Arguments Show Your Thinking
- An argument is a structured chain of reasoning where you:
- Make a claim.
- Support it with evidence/examples.
- Analyse what the evidence reveals about knowledge.
- Link back to the prescribed title or knowledge question.
- Without this structure, your essay turns into something wholly descriptive without any meat.
Note
In TOK, arguments are the backbone of your essays and presentations, demonstrating your critical thinking skills.
Why Arguments Matter
Definition
Claim
A position you take, your attempt to answer the title.
Definition
Counterclaim
An opposing perspective that challenges your claim.
- Strong arguments:
- Demonstrate critical thinking: You’re not just stating ideas; you’re testing them.
- Show open-mindedness: You consider perspectives beyond your own.
- Promote clarity: Examiners can follow your reasoning step by step.
- Weak essays often fail because they stay at the level of “examples” without analysing what those examples mean for knowledge.
Example
- You might claim
- Emotion can act as evidence in itself, especially in areas like ethics or the arts, where feelings of empathy, disgust, or beauty guide judgments that can’t be reduced to logic.
- For example, public outrage after images of humanitarian crises often drives political action more effectively than statistical reports.
- But you may counterclaim:
- Emotion isn’t pure evidence, it’s selective and culturally shaped.
- What triggers outrage in one society may barely register in another, meaning that emotion can amplify certain knowledge claims while silencing others.
The Core Framework for a TOK Paragraph
- You can use this simple C-E-A-L model for every body paragraph:
- Claim: A statement that answers part of the prescribed title.
- Evidence: A specific real-world example, case study, or object.
- Analysis: Explanation of how the evidence supports your claim (draw out TOK concepts: certainty, perspective, reliability, power, interpretation).
- Link: Connect back to the prescribed title and implicit knowledge question.
Hint
This is very similar to PEEL that you'd use in languages.
Example
- “Does visual representation always aid knowledge?”
- Claim: In the natural sciences, visual representations can redefine knowledge.
- Evidence: Watson and Crick’s double-helix model of DNA was not simply a diagram of existing facts; it created a new way of seeing molecular biology, turning scattered data into a coherent structure.
- Analysis: The visual form made a discovery possible by revealing patterns invisible in raw numbers. This shows that visual representation can act as a tool of knowledge creation, not merely its translation.
- Link: This supports the view that representation shapes what scientists can perceive as real, meaning visual tools are not add-ons but foundations of scientific knowledge itself.
Weighing Claims and Counterclaims
- The difference between a good TOK essay and a great one is whether you weigh perspectives instead of just listing them.
- After presenting claim + counterclaim you need to be answering which is more convincing, and why?
Exam technique
- Compare the scope: Which perspective explains more cases, not just one?
- Evaluate the limitations: Which perspective holds up better when challenged by real-world examples?
Hint
- The “So What?” Test:
- After every paragraph, ask yourself:
- Have I explained why this matters for knowledge?
- Or have I just described an example?
- If your commentary wouldn’t make sense without the example in front of the examiner, you’ve failed the “So What?” test.
Self review
- Have you used real, specific examples instead of vague references?
- Have you balanced claims with counterclaims?
- Have you weighed perspectives and drawn a reasoned conclusion?
