The IB Core - Theory of Knowledge
A dog, a cow and grass: which is the odd one out?
For most Westerners, it would be the grass - the other two are animals; for many other cultures it would be the dog because cows eat grass. Westerners often (but not always) link things in terms of categories; many other cultures think more in terms of relationships: cows eat grass, but don’t really have a relationship with dogs.
When Americans and Japanese were asked to describe a fish in a tank, Americans were far more likely to describe just the fish (it is big and stripy); Japanese describe the fish in terms of its surroundings (it is in front of the seaweed, to the left of the oxygenator. (See here for more on cultural thinking styles)
There is a danger in listing examples of how different cultures think, because cultures don’t actually think at all: people do, and such thinking habits are not genetically determined. Cultures can have tendencies but people have individual experiences: they are born in one place, grow up in another, have parents from different parts of the world, unique educational experiences and above all their own personalities.
Some ways of thinking are absorbed through culture, others are explicitly taught. Most obviously, mathematics asks us to think deductively (If x is 2 and y is 3, then x+y must be 5); science, empirically (careful observation and systematic experimentation); humanities, inductively (drawing conclusions from careful examination of evidence); literature, abductively (making connections between ideas and images).
Ways of thinking are a tool box, each tool effective in its context. Hammers are brilliant at knocking in nails, less good at extracting screws. In a complex task, we use a range of tools, self consciously selecting them for particular jobs. The same is true intellectually. A scientist is not exclusively observing and experimenting - they extrapolate their results deductively, and communicate their results using metaphors.
Being self-aware of thinking (metacognition) is at the core of IB programmes. It starts at the younger ages with awareness that emotions may lead to behaviours, but they are separate and can be mitigated by choice. It culminates in the diploma programme with the Theory of Knowledge course. Students make clear their own assumptions, they consider possible other perspectives. They consider how different ‘ways of knowing’ would influence how you think about an issue.
Knowing what you take for granted doesn’t mean you stop believing in anything. It enriches how you work with others, it supercharges your thinking.
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