optional themes

Optional Themes

In addition to the core theme, you will also study two out of five optional themes: knowledge and technology, knowledge and language, knowledge and politics, knowledge and religion, and knowledge and indigenous societies. These themes are relevant to our world today. They also shape your perspectives and identities. Your teacher will select two themes that are particularly interesting or relevant in your learning context. In your TOK classes on the optional themes, you will discuss key ideas such as the justification of and evidence for claims. Your understanding of the themes will primarily be assessed through the TOK exhibition. To find out more about the optional themes, check the links below.

Connecting the optional themes to the core theme and the 4 elements

The optional themes do not stand alone. Instead, your exploration of the optional themes is a continuation of your exploration of the core theme “Knowledge and the knower”. After an analysis of yourself as a knower within a community of knowers, you will focus on factors that have a huge impact on how we think and know in the world today. The five optional themes also play a role in shaping perspectives and identities. Within your assessed TOK exhibition, you will demonstrate how TOK manifests itself in the world. You will do this by analysing objects or images that link to the core and optional themes. Because some of the optional themes are closely related to current affairs (eg knowledge and politics), it may be tempting to steer away from discussions on knowledge and focus on politics as such. It is important that you remain focused on knowledge at all times. To do this, you should link the optional themes to the knowledge questions on the four elements of the course: scope, perspectives, methods&tools and ethics. You can find suggested knowledge questions on each web page of the optional themes.