest of the essay and discuss the shock value of how manifestations of power appear in each AOK.

The prompt prescribes the AOK of the Natural Sciences providing interesting discussion based on how power is achieved through produced knowledge rather than, say, an individual’s identity. In fact, it is probably useful to think about how someone or something is given power within the natural sciences compared to another AOK such as Arts or History. This will allow for the comparison of how ‘shocked’ we are by the influence of knowledge on power. In essence, while we always thought about power as being a determinant of knowledge, it is time to flip the script, and think about how knowledge can in turn provide us power.

Prompt 5

Are visual representations always helpful in the communication of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and mathematics.

Another very prescribed title that can be beneficial to those who are indecisive. It is interesting that the IB has chosen the two AOKs where you might not expect “visual representations” to be the most fundamental elements of knowledge within them. However, this provides for provocative discussion that prompts you to think about how things that we take for granted like diagrams and charts can aid or detract from knowledge communication.

Representation is a key concept here and communication of knowledge is the stage that you should be focused on. While communication of knowledge lends itself to enabling us to acquire knowledge, do not be tempted to go on a tangent about how visual representations help us to acquire knowledge or ‘learn’, because that would be beyond the prompt. However, a mention of the effects on communicating knowledge with respect to ease of learning can be made.

In the AOK of human sciences, there is a vast range of visual representations depending on the specific discipline. Students should consider the Group 3 subject they are studying and flick through their textbook for any notable visuals that really helped their learning. For example, as an Economics student, you may encounter the diagrams of your Supply and Demand models. This is a rudimentary example, but considering similar models and representations of such can lead to fruitful discussion especially when thinking about the alternatives of not using such mediums.

In Mathematics, students in HL benefit from a greater understanding of Topic 3 Geometry where the concept of Vectors, planes and lines intersecting provide interesting discussion as it would be hard to wrap your head around such a topic without visual representations. Complex numbers represented on an Argand diagram promotes discussion of when visual representations can allow us to understand the intangibles. For all mathematics students, functions and other graphical representations when applied to statistics, geometry and calculus can generate really interesting discussions when considering how we interpret said representations.

Overall, a quite interesting topic and my favourite out of the six. It may be a bit unconventional but does make many students realise how they have been influenced by the presence of visual representations in their learnings over the past couple years in the IB.

Prompt 6

To what extent is the knowledge we produce determined by the methodologies we use? Discuss with reference to history and one other area of knowledge.

This prompt is, in my opinion, the most straightforward out of the 6. It reads as a simple knowledge question from the old TOK syllabus and directly hits at the syllabus points of the TOK course under the “Methods and Tools” segment of the knowledge framework. It is almost identical to the prompts given for the TOK exhibition, so students who did something similar for that assessment, should consider this prompt as well.

Students should focus their discussion on how each AOK has different methods in producing knowledge. The prompt does not require much interpretation or many definitions of concepts. To write this essay effectively, students should first revise the methodologies of each AOK, for example the historical method as explained in the below video.

The AOK of History is selected because it is perhaps the most obvious entry point to this prompt. You may already have some ideas about the subjectivity and biases that could be introduced in the historical method that colour the perspectives of knowledge that is produced. This is likely to be a common theme amongst TOK essays using this prompt. As such, it is even more important that you think deeply about this line of argument and use effective examples that tease out a specific instance which relates to how biases manifest and the implications it has on what knowledge is produced.

A contrast with an AOK that has a radically different methodology is beneficial. The Natural Sciences (and Human Sciences, to a lesser extent) or Mathematics provides interesting comparisons with, at first glance, methodologies that avoids the flaws of that of History. However, is it possible that these methodologies also carry disadvantages of their own? Is History necessarily producing ‘worse’ knowledge? Is there merits to the ambiguity of methods used in History or the Arts compared to the Sciences?

If you could answer some of these questions in your essay, you should be reasonably accomplished.

What next?

I hope this helped you in choosing your prescribed title, and gave you some ideas to kick start your TOK essay. You might want to start writing right away, but make sure you check out how to actually start your TOK essay, and plan your ideas before jumping in. After that, find out how to structure an effective TOK essay. Check out a whole range of other TOK resources here on Hack IB. You might find my series on deconstructing 10/10 scoring TOK Essays helpful as well!