TOK: Summary of ideas pages 27-37 (Chap 2.1)

Throughout this chapter, one will learn that Plato founded the first university, and here his students and himself were interested in finding out if their knowledge was valid. Plato's way-of-knowing, is also known as knowledge-by-description or propositional knowledge and he believed that the only real knowledge was knowledge you were certain about. The chapter then depicted how you can be sure you know something by following three tests, allowing you to believe, test for truth and then justify your true belief. Page 30, gives a brief description of the three famous thinkers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, explaining their ways and beliefs of knowledge. As the chapter continues, it allows you to re-think your beliefs and learn to understand what a belief is, and what it has to do with knowing. It is evident that you must believe something in order to know it and be certain you know it. Therefore, it is shown that Plato believes a statement much be believed in order to contain knowledge. As well as belief, truth also plays a major role in the act knowing. There are three characteristics to truth that this chapter outlines: Truth is public, Truth is independent of anyone's belief and Truth is eternal. These three characteristics allow one to understand truth and the ways in which it can be interpreted. Lastly, Justification is needed it order to know something. Justification, as stated in the chapter, can be gained in four different ways: by logic, by empirical evidence, by memory and by authority. Pages 33 and 34 define the four ways in which justification can be achieved. Therefore, this chapter allows one to see how all three components: Belief, Truth and Justification, are needed it order to know something and be certain you know it. 

TOK: Summary of ideas pages 6-26 (Chap 1)

Theory of Knowledge allows one to expand their process of thinking, think outside the box and question "why?". Pages 6-26 highlight the ways of knowing, allowing the reader to second what they know and travel even further into the belief of knowing, and how one knows. Throughout these pages one can see that their knowledge of knowing, comes primarily from the use of their five senses.The knowledge one gains from their senses is called "empirical knowledge". Page 20 states that there are two main principles of empiricism being: All knowledge is based on experience and the experience of senses and the knowledge acquired through experience is the basis of understanding, making the experiences meaningful. The study of ToK categorizes ways of knowing into four different categories: perception, reason, emotion and language. This allows one to analyze their knowledge and discover how that knowledge was gained. Plato, a Greek philosopher, who pioneered both the understanding of sensation and perception also pioneered the Theory of Knowledge. This shows how perception and sensation go hand in hand with Theory of Knowledge, allowing one to gather a better understanding of ToK through these concepts.