IB May 2026 (M26) TOK Essay Title #2 Outline
To what extent do you agree that doubt is central to the pursuit of knowledge? Answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.
The Core of The Question
- The core of the question lies in “to what extent” and “central.”
- Central means more than “present.” It implies indispensable, coordinating, or dominant.
- Therefore, you need to look beyond “is doubt involved in knowledge production?” and instead ask if doubt the central driver across all AOKs.
Use the phrase “to what extent” explicitly in your topic sentences and conclusion, this lets you clearly loop back to the title and sign post
Keep Your Definitions Simple
Definition
Doubt
Hesitation or questioning that challenges what we think we know. It can be scientific skepticism, historical revision, or even personal uncertainty.
Definition
Pursuit of knowledge
The active process of questioning, testing, and refining what counts as knowledge.
- Avoid giving long dictionary definitions.
- You can just show what doubt does in practice through your examples.
Why Doubt Feels Central At First Glance
- Doubt prompts hypotheses, experiments, and revisions in science.
- It sparks historical inquiry, why trust one source over another?
- Philosophically, Socratic questioning (“I know that I know nothing”) shows doubt as the starting point of inquiry.
- This gives weight to agreeing that doubt plays a central role in many AOKs.
- Across different AOKs, the pursuit of knowledge often begins with doubt.
- It's the trigger that pushes us from accepting what we think we know to actively searching for better explanations.
Why Doubt May Not Always Be Central
- In mathematics, once a theorem is proven, doubt no longer plays a role. Certainty replaces it.
- In religious knowledge systems, faith rather than doubt drives pursuit.
- In human sciences, too much doubt can paralyze progress, leading to pseudoscience or conspiracy theories.
- So while doubt is present, it may not always be the core engine.
The Vagueness Of “To What Extent”
- You don’t need to choose between “yes, doubt is always central” and “no, it never is.”
- A stronger essay maps different AOKs along a spectrum:
