ToK Essay
Open-minded or sceptical? That’s the question!
Since this school year, I am following a new course, Theory of Knowledge. For me, the approach was entirely new and quite confusing. At first, my world kind of made sense to me. I doubted about some things, but from experience I learnt that everyone struggled with doubts. However, this course questioned everything I assumed to ‘know’ and was sure about! For me, this course is a good way to experience something completely new, as it encourages me to broaden my horizon. It makes me aware of my way of thinking. Since I am not a great thinker, I could perhaps change that when I will open my mind. Wait, did I not learn about that in class? Of course I did, being receptive to new ideas and beliefs is referred to as ‘being open-minded’! Maybe I should try that! But what if I do not know if that something I am being open-minded about is true for certain? If that is the case, I shall have to investigate to what extent this idea is relevant to the truth. But what is truth? (I am starting to act like my ToK teacher…). So when I am questioning open-minded views, am not being gullible. In that case I am being… what is it called again… was it not something like scektical? No, I remember, it was sceptical.
So, to improve my search for knowledge, I shall try to be both open-minded and sceptical, since the combination of the two will probably give me the best outcome.
Okay, here is what I will do. Every time I come across something interesting or new, I will chew through every little bit of information I can come up with, after that analyse everything and then consider whether this is approvable or not. However, while doing this, I could get mixed up. Since I am an inexperienced thinker and not familiar with both terms, I will need to learn to distinguish between the two. For example, while thinking the different views people could hold on a certain topic, I might unconsciously be busy with judging whether this is true or not.
Since this school year, I am following a new course, Theory of Knowledge. For me, the approach was entirely new and quite confusing. At first, my world kind of made sense to me. I doubted about some things, but from experience I learnt that everyone struggled with doubts. However, this course questioned everything I assumed to ‘know’ and was sure about! For me, this course is a good way to experience something completely new, as it encourages me to broaden my horizon. It makes me aware of my way of thinking. Since I am not a great thinker, I could perhaps change that when I will open my mind. Wait, did I not learn about that in class? Of course I did, being receptive to new ideas and beliefs is referred to as ‘being open-minded’! Maybe I should try that! But what if I do not know if that something I am being open-minded about is true for certain? If that is the case, I shall have to investigate to what extent this idea is relevant to the truth. But what is truth? (I am starting to act like my ToK teacher…). So when I am questioning open-minded views, am not being gullible. In that case I am being… what is it called again… was it not something like scektical? No, I remember, it was sceptical.
So, to improve my search for knowledge, I shall try to be both open-minded and sceptical, since the combination of the two will probably give me the best outcome.
Okay, here is what I will do. Every time I come across something interesting or new, I will chew through every little bit of information I can come up with, after that analyse everything and then consider whether this is approvable or not. However, while doing this, I could get mixed up. Since I am an inexperienced thinker and not familiar with both terms, I will need to learn to distinguish between the two. For example, while thinking the different views people could hold on a certain topic, I might unconsciously be busy with judging whether this is true or not.