future." To what extent is this true in these areas of knowledge.

Terms to Consider

Things to Consider

Historian/History

What is the process of researching and writing history?
Who is the historian? Can we all be historians?

Human Scientist/Human Sciences

What is the methodology and what are the goals of the human scientist?
Who is the human scientist?

Understand the Past

What qualifies as understanding?
Do we all have to agree? (schools of historiography)
What do we mean by the past?
Whose story are we telling?
Does the historian or create history?

Change the Future

Do the human sciences seek to develop new paradigms or reinforce their existing ones?
How do we measure change?
What is the future? Is it possible to have a common vision of the future or is it dependent on the individual knower?

Knowledge Issues that Could be Explored

1. What is the contextual focus of History? Should historians consider the present and possible future when evaluating the past?

2. What is the contextual focus of the Human Sciences? Should the human scientist consider the historical context of the situation they are evaluating?
3. To what extent is history cyclical and what does this say about the value of historical investigations?

4. Can we ever truly understand the past given the gaps in the historical record?

5. What is the role of reason in History? Can we apply our present rational systems to the past?

6. What is the role of emotion in analyzing the past? Can we effectively emphasize with people from the past because of our common humanity or are we unable to overcome the difference in context?

7. What is the role of reason (induction) in the Human Sciences? Can we reliably extrapolate into the future to predict future events?

8. Are we able to objectively observe human behavior?
9. Others?

Arguments and Examples to Consider

Arguments for this question are going to vary depending on how you view the key terms and assumptions in the title and the knowledge issue(s) you choose to explore. Below are a couple of ideas you could consider:

· Affirmative: Historians understand the past through their methodology of multiple sources, evaluation and elimination of bias, empathy and filling in the gaps in the historical record through the use of reason. Human scientists use knowledge gained from observation and study of human behavior to diagnose social problems and suggest solutions for the future. They base these solutions in empirical observation and logical processes of deduction and induction.

· Counter: Historians not only understand the past simply for knowledge sake but use that understanding to better understand the present and provide guidance for the future (Winston Churchill said "In history lies all the secrets of statecraft"). Human scientists also attempt to explain trend of human behavior and examine event in the past to gain understanding (i.e. economists evaluating the causes of the Great Depression). Human scientists are limited in developing solutions for the future because of the difficulty in establishing clear causality of human behavior, the dangers of reductionism and hasty generalizations, and the inability to predict future developments (weather, technology, ideas, etc...)

Areas of Knowledge

Examples to Consider and Further Research

History

History is interpreted but is it ever understood
History as cycle
Marxist Historians
Hegelian dialectic allowing for an application of reason to the analysis of History
Historian as a creator of History rather than a recorder
By understanding the roots of China's development can we predict where it will go in the future

Human Sciences

Economics-Futures markets, conflicting paradigms, inability to use past performance to predict future events, large variety of factors impacting consumer behavior, attempts to avoid recession despite theoretically impossible
Psychology-teaching past case studies to understand current developments, social models of conformity
Geography- Conflict between Malthus and Boserup, population models, tourist development, aid

	Created by Amne about 10 years ago

For the IBDP Tok Essays

Theory of Knowledge Essay