Real life situation: People think that Asians are smarter than others.

Knowledge issue: How do we know that Asians are smarter than others? What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? How do we know what we know?

Real life situation: People think that people of Maori ethnicity experience economic hardship more than others. Knowledge issue: How do we know that Maori families experience more economic hardship? What is knowledge? This is a generalisation formed by the public through what they know. How is knowledge acquired? The news, rumours, etc. How do we know what we know? Real life situation: People in New Zealand think that Asians are smarter than others. People in New Zealand think that Polynesian families experience economic hardship more often than others. Topic statement: Racial stereotypes. Poor knowledge issue: How are racial stereotypes created? Reasonable knowledge issue: Can racial stereotypes ever be accepted as true? Excellent knowledge issue:

Real life situation: Racial stereotype Topic statement: Validity of stereotypes Knowledge issue 1: How reliable can knowledge be when it is based on stereotypes? Knowledge issue 2: To what extent can knowledge derived from racial stereotypes be useful?

Possible TOK Theory: Common knowledge = Knowledge accepted by a majority of people but rejected by a significant minority. Knowledge by description = This is explicit knowledge expressed as facts about the world. Knowledge by acquaintance = felt knowledge a knowing how to do something (hard to express) Rationalism = Rationalism as a philosophy states that reason has precedence over all other ways of acquiring knowledge, or more strongly, that it is the unique path to knowledge. It is traditionally contrasted with empiricism. Empiricism = The view that the senses are primary with respect to knowledge. Knowledge claim simply means that you are saying something that you believe to be true. This phrase will be used extensively throughout this book. It is a good thing to begin to see the differences and similarities of knowledge claims that come out of the ways of knowing and the various areas of knowledge. The correspondence truth test: A statement is uttered about a state of affairs (fact) and the words either match or fit or agree with or correspond to the facts (the state of affairs). Eg. The cat is on the mat. (State of affairs: The cat is on the mat.) The coherence truth test: Statements under the coherence test pass muster by their rational agreement with one another, even though each individual proposition or law within the system is tested by how it relates to the state of affairs of the real world. The pragmatic truth test: Does the idea work for you? Ways of knowing: Language; Reason; Emotion; Sense perception Memory Knowledge by authority Imagination Ethics

Can we ever agree on moral values? What is right and wrong?