How can we test for truth you might wonder? This week, G11 Theory of Knowledge students became familiar with 4 ways, and they each decided on which one they felt would be most reliable. The four tests included:
1) Correspondence truth test – using our five senses to confirm if something is true.
2) Pragmatic truth test – truth is whatever is useful and profitable to us, and whatever brings us benefit.
3) Consensus truth test – truth comes from the agreement of other people that something is true.
4) Coherence truth test – uses information that is not acquired through personal experience, and instead relies on reason and logic.
Needless to say, the G11s agreed generally that the “Coherence truth test” was their favorite because they like how it is based on evidence and requires some reason, and logic. Correspondence was a close second as their favorite. They least liked the Pragmatic approach because, in this case, the truth may be based more on personal beliefs rather than actual evidence. The Consensus truth test was a close second as least favorite. TOK is really about finding truth, so it was a very important class and G11s lived up to the challenge of finding the best methods of finding Truth.
