TOK Essay Title #2 (May 2027)
If values change over time, how can they, nevertheless, continue to guide the pursuit of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.
My framework for cracking any TOK essay title
This works on all six, every session, no matter the theme:
Find the knowledge question buried in the title. Pick two Areas of Knowledge that disagree about it. Build your strongest argument for one side, with a real example that actually earns its place. Then turn around and argue against yourself just as hard. Land the plane with a conclusion that takes a real position — not "it depends," but here's what I actually think, and here's why, even knowing the other side has a point.
That's it. That's the whole game. The themes change; the moves don't. Get comfortable with these five steps and you can walk into any prescribed title without panicking.
TOK Essay Title #2 Research & Evidence
To get my full TOK Essay Title #2 Research Guide, click here!
The most important word in this title is "nevertheless," and roughly half the cohort will write as though it isn't there. The question concedes at the outset that values change — that's given, not up for debate — and then asks how guidance survives the change anyway. Any essay that spends 700 words demonstrating that ethical standards in research have shifted since the 1960s has answered a question nobody asked. Note also that "guide the pursuit of knowledge" points at method and direction, not at the content of what's known: values shape which questions get funded, which methods are permitted, what counts as an acceptable answer. Your two areas of knowledge are free, which means the pairing itself is an argument you'll be marked on.
TOK Essay Title #2 Tips
The word doing the work here is "nevertheless." You get no credit for proving that values change, so resist the temptation to open with a history of shifting research ethics. Your essay actually starts at the word "how."
Separate the value from its application. Honesty, rigour and the demand for evidence have stayed remarkably stable in the sciences even as what counts as ethical practice has been rewritten several times over. That distinction — stable principle, moving application — is the cleanest route through this title.
Choose two areas of knowledge where values operate differently rather than two that behave the same way. History paired with the natural sciences will give you friction; two lab-based sciences will give you the same paragraph twice. The contrast is where the marks are.