Mr. Kuykendall's online classroom
The Human Sciences Area of Knowledge focuses on the social sciences NOT including history. Behavioral Economics is an excellent discipline to study within this AOK because it is the marriage between psychology and economics, two previously distinct social sciences. Read this primer below from Harvard …
Read the New York Magazine article below by Wesley Yang: http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/ Open your Diigo app and save the article to your TOK folder. Highlight the article as you read it. We’ll discuss this article next class!! Some things to consider: What are knowledge questions that …
Knowledge questions are a crucial component of the TOK curriculum. Fluency in their construction is necessary for high achievement on both the presentation and essay components of the TOK program. So, in order to practice creating knowledge questions, you’ll go through the following exercise. This …
Yes, watching the Matrix in TOK is definitely cliche, but whatever. It’s just too perfect for furthering our investigation of the Simulation Argument put forth by Philosopher Nick Bostrom of MIT. As well as serve as expanding our understanding of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave …
We talk a lot about ways of knowing and how they contribute to our knowledge. We evaluate knowledge claims. Today, we’re going to do both. Read the article below elucidating Berkeley and Wittgenstein’s concepts vs. materialism (keepin’ it real). Then, we’ll evaluate the claims contained …
Martin Heidegger is considered by many who opine on such things to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time. Certainly one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. The difficulty in comprehending his work often equals it’s greatness. With the fact that …
In TOK, we examine the ways in which language affects cognition and constructs knowledge. However it’s equally important to understand the way in which our culture, beliefs, and values are reflected in the language we create. Read the excellently written piece by American Author Colson …
Language One of the learning outcomes from the language unit of study in TOK is understanding and appreciating the power of language to persuade, inform and induce emotion. Memes are a part of our culture now. They can inform on profound ideas such as the …
Last class, we had a great discussion regarding the Platonic dialogue, “Crito” as an examination of Reason. However through the course of that conversation, we examined Socrates’ arguments rationalizing his decision to accept his punishment of death. Plato writes: “It is not just for you …
Journal Entry for Reason Below: Attempts have been made to identify universal, self-evident and incontrovertible laws of logic, such as the law of identity (for example, ―an apple is an apple‖) or the law of non-contradiction (for example, ―nothing can be an apple and also …