Essential Understanding

Subject teachers can embed TOK into their subjects by helping students explore the relationship between knowledge and ethics in their subject area.

This element focuses on exploring ethics and the ethical considerations that have an impact on inquiry in the different themes and areas of knowledge. This includes aspects such as the relationship between facts and values, and how ethical and epistemic values are built into the quest for knowledge. It also includes questions relating to knowledge and inequality and injustice. It is crucial that TOK discussions about ethics focus on the knowledge questions that are woven into, and implied, in the ethical issues being discussed, rather than the focus being on debating the ethical issues themselves.

Examples of knowledge questions relating to ethics include the following.

• Should the pursuit of knowledge in these themes/areas of knowledge be subject to ethical constraints?
• What responsibilities rest on the knower as a result of their knowledge in these themes/areas of knowledge?
• How can we know when we should act on what we know?
• Do established values change in the face of new knowledge?

Ethics and Knowledge Making in Arts

Why is Forgery unethical?

Considering ethical practice in the subject areas

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Developing Activity for Exploring Ethics

• Develop a class activity to help students explore ethics related to knowledge in your subject area
• Base your activity on a real or hypothetical scenario
• Incorporate at least one of the TOK concepts
• Use chart paper to design the activity.
• Share

Sequence:

• What is your subject content/concept/question?
• Describe the real/hypothetical scenario
• List the TOK concepts you are incorporating
• List knowledge questions (if any)
• Describe the activity you will do

Resources: Ethics

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