This essay was for TOK Essay in 2021 MAY exam and my KQ was “Accepting knowledge claims always involves an element of trust.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge. This could be helpful for those who are writing TOK Essay, even though the prompt might not be the same.

 

[Sample excerpts]

“Accepting knowledge claims always involves an element of trust.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.

 

How has knowledge as we know been established? The truths that seem familiar and natural in the modern world are in fact products of observations, questions, and discussions over time. Knowledge doesn’t just grow on trees; in order to ascertain a knowledge claim, a long process of evaluation must come prior to its acceptance. With a plethora of information nowadays, we are oftentimes bound to rely on our own criteria to select a series of evidence and judge knowledge claims. In this sense, elements of trust interfere, which aid, and sometimes obscure, our understanding of knowledge. In this essay, I will be using two different interpretations of “elements of trust.” In history, I will be focusing on “trust,” where accepting knowledge claims involves personal knowledge, bias, emotion, and other subjective factors. In human sciences, “elements of trust” are evidence that makes knowledge claims trustworthy –  modes of persuasion such as authority, source, criteria, and methodology. I believe that the statement is to great extent correct in history, due to its reliance on perception in formation of knowledge claims. However, human sciences study matter amongst humans and thus often prioritize emotion and faith over elements of trust.

Because formation of knowledge claims in history bases itself on perception, accepting historical claims will always require elements of trust due to their inherently biased nature. History seeks to explain current events based on conclusions drawn from observations of the past. However, we often choose to trust historical evidence that supports our own perception of the situation, disregarding contradictory evidence…

 

  • Total number of pages: 8 pages
  • Topic: Accepting knowledge claims always involves an element of trust
  • Subject: Theory of Knowledge
  • The file is in Word format.