TOK Semester 1

Bias

prejudice, unfairness, favoritism

Culture

shared ideas, beliefs, customs, and practices of a community or a society

Perspective

point of view

A priori

knowledge established purely by reason (not innate)

Truth

in accord with fact or reality, or faithfulness to a standard

Belief

confidence that something exists or is true

Expert

a person with specialized knowledge in a particular subject

Certainty

the quality of having no doubt

Illusion of Explanatory Depth

the illusion that you understand something in detail when you actually don’t

Proof

conclusive evidence

Objectivity

looking at the world in a detached way, focuses on facts

Subjectivity

looking at the world from a personal point of view, influenced by feelings and emotions

Interpretation

an explanation of the meaning of something

Skepticism

an attitude of doubt & obtains knowledge through continual testing

Authority

the moral or legal right to make decisions in a particular field of knowledge or activity

Evidence

signs that you can see, hear, experience, or read to support the truth of an assertion

Relativism

the belief that what might be right for one person may not be right for another

Fallacy

a mistaken belief; an invalid argument

Justification

to show that a belief is well-founded and reasonable

Paradigm

a model or example that provides a framework of understanding

Theory

an interconnected system of ideas intended to explain something in depth

Data

an unstructured collection of facts and figures

Information

data that has been processed and structured

Metacognitive

relating to your own thought processes

Contestable

where there are different possible answers, opinions, or views on the same question

Empiricism

all knowledge arises from sense perception

Rationalism

knowledge relies on deduction/ reasoning

Logic

the principles that govern reason, a branch of philosophy

Premise

assumption on which an argument is based from or from which conclusions are drawn

Deductive reasoning

reasoning from the general to particular

Syllogism

two premises + conclusion

valid

the argument follows logically form the two premises

invalid

the argument does not follow logically from the two premises

sound

two true premises and a true conclusion

Inductive reasoning

reasoning from the particular to general

Virtue ethics

an ethical action is one performed by a virtuous person

Deontological ethics

ethics is a matter of fulfilling your duties and obligations

Teleological

ethical action is based on the result or end achieved

Moral absolutism

there is at least one universal moral principle which should be followed irrespective of teh context of their consequences

Conspiracy theory

denial that an event took place; belief in an explanation for an event based on the idea that there was a secret agency involved

Dogmatism

laying down principles as undeniably true without consideration of evidence or opinions of others

Correspondence theory of truth

truth corresponds to a fact (observing reality rather than relying on human beliefs)

Coherence theory of truth

truth is based on human beliefs

Pragmatic theory of truth

truths are beliefs that can be scientifically verified or produces predictable outcomes

Consensus theory of truth

truth is based on a set of beliefs that the majority agrees in

Pluralist theory of truth

there arre multiple truth and multiple meanings of the word “truth”

Redundancy theory of truth

truth has no essential property and the word can be substituted for another

Post-truth

objectives facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than emotional appeal