‘The Elusive I’ Me as the ‘Knower’

Background • You may have noticed that different people believe different things. Sometimes

they claim to be certain about, or to actually know, the things they believe. You may claim that yesterday was mostly sunny with a few cloudy spells, but your friend may claim that it was mostly cloudy with a few sunny spells. Or some people may claim that most violence is the result of poverty, while others will claim that most violence is the result of bad parenting.

• One of the reasons we all claim different things is that we are all different. Your culture, gender, upbringing, religion, nationality, age, education - as well as many other things - all affect the way you experience and view the world, and the way you interpret reality. One of the big knowledge issues, therefore, is how our identity affects the knowledge claims we make, and what this means for certainty and truth. If we all make different claims, how can we all be right? To some extent, our views must be affected by, or even biased because of, our various differences.

• This is important, because we need to be objective, and we need to be open to counterclaims - to different points of view. We also need to be self-aware, by knowing where our own views and interpretations are coming from.

• Also, note that the TOK criteria for the essay and presentation require you to pay close attention to yourselves as knowers, and how your identity affects the ways you perceive and interpret the world!

The Elusive I If you ever get the chance read the book ‘The Pig that wants to be eaten’ by Julian Baggini – the whole book is amazing but #54 ‘The Elusive I’ is particularly pertinent. It highlights how hard it is to pin down that 'thing' we refer to several hundred times every day - the 'me-ness' that we refer to as 'I‘ The ‘I’ or alternatively, ‘You, the knower’ is central to Theory of Knowledge (ToK)

Activity 1 – You as ‘the knower’ In your notepads note down answers to the following: 1. How old are you? How might your age affect both what you know

and your attitude toward gaining knowledge? 2. What is your mother tongue? What other languages do you

speak? How might your particular languages affect your knowledge?

3. What sex are you? Does your gender role affect how you see the world and what expectations you have about your knowledge and education?

4. Are you urban or rural? How might living in a city or living in the countryside affect how you have learned and what you know?

5. What is your spiritual world view? How do you think that your following a particular religion, or not doing so, affects your knowledge?

6. What other aspects of your background belong here? The questions so far have just been guides, opening thoughts to which you can readily add.

Activity 2 – Mapping the world Make sure you have a blank sheet open of your notepad and a pen or dark pencil. Write your name and nationality at the top of the page: • You have ten minutes to draw, as accurately and completely

as you can, a map of the world. • Don't waste time telling yourself that you can't. Just do your

best and discover what you carry (or don't carry) in your mind as your picture of the world. You will not be marked or otherwise judged on the accuracy of the results.

• When you have finished, be prepared to show the results to others in the class.

(adapted from Dombrowski, Rotenberg and Bick, 2007, Theory of Knowledge Course Companion, Oxford University Press)

Discussion • If your maps are different from others, can you suggest

reasons? • What part of the world is in the centre of your map? • What parts of the world have you drawn in greatest detail? • What parts of the world have you drawn in little detail or

left out? • How do you account for the knowledge gaps in your maps? • Does your map reveal any assumptions about particular

countries which other students do not make? • Final question: how does your identity affect the way you

map (perceive, interpret, understand) the world around you?

Concept development Read from page 3 to page 10 (up to the Relativism heading) of your ‘Theory of Knowledge booklets, then complete the following activities in your notebooks: 1. Question 1 and 2 on page 6 2. Question 1 and 2 on page 7 3. The list activity of page 8 4. Question 1 and 2 on page 10

These must be finished by next lesson as they will form the basis of our feedback discussion