Theory of Knowledge Glossary ahimsa: the principle of doing no harm abductive reasoning: reasoning that infers the best explanation based on the evidence available absent-mindedness: inattentiveness that leads to lack of memory absolutism: belief in absolute truth and absolute cultural, religious, political and moral standards against which all other views can be judged abstract: conceptual, nonrepresentational, independent of concrete specific physical existence aesthetics: the branch of philosophy that studies beauty and the arts; principles concerned with beauty and artistic taste affiliation: having a connection with a specific group or organisation agnostic: a person who believes that nothing can be known of the existence or nature of God alien: a person who is a not a citizen of the country that they live in or a species that is not native to the environment it is found in allegory: a text or artwork that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, usually moral or political in nature AlphaZero: a computer that can play the game Go and beat human world champions alternative facts: in the context of post-truth politics, alternative views to more widely-accepted and verified beliefs ambiguity: when a word, statement, image or situation can have more than one meaning or interpretation amoral: outside the scope of morality; lacking any moral framework anarchist: a person who believes there should be no people or organisations who rule as a matter of right anchoring bias: where a particular concept or idea is mentioned before a question is asked – this has a ‘priming effect’ which may affect the response given anthropology (cultural and social): the study of the development of culture and society antithesis: the negation of a thesis applied artificial intelligence: also known as weak AI or narrow AI, the use of software for a specific problem solving or reasoning task Argand diagram: a geometric representation of complex numbers that uses a real x axis to represent the‘real’ part of the complex number, and the real y axis to represent the‘imaginary’part of the complex number (the Argand diagram is also called the complex plane or z-plane) arithmetic: the process of counting and calculating in numbers art brut: the ‘raw art’ movement began by Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985), which recognised the value of primitive or low art that belonged outside the conventional tradition of fine art Arte povera: An Italian art movement that used ordinary but unconventional materials to create art works artificial general intelligence (AGI): also known as strong AI or full AI, the capacity of a machine to perform the same intellectual task that a human, can including the full range of human cognition artisan, craftsman: a worker skilled in a particular trade or craft assent: an expression of agreement assimilation: integration astrology: a belief that the movement of the planets affects human behaviour in predictable ways asylum: shelter and protection; in a political context, protection granted by a state to persons who are political refugees augmented reality: the technology that overlays a computer simulation onto the real world authenticity: validity, genuineness authoritarian: relating to a government that imposes its authority over people and limits their freedom authority: the moral or legal right to make decisions in, and take responsibility for, and exercise power within a particular field of knowledge or activity; the word can also be used to denote a person or group who has that authority autocracy: a government based on one person with supreme authority and power automation: the use of robots and machine systems to replace human work autonomous: self-governing availability heuristic: a bias where recent or easily remembered examples affect our judgement avant-garde: innovative ideas considered to be at the forefront of new developments and techniques in the arts axiom: a starting assumption, often regarded as a selfevident truth or, more loosely, something we assume to be true or accept as true within a particular system bacteriophage: a virus that destroys bacteria ballpark: estimated, rough, imprecise barbarian: Herodotus refers to the Persians as barbarians. For Herodotus ‘barbarians’ denoted all nonGreeks, and the word originally meant a speaker of an incomprehensible language. The word did not have the same negative connotations that people might associate it with today belief: a confident opinion; something thought to be true benevolent: kind, well-meaning benign: harmless, non-threatening, innocent bias: prejudice, unfairness, favouritism, one-sided preference bioavailability: the measure of drug absorption over time Big Bang: the theory that the universe began with an infinitely dense singularity ‘exploding’ in a rapid expansion 13.8 billion years ago big data: the vast amount of varied digital data sets, which can be analysed to identify patterns, associations and trends bit: a binary unit of information in a computer bitcoin and Ethereum: types of cryptocurrency blind faith: faith without evidence, understanding or discrimination; faith that is not open to evaluation or critical thought block chain: a decentralised distributed ledger of transactions which is permanent blocking: when there is an obstruction to your ability to recall information bodhisattva: a Buddhist who has achieved enlightenment, but delays reaching nirvana out of compassion for those who are suffering body language: conscious or unconscious body movements and positions that communicate our attitudes and feelings censorship: the suppression or limitation of any material or views and beliefs that are considered to be unsuitable or inappropriate centipede effect: over-consciousness of your performance in a way that interferes with what you are doing certain knowledge: a state of affairs when we can be definite that something is the case certainty: the quality of having no doubt chatbot: a computer that simulates human conversation cherry-picking: picking out sections of a text that appear, at face value, to support a particular opinion, while ignoring the context and other sections of the text that might promote a different view circular reasoning: the fallacy of assuming the truth of what you are supposed to be proving clickbait: content deliberately designed to encourage you to click on the link, which will take you to another web page; for example a visual image or an attentiongrabbing headline cognitive (knowledge) tool: the mental process of acquiring knowledge, for example via the senses, memory, imagination, experience and rational thought cognitive bias: when bias affects the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding cognitive science: the study of the mind and its processes through an interdisciplinary approach that involves philosophy, psychology, linguistics and the natural sciences bot: an automated computer programme coherence theory (of truth): the theory that a proposition is true if it fits in with our overall set of beliefs bourgeoisie: the middle class – Marx thought that they benefited most from a capitalist economic system collaborative: produced by two or more people working together breadth of knowledge: a span of knowledge covering many aspects of a subject communism: a social, political and economic ideology in which there are no class divisions, all property is communally owned, and the government directs all economic production bureaucratic: overly concerned with procedure and administration at the expense of efficiency canon: a collection of works considered by scholars to be the most important and influential; in the context of religion, a body of authorised religious works accepted as authoritative within that religion capitalist: employing an economic system where there is limited government intervention, and the production and distribution of resources depend on the investment of private capital cardinality: the number of elements in a set; for example, the set {0, 1, 2} has three elements and so has cardinality 3 caricature: comic exaggeration competency: capability; the possession of sufficient knowledge or skills complex: complicated, multifaceted complex number: in mathematics, a combination of a real number and an imaginary number, for example 3 + 4i compound interest: the addition of interest to the principal sum of a loan or deposit to make that sum larger, and therefore make subsequent interest greater; or in other words, interest on interest concept: an abstract idea or something conceived conceptual: relating to abstract ideas confirmation bias: the tendency to believe evidence that supports your opinions, and ignore or discount evidence that goes against what you believe conjecture: a guess or imaginative hypothesis connotation: the ideas and associations a word evokes in addition to its literal meaning consensus theory (of truth): the theory that truth is based on a set of beliefs that the majority of people agree on consistent: noncontradictory, not permitting the proof of two statements that contradict one another and islands, although since 1976, it has been possible for crofters to purchase their crofts to become owner occupiers cryptocurrency: a medium of exchange and store of value which can be used like money cubism: an artistic movement in which objects were analysed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form conspiracy theory: either a denial that an event took place, or the belief in an explanation for an event based on the idea that there was a deliberate and secret agency of people or organisations cultural appropriation: the adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture constructivism: the theory that mathematical truth and proofs should be positively constructed cyborg: a cybernetic organism, which combines organic and mechanical parts contestable: where there are different possible answers, opinions or views on the same question or topic; a contestable knowledge claim or question is one that can be argued about, where there is more than one possible interpretation or answer datum (plural data): in the context of technology, ‘something given’ – usually any facts and statistics gathered together for investigation; an unstructured collection of facts and figures contingency: something that is dependent upon chance deductive reasoning: reasoning from the general to the particular contraindication: a situation when a particular remedy or procedure should not be used controlled experiments: experiments that are performed with carefully regulated variables to provide a standard of comparison for similar experiments with just one differing variable conviction: a firmly held belief correspondence theory (of truth): the theory that a statement is true if it corresponds to a fact corroborate: to confirm or support a statement or theory corroboree: an Australian Aboriginal dance ceremony cosmogony: the study of the origins of the universe cosmology: the study of the universe countability: in mathematics, a set is countable if it can be put into a one-to-one relationship with the natural numbers {1, 2, 3, …} coup d’état: when a small group of people seizes power by force covenant: an agreement or promise of commitment creation science: treating the theory that God created the universe as recorded in the Book of Genesis as a scientific theory creativity: the ability to bring something into being through the imagination; the ability to generate ideas or produce objects that are original, surprising and valuable critical: involving objective analysis and evaluation crofter: traditionally, a tenant farmer of a small agricultural land holding in the Scottish Highlands culture: the shared ideas, beliefs, customs and practices of a community or society decode: decrypt, decipher, translate deep learning: a technology at the centre of artificial intelligence that uses big data to predict or decide deepfake: the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create fake videos creating the false impression of authenticity deism: the belief in an impersonal creator god, who is evident through reason and the laws of nature, but does not intervene in human affairs deity (plural deities): a god or supernatural being dematerialisation: when technology loses its physical substance demographics: the characteristics of human populations denomination: a distinct religious group within Christianity (for example, the Anglican, Georgian Orthodox and Lutheran churches) denotation: the literal meaning of a word deontological ethics: the belief that ethics is fundamentally a matter of doing your duty and fulfilling your obligations depth of knowledge: knowledge that focuses on, amplifies and explores specific topics descent: as an adjective, dependent on parentage or ancestry designer baby: a baby genetically engineered in vitro with specially selected traits, which can vary from lowered disease-risk to gender selection Deuteronomic cycle: a cycle of rebellion, oppression and repentance as a way of interpreting historic events diagonalisation argument: a mathematical proof published by Cantor in 1891 which demonstrated that there are infinite sets which cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence with the infinite set of natural numbers dialectics: a method of argument that involves a disagreement between opposing sides diaspora: people who have been dispersed from their homeland or have spread out from their homeland, while maintaining a close connection with it discernment: the ability to use sharp perceptions to judge well disinformation: intentionally false or inaccurate information spread as an act of deception disinterested: free from bias and self-interest, which may help us to make objective judgements dissent: disagreement; nonconformity Distributed Denial of Service: flooding the bandwidth of a target (usually a web server) to prevent it from conducting normal business; this is an illegal practice in many countries divine: something of a supernatural nature that is sacred or godlike; as a verb, it can also mean ‘to discover something in a supernatural way’ dogmatism: a tendency to lay down principles as undeniably true without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others Dunning–Kruger effect: a cognitive bias where we find it difficult to know the limit of our knowledge and expertise. If we have a little knowledge in a particular area, we may overestimate our level of knowledge and competence in that area. In this way, a little knowledge may lead to an unjustified illusion of greater knowledge empathy: the ability to imagine and understand the feelings and viewpoint of another person empirical: based on and verified by observation and experience empiricism: a school of thought which claims that all knowledge must ultimately be based on sense perception empiricist: a supporter of empiricism enlightenment: a state of perfect knowledge about existence, perfect wisdom and infinite compassion epidemiology: the study of the origins and spread of diseases epistemic injustice: injustice that happens when knowledge is ignored, not believed or not understood epistemology: the philosophical study of how we know what we know, and the exploration of the difference between justified belief and opinion equality: the state of being equal in terms of status, rights and opportunities equity: the quality of being fair and impartial espionage: the practice of spying to obtain political or military information ethical: conforming to accepted moral standards ethics: the branch of knowledge to do with right and wrong, and the study of the moral principles that govern our beliefs and behaviours ethnolinguistics: a field of linguistics that studies the relationship between language and culture ethology: the study of animal behaviour Eucharist: a ritual in which Christians remember Jesus’s last supper and sacrifice by breaking bread and drinking wine, as symbols of Jesus’s body and blood echo chamber: a space in which sound reverberates, so any sounds made are repeated over and over as they bounce from the walls; an environment in which people only encounter beliefs or opinions like their own, so they don’t consider alternative ideas and their own ideas are reinforced; in the context of technology, the effect created by social media and news whereby people only encounter ideas that are the same as their own, reinforcing their existing perspective evidence: signs that you can see, hear, experience or read to support the truth of an assertion economic determinism: the theory that history is determined by economic factors evolutionary epistemology: the theory that knowledge evolves by natural selection efficacy: effectiveness exegesis: drawing meaning from a text in a critical way Euclidean geometry: a system of mathematics attributed to the Greek mathematician, Euclid, based on five axioms euphemism: a softer-sounding word or phrase used to disguise something unpleasant or not usually talked about in polite conversation eisegesis: reading meaning into a text exegete: a person who engages in exegesis elegant: concise; stylish and graceful experiential: based on experience emotive meaning: the aura of favourable or unfavourable feeling that hovers about a word experimental subjects: the individuals who are experimented on emotivism: the view that ethical claims are an expression of feeling and emotion expert: a person with specialist skills and/or knowledge expertise: specialised skills and knowledge explanation: an account or statement that makes something clear; in the context of the study of history, a justification or reason that makes sense of why an event or action took place explicit: clear, made obvious, openly expressed extremism: an ideology in which people are prepared to take extreme actions including the use of violence for their religious or political causes extrinsic religiosity: participating in social worship to conform to a social norm or convention fabricate: manufacture, make up factual: containing facts factual memory: our memory of meanings, facts and information fallacy: a mistaken belief, an invalid argument fallible: capable of making mistakes or being wrong false dichotomy: when a situation is presented as having just two possible options, when other perspectives are not only possible, but highly likely falsehood: a lie or misrepresentation; something that is put forward as a fact or a truth, but it is not falsify: to prove something to be false fantasy: the imagination of impossible or improbable characters, situations or narratives fideism: reliance on faith for all knowledge; a belief that faith is superior to reason Fields medal: an award made every four years by the International Congress of Mathematics to recognise outstanding mathematical achievements; it is sometimes described as the equivalent of a Nobel Prize for mathematics filial piety: showing love, respect and support for one’s parents forest produce: things other than timber that can be found in the forest, including wild honey, fruits, edible plants and firewood formal system: in mathematics, a system used to deduce theorems from axioms according to a set of logical rules futurism: an artistic movement that began in Italy and emphasised speed, technology, youth, violence and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city general revelation: knowledge of God that is discovered through natural ways, such as observing the natural world, observing patterns in history and applying reason generalisation: making statements that apply to all cases, on the basis of some specific cases genre: an artistic style or type; it can apply to any of the arts Gettier case: an example of a justified true belief that does not appear to be knowledge go native: to adopt the attitudes and behaviour of a foreign group with whom one has lived for an extended period God’s eye view: when a knower assumes that they have access to knowledge that only an omniscient god could have KEY golden ratio: image a line – divide it into two unequal parts in such a way that the ratio of the whole line to the big part is the same ratio as the big part to the small part. The ratio is 1:1.618; which is known as the golden ratio Google effect (or Google amnesia): the tendency to forget information that can easily be found online Gospel: the teachings or revelations of Jesus, meaning ‘good news’, originally set out in the four gospels in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John grammar: the rules for constructing meaningful phrases and sentences out of words ‘great man’ theory of history: the belief that history is driven by great individuals Gross Domestic Product: a measure of the goods and services produced in a country to estimate the size and growth rate of the economy hacktivism: gaining unauthorised access to computer files or networks to further social or political ends hegemon: the dominant group, class or state that exercises hegemonic power and promotes hegemonic ideas hegemony: the dominance of one group supported by a set of ideas, or the dominance of a set of ideas that become the norm in a way that inhibits the circulation of alternative ideas heretic: a person within a group who has unconventional or unorthodox beliefs hermeneutics: the science of interpretation heterogeneous: mixed; composed of different parts heuristics: when a person finds, discovers or learns something hindsight bias: mistakenly thinking, after something has happened, that you had known it would happen historiography: the study of historical perspectives history from above: also known as ‘top-down’ history, this focuses on the perspectives of the leaders, rulers and those in power, and the social and cultural elites of the time history from below: also known as ‘bottom-up’ history, this focuses on the perspectives of the ordinary people, such as the working class, women, ethnic minorities or any other voices that may have been neglected by a ‘top-down’ approach infallible: not capable of being wrong or making mistakes holism: the belief that the best way to understand some things is by looking at them as a whole rather than by analysing them into separate parts infer: to come to a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning holistic: considering all factors of any situation, in the belief that all aspects are interconnected and can only be understood in relation to the whole homeopathy: a system of alternative medicine that believes in treating ailments with minute concentrations of substances that in larger amounts would case the same symptoms of the ailment; it is based on the principle that ‘like cures like’ homogeneous: consistent; of uniform structure throughout host state: a state that governs the national territory in which an indigenous society lives inference: a conclusion based on evidence and reasoning infinity: something without bounds, often treated as an unreal number information theory: the mathematical study of the coding of information, and how that information can be quantified, stored and communicated reliably through computer circuits and telecommunications information: data that has been processed and structured, and can be used to answer who, what, when and where questions; in the context of technology, facts about something, or the process, storage and spread of data by a computer hyperthymesia: a condition in which a person can remember an abnormally large number of their own life experiences in detail inherent: existing in something as a permanent characteristic hypothermia: unusually low body temperature instantiation: the representation of an abstraction by an example of the abstraction; for example, ‘apple’ is an abstract idea; this particular apple is an instantiation of the idea hypothesis (plural hypotheses): a proposed explanation or starting point, based on limited evidence that can be tested in an investigation icon: a symbol or representation often uncritically venerated. In Eastern churches, these figures usually represent Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint identity: how a person, group or nation sees themselves in relation to other people, groups, nations, ideas, and the world idiom: a colloquial expression whose figurative meaning cannot be deciphered from its literal meaning innate: something we are born with intangible: nonmaterial and unquantifiable intellectual property: the ownership of knowledge or unique products that have been created intellectual capital: the collective knowledge of people in an organisation or society intellectual virtues: virtues that are required for the pursuit of knowledge ignorance: lack of knowledge interpolate: to insert something of a different nature into something else illusion of explanatory depth: the illusion that you understand something in detail when you do not interpretation: an explanation of the meaning implicit: implied, hidden in vitro fertilisation: a laboratory procedure in which an egg is fertilised outside the body; the term in vitro means ‘in glass’. In the past, IVF babies have been called ‘test-tube babies’ inadvertent: not deliberate, happening without design or intention indigenous people: literally, ‘people belonging to a place’, the term is used to refer to people who inherit and practise unique cultures and ways of relating to people and their environment indigenous rights: the rights of native people who originate from a particular place inductivism: the use of and preference for inductive methods of reasoning to develop natural laws intrinsic religiosity: where religion is the organising principle of an individual’s life; a central and personal experience introspective: looking inside oneself intuitionism: the theory that mathematical objects are mental constructions, and that as we create mathematical objects, so we create the reality of them invalid: an argument that does not follow logically from the premises irony: a figure of speech in which words are used to say one thing and mean the opposite irrational number: any number that cannot be written as a fraction with one integer over another (e.g. 2, π) judiciary: the system of courts and collection of judges in a country justification: in the context of truth, a reason or reasons for a belief or support for a truth claim justify: to show that a belief or decision is well-founded and reasonable key concept: in the context of a TOK essay, the central TOK idea specified in the essay title, for example ‘certainty’, ‘justification’, ‘interpretation’ etc. kitsch: derivative, cliched art law of large numbers: a statistical principle which says that random variations tend to cancel out when a population is large enough law: a generalised description of observations about a relationship between two or more things in the natural world; often the description is mathematical layperson: a person not from the profession; in a religious context, a person without professional or specialised knowledge in their religion legitimate: genuine; conforming to acknowledged standards liberalism: an ideology that regards protecting and enhancing individual freedoms to be a central issue for politics, and strives towards social changes that bring about equality and freedom for all linguistic determinism: the idea that our language and its structures limit and determine what and how we think, and what we can know linguistic relativity: the idea that language shapes and influences the way we think and what we can know logic: the principles of – or a system of – rules that govern reason, and a branch of philosophy logical empiricism: the belief that all human knowledge should be reduced to logical and scientific foundations (it is often regarded as synonymous with logical positivism) logical positivism: the belief that all knowledge comes from logical inferences based on observable facts, and that a statement can only be meaningful if it can be determined to be true or false mental map: a personal mental picture of what is true and false, reasonable and unreasonable, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly meta-analysis: analysis of data to establish trends based on various different studies metacognitive: relating to your own thought processes metaphor: a figure of speech which describes something using words that are not literally true, for example, ‘she is an angel’, ‘he is a book-worm’ or ‘knowledge is a map’ metaphysical: abstract, beyond physical, supernatural, independent of physical reality mimetic: from mimesis, the Greek word for ‘imitation’, associated with the idea that art copies reality misattribution: when credit is given to the wrong person or source, whether deliberately or mistakenly misinformation: incorrect information, unintentionally false information modifier words: words that qualify a seemingly clear and precise statement, and make it vague or ambiguous monarchy: a form of government that has a monarch (king, queen or emperor) as the supreme authority monolithic: relating to one large, unchanging entity monotheistic: having one personal god moral: following one’s personal principles of what is right or wrong moral absolutism: the belief that there is at least one universal moral principle, which should always be followed, irrespective of the context or their consequences mother tongue: the first language that you were brought up to speak myth: an ancient, traditional story about gods, heroes or groups of people, usually concerning the history of a people or explaining a phenomenon. Myths often, but not always, involve supernatural beings mythology: a collection of traditional stories usually belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition logicism: the theory that mathematics can be derived from logic, without the need of any specifically mathematical concepts nanotechnology: a branch of technology that manipulates individual atoms and molecules manifest: as an adjective, clear or obvious; as a verb, to become clear, obvious, visible, evident or noticeable narrative: a story that tells about a series of events. It can be factual, fictitious or a blend of both mathematical empiricism: a form of realism that says that we discover mathematical facts by empirical research, just like facts in any of the other sciences natural number: often called the counting numbers, they go from 1, 2, 3 … infinity (∞) mathematicism: the theory that everything in the universe is ultimately mathematical matrilineal: passed down through the mother neutral: unbiased, impartial, not supporting either side of an argument neutrino: an uncharged sub-atomic particle with zero mass when at rest noise: unwanted disturbances in electrical signals; meaningless data, including data that cannot be understood or interpreted by machines non-putrifying bacteria: bacteria that do not help to decompose dead or decaying matter non-theistic: having no personal god or no gods at all nuance: subtle difference or shades of meaning objectivity: a detached way of looking at the world, largely independent of personal feelings or opinions, that expects to be corroborated by a knowledge community observer effect: in the natural sciences, the observer effect refers to the principle that the act of observing a phenomenon changes the phenomenon being observed (in the human sciences the observer effect refers to the tendency of people to behave differently when they are being observed) ochlocracy: mob rule, majoritarianism omnipotent: all-powerful omnipresent: present everywhere and at all times omniscient: all-knowing; having an intuitive, immediate awareness of all truth optical telescope: a telescope that gathers and focuses light, mostly from the visible light spectrum, to create a magnified image that can be viewed directly outlier: a value or datum very different from others outrage: intense anger and shock panacea: a solution or remedy for all difficulties pantheon: an overview of a culture’s gods and goddesses that reflects the culture’s values phenomenon (plural phenomena): an event, experience or occurrence phlogiston: a hypothetical component of combustible substances place-value system: a numerical system in which the position of a digit indicates its value as well as the digit itself; therefore in ‘9’, the digit 9 denotes only ‘nine’; in ‘90’ because its place has shifted left, it denotes ‘ninety’ in a decimal system plagiarism: passing off someone else’s idea or work as your own plane: a flat surface that extends forever in two dimensions but has no thickness Platonist: relating to the ideas of the Greek philosopher, Plato (c 427–348 BCE) pluralist theory (of truth): the theory that there are multiple truths, and various meanings of the word ‘truth’ pluralistic: relating to a system in which multiple groups, ideas, or practices coexist. In the context of religion, having many different beliefs and practices pluralistic history: accepting that there are various different perspectives that may be justified, and multiple possible accounts of the past polarising: in this context, dividing people into two main groups with opposite views political science: the scientific study of the state, governments, power and political activity political spectrum (plural spectra): a system of classifying different political positions in relation to different political values paradigm: a pattern, model or example that provides a framework of understanding political values: abstract ideas about the needs of the people that drive political positions, for example, equality, freedom, tradition, progress, etc pathogen: a virus, bacterium or other micro-organism that can cause disease polymath: a person with expertise in several different fields of knowledge patrilineal: passed down through the father polytheistic: having many gods peer: a person of equal standing, usually a member of your own tribe population: in the context of mathematics, the entire group of objects, measurements or events from which a sample is drawn peer review: the evaluation of academic or scientific work by experts working in the same field percept: what we notice via the process of sense perception perception: an awareness of something in and through the mind personal memory: the internal recollection of the various events that make up our lives perspective: point of view, a particular way of seeing or considering something pharmaceutical: related to drugs portrait: a painting, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person which tries to show the personality of the person portrayed positivism: the belief that the only authentic knowledge is that which can be scientifically verified or proven through logic or mathematics post hoc ergo propter hoc: the fallacy of confusing a correlation with a causal connection post-colonial age: the period of time after colonial rule has ended post-modern: a movement of 20th-century thinkers who thought that knowledge, reason, ethics and truth are a social, cultural and political construction Purchasing Power Parity: a standard of measurement used to compare the economic productivity and standards of living of different countries post-truth: relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief quaint: pleasantly, amusingly or interestingly strange postulate: a statement underlying a theory; something assumed to be true (they are slightly different to axioms but the two words are frequently used interchangeably) power: control, influence, strength; the capacity to control and influence situations and people practical memory: the remembered ability to know how to do something, such as playing the piano qualitative: relating to, measuring or measured by the quality of something, rather than its quantity; qualitative studies use a method to give a detailed narrative about a human phenomenon that describes a culture or shares a story quantitative: relating to, measuring or measured by the quantity of something, rather than its quality quantum mechanics: a branch of mechanics describing the motion and interaction of subatomic particles quantum theory: a theory in physics which explains the behaviour of subatomic particles practical or material (knowledge) tool: the device used to complement or enhance cognition, such as a microscope or an iPad radicalism: a political desire to change social structures in radical ways pragmatic theory (of truth): the theory that a proposition is true if it is useful or works in practice radio telescope: a telescope that detects radio waves and microwaves which lie outside the visible spectrum precession: a slow and continuous change in the orientation of the axis of a rotating body pre-colonial (to be added at first proof of Decoding?) rational number: any number that can be written as a fraction, that is, a ratio of integers premise: assumption on which an argument is based, or from which a conclusion is drawn rationalist: a supporter of rationalism, a school of thought which relies on deduction rather than sensory perception to determine truth prescriptivism: the view that ethical claims are imperatives rationality: the ability to reason and think clearly, sensibly or logically primary emotions: universal emotions which are usually said to comprise happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise reactance: the tendency of people to react against advice, rules and regulations perceived as a threat to their freedom primary source: Any object or written source from the time or based on the time being studied, for example the eyewitness account of a soldier fighting in the Second World War would be a primary source even if it was written fifty years after the event real number: any number that can represent a position on a number line; real numbers include all rational and irrational numbers procedural: related to actions proof: generally refers to conclusive evidence, leaving little place for doubt; however, a mathematical proof is more than just a general proof – it is a conclusive deduction from axioms that leaves no room for doubt or argument propaganda: the deliberate manipulation, distortion and spreading of information in order to influence what people think, usually for political purposes realistic imagination: imagination which is informed and guided by the relevant facts reductionism: the belief that some subjects can be explained in terms of other more fundamental ones reductive fallacy: the fallacy of saying that just because A is composed of B, it follows that A is nothing but B redundancy theory (of truth): the theory that truth has no essential property, and the word can be substituted for another or left out altogether refute: to prove a statement or theory wrong proselytising: evangelising, persuading others to join a particular group or religion relativity: recognising that knowledge claims are dependent on contextual factors or frames of reference pseudoscience: a system of beliefs and practices that are claimed to be scientific but which are incompatible with the scientific method religious experience: a temporary experience that defies normal description, in which the person having the experience feels that a power from outside themself is acting to reveal a truth that could not be reached by reason alone psychology: the scientific study of the human mind and behaviour pulsar: a small, dense, spinning neutron star religious fundamentalism: a belief in the absolute authority of a particular sacred text, religious leader and/ or god secular humanism: a system of belief that believes in human values, consequentialist ethics based on reason, and a commitment to science, democracy and freedom replication: the process of repeating secular: not concerned with religion response bias: the tendency to try and please a person interviewing us or a person carrying out a questionnaire, by choosing the answer we feel will please them semantic: relating to the meaning of language responsibility: a duty or moral obligation retaliatory killings: killings made in revenge for killing people or livestock retribution: punishment inflicted in response to an action revelation: something that has been revealed or disclosed, usually by God or God’s representatives or messengers rigour: strictness; the quality of being extremely thorough and careful ritual: a prescribed ceremonial action or set of actions that have a symbolic meaning for the individual and the community rule of thumb: an approximation based on experience rule worship: blindly following moral rules irrespective of whether or not they are appropriate sacrament: a special ritual which is said to impart God’s grace sacred: holy; entitled to reverence and respect; set apart for the worship of a god or gods sacrifice: to give up something valuable to help others, or to appease a god or spirit sage: a wise person Sapir–Whorf hypothesis: the claim that the language you speak influences or determines the way you see the world scepticism: an attitude of doubt; a method of obtaining knowledge through systematic doubt and continual testing scholasticism: a method of learning characteristic of the Middle Ages, and based on logic and traditional beliefs about what is true scientific method: a method of procedure for the way scientific investigations are conducted scientific paradigm: a worldview that underlies the theories and methodology in a particular field of science scientism: an exaggerated trust in the efficacy of the methods of the natural sciences applied to any and all areas of investigation sentient: conscious, capable of feeling shaman: a priest or priestess who uses magic to cure the sick, divine the hidden and control events Shulba Sutras: a body of Hindu writings regarded as appendices to the Vedas; they are arguably Hinduism’s most authoritative scriptures singularity: in the context of AI, the point when computer intelligence will surpass human intelligence; a moment of irreversible change for humans and human knowledge social contract: an actual or implicit agreement between rulers and the people they rule, that defines the rights and responsibilities of each social justice: the idea that all people should have equal access to – and opportunities for – wealth, education, health, and justice social media: websites and apps that allow people to form a network, and create and share digital content and information with one another, such as Facebook™, Twitter™, WhatsApp™ or Instagram™ socialism: a social system based on public ownership of the means of production, and an equitable distribution of wealth sociology: the study of the structure and function of society sound: the property of a syllogism that contains two true premises and a valid argument special revelation: knowledge of God that is not available through reason; knowledge of God that is revealed in a supernatural way spin doctor: a person whose role it is to portray a political party in a favourable light, especially to present the media with a positive interpretation of a particular event spirituality: a concern with the human spirit or soul, rather than with material or physical things state: a legal entity that has one central government, which is sovereign over a defined territory and a permanent population stereotype: a fixed, oversimplified and often negative picture of an individual or group, based on their membership of that group scriptures: sacred writings; religious texts subjectivity: looking at the world from a personal point of view, under the influence of feelings and emotions secondary emotions: complex emotions which can be thought of as mixtures of primary emotions subliminal: subconscious subtle: precise and delicate distinctions surrealism: an artistic movement that tried to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind by expressing imaginative dreams and visions syllogism: a deductive argument with two premises and a conclusion syntax: the arrangement of words to form sentences or phrases – an example of syntax in toddlers might be a word pair such as ‘my bed’ or ‘biscuits gone’ synthesis: the placing together of different parts or elements (evidence) to form a connected whole; in the context of dialectics, a connected whole, a resolution, or a new idea which resolves the conflict between thesis and antithesis tacit: unspoken; implicit but not expressed tally: to keep count (of things or events) Talmud: the book of Jewish law and theology tautology: saying the same thing in two different but completely equivalent ways; repeating something already implied taxonomy: classification system, categorisation tenet: principle, important truth terrorism: the use of violence, especially against civilians, intended to create a climate of fear in the pursuit of political aims traditional medicine: the indigenous knowledge, practices and skills used by indigenous peoples (and others) to diagnose and treat illnesses and injuries, and to maintain health transcendental power: supernatural power; in this case, the power of art to take us anywhere, show us anything including past lives and let us see into the minds of others transient: temporary, fleeting trans-theistic: beyond theism and atheism treatise: a detailed written account tribalism: the behaviours and attitudes that arise out of membership of or loyalty to a social group trickle-down theory: the theory that lowering taxes for wealthy corporations and high-income earners will lead to greater investments, and will expand economic prosperity. The benefits of the expanded economy will then ‘trickle down’ to the workers Triptika: a set of three texts that are said to record the words of the Buddha truth: in accord with fact or reality, a belief accepted as true, or faithfulness to a standard Turing Test: a test put forward by Alan Turing where if a computer can pass itself off as a human, it would constitute intelligence on the part of the computer textual analysis: a data-gathering process that analyses choices of words and the ways in which they are used, to try to develop a greater understanding of the meaning of a text and the culture in which it was written universal grammar: the idea that all human languages, no matter how different they appear, share some fundamental similarities theist: a person who believes in a god or gods who interact with people and the world universals: qualities that can be shared by different individuals at the same time, for example redness, roundness, beauty theocracy: literally ‘government by God’ in which God is seen as the supreme leader, acting through religious authorities; in other words, government by religious authorities theologian: a person who studies the nature of God and religious beliefs, usually within a particular religious tradition theorem: a principle or statement that can be demonstrated or proved using logic, but is not self-evident theory: an interconnected system of ideas intended to explain something in depth tolerance: acceptance of different perspectives and behaviours, even if you disagree with them totalitarian state: a state in which the ruling authorities have total political, social and cultural control over those living in the state traditional knowledge: a body of knowledge that is developed, sustained and passed on over generations within a community utilitarian approach: a perspective that values usefulness above all other considerations utilitarianism: the belief that ethics can ultimately be reduced to the principle that we should maximise happiness vagueness: when something is not clear or has no distinct boundaries, is imprecise and defies exact definition validity: the property of an argument in which the conclusion follows logically from the premises values: standards of behaviour; regard for things of important moral worth veneration: the act of worship or showing great respect verification: the process of establishing the validity or accuracy of something Verstehen position: the belief that the main aim of the human sciences is to understand the meaning of various social practices as they are understood by the agents themselves vigilante: a citizen who enforces the law in their community without legal authority, and often breaks the law when doing so viral: spreading widely and quickly virtual reality: the technology that generates a computer simulation of an environment, such as a headset that shows images of a ‘virtual’ world virtue ethics: the theory that an ethical action is one performed by a virtuous person for the right reason wabi-sabi (侘寂): finding beauty in the imperfect, impermanent and incomplete wallet: in terms of cryptocurrency, a software program that allows users to send and receive digital currency and monitor their balance weak artificial intelligence: also known as applied AI or narrow AI, the use of software for a specific problem solving or reasoning task whistleblowing: when a person or group makes public or passes on information about wrongdoing usually by or within an organisation wisdom of repugnance: the claim that we can validly appeal to our feelings of disgust to justify our moral beliefs wise nature fallacy: the false assumption that because something is natural it is therefore good worldview: an overarching theory about the nature of the universe and human beings’ place in it Scan the code to go to our Theory of Knowledge resources cambridge.org/education/subject/humanities/theory-knowledge