H2 Knowledge and Inquiry (KI): Should You Take It?

Choosing your A Level subject combination can be quite a nerve-racking experience, especially if you don't have any strong interest in particular subjects. The stakes are high too: it's the A Levels, the culmination of 12 years of formal education. No one wants to screw up and pick the wrong combination that will lead to 2 years of extra suffering.

I faced the same problem after I graduated from the High School section. Physics, Math, Literature and KI was the combination of my dreams, but it wasn't a standard combination the College section offered. I made a compromise and chose the closest combination on the standard list: KI, Literature, Math and Economics (KILME).

When I tell people I take KILME, they usually respond with confusion or shock.

"Harh, simi combi is that?"

"You take KI?!?!?!"

These reactions are basically caused by the mystery that is KI. It's a phantom subject: one that has no textbook, no published notes, no mention of itself outside its own realm. Its lack of relatability also contributes to its mystery. KI is unlike any English class taught in secondary school, so it's hard for Sec 4s to understand what KI actually is. Most Sec 4s only talk to seniors who take General Paper (GP) because practically no one takes the road less travelled — a phenomenon that further shrouds KI in mystery.

There aren't many online resources around about KI too — merely a few in forums, school websites, and the jargon-filled SEAB syllabus document. Hence it is my humble wish that this blog article is able to shed light on what KI is, and give you useful advice on whether you should take it.

Let's start with what KI is. Knowledge and Inquiry is what SEAB calls epistemology: the philosophy of knowledge. KI is all about inquiring into the nature and construction of various fields of knowledge. In other words, KI asks: What is knowledge like? How is knowledge made? We ask these questions in ethics, art, science, history, mathematics, and the social sciences such as economics and psychology.

Here are some the questions we ask in KI:

• Can science tell us how nature truly works?
• Is knowledge of right and wrong innate to all humans?
• Is history just a fictional work "based on a true story"?
• Do all humans learn the same things from art?
• Is mathematics discovered or created?
• What are the problems of using mathematical models to describe human behaviour?
• How much subjective bias is there in science?

At A Level, KI is examined in 3 papers, all of which are related to the questions above:

1. Essays
2. Argument Critique (similar to AQ in GP)
3. Independent Study (research paper)

For example, possible essay prompts include:

• Critically discuss the view that we can never know anything.
• "Moral truths are relative to different societies and epochs." Critically discuss this view.
• Critically assess the view that if someone believes that Hwa Chong is in Bukit Timah and his belief is true, then he knows that Hwa Chong is in Bukit Timah.
• "Knowledge derived through reason is vastly superior to knowledge derived through experience." Critically assess this view.

We also have to be familiar with the theories and writings of many thinkers. If you want to take KI, it really helps to do some prior reading to prepare yourself for class. The key thinkers we study for each topic in KI are listed below:

1. Basic Epistemology
• SPA (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: the terrific trio in chronological order)
• René Descartes
• George Berkeley
• John Locke
• David Hume
• Immanuel Kant
• Edmund Gettier
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• W. V. O. Quine
• Alvin Goldman
2. Ethics
• Jeremy Bentham
• Immanuel Kant
• G. E. Moore
• A. J. Ayer
• Socrates
• Aristotle
3. Science
• Karl Popper
• Thomas Kuhn
• W. V. O. Quine
4. Art
• Plato
• Immanuel Kant
• Leo Tolstoy
• Clive Bell
• George Dickie
• R. G. Collingwood
• Roland Barthes
• Jerome Stolnitz
5. History
• Leopold von Ranke
• Hayden White
• E. H. Carr
• G. W. F. Hegel
• R. G. Collingwood
6. Social Sciences
• Auguste Comte
• Émile Durkheim
• Max Weber
• Clifford Geertz
• Karl Marx
• Michel Foucault
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Judith Butler

(There is an over-emphasis on Western philosophy, I know.)

After looking at these examples, I hope you understand why KI is vastly different from any other English class you've taken before. The fundamental difference between GP and KI is that while GP is "practical", KI is "theoretical". (I use inverted commas here because I believe that KI can give us many nuanced insights into the real world.) An immediate consequence of this difference is that GP deals with breadth and KI deals with depth.

Clearly, for the uninitiated, KI will always be intimidating at first glance. However, most of my KI classmates hadn't encountered philosophy prior to JC. As with any A Level subject, your interest and attitude are far more important that your current ability, because JC will spare no effort in preparing you for the A Levels.

So, should you take KI? Yes, if you are absolutely sure that thinking about these questions turns you on, and that you love being intellectually stimulated around the clock. However, if you are not really interested in this kind of stuff, and if you like writing about current affairs, then you probably should take GP.

KI has been a deeply enriching subject for me. I had never read so much in a year! Every part of it was thoroughly enjoyable, including the Independent Study, which I found extremely delightful because I got to explore photography (my hobby) from a philosophical point of view and write a ton about it.

If you are seriously considering KI, just dive right in. Honestly, it's going to be a fun ride. ∎