Theory of Knowledge: The Human Sciences as AoK

General notes

• Like history, the AoK known as the Human Sciences raises important and challenging knowledge
questions because of the subject matter, namely, us! To what extent is it possible to accurately
describe human behavior and social structures, let alone interpret and explain them, when we are
both the observer and the observed? Can we truthfully examine and somehow isolate, for purposes
of analysis, human reasons, emotions and ethics when these themselves are ways of knowing? Here
is an important knowledge claim about this AoK: there likely are knowledge biases that will always
(and perhaps often unknowingly) interfere with our desire and ability to “know” others and know
ourselves.

• On the other hand, with the IB mission statement emphasizing an understanding of

international-mindedness and making the world a better place, doesn’t that place a high value upon
the Human Sciences and their knowledge claims, even with their shortcomings?

• Like the Natural Sciences, the Human Sciences seek to observe, measure and analyze human
patterns. This methodology is basically what distinguishes all sciences from other Areas of
Knowledge. Like natural scientists — but unlike historians — social scientists can replicate and
manipulate events through experimentation and repeatable observations. Social scientists can study
specific variables in an effort to identify causal relationships. They can control members of their
samples. They follow the methodology of the Natural Sciences but that methodology cannot always
be applied to humans the way it is applied to the study of atoms, energy, and genes.

• Humans as “data” pose major knowledge concerns thanks to the fact that we are sentient
creatures and have some degree of imagining and intuiting what others are thinking about us, even
those studying us! A well known phenomenon —collectively called “response bias”— exists in the
human sciences. It refers to the fact that people being observed attempt to respond in ways that
may not be truthful or “natural”.

… By the way, there are lots of ToK analyses that can be done using response bias. You could
examine how it compares to sources of bias in other AoKs. You could look at how the language and
structure of questions may influence response bias. This might be an interesting ToK topic where you
could use your knowledge gained from a class in psychology!

• Think too about the various ways of knowing that are likely engaged by us in the process of
showing empathy and sympathy towards other people and how those things might interfere with
what we can observe about others. Social scientists must take these conditions into account when
conducting experiments. However, is it truly possible to ever measure or account for all such
interactions?

• Efforts to study people also raise important ethical questions not often associated with other
AoKs. It is absolutely forbidden in most countries today to conduct research that potentially could
harm or endanger participants but that was not always the case. The Nazis carried out experiments
in the “name” of human science that today we find abhorrent and illegal. Today, social scientists
 must obtain permission from ethics committees before conducting research. If you are familiar with
the Milgram and Zimbardo social psychology experiments, you have some familiarity of these issues.

• The complexity of humans as both individual entities and members of social groups helps explain
the diversity of social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, geography, economics,
environmental systems) as well as frequent construction of “models” which serve to simplify and
explain human actions and thoughts. Models reflect attempts to capture and observe “essential
features”. Such models include social class hierarchies, kinship charts, Maslow’s needs hierarchy,
supply and demand functions, among others. But as with any model, one must ask: what level of
reliability and certainty does it provide? How generalizable is it?

• Finally, are there risks to separating studies of humans from studies of the natural world in which
we exist? Would you argue that the emergence of the Environmental Sciences shows that we can
learn valuable knowledge by blending methods and concerns from both AoKs?

Examples of ToK-appropriate knowledge questions using the Human Sciences as AoK

To what extent are “observer biases” part of the way Human Scientists collect and process knowledge?

Compare, contrast and explain differences in the nature of the scientific method as used by Natural and
Human Scientists.

How effectively can Human Scientists “quantify” their knowledge by using math?

How valid and reliable are models developed in the Human Sciences? How do they compare to models
developed in the Natural Sciences? (One could also investigate such knowledge ideas as predictability or
degree of certainty.)

What limitations exist on the ways that knowledge is collected and processed in the Human Sciences?
Compare this to another AoK.

HUMAN SCIENCES EXPERIENCES

Complete these activities. Each one requires you to produce either evidence of your product or a
reflection statement. You will turn this in to your ToK teachers.

ACTIVITY 1. Small Group Research and Discussion – DISCUSS ONLY

Look up the meaning of these human science concepts: Hawthorne Effect; placebo effect; blind and
double blind testing

After discussion in your group, briefly summarize your own sense about the extent to which social
scientists can be satisfied that their efforts to study human behavior result in valid observations and
understandings.

ACTIVITY 2. Small Group Discussion – TURN IN

We are increasingly seeing technological developments resulting from a merging of knowledge findings
and methods from the Natural Sciences, Math, the Human Sciences and even the Arts which are
designed to change human behavior and conditions. Identify TWO of these emerging developments.
Examples of such developments would be: replacing anatomical parts with robotic ones; drone
soldiers/pilots. Do you have others?

What concerns do you have about them in regards to how they might alter our ability to process
knowledge and make knowledge decisions?

Create a listing of your group’s (and personal?) concerns for the two you selected.

ACTIVITY 3. Small Group Research and Analysis – TURN IN

This activity encourages you to think about how different Ways of Knowing and means of transmitting
knowledge can lead to knowers reaching different conclusions about what that knowledge is and
means. Exploring the impact of how knowledge is presented on how it consequently is understood
could make for a great ToK assessment.

Choose ONE major public concern studied by social scientists. Examples would be poverty, domestic
abuse, rape, murder, drug use, wage gaps, gender gaps, etc.). The data can be local, regional or even
international. Broader is probably better with respect to what you need to find.

You must find the following FOUR different examples of how that issue is depicted using various ways of
knowing and different Areas of Knowledge

1. A graphic and numerical depiction of data collected about the social concern (math AoK)

2. A social scientist’s description (language specific to the Human Sciences AoK)

3. A personal account of someone who experienced the problem (personal knowledge)

4. An artist’s (photographer or other visual artist) depiction of the social concern (Arts
AoK). NOTE: a graph itself, even if it uses colors, is NOT an artistic description. A poster would be.

For instance, let’s say you have chosen poverty in the State of Florida. You will need to find a graphic of
Florida poverty data, a linguistic description of poverty in Florida, a personal account and an artist’s
depiction.
Discuss the extent and ways in which each “source” contributes to or raises concerns about the validity
and reliability of the knowledge it represents for whatever issue you have selected. Would you consider
them equally useful and valid to social scientists? What about to members of a larger cultural body of
knowers? Do the various sources alter the ways in which we, as knowers, understand the social issue? Is
each one useful to our understanding, and do they collectively provide a deeper understanding?

Summarize:

a. Your findings for 1-4 above (the graph, the description, etc.) Please include source
citations.

b. A summary of your discussion points about issues of source validity

ACTIVITY 4. -- INDIVIDUAL

http://www.labinthewild.org/

Take the “Test your social intelligence” test. (It is about recognizing emotions.)

KEEP A RECORD OF YOUR RESULTS. LATER, WE WILL COLLECTIVELY:

a) Compare your results with your classmates and create a class graph of your scores. What conclusion
about our ability to read emotions can be reached by the overall data? (This is an interesting way that
Human Science attempts to measure the nature of emotions as a Way of Knowing, yes?!)

b) The test authors asked questions about your language ability. What concerns does this raise about
how well this particular test can actually measure our ability to read emotions? (Put another way, what is
happening here is that we are processing data perceived through our senses and associating it with
emotional knowledge (which likely reflects such knowledge systems as memory, intuition and empathy)
and using language to communicate the emotion depicted.) Can you think of a more valid way that the
researchers could have tested our ability to read emotions? Does our use of language limit every way in
which we attempt to communicate kinds of knowledge with other knowers?

c) After you get your score, click on the “learn more about the history of this test” link. Read about
“social intelligence and team-based problem solving.” The authors conclude that the ability to read
emotions is correlated with other social intelligence outcomes. However, is correlation that same thing
as causation? Do you think there is a cause-effect connection here?

Take any other ONE of the tests offered at this site. (You are certainly welcome to return later and do
them all!)

Answer the following:

d)Identify the test that you took.

e) What are some limitations to the way in which these Human Science researchers are collecting their
data using this particular methodology?

f) How might those limitations bias their results?