1. 1455-003 T.O.K Essay
Topic 4. The traditional TOK diagram indicates four ways of knowing. Propose the
inclusion of a fifth Way of Knowing selectedfrom intuition, memory or imagination,
and explore the knowledge issues it may raise in two Areas of Knowledge.
The TOK diagram only shows four ways of knowing, however, these may not be
the only ways by which one gains knowledge. A way of knowing is a method by which
the knower gains new knowledge. New knowledge can be gained either by reason,
perception, emotion and/or language. Imagination should also be considered as an
additional Way of Knowing. By using imagination, people can experience and gain knew
knowledge of what might happen if they carry out a certain action or think a certain
thought. Imagination is the ability to gain knowledge, uniquely by the knower only, by
forming new ideas, concepts and images of our external objects that are not present to the
five senses. We use imagination to create artificial situations in our minds. These
simulations of imagination create outcomes in our mind so that we can be prepared for a
similar type of event. These situations and outcomes can be applied directly to real life.
In fact, imagination can be related to the Areas of Knowledge of Natural Sciences and the
Arts.
Imagination is different from the other ways of knowing in gaining knowledge
because the other ways of knowing are usually invoked by external factors or events.
These ways of knowing are usually reactions to outside events or are carried out to
interact with external objects. On the other hand, the knower awakens imagination at any
time, without the necessity of external components. It may be argued that language in the

2. knower’s mind is a way of knowing that is evoked within, however, this might not be the
case as this is imagination excluding the visual aspect. By human nature, it is often
impossible for language in the mind to be unaccompanied by imagery. Imagination is
also unique from the other ways of knowing as it acts upon memory to create a new
understanding, not only to access old memories like the other ways of knowing do.
Furthermore, it does not interact with objects outside of the knower’s mind, unlike
perception. Unless, however, the imagination of one manifests in the real world as
knowledge that has been learned and applied by the knower. For these reasons,
imagination should be included as another Way of Knowing on the TOK diagram. Of
course, imagination shares many traits with the current ways of knowing, however it does
have unique ways of allowing the knower to gain knowledge.
Imagination can be greatly applied in gaining new knowledge in the Areas of
Knowledge such as the Natural Sciences. In the Natural Sciences such as chemistry and
quantum physics, scientists are not able to see the atomic and sub-atomic particles, even
with the best microscopes. For this reason, a major part of their work is to imagine how
these particles would behave in different conditions. There is always the method of
experimentation, which uses reasoning and perception to learn. While carrying out the
scientific method, however, a scientist must first pose a hypothesis before validating it.
This hypothesis cannot be reached without having previous knowledge of the answer or
without experimenting before, if objects that are not visible to humans are involved. The
scientist must first imagine the outcome. He/she has to simulate the situation in his/her
mind by imagining how the experiment will proceed. Once the hypothesis is considered,
the scientist can proceed to experiment and compare the results with his hypothesis. In

3. order to imagine the outcome of the experiment the scientist must delve into all of his
knowledge of science. This knowledge will be used to try and gain new knowledge by
imagining how all the atomic and molecular components of the experiment will act. This
process of imagination will allow the scientist to gain new knowledge of the outcome of
the experiment. In this situation, imagination is different from reason in the sense that
imagination is personal and though it is influenced to a certain extent by our previous
knowledge, without imagination, the previous knowledge would not be used to gain new
knowledge. This is because we need to ‘imagine’ the behavior of the molecules in the
experiment in our minds. Later, the knowledge gained is tested by the actual experiment.
There are many real-life and personal examples in the Areas of Knowledge of
Natural Sciences, where imagination is a valid Way of Knowing, however, there are also
equivalent counter-arguments against these examples and claims. A personal example is
rugby, which is one of my CAS activities. Before I play a rugby game, I imagine all the
situations I can end up in if I carry out an action such as passing the ball or tackling my
opponent. We can safely say that the laws of physics heavily dictate many sports
including rugby. A knowledge issue arises when I’m imagining the game in my head.
Just by simply imagining the physics of the game and the way physics would act upon the
game, I gain the ability to prepare myself for the difficulties of the game, thus teaching
me more about the sport. For example, part of my pre-match preparation is to imagine the
physics of a travelling rugby ball if I threw it in a certain way or the physics of a tackle
situation when I tackle my opposition in different ways. Then I also imagine and create
outcomes, such as scoring points, getting injured, failing a tackle or losing the ball, out of
the situations that I had previously imagined. Later when I actually play the game, I try

4. and avoid ending up in the less-desirable situations that I had imagined, thus improving
my game. As a counter-argument, however, some might say that I use my five senses
during training sessions to gain knowledge of how to play rugby and then apply it from
memory or muscle memory to the rugby game that I play. It may be that imagination is
just a form of language where the knower is talking to him/her self. Therefore by talking
to myself I learn more about rugby by delving into all my knowledge of the sport. This is,
however, not completely accurate as I first delve into my knowledge of rugby but then I
have to imagine how I will apply them. That means literally making a staged movie of
the outcome of an action in a rugby match in my mind and gaining knowledge of what is
appropriate in a game of rugby depending on the situation. Thus, from my experience
with rugby in the Area of Knowledge of the Natural Sciences, imagination is a distinct
tool of gaining new knowledge.
Imagination can be used as a unique way of knowing in the Arts as well. Before
authors proceed to write a new piece, they usually first decide and plan out how they
want their piece to conclude. Of course, the authors will be inspired and influenced by
works of other authors, but eventually, it comes down to solely their imagination. An
example of this is Emily Dickinson and her poems. Many of her poems talk about death;
in fact, some of her poems even personify death. One such poem is Because I could not
stop for Death1. In this poem, Dickinson personifies death by stating that death "knew no
haste" and that death "kindly stopped" for the persona. Emily Dickinson has obviously
never perceived death however she uses her imagination to learn what death might be
1 Dickinson, Emily. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." Because I Could Not Stop for
Death,. N.p., 26 Feb. 2009. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

5. like. The next step is for her to convey her idea of death. She does this by the use of
literary devices such as metaphors, similes and personification. These simple literary
devices encapsulate all of Dickinson’s imagination of death. The reader understands the
text through language but then he/she must use imagination to picture death and gain
further knowledge. It may be argued that the reader uses language to understand what the
author is thinking. Actually, imagination allows the reader to apply what he/she learned
from language of the poem into a visual image, which will allows reader to gain even
more new knowledge. The writer’s imagination allows him/her to gain new knowledge of
what ideally needs to be written and what techniques he/she may use to achieve this ideal
work. Naturally, some may argue against this claim by saying that writers use what they
learned, by language, about literature that is appealing and apply them to their current
literature piece. Additionally, some may argue that the writer’s emotions will invoke
his/her idea of what needs to be created. It is true that these other ways of knowing might
play a part in allowing the artist to gain new knowledge of art but they are only used to
invoke the writer’s imagination of the ideal story. It is not only the writers who must use
imagination, but the readers too.
The way we gain knowledge is a very complex process. In fact, it is hard to
distinguish between Ways of Knowing as we gain knowledge not by each one
individually but by a combination of all the Ways of Knowing. This is why it is
impossible to categorize and justify the ways we gain knowledge. However, one Way of
Knowing that contributes to our gain in knowledge is imagination as shown above. Not
only does it allow us to gain knowledge in the Areas of Knowledge of the Natural
Sciences and the Arts but it also does it in a way that cannot be done by the other ways of

6. knowing. This is why imagination should be strongly considered as one of the Ways of
Knowing on the traditional TOK diagram.