Eydie Posted December 20, 2010 Report Share Posted December 20, 2010 Any ideas would be appreciated!When it says 'human science', does it mean the humanity type areas, such as history, psychology, sociology etc?Do people think this is a good topic to write on in general? 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetnsimple786 Posted December 29, 2010 Report Share Posted December 29, 2010 When it says 'human science', does it mean the humanity type areas, such as history, psychology, sociology etc? I guess so. It sounds like another term for social sciences, and Wikipedia agrees with you. I would start out asking myself how theories are formed in one or two human sciences and one or two natural sciences. It's better to be more on the specific side, so go ahead and pick out a science from each category that you like and/or have experience in. I find it easier to generalize once I have something specific in mind rather than try to form general ideas in the first place. Once you've listed how some theories have come into existence, look at who's doing the thinking. Big famous people? The common man or woman? People from certain regions or jobs or backgrounds? Look for similarities and differences. I don't know if it's dangerous to talk about this, but to me the question is not-so-subtly hinting at the non-sciences and their theories. I feel like a part of this title is asking how these science-y theories can be more convincing than the artsy theories. That's one way answer the question, but I don't know if you have to look into that at all. Anyways, now answer the question. Why were certain theories convincing? Look at theories that we have discredited today in addition to theories that we still hold. You might say, "Experiments! Repeatable, precise experiments in this natural science makes these theories convincing." Now you can support this claim or refute/adjust it with your observations about theories from the human sciences. I know that I wouldn't have any experience with social sciences other than history and a little bit of economics with my courses in IB. Pick one you're most comfortable with but ask about others if you want to branch out. At every step be sure to connect your argument with examples from your life. This is just one way to approach the question. In figuring out how you want to dissect the title and bring it back together, you can come up with different angles because the question is pretty open-ended. Good luck =) 7 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceci2732 Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 If some of you could please give me some ideas as i'm not very inspired.Thank you in advance . Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Any ideas would be appreciated!When it says 'human science', does it mean the humanity type areas, such as history, psychology, sociology etc?Do people think this is a good topic to write on in general?I'm done with TOK, but my friend just recently asked me to help her out. #5 is the one i suggested to her.I thought it would be the least difficult and I suggest going about the topic like this:Which human sciences will use you, specifically, as evidence/examples?Which natural sciences will you use , specifically, as evidence/examples?(aim for using your IB classes because you can get specific evidence from your textbooks and you are also familiar with the subject)Find theories you believe in from both the natural and human sciences you choose to use.(Use theories you believe in, because if you don't, they obviously were not convincing, and you will have a difficult time arguing it than)Analyze the theories.List of a bunch of reasons you find the theories convincingEx. Language used in the theory, Structure of the theory, Presentation of the theory, etc. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I would like to add that, if during this essay you have not covered the scientific method, you are in danger of having gone rather wrong.The important bit isn't so much analysing theories themselves -- the language, structure, presentation etc. of theories are indeed things which help make a theory convincing, but in TOK you want to talk purely about the idea and how it was reached in terms of Ways of Knowing and Areas of Knowledge.I suggest looking at the ways of knowing involved in the scientific method for natural sciences and the reasons why we find these to be reliable.Then look at ways of knowing involved in human sciences and look at how the scientific method differs. Is the scientific method exactly the same? Is the nature of the data the same? What ways of knowing do we use to gain knowledge about human behaviour (which is basically = human science, with possibly a few exceptions) and how does this knowledge differ from natural science's knowledge?Personally I would say that the scientific method unites both sciences and that you need to address the reasons why we find the scientific method reliable: what is it about it (as in the process) that makes it convincing? Then perhaps discuss how the scientific method is applied to different forms of knowledge in human from natural sciences which might make a theory a little less convincing... 4 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtamboy63 Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just giving this a bump, im stuck for ideas, brainstorming atm, anyone got anything else to think about thats related? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Bridge Posted February 18, 2011 Report Share Posted February 18, 2011 Any ideas on this topic?? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurennnnnnnnnn Posted February 18, 2011 Report Share Posted February 18, 2011 HI IB Bridge!I think you should do your own work instead of posting it on here!and change your name...it's totally lame...jokes haha.here are some links I found:http://findhorn.blogspot.com/2010/10/responses-005-2011-2012.html Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
autolycus Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 I would like to add that, if during this essay you have not covered the scientific method, you are in danger of having gone rather wrong.I'd like to add that you would do better to define what a 'scientific method' is. Bear in mind that the traditional idea of observation, induction towards hypothesis, experiment towards confirmation or disproof, etc is a central idea, but not what every scientist uses. Rather, these are components of a scientific method which may be deployed, with some modifications, towards the ideals of (firstly) achieving validity and reliability, and then utility or facility.The point about human sciences like economics and psychology ('science-y things found in Group 3') is that they too attempt to employ the scientific method. But their inherent difficulty is the non-reproducibility of human behaviour which has to be overcome by statistical methods. A 'hard science' theory can often be examined with just one case; a 'human science' theory has to be checked to see if it's generally true for most humans. This happens in some areas of plant and animal biology too, except that it might be considered unethical to do things to humans that we might do to a tapeworm or a plant. 4 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rchan76 Posted May 15, 2011 Report Share Posted May 15, 2011 Any ideas would be appreciated!When it says 'human science', does it mean the humanity type areas, such as history, psychology, sociology etc?Do people think this is a good topic to write on in general?how would you actually go about defining the word "convincing" because there is the straight dictionary definition which is - to get someone to belief that something is true. Also i found somewhere else that it actually refers to the how theories fight opposition or resistance. can someone please help me out? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keel Posted May 15, 2011 Report Share Posted May 15, 2011 Any ideas would be appreciated!When it says 'human science', does it mean the humanity type areas, such as history, psychology, sociology etc?Do people think this is a good topic to write on in general?how would you actually go about defining the word "convincing" because there is the straight dictionary definition which is - to get someone to belief that something is true. Also i found somewhere else that it actually refers to the how theories fight opposition or resistance. can someone please help me out? Well a theory can only "fight opposition or resistance" if it carries 'weight' (i.e. it is likely to be true.)It would now be appropriate to consider what constitutes the truth:consensus - it's true if everyone thinks it true (in other words you can google it)coherence - it's true if it fits in with your worldview (basically common sense)correspondence - its true if it corresponds wth the facts (you check it)pragmatism - it's true if it's useful (for your own benefit)Thus, the two 'definitions' are really the same thing. A theory which is 'false' cannot be preferred to a theory which is 'true' unless it fits the definition of truth (i.e. it is more coherent, more pragmatic ect.) better than the 'true' theory (which would ultimately make the 'true' theory less true than the 'false' one), if you get what I mean. In a nutshell, a convincing theory is likely to be true.However I don't think this is the road you want to go down. What you want to do is to answer the knowledge issue. The knowledge issue hidden in the question is likely to be: 'What are the values and limitations of using the scientific method in the natural sciences and social sciences in obtaining knowledge?' Differentiating between the natural science and social sciences (i.e. why are they different) with relation to the methodology they apply shows a high level of understanding and is extremely question focused. 2 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
unknownmorman Posted May 15, 2011 Report Share Posted May 15, 2011 What is it about theories in the human sciences and natural sciences that makes them convincing? I need some ideas to get me going!Cheers Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Chan Posted May 29, 2011 Report Share Posted May 29, 2011 (edited) This is definetly one of the easier topics to write on, in my opinion. They will be looking for a comparison of human sciences and natural sciences, and then a comparison of these two to others, such as the arts and languages.An outline would include a mention that neither human nor natural sciences can have absolute certainty because they both follow the scientific method which relies greatly on observation as opposed to derivation.There is also the appeal of a theory to the scientific community, as a theory is not seen as an achievement of one person but it is a furthering of a community's combined intellect. Because of this, the scientific community is quick to approve of theories and slow to disregard them once taken in.Moderator: Please do not disclose your email address in any posts. This is for your protection. Edited May 29, 2011 by Keel Email Removed Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB student Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 Hi! I'm doing this topic for my tok essay as well but I have no idea how to start my intro...any ideas? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKidd4Ever Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 What I am sensing from this question that we are not challenging whether or not the theory is valid, but to comment on its popularity. the 2 theories I used are evolution and capitalism. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaaaan Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 Does anyone have any good quotations that could possibly begin/end the essay, relating to either scientific method or scientific theories made by famous people?Thanks in advance. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1529 Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 I'm not doing this title but I'm guessing that for natural sciences you should definitely mention theories and models. Fact is that sciences cannot describe reality as it really is. Cannot explain everything and don't have the means to. Thus, they create models, theories and laws that approach the reality, never totally. At the same time they create models, they simplify the reality. Through this simplification, it's easier for common people to understand it and catch the idea and that is partially what makes them convincing. About the human sciences; well, I guess that if you use Politics, the language and the art of speech is really important but if you're talking about other human sciences, then you should definitely mention ideologies as it's what makes theories of that particular "time" (as in Middle Ages, etc) possible and it's that same ideology that makes a person accept it or not and again we go back to politics, why is it that some are communists and others from the far-right? Exactly because of ideologies. This is just a simplified possible approach with some guidelines that I consider that could be useful Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keel Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 Does anyone have any good quotations that could possibly begin/end the essay, relating to either scientific method or scientific theories made by famous people?Thanks in advance.If I had an hour to save the world I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute finding solutions.All experiments without a precise objective are useless. Thus when aplying the scientific method, one must clearly define the problem or objective so that all data or test results obtained mean something.Paraphrased variant: The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.Sometimes our existing knowledge hinders our ability to obtain the truth. Thus it is important to find new ways of thinking and interpreting data or test results so that all possible 'truths' can be thought of and the best one selected as the ultimate truth. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastcoast93 Posted August 17, 2011 Report Share Posted August 17, 2011 is this a good question for taking? im totally unsure which question is the relatively "easiest"? any personal suggestions? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanSpencer Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) Human sciences study human behaviour, like psychology anthropoloogy, sociology etc. Wikipedia has an article about it. Also good info can be found in textbooks like van de Lagemaat's Theory of Knolwedge. Sharing ideas in facebook maybe good. Edited August 22, 2011 by JonathanSpencer Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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