sample essay 2010

8/22/2019 Sample Essay 2010

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International Baccalaureate

TOK essay

4. To what extent do we need evidence to support our

beliefs in different areas of knowledge?

Word Count: 1,580 words

Mercedes College

November 2010


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Beliefs are based on what we already know and what we assume to be true.

However, that does not mean what we believe is actually true. I do not think that

beliefs presume the same level of evidence as truth, because people carry out

extensive tests to determine the truth of various statements, whereas beliefs maybe based on opinion when concrete evidence is unobtainable. If we make a

knowledge statement which we claim is true, others sometimes may require hard

evidence to accept it. If we make a belief statement that we claim is true,

sometimes there is no or little hard evidence to offer to others.

Different areas need different levels of evidence for beliefs. If we assume the given

question requires a positive response, it will mean all areas need the same level of

evidence for beliefs. Therefore, authority could supply the evidence needed for

beliefs. However, less authority is needed for some beliefs compared to others. For

example, with superstitions, basically no evidence is needed other than from

authority. I am a bit superstitious. Why I believe in some ideas without scientific

evidence or proof is because I have had the concept of good and bad fortune

impressed upon me by my family, particularly the importance of luck when I was

growing up. Even though I have learned that there is not any scientific evidence to

support luck and it does not work sometimes, I still believe in luck. For example, on

the first day of the Chinese New Year, the first bite at lunch must be vegetable and

that means respecting Bodhisattva, and then we will be blessed for the year.

Although I did not have lunch with my family this Chinese New Year, my first bite of

the year was still vegetable, for blessing. In this case, I do have evidence to support

my belief because I feel I am blessed every year; however, even without hard

evidence to support my belief, there is still some reason or evidence for me to

believe. On the other hand, my grandmother believes that 8 is a lucky number. I

do not believe in lucky numbers, because the concept never works for me, but her

superstitious belief could be lucky for her.

In court cases, we require both hard and soft evidence to support claims. When

the consequence involves a persons life, such as execution, which is a legal


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punishment in some places, then we need a lot of evidence to believe the prisoner

is guilty and judge whether or not he or she deserves the death penalty. Hard

evidence consists of details that can be independently verified. Soft evidence is

circumstantial. There are ethical issues involved in the justice system since thecourt usually does not want to produce an unjust decision. Lawyers use language

plus the testimony of witnesses to persuade the court. Both prosecutors and

defence lawyers can manipulate language to arouse emotions, but the case itself

should be judged on facts alone to assess either guilt or innocence.

These two examples of superstition and legal cases show that different areas need

different levels of evidence to support beliefs.

The amount of evidence needed depends on the source of the claim. If a scientific

claim is expressed by either a science teacher, a friend who is good at science, a

science expert or a politician, I will require a different amount of evidence to believe

the claim. By ranking, I would find it easiest to believe the claim produced by the

expert once it makes sense to me, because I believe that an expert must have done

a lot of research and experiments to pronounce the claim. Next would be the

science teacher because I believe the teacher has a certain level of scientific

knowledge but less than the expert, and then comes my friend because I know my

friend more than the politician, also I do not know how much scientific knowledge

the politician has, therefore, I would ask the politician for the most evidence to prove

the claim or just disbelieve it. Thus, the extent to which we need evidence to

support our beliefs within a knowledge area can vary. However, if the same four

people expressed an art claim, I would not be able to rank them. I believe everyone

has their own opinions about the arts, because ways of knowing provide an

important, individual role in judgement and therefore beliefs in the arts area.

If we consider the arts, how do we know whether an artwork is good or not? My

beliefs rely more on visual perception, than the logic I use in understanding science

or the law. However, I still use reasoning in my response to Art. When I was

younger, I studied visual art. The teacher told me how to judge a work. So, when I

first see a painting, I ask what do I see? and the result depends on what mood I


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am in. Also, if I see some bright colours, I might feel delighted; but if I see some

dark colours, I might feel gloomy. Next I would ask how are the colours working

together? or how is the work organized? I would analyse how the line, shape,

colour and value match and consider the principle elements such as proportion,balance, emphasis and pattern. Then I would ask, what did the artist want to

express? or what was happening during the time the painting was drawn? This

could affect my feelings, which could be backed up by observation, or by learning

about the artist and his or her background. Finally, I could ask, what do I think of

the work? and I would have a conclusion about the painting. Whether I think it is

good or bad, I have evidence to support my belief. Although that might be different

for everyone else, my conclusion is still based on my interpretation and my feelings

and this is the supporting evidence for my beliefs. However, I would need less

evidence to believe other peoples claims because I accept that everyone has their

own way to see the arts, because their beliefs and their background would affect

how they perceive particular artworks.

I think that culture and age affect the amount of evidence required for a belief. In my

Chinese background, we burn paper offerings which represent money, clothes,

furniture, food, etc. for our ancestors, Gods and the death ghosts during funeral

ceremonies, in Chinese Traditional Festivals, and on the anniversary of the death of

the dead person. It is very common in Asian countries; however, westerners do not

believe that burnt paper offerings can influence ghosts since they do not have that

culture, even if they believe in ghosts. Here, what I believe is different from what the

westerners believe and what I do for the ghosts is different from what they do.

When people have passed away, we burn the paper offerings to them; we think it is

an obligation and a tradition that we have to do otherwise it would mean that we do

not respect them. I honestly do not know if they will get the money, but my family

and I still follow the tradition otherwise I would not feel right. On the other hand, in

respect to ethics, every thinking human knows that hurting others is not good since

the sense of justice and rationality is practically universal. I have been told about not

hurting others since I was little; the reason given was that I did not want to be hurt

either. Therefore, in general, people believe in this claim that harming others is


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wrong. However, there are always some exceptions, such as in the case of

psychopaths who hurt other people. In addition, when I was younger I could easily

believe what adults said because I thought adults must know everything. The

evidence was that every time I asked a question, they could answer and I believedthey were right. However later, when I found out what I knew and they did not know

and they made mistakes, I did not believe fully what they said and I would require

more evidence to prove what they stated as knowledge claims.

Due to the fact that I am growing up, depending on the beliefs, sometimes I need

more evidence for my beliefs the more I know, but sometimes less. If the claim fits

with what I know, I will require less evidence, like the situation when I was little. I

thought my parents knew everything so I did not doubt them. In a similar way, I

used to believe what my teachers told me, but now I question their knowledge

claims and need more evidence to support my beliefs in the truth of their knowledge.

Currently, I have chemistry background knowledge but not physics, so in

comparison, I will require less evidence for chemistry than physics based beliefs or

claims. However, if the claim conflicts with what I know, I will require more evidence

to make me believe it.

Thus, we need hard and/or soft evidence to support our beliefs in different areas of

knowledge. Therefore, there is always some evidence behind our beliefs, whether it

requires a lot or just a little bit, which depends on the belief. However, the extent to

which we need evidence for our beliefs within each area of knowledge also varies,

because sometimes we accept the facts or opinions of others without proving them

ourselves.

sample essay 2010

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