Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

THEORY OF

O X F O R D I B D I P L O M A P R O G R A M M E

2 0 2 0 E D I T I O N

C O U R S E C O M PA N I O N

KNOWLEDGE

Marija Uzunova Dang

Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

THEORY OF

2 0 2 0 E D I T I O N

C O U R S E C O M PA N I O N

KNOWLEDGE

Marija Uzunova Dang


3

University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.

Oxford

furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and

It

by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford

education

Press in the UK and in certain other countries

University

rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

All

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior

retrieval

in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by

permission

by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights

law,

Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above

organization.

be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address

should

must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this

You

condition on any acquirer

same

Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

British

available

Data

used in the production of this book is a natural, recyclable product made

Paper

wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing process conforms to

from

rst debt of gratitude is owed to our students of TOK over the years. You

Our

challenged us to be better teachers and, on a few occasions, driven us to

have

the depths of our motivation for why this work matters. It does. We are

plumb

grateful to the colleagues with whom we got to share classrooms and ideas,

also

thanks are owed to friends who offered their own words and thoughts

Special

be included in this book: Nandita Dinesh, Nikola Vukovic, Charis Boke and

to

Mitchell. We also wish to recognize Aurelija Uzunova and Michelle Luiz

Joseph

their diligence in helping us cite and locate sources and missing information.

for

are grateful for the insightful comments and suggestions of friends who read

We

versions of this work.

early

give thanks to the many teachers, knowledge keepers, caregivers, mentors,

We

and other-than-human relations, by whom our lives have been touched

human

most crucially, we give sincere thanks to Carolyn Lee, Mary-Luz

And,

Marie Trinchant and an entire team at OUP that worked tirelessly,

Espiritusanto,

and with seemingly innite patience to place this book in your hands

gently

today.

publisher and authors would like to thank the following for permission to

The

photographs and other copyright material:

use

agsandrew/Shutterstock. All other photos © Shutterstock, except p2: Daniel R. Strebe/

Cover:

(Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license); p7: Courtesy of

Wikimedia

Consult (morningconsult.com); p14: Rodrigo Abd/AP Images; p45: photo by Paul

Morning

p49: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images; p59: Adam Grossman (artist’s conception of

Miller;

Milky Way galaxy by Nick Risinger); p60: NASA/JPL-Caltech; p61: TeleGeography and

the

p64: Charles Phelps Cushing/ClassicStock/Getty Images; p66(r):

submarinecablemap.com;

Institute of Technology; p66(l): UtCon Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; p67(l):

Massachusetts

2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness, Reynaldo Anderson. Copyright © 2015. Used by

Afrofuturism

of Rowman & Littleeld Publishing Group. All rights reserved; p68: Ullstein bild/

permission

Images; p70: © Abby Smith Rumsey, March 2016, When We Are No More:

Contributor/Getty

Digital Memory Is Shaping Our Future, Bloomsbury Publishing Inc; p76: Philippe Psaila/

How

Photo Library; p79: Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives; p83: Joy Buolamwini (Creative

Science

License: cc-by-nc-nd); p85(l): Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo; p85(r):

Commons

History Images/Alamy Stock Photo; p87: PRISMA ARCHIVO/Alamy Stock Photo; p90:

Science

Anderson/Alamy Stock Photo; p94: Stephen Worth/Alamy Stock Photo; p97: Cover

Sally

Mona Schlapp, design: Claire Molloy, Copyright: Danau Tanu; p101: Courtesy of

illustration:

Ridloff, ASL Slam; p102: Courtesy of Nikola Vukovic; p107: Copyright: Estate of John

Douglas

Lilly. Margaret Howe and Peter Dolphin, Communication Research Laboratory, St. Thomas,

C.

Virgin Islands. 1965; p109: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images; p111: Bill Bachman/

US

Stock Photo; p113: History and Art Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; p115: Jean-Luc

Alamy

permission of Milkweed Editions. All rights reserved; p134: Sophie Pinchetti/Survival; p137:

by

Caron; p140: Alex Wong/Getty Images; p143: AP Images; p147: Pictures Now/Alamy

Christian

Photo; p153: Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Zen Center; p158: The Cleveland

Stock

of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1965.233 (CC0 1.0); p170: The History

Museum

Stock Photo; p173: Historic Images/Alamy Stock Photo; p177: David Parkins;

Collection/Alamy

University of Leeds; p181: Copyright Zach Weinersmith, smbc-comics.com; p184:

p186:

History Images/Alamy Stock Photo; p191(tl): NASA Image Collection/Alamy Stock

Science

p191(r): Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo; p192: The Mombasa Times; p193:

Photo;

Batlamyūs fī al-ta‘līm al-ma‘rūf bi-l-Majistī naqala Ishāq ibn Hunayn

Kitāb

Ptolemy [70r] (152/498), British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS

in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/

7475,

p197(t): Science & Society Picture Library/Contributor/Getty

vdc_100023246650.0x000099>;

p198: J. L. Lee/NIST; p201: NASA; p214: Wellcome Collection (CC BY); p217: Courtesy of

Images;

of Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University; p218: Science

Department

Images/Alamy Stock Photo; p220: Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo; p223: Daniel

History

based on data from Rad et al PNAS 2018 (CC BY-ND); p233: "FRED®" charts ©

Hruschka,

Reserve Bank of St. Louis. All rights reserved. All "FRED®" charts appear courtesy of

Federal

Reserve Bank of St. Louis. http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/; p240: International

Federal

of STM Publishers; p244(b): Centre for Science and Environment; p245: J. Lokrantz/

Association

based on Steffen et al. 2015. Planetary Boundaries: Guiding human development on a

Azote

planet. Science Vol. 347 no. 6223; p247: Reprinted by permission of Dan Piraro;

changing

NORMA JOSEPH/Alamy Stock Photo; p252: British Library/Album; p254: Jitish Kallat

p250:

p255: INTERFOTO/Alamy Stock Photo; p256: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo;

Studio;

Zdenek Sasek/Alamy Stock Vector; p270: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo; p276:

p260:

Harrison/Mail&Guardia/Gallo Images/Getty Images; p278: Still Life with Piles of French

David

and a Glass with a Rose, 1887, Vincent Van Gogh, Private Collection (F359) (image by

Novels

Images/Corbis); p279: © Association Marcel Duchamp / ADAGP, Paris and DACS,

Christie's

2020 (image by Geoff Caddick/PA Archive/PA Images); p281: Stefan Malloch/

London

p282: Guerrilla Girls, Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get Into the Met.

Shutterstock;

Update, 2012. Copyright © Guerrilla Girls. Courtesy guerrillagirls.com; p283: © Judy

Museum?

ARS, NY and DACS, London 2020 (image by STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images); p284:

Chicago.

Devlin/PA Images/Getty Images; p286: Dan Tuffs/Getty Images; p287: Museum

Anthony

van Beuningen, Rotterdam/Wikimedia; p291(t): Bridgeman Images; p293: The

Boijmans

Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; p294: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images; p296(r):

History

of National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abuja, Nigeria; p296(l): The

Courtesy

Museum of Art, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (CC0 1.0); p306(t): FL Historical

Metropolitan

6/Alamy Stock Photo; p306(b): Courtesy of the Smithsonian Libraries, at: https://

collection

(CC0); p308: Courtesy of Anson

library.si.edu/digital-library/book/hamonshuy00mori

p313: Ernst Friedrich; p317: Archive World/Alamy Stock Photo; p318: Frantisek

Stevens-Bollen;

Stock Photo; p319(c): Grant V. Faint/Getty Images; p319(t): ABDURASHID ABIKAR/

Staud/Alamy

Images; p329: © mathmannix at http://xkcdsw.com (original version from xkcd.

AFP/Getty

p331: Jayk7/Moment Open/Getty Images; p335: The Picture Art Collection/Alamy Stock

com);

p336: Lee Young Ho/Sipa USALee Young H/Newscom; p345: Craig Kaplan; p346: Everett

Photo;

Inc/Alamy Stock Photo; p359(l): NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI; p359(r): NASA/Johns Hopkins

Collection

Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute; p361: University Library

University

p362(r): Cover to ‘Sita’s Ramayana’ by Samhita Arni and

Erlangen-Nuremberg/Wikimedia;

Chitrakar, © Tara Books Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India. www.tarabooks.com; p363(l): Topham

Moyna

LLP/Alamy Stock Photo; p363(r): Center for Cultural Studies on Science and

Partners

by Q2A Media Services Pvt. Ltd.

Artwork

effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this book.

Every

omissions will be rectied in subsequent printings if notice is given to the publisher.

Any

authors and publisher are grateful for permission to reprint extracts from the following:

The

Ahmed: ‘Muslim Women and Other Misunderstandings’, interviewed by Krista Tippett,

Leila

Dec 2006, onbeing.org, used by permission of Professor Leila Ahmed, and the On Being

7

American Mathematical Society: Notices of the American Mathematical Society, public

Project.

6 Nov 2008, as per report ‘Computers effective in verifying mathematical roofs’,

release,

7 Nov 2008, used by permission of the AMS and Scince Daily. Amir Alexander:

ScienceDaily.

at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the Rise of Modern Mathematics (Harvard University Press, 2010),

Duel

© 2010 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge Mass; used

copyright

permission of Harvard University Press; and Innitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical

by

Shaped the Modern World (Oneworld, 2015), copyright © Amir Alexander 2015, used

Theory

permission of Oneworld Publications through PLSclear Elizabeth Alexander: ‘Ars

by

#100: I Believe’ from American Sublime (Graywolf Press, 2005), copyright © Elizabeth

Poetica

2005, used by permission of the author c/o Faith Childs Literary Agency Inc, and of

Alexander

Permissions Company, Inc on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.

The

and ‘The Desire to Know Each Other’, interviewed by Krista Tippett, 11

graywolfpress.org;

2016, onbeing.org, used by permission of Elizabeth Alexander c/o Faith Childs Literary

April

Inc, and the On Being Project. Malcolm Allbrook: ‘Indigenous lives, the ‘cult of

Agency,

and the Australian Dictionary of Biography’, The Conversation, 1 November 2017,

forgetfulness’

under CC-BY-ND 4.0 Licence Marshall van Alstyne and Eric Brynjolfsson: ‘Electronic

used

Global Village or Cyberbalkans?’, 1996, used by permission of the authors.

communities:

Antoine, Rachel Mason, Roberta Mason, Sophia Palahicky & Carmer

Asma-na-hi

de France: Pulling Together: A guide for Curriculum Developers, used under CC BY-NC

Rodriguez

Licence Reza Aslan: ‘Islam’s Reformation’, interviewed by Krista Tippett, 20 Nov 2014,

4.0

used by permission of Reza Aslan, c/o The Cheney Agency and the On Being

onbeing.org,

Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: Submission

Project.

13 May 2002, copyright © Australian Human Rights Commission 2002, 2017, used

G160,

the CC-BY- Licence. BBC Trust: Review of BBC’s coverage of Science, July 2011, used by

under

of the BBC. Julian Baggini: ‘Which ‘experts’ should you believe?’, Aeon (aeon.co),

permission

Oct 2017, used under CC-BY-ND 4.0 Licence. Philip Ball: ‘How natural is numeracy?’, Aeon

2

26 Oct 2017, used by permission of Aeon Media Group Ltd, aeon.co. Isaiah Berlin:

(aeon.co),

Inevitability’ in Four Essays on Liberty (OUP, 1969), copyright © Isaiah Berlin 1969,

‘Historical

by permission of Oxford Publishing Limited, Oxford University Press, through PLSclear.

used

J Bickel, E A Hammel, and J W O’Connell: tables from ‘Sex Bias in Graduate Admissions:

P

From Berkeley’, Science, 187: 4175 (1975), copyright © 1975, used by permission of

Data

(American Association for the Advancement of Science), conveyed through Copyright

AAAS

Center, Inc. Charis Boke: ‘On experience and evidence in traditional Western

Clearance

used by permission of Charis Boke. Joanna Bourke: What It means to Be Human:

herbalism’,

Reections from 1791 to Present (Counterpoint Press, 2011), copyright © Joanna Bourke

Historical

used by permission of Counterpoint Press; and ‘This won’t hurt a bit: the cultural

2011,

of pain’, New Statesman, 19 June 2014, used by permission of New Statesman Ltd.

history

Museum: statement released to CNN and reported by Oscar Holland, 22 Nov 2018,

British

© 2018, 2020 The Trustees of the British Museum, used by permission of the British

copyright

Karen Brodie: Yes, mathematics can be decolonized. Here’s how to begin’ The

Museum.

3

Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom

Great

© Oxford University Press 2020

Index © Helen Snaith 2020

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

First published in 2020

above.

978-0-19-849770-7

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Printed in Italy by L.E.G.O. SpA

Technology in China, Technische Universität Berlin; p364: mataatua.com.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following:

and some of the dening moments in our careers.

and enriched. Your voices echo in our words.

Conversation, 13 October 2016, used under CC-BY-ND 4.0 Licence

Continues on page 394

LUYSSEN/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images; p124: Franck METOIS/Alamy Stock Photo; p125: Used

IB Diploma Programme Course Books are

The

to support students throughout their two-

designed

Diploma Programme. They will help students

year

an understanding of what is expected from their

gain

studies while presenting content in a way

subject

illustrates the purpose and aims of the IB. They

that

the philosophy and approach of the IB and

reflect

a deep understanding of each subject by

encourage

connections to wider issues and providing

making

for critical thinking.

opportunities

books mirror the IB philosophy of viewing the

The

in terms of a whole-course approach and

curriculum

support for the IB leaner profile and the IB

include

Programme core requirements.

Diploma

International Baccalaureate aims to develop

The

knowledgable and caring young people

inquiring,

help to create a better and more peaceful world

who

intercultural understanding and respect.

through

this end the IB works with schools, governments

To

international organisations to develop

and

programmes of international education

challenging

rigorous assessment.

and

programmes encourage students across the

These

to become active, compassionate, and lifelong

world

who understand that other people, with their

learners

can also be right.

differences,

aim of all IB programmes is to develop

The

minded people who, recognising

internationally

common humanity and shared guardianship of

their

planet, help to create a better and more peaceful

the

They develop their natural curiosity. They

Inquirers

the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and

acquire

and show independence in learning. They

research

enjoy learning and this love of learning will

actively

They explore concepts, ideas, and

Knowledgeable

that have local and global significance. In so

issues

they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop

doing,

across a broad and balanced range of

understanding

They exercise initiative in applying

Thinkers

skills critically and creatively to recognise

thinking

approach complex problems, and make reasoned,

and

decisions.

ethical

They understand and express ideas

Communicators

information confidently and creatively in more

and

one language and in a variety of modes of

than

They work effectively and willingly

communication.

They act with integrity and honesty, with

Principled

strong sense of fairness, justice, and respect for the

a

of the individual, groups, and communities.

dignity

take responsibility for their own actions and the

They

They understand and appreciate their

Open-minded

cultures and personal histories, and are open

own

the perspectives, values, and traditions of other

to

and communities. They are accustomed

individuals

seeking and evaluating a range of points of view,

to

are willing to grow from the experience.

and

They show empathy, compassion, and respect

Caring

the needs and feelings of others. They have

towards

personal commitment to service, and act to make

a

positive difference to the lives of others and to the

a

They approach unfamiliar situations

Risk-takers

uncertainty with courage and forethought, and

and

the independence of spirit to explore new roles,

have

and strategies. They are brave and articulate in

ideas,

They understand the importance of

Balanced

physical, and emotional balance to

intellectual,

personal well-being for themselves and

achieve

others.

They give thoughtful consideration to their

Reflective

learning and experience. They are able to assess

own

understand their strengths and limitations in order

and

support their learning and professional development.

to

Course Book definition

disciplines.

in collaboration with others.

IB mission statement

consequences that accompany them.

environment.

The IB learner profile

defending their beliefs.

world. IB learners strive to be:

be sustained throughout their lives.

iii

Contents

CORE THEME

OPTIONAL THEMES

iv

AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE (AOKs)

v

lucky circumstance brings you to this page, we are excited for this book to accompany you on your

Whatever

- sometimes exhilarating, sometimes arduous - of exploring the Theory of Knowledge. Whether you

journey

a student or a teacher, we intend for this book to be your critical friend: it will remind you to question the

are

and hows of what you do and do not know. We also intend for it to be an enthusiastic champion of the

whys

that is the minimum a TOK textbook should do. Knowledge, like politics, is deeply concerned with things

But

are contestable, and in finding the truth within them. In the pages that follow, we thus aspire to make

that

relations visible and to deconstruct power structures as they pertain to knowledge. We invite you to

power

reflexively in this process: questioning the claims we make and the stories we tell.

participate

with regards to knowledge and politics, many high school textbooks present a view from

Especially

a collection of palatable truths so depoliticized or apolitical that they give little meaning to issues

nowhere:

significance. For this reason we have sought to give you TOK from somewhere. For instance, we recognize

of

the IB has gaps in what it presents as authoritative or legitimate knowledge, and that these gaps are

that

random but the result of the powerful forces of globalization, capitalism, and colonialism. In working

not

this book you have the opportunity to examine which forms of knowledge have been prioritized

through

deprioritized in your educational experience, why, and how; and the influences of this on who you are

and

a knower in the world. The Theory of Knowledge should function as a meta-narrative of your education.

as

order for the TOK course to serve these purposes it must, as a starting point, itself be subjected to this

In

deconstruction.

the authors, have the comparatively easy task of doing this and asking questions; the process of

We,

of knowing and of finding agency as a knower, is arduous and necessarily personal. You will

reconstruction,

is delightfully incongruous and very hopeful that a book like this is being published under this prestigious

It

Precisely for this reason, we will often speak to you in a voice that is a little co-conspiratorial: do you

imprint.

Dear reader,

astounding achievement of being knowledgeable in this complex world.

thus find many questions and fewer answers in this book.

trust what you read here? Why? Why not?

At the very least, you will learn enough amazing stories to be great fun at parties for a long time!

The Authors

1

and

Knowledge

knower the

we learn about and move through the world, we are guided by the knowledge gained in our

As

from elders, teachers and the lived experiences of our particular social and ecological

upbringing,

This foundation influences how we encounter new knowledge and different perspectives,

contexts.

shows up in the stories of others.

and

who we are as knowers is thus central to TOK and woven throughout this book. The goal

Exploring

this exploration is to illuminate how and why knowledge matters; who has knowledge and who

of

not; who has power and who does not; how and why we disagree; and what we might aspire to

does

with our knowledge.

do

is an invitation for you to get into the driving seat of your learning. It is designed to help you

TOK

and exercise agency in a complex and politicized world, and to challenge ignorance and

discover

Where do you see yourself fitting into all of this?

dogma with both confidence and a curiosity about the multitude of perspectives that are not your own.

Initial discussion

• What are the most important influences that have shaped what you know about the world?

• What motivates your pursuit of knowledge?

• What kinds of knowledge do you value highly, and why?

• What kinds of knowledge are specific to the communities that you belong to?

• What do your knowledge gaps reveal about you?

1

I. Scope

can seem abstract, intimidating and

Knowledge

to describe. Where should we begin?

hard

a helpful way into this conversation

Perhaps

to think about knowledge as a map. A map

is

not a natural object; it is something that

is

created. It includes some details but

humans

others, and has a boundary beyond which

not

may know nothing. It has territories, which

we

can think of as the Areas of Knowledge

we

and features such as mountains,

(AOKs),

and forests that run through them—

rivers

perhaps, the knowledge themes. How

like,

these territories and features known and

are

Who has made this map and

demarcated?

that it should look this way? None

decided

it is natural, or neutral. A map is created

of

represent the world, but simplifies much

to

the world’s complexity. Despite these

of

maps have been invaluable in

limitations,

us to explore, learn and navigate the

enabling

successfully. We might say the same

world

about knowledge, such as the following.

thing

Who produced this knowledge, when, where,

•

and for what purpose?

how

What about the world does this knowledge

•

and what does it leave out?

represent

How does this knowledge reflect or distort

•

real world?

the

Is this knowledge reliable—how does it help

•

make sense of phenomena and make

us

much the same way that we examine a map’s

In

strengths and weaknesses, we can ask

purpose,

questions about knowledge. Among the

similar

of the world, the Hobo-Dyer projection

maps

1.1) accurately represents areas but

(Figure

shapes, and is hard to navigate with.

not

Mercator projection is the most well-known

The

of the globe and probably the one

projection

are most familiar with. It is more useful as

you

navigational tool, but a much less accurate

a

1

I . S C O P E

decisions?

representation of the world.

Figure 1.1

The Hobo-Dyer map projection, designed by Mick Dyer (2002), preserves relative areas at the cost of distorting shapes. How

does it compare with the Mercator projection (developed in 1569), the most widely used map of the Earth?

2

maps balance the tension between accuracy

Good

usefulness—between truthful representation

and

practicality—and we should ask how

and

does the same. Which should we

knowledge

in which contexts? This dichotomy

prioritize,

arises in the natural and human

frequently

which create models of the world that

sciences,

useful simplifications to help us understand

are

subject phenomena. The more realistic a

the

or map is, the larger, more complex, and

model

as we have a variety of maps, from highresolution

Just

satellite images to hasty sketches on

napkins, and secret maps in government

table

to maps etched into rock centuries ago,

vaults

are some things we know from experience:

There

is light; there is heat; there are things that

there

this activity, reflect on the knowledge you

For

gained through your upbringing and

have

In what ways is this knowledge like

education.

map of the world?

a

use these “maps”, these different kinds

You

knowledge, to understand and explain

of

goes on around you, and to guide your

what

and actions.

decisions

fall to the ground, and others, such

dropped

air bubbles in water, that go up. Some of

as

knowledge explains how the things we

our

happen and why they happen. This

experience

of knowledge makes visible the forces such

kind

gravity or power; structures such as molecules

as

gender roles; and processes such as climate

or

or gentrification, that influence the world

change

different descriptions and explanations

The

our experiences have various levels of

of

power and authority. In TOK it is

persuasive

to ask: what influences the claims we

useful

and have confidence in? This chapter

trust

to illuminate that question at the level

seeks

the individual knower. In the following

of

we will also see how it applies at a

chapters

scale, where different communities and

larger

confer legitimacy and trust in different

cultures

of knowledge, often for different

forms

reasons.

Which aspects of the world are absent or

1.

in your maps? Why is this

underexplored

Do you have maps that contradict each

2.

If so, in which aspects? These are

other?

that you may have conflicting

issues

about.

knowledges

Do you have any maps that are wrong?

3.

can you tell that they are wrong?

How

Using the map metaphor, describe what

4.

means to be knowledgeable. How

it

I. Scope

I. Scope

we know and experience.

more challenging to use, it becomes.

I.1 Knowledge, or knowledges?

knowledge too comes in different forms.

are fluid, rigid or gaseous; things that when

For reflection

Your collection of maps

the case?

important is it to be knowledgeable?

3

I. Scope

is complicated by power and

Knowledge

Some knowledge, and knowledges,

authority.

be more persuasive than others. An

may

question to consider is what influences

important

we trust and have confidence in a given

whether

Is there a difference between trust and

claim.

Answers to this question reveal not

confidence?

what we know, but how we know it, and

only

we encounter new knowledge and different

how

shaping the world in the process.

perspectives,

communities and cultures across time

Different

space may privilege or give legitimacy to

and

differently. We are all shaped by

knowledge

forces.

these

may seem abstract and intangible,

Knowledge

it often has concrete origins. It is entangled

but

the instruments and tools we use to

with

it, or with a specific place or ecological

produce

While knowledge can be a set of facts,

context.

and ideas, these can produce real

theories

is important also to consider how knowledge

It

represented externally—such as in language—

is

the knowledge you acquire in the IB

Consider

Programme. Through its decisions

Diploma

curriculum, assessment and approaches

about

teaching and learning, the IB Diploma

to

like all educational programmes,

Programme,

some knowledges compared to

privileges

Let’s consider some of the decisions

others.

in this process and their potential

made

What knowledge is included and appears

1.

be valued in the IB Diploma Programme?

to

(a) How is knowledge shared and

2.

transferred?

(b) How is this different from other ways

across time and space. We should also

transferred

what happens to knowledge that is not

consider

in writing, or even expressed through

recorded

as we explore in Chapter 2.

language,

is organized in a certain way, with

Knowledge

structures and conventions. There

institutions,

disciplines and academic fields with robust

are

for what constitutes knowledge within

standards

For example, a large part of this book is

them.

to the areas of knowledge (AOKs),

dedicated

are distinct but overlapping domains of

which

To what extent are these domains

knowledge.

or contrived? Why do they exist separately

natural

one another? Beyond the realm of academia

from

are other arrangements of knowledge,

there

as the folk knowledge passed on in cultural

such

or religious knowledge shared and

groups,

through institutions and communities.

transferred

TOK course and this book invite your

The

about the forms that knowledge

curiosity

the processes through which it has been

takes,

and disseminated, the people involved

produced

these processes and their roles, as well as your

in

shifting relationship to knowledge.

own

sharing and transferring knowledge

of

you have encountered or are

that

Consider the keepers and sources of

3.

in the IB Diploma Programme.

knowledge

What is the role of teachers, textbooks

(a)

other media?

and

How are teachers and books given

(b)

legitimacy and credibility?

status,

What kinds of knowledge are

(c)

and underrepresented as

emphasized

result of this, and what implications

a

that have?

might

Your assessments are a way of

4.

knowledge. Given the

demonstrating

objectives and constraints of

structure,

consider the following.

assessment,

1

material consequences in the world.

which makes it possible for knowledge to be

For discussion

Knowledge and the IB Diploma

Programme

aware of?

consequences.

4

What kinds of knowledge is it possible

(a)

demonstrate in this way?

to

What kinds of knowledge are not

(b)

by IB assessments, and what

captured

Now think about life outside of your IB

5.

and the other ways of knowing and

studies

How do you value these as compared

(a)

the knowledge you acquire in the IB

to

our ignorance (whether individual or collective)

…

a vast, fathomless sea; our knowledge but a small,

is

island. Even the shoreline is uncertain: both

insecure

history of the human race and psychological

the

suggest that we know even less than we

research

we do. Indeed, our ignorance is extensive

think

How much time and effort do you, and

(b)

you, give to acquiring knowledge in

can

Throughout this book and the TOK course

6.

grapple with the concepts of neutrality

we

To what extent would you say that

(a)

in the IB Diploma

knowledge

What criteria would you use to

(b)

this?

determine

I. Scope

I. Scope

different ways outside of the IB?

may be the consequences of this?

and objectivity, among others.

learning you have access to.

Programme is objective and/orneutral?

Diploma Programme?

I.2 “Here be dragons”

beyond our reckoning.

(DeNicola 2017)

5

I. Scope

What factors limit our knowledge in the

1.

domains, such as science, art

different

To what extent do the different areas of

2.

cover the range of what there is

knowledge

know? Use prompts (a) and (b) to guide

to

approach to this question.

your

simply, people tend to do what they

“Put

and fail to do that which they have

know

conception of. In that way, ignorance

no

channels the course we take in

profoundly

is a big subject. Ignorance

“Knowledge

bigger. And it is more interesting.”

is

consequences of our knowledge and

The

can be significant. At its most

ignorance

ignorance pertains to that which we

extreme,

not even know that we do not know. Less

do

are known unknowns, the limitations

extreme

knowledge in our present state. Ignorance

of

also be understood as uncertainty in

can

reliability of our claims, which can be

the

and overcome to an extent by further

improved

precision and iteration. There may be

study,

both known and unknown, to our

limitations,

to know more, and therefore we need to

capacity

Does knowledge in religion extend to

(a)

scientific knowledge cannot?

where

Does art take over from mathematics at

(b)

point?

some

How have humans overcome the limits to

3.

in the past?

knowledge

Could you definitively say something is

4.

our collective scope of knowledge?

beyond

ignorance is culturally induced, through

Some

failure to spread or acquire knowledge

a

This may present as gaps in

effectively.

(for example, scientific or cultural)

literacies

leave knowers and citizens vulnerable in

that

where they need to make decisions,

domains

example by voting, about things they

for

not fully understand. Collective gaps in

do

can lead to epistemic injustice,

knowledge

in cross-cultural situations; for more

especially

ignorance can be the deliberate

Finally,

of doubt, propagation of falsehoods

promoting

impact of ignorance depends on context

The

the nature of ignorance in question. Keep

and

on your mind as you move through

ignorance

textbook and the TOK course. It is easy to

this

when we are concerned with studying

forget

To what extent do we know

knowledge.

through studying knowledge? Could

ignorance

course accurately be called the theory of

this

1

For discussion

The limits of knowledge

or history?

How would you know this?

Box 1.1: The impact of ignorance

Think about the two views given below.

life.” (Dunning quoted in Morris 2010)

(Firestein 2012)

on this see IV.3.

or blocking of knowledge through censorship.

develop means to accept a degree of uncertainty.

ignorance?

6

similar survey led by Dropp et al (2014) for

A

Washington Post, in the aftermath of the

the

revolution and pro-Russian unrest

Ukrainian

Crimea, found that about one in six people

in

able to correctly locate Ukraine on an

were

map, with young people providing

unlabelled

TOK course invites you to ask all sorts of

The

about how people came to know what

questions

a question such as: what counts as

Consider

Through history, this question has

knowledge?

been answered using a formal checklist or

not

definition but more often through messy

clear

further a respondent thought Ukraine was

The

its actual location, the more likely they

from

to support military intervention, either

were

Russia to pose a threat to US interests

believing

confident that using force would benefit

or

security.

national

different perspectives. Folk and Indigenous

of

the knowledge of women, and

knowledge,

knowledge of those who cannot speak a

the

language or write in any language,

certain

example, have long been excluded,

for

and devalued. This is more than

delegitimized

matter of diversity or inclusion. Knowledge

a

a significant role in shaping narratives

plays

guiding decisions that affect, sometimes

and

those who are not seen as

disproportionately,

I. Scope

I. Scope

Figure 1.2 Can you locate Iran? A Morning Consult/Politico survey (2020) conducted in the United States revealed that 47% of voters

supported the airstrike that killed General Qasem Soleimani, regardless of whether they could identify the Islamic republic on an unlabelled

map, which fewer than 3 in 10 did. Orange dots represent incorrect guesses while green dots represent correct placement.

more accurate answers than other age groups.

I.3 Knowledge matters

they claim to know.

and unequal negotiations about the validity

7

I. Scope

II. Perspectives

TOK we examine the difference

Within

knowledge, belief and opinion, and

between

criteria we use to distinguish between

what

This discussion looks at when and

them.

these differences matter. Start with the

why

three claims.

following

Humans are fundamentally self-interested.

•

Everyone is just trying to live their best life.

•

Which of the claims would you say is an

1.

knowledge or belief?

opinion,

What would be the consequences of

2.

categorizing one of the claims?

wrongly

is also the question of significance in your

There

pursuit of knowledge. Do you believe

own

individuals have a responsibility to be

that

about the world? If not, what

knowledgeable

you in your pursuit of knowledge?

motivates

and wonder are powerful motivators

Curiosity

3. Next, write three statements of your own.

What quality does the last statement

(b)

that the other two do not?

have,

Is it important for you to maintain a

4.

between your beliefs, opinions

distinction

exploration of perspectives in TOK is bolstered

The

the IB mission that states “others, with their

by

can also be right” (www.ibo.org).

differences,

the scope of TOK discussions, knowledge

Within

contestable. This means that you keep open the

is

of more than one correct, legitimate or

possibility

section explores the roles of expertise,

This

and critical evaluation when you

humility

different perspectives in the world.

encounter

is designed to help you understand your

It

and how the perspectives of others

perspective,

what you know. It is a broader aim of

influence

become equipped with the tools and

•

to navigate disagreement

attitudes

1

For discussion

This I know

Complete, in any way that is honest and

(a)

to you, the following.

meaningful

This I believe: ______________________ .

This I think: _______________________ .

This I know: ______________________ .

• People do not change.

and knowledge?

I I . P E R S P E C T I V E S

too, as is a yearning for meaning andpurpose.

good answer to the questions you are exploring.

the course that you will:

8

take sides in significant debates in an

•

manner

informed

appreciate and be curious about the

•

of others.

perspectives

2 explores the phenomena of posttruthism,

Chapter

misinformation and distrust in

that have surfaced prominently in

expertise

last decade. Chapter 7 examines scientific

the

and denialism in depth. We turn

controversy

to examining how we, as individuals

now

knowers, deal with what appears to be

and

new normal: political polarization and

the

experts are divided, and we are not

When

ourselves, whom do we trust? One

experts

is to consider the positions and

approach

of other experts carefully and to

judgments

the majority opinion. The philosopher

discern

Baggini, for example, prescribes a “triage

Julian

Which kind of expert in this area should

•

choose? I

Which particular expert is worth listening to

•

(Baggini 2017).

here?”

and authority manifest differently across

Expertise

For example, a dentist informing you of

domains.

cavity and an economist providing a forecast of

a

growth are different propositions even

economic

both experts are qualified to do what they do.

if

know that many economists are wrong in their

We

but we continue to listen to them to

predictions,

the consensus opinion—such is the nature

discern

their domain. If you are not religious, and/or

of

not believe in God, then a theologian or priest

do

have little influence on your opinions—but

might

does it mean to not believe in science or

what

how we think about expertise is

Often,

by the opinions of experts that

influenced

already trust; this seemingly innocuous

we

claim has profound implications,

knowledge

that your history and context, over

suggesting

you may have had little control, influence

which

orientation to new knowledge generally,

your

expertise specifically. The further implication

and

that to know something, you must also know

is

A triage or any other framework for

yourself.

about expertise is not a substitute

thinking

your good judgment. Jean-Paul Sartre

for

this predicament, and the unavoidable

describes

of judgment that falls on all of us.

responsibility

you seek counsel—from a priest, for example—you

If

selected that priest; and at bottom you already

have

the ways in which your knowledge

Consider

been influenced by what experts think

has

How important have experts been for the

1.

you have gained?

knowledge

Do you regularly refer to expert

2.

for the claims you make?

knowledge

Recall a situation when you have

3.

contradicting expert opinions.

encountered

people at some point encounter opinions,

Many

ideas and claims that they consider to

beliefs,

false, inaccurate and/or immoral. How we

be

such claims has implications for how we

navigate

relationships with other people, how we

navigate

about politics, who we vote for and many

think

the other decisions we take over a lifetime. Do

of

for example, avoid the category of offensive

we,

and the people who hold them? Are we

claims

their values might negatively influence

afraid

Some caution is certainly warranted, but the

us?

to avoid some categories of belief and/or

instinct

closes us off to other perspectives and world

people

with the risk that we stop learning. It also

views,

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

knew, more or less, what he would advise.

scientificdenialism.

(Sartre 1946)

II.1 Appeals to authority

For ref lection

Expert opinion

of truth” with three questions.

and say.

• “Are there any experts in this domain?

How did you decide whom to trust?

II.2 Intellectual humility

scientificexpertise?

privileges our current cognitive perspective, which

9

II. Perspectives

may have inherited from parents or arrived

we

unintentionally. When differences of belief and

at

are widespread, what makes you trust

opinion

current perspective? How did you arrive atit?

your

sees a bird in the garden and believes it’s a

Frank

Standing beside him, Gita sees the same bird,

nch.

she’s condent it’s a sparrow. What response

but

we expect from Frank and Gita?

should

useful attitude to cultivate is to think of

A

as generally contestable. Section IV

beliefs

how to engage with abhorrent beliefs,

considers

the resulting judgment of the people who

and

approaches should we take when

What

by disagreement? Consider the

confronted

anecdote, by Klemens Kappel, professor

following

philosophy at the University of Copenhagen.

of

both Frank and Gita become less confident in

If

judgment, the result is a conciliatory response

their

allows for learning and change, a characteristic

that

intellectual humility. When spotting birds in

of

garden, it is relatively easy for us to be openminded

the

like this: our identities and wellbeing

not at stake. Disagreements that extend into

are

and identity are in a different category.

politics

believes that a particular homeopathic treatment

Amy

cure her common fever … Amy believes that there

will

solid evidence for her claim … as well as testimony

is

got from experienced homeopaths whom she

she

Ben believes that any medical intervention

trusts.

be tested in randomised controlled studies,

should

that no sound inferences are to be drawn from

and

principles, since they are shown to be

homeopathic

by the principles of physics and chemistry…

false

understands all this, but thinks that it merely

Amy

Ben’s naturalistic perspective on human

reects

which she rejects. There is more to human

nature,

(and their diseases) than can be accurately

beings

in Western scientic medicine, which relies

captured

discuss reductionist approaches in depth in

We

7. Chapter

you were Ben or Amy, what would you do? What

If

have here is a deep disagreement, in which

we

parties cannot change their opinion without

both

changing the structure of their reasoning, their

also

views and value systems. Typically Ben

world

Amy agree to disagree, but not always. And

and

to disagree is not an option that you can

agreeing

for, or put into policy. When we encounter

vote

opinions and beliefs that oppose

perspectives,

own, we must balance a tension between

our

in our knowledge and humility about

confidence

limitations. This is easier said than done.

its

you have a deeply held belief that you

Do

might be flawed? Would you offer this

accept

up for discussion and open yourself to

opinion

other perspectives on the issue?

understanding

terms: Reddit Change

Search

view my

is an online community on

There

/r/changemyview, dedicated precisely

reddit,

this type of exchange of views. Follow the

to

to explore some of the top discussions.

link

could post your own view on something

You

see if any of the 900,000 members

and

what the issue looks like from their

share

Regardless of whether you decide

perspective.

(a) What is the value of accepting the

1.

of being wrong?

possibility

(b) Do you lose something in doing so?

How can you cultivate a capacity for

2.

kind of dialogue among multiple

the

perspectives that we see on

contradictory

/r/changemyview?

To what extent can words, especially the

3.

of anonymous strangers, change

words

1

(Kappel 2018)

For discussion

harbourthem.

Change my view

What would it take to change your mind?

Consider another anecdote, also from Kappel.

to do this, consider the following questions.

on reductionist and materialist approaches.

our core beliefs and deeply held opinions?

(Kappel 2018)

10

Why do people believe strange

II.3

and what should we do about it?

things

philosophers have long assumed that

Political

in democracies focus on values,

disagreements

and morals, and that scientific facts

preferences

rise to the surface to settle these disputes.

will

fact, this may be a flawed assumption. From

In

the orists to scientific denialists, some

conspiracy

deep disagreements occur, they concern

When

only the “facts” in question but also the

not

behind how we form facts and

processes

we trust to come up with them. The

who

are about evidence, expertise

disagreements

authority. When confronted by someone

and

does not accept what you accept to be

who

despite all the available evidence, how do

fact,

balance being intellectually humble with a

you

to thetruth?

commitment

about climate change and vaccinations

Debates

in countries around the world, even

continue

2020. These debates shape political discourse

in

there is no option to agree to disagree:

where

policy decision must be taken one way or

a

another.

would be an obvious way to resolve

Evidence

and yet some academics

disagreements,

Julian Baggini argue that people

including

evidence—that is, they tend to

“cherry-pick”

what they want, and select the evidence

believe

expertise to justify it. Kappel agrees with this

and

that are fundamental to our identities. If a

beliefs

aligns with our beliefs, we tend to embrace it

fact

critically and remember it better than a fact

less

challenges our beliefs. Factual beliefs can

that

might be one factor behind political

This

polarization.

add to these challenges, how does one continue

To

respect others’ perspectives when they dispute

to

facts that underpin one’s morality and identity?

the

does one react when these perspectives block

How

processes and policy decisions that one

political

as essential to the common good?

sees

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

serve as signals of identity and solidarity:

by asserting your belief that climate change is a

myth, you signal your allegiance to a particular moral,

beliefs seem to insulate people from evidence.

cultural and ideological community.

(Kappel 2018)

The pessimistic interpretation of this is that the appeal

to expertise is therefore a charade. Psychologists

have repeatedly demonstrated the power of motivated

thinking and conrmation bias. People cherry-pick the

authorities who support what they already believe.

If majority opinion is on their side, they will cite the

quantity of evidence behind them. If the majority is

against them, they will cite the quality of evidence

behind them, pointing out that truth is not a democracy.

Authorities are not used to guide us towards the truth

but to justify what we already believe the truth to be.

(Baggini 2017)

position, and argues that it is especially true for

11

II. Perspectives

to Quassim Cassam, we believe

According

we do not because of facts, but because of

what

we think: these habits of mind frame how

how

evaluate evidence, relate to authority and

we

to the arguments and beliefs of others.

respond

asserts that we have long focused too

Cassam

on reasons, and reasoning, in beliefformation

closely

as opposed to habits of mind, and what

calls intellectual character traits. It is the nature

he

intellectual character traits that we often do not

of

that we have them. Cassam, for example,

know

conspiracy theorists as gullible careless

describes

reasoning, indifferent to authority and less able

in

discern between evidence and speculation, but

to

describe them as gullible or careless is not to

to

their reasons, but their habits of mind.

describe

attributing problematic reasoning

However,

peoples’ characters is itself problematic:

to

one, it pathologizes people, and can make

for

less empathic and tolerant towards them.

others

does not, in itself, make it false, but it is

That

harmful. An alternative argument

potentially

terms: Why people fly

Search

facts from

bias is a disease and to fight it we need

“…

healthy treatment of facts and education.

a

find that when facts are injected into the

We

the symptoms of bias become

conversation,

severe. But, unfortunately, we have also

less

that facts can only do so much. To

learned

coming to undesirable conclusions,

avoid

can fly from the facts and use other

people

in their deep, belief-protecting toolbox.”

tools

Friesen2015)

(Campbell,

by Friesen et al (2015) examined how

Research

distance themselves from facts that

people

their beliefs. They may, of course,

contradict

dispute the validity of specific facts.

simply

may consciously or subconsciously

They

the issue in untestable ways that make

reframe

explained by circumstances rather

contextual,

habits or character traits. People who are

than

upset or in a rush may act and think

hungry,

in a given situation than those who

differently

relaxed, for example. The values and beliefs

are

the people around them also matter. This is

of

“situationist” argument, assertively put forth

the

the Princeton philosopher Gilbert Harman,

by

argues that “we need to convince people

who

look at situational factors and to stop trying

to

explain things in terms of character traits”

to

(2000).

almost certainly matters, but this does

Context

mean that habits of mind do not. What

not

we do as individuals and communities to

can

effective habits? If someone accused

cultivate

of being gullible because you believe a

you

science story, how would you

mainstream

It is an obvious trap, and you should

respond?

not immediately abandon your views,

certainly

being aware of the possibility of your own

but

is almost always a good thing.

fallibility

researchers provide the example of samesex

The

marriage, still a contested issue in some

in 2020. The researchers investigated

countries

scientific evidence could sway

whether

beliefs about the issue, using fake

people’s

about the beneficial impact on children

studies

researchers presented these made-up facts

The

participants who supported or opposed

to

marriage, and found that when the

same-sex

opposed their views, participants “were

facts

likely to state that same-sex marriage

more

actually about facts, it’s more a question of

isn’t

opinion”. However, when these made-up

moral

were on their side, participants were more

facts

to assert that “their opinions were factbased

prone

and much less about morals” (Campbell,

2015 ). This result showed not the denial

Friesen

facts, but the denial of the relevance of facts,

of

participants on both sides of the issue. The

for

summarized that:

researchers

1

is that human behaviour at any given time is

Box 1.2: How we run away from facts

of same-sex versus opposite-sex parents.

scientific evidence less relevant.

12

when people’s beliefs are threatened,

“…

often take flight to a land where facts

they

not matter. In scientific terms, their

do

become less ‘falsifiable’ because

beliefs

do you pursue and acquire knowledge?

How

section invites your curiosity about your

The

of thinking, which are some of the tools

habits

methods in your thinking toolkit, for use in

and

of the process of examining your habits

Part

thinking is understanding how you have

of

particular habits and not others.

acquired

part of the process is to take ownership

Another

responsibility for your habits of mind;

and

that habits are developed, not fixed,

recognizing

therefore can be improved upon. Habits

and

also stubborn, and so changing them is

are

intentional process that requires effort and

an

How would you like to be able to

consistency.

What does it mean, to you, to have good

think?

and methods for acquiring knowledge?

tools

section is informed by research in

This

and loosely inspired by the

metacognition,

of Gregory Bateson and the work on

thought

Thinking by Project Zero at Harvard

Visible

can no longer be tested scientifically

they

verification or refutation.” (Friesen et al

for

IB classes are a form of apprenticeship

Your

thinking like a historian, physicist, artist,

into

linguist. Or is that really so? The preceding

or

assumes a knowledge claim about

statement

correlation between academic education

the

individuals’ habits of mind. It should not

and

accepted at face value. What standards of

be

or appeals to authority could you make

evidence

we can say that through studying

Regardless,

IB Diploma Programme you acquire not only

the

but also tools and methods specific to

knowledge

disciplines you are learning about.

the

TOK you have an opportunity to step back and

In

for example: when is it appropriate to use

ask,

tools and methods of history or mathematics?

the

is it helpful or necessary to combine

When

approaches, and when is it impractical

different

impossible?

or

is typically readily available to us is what

What

think—our opinions and beliefs and what

we

claim to know. Less readily available, and

we

altogether invisible to us, is how we

sometimes

come to know, believe or hold opinions

have

things. Much of this book is dedicated

about

examining how we acquire knowledge. This

to

focuses not only on what you think,

section

and believe, but also on how you come to

know

think and believe it.

know,

II. Perspectives

III. Methods and tools


quoted in Campbell, Friesen 2015)

I I I . M E T H O D S A N D T O O LS

III.1 Thinking patterns and habits

your pursuit of knowledge.

in support or against this claim?

University.

13


terms: NYT New York

Search

40 intriguing pictures

Times

New York Times’ “What’s Going On in This

The

is an engaging starting point to begin

Picture?”

your thinking habits. The link on

identifying

page takes you to pictures like the one

this

the picture on this page or any

Consider

from the link below it.

picture

carefully at the picture you have chosen,

Look

respond to the following questions.

and

1. What is going on in the picture?

Explain why you answered question 1 as

2.

did. Include evidence for any claims

you

without comment or caption. Chosen

presented

their ambiguity, they allow for multiple

for

In thinking about what is going

interpretations.

in each picture, respondents are invited also to

on

what informs their answer and how they

consider

at it. As you form an opinion or belief

arrived

what you see in the picture, consider how

about

are encountering the uncertain, unknown

you

3. Why might the things you see be

use the following questions to guide

Next,

reflection about your claims, opinions and

your

What factors make you more likely to apply

4.

knowledge to what you see rather

past

focusing entirely on the information at

than

hand?

1

above, sourced from the New York Times and

andunclear.

For discussion

“What’s going on in this picture?”

happening?

beliefs.

you have made.

14

At what point do you feel that you have

5.

evidence to make a claim about

sufficient

about your habits of thinking can also be

Clues

in how you encounter and examine the

found

option: if you are able to do this

Discussion

with a partner or as part of a small

exercise

share and explore each other’s answers

group,

questions 1–5.

to

following concepts play an important

The

throughout the TOK course and this

role

You will have a chance to develop your

book.

of these concepts in each of the

understanding

TOK course does not provide definite

The

about what these concepts are, but

answers

provides a range of meanings across

rather

disciplines, intellectual traditions

different

knowledge communities. You may have

and

formed an understanding about these

already

in which case consider how you

concepts,

approach the following and deepen and

would

this understanding. For now, keeping

widen

mind your answers in the previous activity,

in

going on in this picture?”, consider

“What’s

you approach the following.

how

Evidence: what kinds of observations did

•

and others offer as evidence for your

you

discussion with others is not possible,

If

the online comments under each

consider

the pictures, in which respondents share

of

theirperspectives.

What factors make someone else’s

6.

convincing or reliable?

perspective

What factors make someone else’s

7.

unconvincing?

perspective

Certainty: what does it take to be certain

•

something, for example the location

of

in a given picture? What factors

depicted

whether certainty is more or less

influence

Truth: were there some claims that were

•

dispute? What does it mean for

beyond

claim to contradict something that is

a

accepted to be true? If something is

widely

Interpretation: what makes something

•

to interpretation? In the context of the

open

what gives validity and authority

pictures,

some interpretations but not others?

to

what circumstances might it be

Under

or undesirable to have multiple

desirable

Power: how does the relative power of

•

affect how we think about

claims-makers

truth and objectivity? What does

evidence,

mean for a claim to have explanatory

it

Is the power of an idea expressed

power?

its influence?

through

Justification: are claims justified on the

•

of reason, intuition, experience

basis

authority equally valid? Does a

and

require justification in order to be

claim

Explanation: how is an explanation of what

•

going on in a picture different from a

is



what you see?

claims of others.

Concepts in your TOK toolkit

more convincing, what characterizes this?

achievable?

true now, is it true forever?

chapters that follow.

interpretations?

considered knowledge?

claims? If you thought some evidence was

15


of it? What makes for a good

description

When is having multiple

explanation?

Objectivity: on what grounds can

•

be claimed or doubted? Are

objectivity

different challenges in objectively

there

what is happening, how it

describing

Perspective: is being able to see and

•

something from multiple

understand

always beneficial? Can a

perspectives

be “false”? When might

perspective

a consensus among different

reaching

be necessary?

perspectives

opened this chapter with the map metaphor

We

knowledge, which can help us think about the

of

of knowledge. Another metaphor of

properties

is a tree. We consider the implications

knowledge

this metaphor, for example about how

of

is understood and acted on, below.

knowledge

European societies, knowledge is often pictured

In

a tree: a single trunk—the core—with branches

as

outwards towards distant peripheries.

splaying

imagery of this tree is so deeply embedded

The

European thought-patterns that every form of

in

has been marshalled into a ‘centre-

institution

pattern. In philosophy, for example,

periphery’

are certain ‘core’ subjects and other more

there

peripheral … Likewise, a persistent,

marginal,

demonstrably false, picture of science has it

and

consisting of a ‘stem’ of pure science (namely

as

physics) with secondary domains

fundamental

special sciences at varying degrees of remove:

of

growing from, and dependent upon, the

branches

Ganeri offers an iteration to this

Jonardon

using a different kind of tree: instead

metaphor,

one with a single trunk, we might picture a

of

tree with multiple stems. No part is more

banyan

knowledge is shared, produced

how

evaluated? Is it easier to see how

and

cultures of others influence their

the

as opposed to how your

knowledge,

Values: can knowledge be neutral? Should

•

be neutral? What role do your values play

it

your pursuit of knowledge? How do

in

influence the production and sharing

values

Responsibility: what responsibilities

•

you have when making claims or

do

the claims you encounter?

evaluating

you agree that you have a

Would

less important or fundamental, which reflects

or

idea of a plurality of knowledges without a

the

system. The banyan tree metaphor was

central

by Vedic philosophers millennia ago, as

used

who knows this tree knows the Vedas. Below,

one

its well nourished branches straggle out;

above,

objects are the twigs. Below its roots proliferate

sense

linked with works in the world of men.

inseparably

1

explanations desirable, and when is it not?

culture influences yours?

happens and why it happens?

of knowledge?

• Culture: what is the role of culture in

responsibility to be knowledgeable?

III.2 Varying our metaphors of knowledge

Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gītā

an undying banyan tree, with roots above

Stands

boughs beneath. Its leaves are the Vedic hymns:

and

(Bhagavad Gita)

foundational trunk.

(Ganeri 2017)

16

Banyan tree metaphor stands for epistemic

The

a knowledge system consisting

pluralism,

many different roots, “many different but

of

valuable ways of interrogating reality”

equally

2017). We should caution, however,

(Ganeri

relativist arguments that make the

against

of saying, for example, that all areas of

mistake

are correct in their own ways, just

knowledge

For that would be to describe separate,

different.

trees in a forest of knowledge, whereas

isolated

argument is that there really is just one

Ganeri’s

epistemic system, one tree of knowledges,

single

which science, Indigenous knowledge and

of

are all a part.

religion

is important that we do not collapse our view

It

academic disciplines into branches on the

of

of knowledge, because they, too, can be

tree

as trees within their own right.

comprehended

would be so brave to claim that there is only

Who

correct way of doing science, for example?

one

interrogate such a claim in Chapter7.

We

same is true of other areas of knowledge,

The

Western philosophers have been

although

of seeing themselves as the central trunk

accused

we open up to these multiple ways of

As

how do we overcome the problem

knowing,

relativism; the problem of any and all

of

being different but equal in terms of

knowledges

us understand the world? Ganeri refers

helping

Jaina philosophers who offer the concept of

to

stances, or nayas, that are attitudes,

epistemic

or strategies towards producing

approaches

It is a useful construct to escape

knowledge.

and he explains it using yet another

relativism,

important skill for a knower is; the ability

An

reflect on their thinking processes. This

to

is referred to as metacognition, or knowing

skill

knowing. To practise this skill, consider

about

influences and events that have shaped

the

as a knower and thinker, and write a

you

intellectual autobiography. How did you

short

the thinker you are today? You may

become

we can each take different routes

mountain,

get there, and each route offers different

to

and disadvantages. Some will be

advantages

steeper and more challenging; others more

faster,

approaches lead to the same summit,

Different

they are not equivalent. What we are

but

with is not simply the binary of true

concerned

false, which serves to exclude plurality,

and

rather the question of which path is most

but

to our position, goal and capacity.

appropriate

terrain does the mountain present to you?

What

faces will you climb? Different peoples

Which

cultures choose different nayas; to claim that

and

is only one way to the summit, towards

there

to share this with a partner, a small

choose

or with your TOK class.

group

In drafting your intellectual autobiography,

1.

how the following have influenced

consider

thinking and the way you see the

your

today:

world

your upbringing and participation in

(a)

communities

different



leisurely and scenic.

Whichever route is selected, each mountaineer

is in principle able to avail of the same tools and

techniques, the same crampons, maps and axes;

but the mountain unfolds itself dierently to

every one. The toolkit of the responsible enquirer

contains empirical observation, logical techniques

of deduction, induction and inference to the best

explanation, and the pooling of discovery through

testimony. But there is no single correct way of using

those tools in one’s interrogation of reality.

(Ganeri 2017)

of the tree of knowledge.

knowledge, is an act of epistemic violence.

One does not believe a stance in the way that one

believes a fact. Rather, one commits to a stance, or

adopts it.

(Chakravartty 2004)

metaphor. If our goal is to reach the top of a

For discussion

Your intellectual autobiography

17


IV. Ethics

(b) your schooling

your experiences with specific places,

(c)

events or key ideas.

people,

can do this as an essay, a mindmap or any

You

format that feels appropriate and authentic.

other

on your intellectual autobiography,

Reflecting

the following questions.

consider

TOK, and throughout the “Ethics” section

In

every chapter that follows, a key concern is

of

bears the ethical responsibility for how

who

is produced, shared and applied?

knowledge

discussions typically focus on issues of

These

against misconduct in the pursuit

protecting

knowledge; integrity in the way knowledge

of

shared and communicated; and guarding

is

the harm that can come as a result of the

against

of knowledge.

application

this section, however, we consider our ethical

In

specifically as knowers. What

responsibilities

it mean to behave rightly and justly as

does

individually as well as collectively?

knowers,

most legal systems today, we are protected

In

brainwashing, indoctrination and other

from

and intrusive means of belief-changing.

forceful

do we have a right to believe whatever

But

want? We are generally not protected from

we

our beliefs scrutinized, questioned

having

criticized. Rights often have limits and

and

with responsibilities. Would you agree,

come

example, that we have a right to “believe

for

responsibly”?

“right to believe” could be conceived of as

A

evidential or moral. An evidential right

either

to a right to believe what we can justify

refers

evidence. A moral right refers to the right

with

How much of your intellectual

2.

has been intentional?

development

In what ways do you want to develop as a

3.

and a knower?

thinker

Did the way you see the world change at

4.

time in your intellectual development?

any

does it mean to you to change not just

What

you think, but how you think?

what

believe whatever one chooses, a right that is

to

in the sense that no one should take it

protected

cases where employment or education have

in

taken away because of a person’s beliefs.

been

moral right to believe would be problematic if

A

consider the acts of questioning or criticizing

we

beliefs as depriving them of this right.

someone’s

make a point using the extreme, anytime

To

asserted a belief that clashes with someone

you

belief, the two rights—your freedom

else’s

expression and the other person’s right to

of

come into conflict. A right to belief

belief—would

not be used as a negative right—that is,

should

limit dialogue, to defend close-mindedness

to

dogma. If we learn one thing from TOK, it

and

be that knowledge is contestable; so

should

is wrong, always, everywhere, and

“It

anyone, to believe anything upon

for

what extent do you agree with this

To

Are there some beliefs that should

statement?

insulated from questioning? Should

be

never be contestable?

knowledge

1

I V. E T H I C S

While this is not a legally granted right per

away.

it is upheld in various other rights, especially

se,

IV.1 Intellectual entitlement

is belief.

For discussion

Justified or unjustified beliefs

insufficient evidence.” (Clifford 1877)

18

issue of holding beliefs that are at odds

The

evidence is especially important in the

with

and public spheres, where discourse

political

disagreement can affect policy. This section

and

ethical concerns for the category of

examines

beliefs, and the people who espouse

strange

claim that beliefs are influenced by peoples’

The

education, identities and the

upbringing,

they find themselves in is widely

situations

and believed. How we hold people

asserted

to their beliefs is still an important

accountable

shaped by our own beliefs of the

question,

to which people are self-aware and

extent

thinkers. One might laugh off

independent

dismiss a friend’s problematic beliefs, such

or

their denial of scientific facts or belief in

as

theories, because one “knows who

conspiracy

are”. One is also more likely to excuse a

they

ignorance than the ignorance of an adult

child’s

with opposing political views. It can

stranger

be difficult to separate our judgment

sometimes

a belief from our judgment of the person

of

has the belief, especially with morally

who

beliefs. To what extent is this

concerning

the content of a belief is judged morally wrong, it

If

also thought to be false. The belief that one race is

is

than fully human is not only a morally repugnant,

less

tenet; it is also thought to be a false claim…

racist

falsity of a belief is a necessary but not sucient

The

for a belief to be morally wrong; neither

condition

the ugliness of the content sucient for a belief

is

be morally wrong. Alas, there are indeed morally

to

truths, but it is not the believing that

repugnant

them so. Their moral ugliness is embedded in

makes

a belief be unethical? The answer

Can

on whether we believe that all

depends

aspire to truth. Recall the tension

beliefs

simplicity and accuracy in sectionI,

between

the example of maps of the world that are

and

useful (such as the Mercator projection,

more

least for navigation) versus more truthful

at

Hobo-Dyer projection). Not all beliefs

(the

to truth—some may be useful beliefs,

aspire

coping beliefs, or pretty little lies. As

or

old saying goes, truth without love is

the

For the sake of argument, let’s say

intolerable.

strives to believe in the truth; if so,

everyone

would you engage with the judgment

how

some beliefs are unethical? “Think

that

believe better” is certainly easier said

harder,

done. Many legal systems have found

than

practical solution to this problem: hold

a

morally and legally accountable to

people

actions or declare them insane. DeNicola

their

work was introduced in section I)

(whose

why we condemn beliefs and

questions

when they lead to morally wrong

believers

Such a response appears to assume

actions.

belief is a deliberate and voluntary act,

that

in actuality it may be “‘inherited’ from

when

and ‘acquired’ from peers, acquired

parents

inculcated by institutions

inadvertently,

authorities, or assumed from hearsay”

and

2018). For these reasons, it may

(DeNicola

the act of sustaining a problematic belief

be

the face of evidence, rather than the act

in

believing itself, that is a problem. Or

of

that is just reframing the problem as

perhaps

In our minds, the question of

stubbornness.

we hold people morally accountable for

how

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

IV.2 The category of problematic beliefs

them.

separation warranted, desirable or possible?

their beliefs is still a challenging question.

the world, not in one’s belief about the world.

(DeNicola 2018)

19

IV. Ethics

in TOK is about the exploration

Much

different perspectives. Do we have a

of

to seek out, understand and

responsibility

different perspectives? If so, to what

protect

the discussion in II.2 we saw that having

In

partially overlapping, and sometimes

multiple,

perspectives coexisting in the same

contradictory

presents advantages as well as challenges.

space

a personal and civic ethic that cultivates

Having

advantages and manages the challenges is

these

pluralism, and is a foundation for modern

called

democracies around the world. Pluralism

liberal

threatened when the appetite, or capacity, for

is

these challenges is diminished, for

managing

when efforts at consensus-building

example

respectful dialogue between opposing

and

are seen as unimportant or not

perspectives

it. worth

what extent would you agree with the

To

that, collectively, we benefit from having

view

perspectives and multiple knowledges

multiple

the world? How important are other

about

such as autonomy and freedom, which

factors,

these perspectives agency? What is lost

afford

of us interacts with knowledge at a

Each

level every day when we share our

fundamental

with others, evaluate what others share

opinions

us and comprehend our lived experience.

with

may not think of these as ethical issues or

We

acts, but the questions of validity and

political

our claims, and of ourselves as

legitimacy—of

our experiences.

claims-makers—define

TOK we explore the ideas of legitimacy

In

validity as ethical issues of knowledge

and

intersect with power to have significant

that

in the world. Below, we look at

consequences

this intersection with power can produce

how

distinct forms of epistemic injustice or

two

which Miranda Fricker describes

violence,

the “wrong done to someone specifically

as

first is when the credibility of a claimsmaker

The

is prejudicially deflated because of their

the second is when there is a gap in the

identity;

understanding to make sense of and

collective

first form of epistemic injustice occurs when

The

deflate the credibility of a claims-maker, for

we

when their identity is met with prejudice.

example

is a fine balance to be struck in evaluating

There

claim based on the claim itself, and the claimmaker.

a

To what extent is it possible to separate

two? We rarely evaluate a claim in a vacuum

the

paying attention to who is making it.

without

Chapter 3 we encounter the challenges of

In

produced by anonymous people on

knowledge

internet; in Chapter 9 we hear from E.H. Carr,

the

advises us to “study the historian before you

who

[their] facts”. Which identities are relevant

study

we evaluate claims, and which are not?

when

should be sensitive to the differences

We

one-off, idiosyncratic prejudices—“Bob

between

untrustworthy because he regularly talks

is

systematic and persistent

nonsense”—and

based on identity—“Bob is

prejudices

because of his religion/age/

untrustworthy

orientation/class” or some

ethnicity/sexual

identity.

other

(2007) has described this as the difference

Fricker

a “prejudicial credibility deficit” and an

between

credibility deficit”. Fricker’s

“identity-prejudicial

is that great harm is done at a societal

argument

when we deny someone’s legitimacy, based

level

their identity, to make a claim, to be a knower

on

their own right. This epistemic injustice

in

for example, when “a hearer wrongs a

occurs,

in his capacity as a giver of knowledge”,

speaker

them “from the very practice… of

excluding

May 2020, the IB set TOK candidates the

In

question: “Does it matter that your

following

circumstances influence how seriously

personal

knowledge is taken?”

your

1

IV.3 Epistemic diversity and

epistemic justice

communicate a particular experience.

IV.3.1 Credibility

lengths should we be doing this?

when a perspective is lost?

what it is to know” (Fricker 2007).

in their capacity as a knower” (Fricker 2007).

20

there any groups of people whose

Are

you typically do not give

claims

it inevitable that a claims-maker’s

Is

should affect our assessment of

identity

second form of epistemic injustice arises

A

a person’s knowledge of their lived

when

is invalidated, because of a lack

experience

shared concepts between them and the

of

culture or power in a society. This

dominant

them at a disadvantage in comprehending

puts

communicating their experience. We see

and

happening cross-culturally, when the

this

culture is the arbiter of what counts as

dominant

and what has legitimacy. Newcomers

knowledge

this culture may find their perspectives or

to

dismissed not only because of their

claims

which would be a form of prejudice,

identity,

because others simply have no idea what

but

are talking about. Power has a role to

they

certain types of lived experiences are

play;

more frequently than others. As

invalidated

practices of mathematics through

examples,

or through drawings with rice flour

song,

Chapter11), have been dismissed as not

(see

and oral histories have not been

mathematical;

the same credit as written histories (see

given

9). These are examples of knowledges

Chapter

do not meet each other as equals because

that

power asymmetries and a lack of shared

of

concepts.

exactly is the role of power in epistemic

What

In Chapter 7, II.1 we ask whether

justice?

is power. Perhaps a better question

knowledge

the extent to which power determines what

is

as knowledge, even to affirm or deny

counts

lived experiences of others. If someone

the

for example, to be able to speak to trees

claims,

horses, to invalidate their claim is also to

or

their experience of the world. A more

invalidate

and challenging example is given

compelling

explains that this sort of epistemic

Fricker

arises from a gap in shared concepts,

injustice

and tools of social interpretation.

vocabulary

you can imagine, this gap affects different

As

groups very differently, depending on

social

extent to which they are marginalized. The

the

of marginalized groups are less

experiences

to be understood or conceptualized—less

likely

to feature in films and television shows,

likely

example—perhaps even by the members of

for

groups themselves. The very structure of

these

knowledge can therefore be prejudicial.

collective

groups’ efforts at communicating may

These

seen as inadequate simply because their

be

of expressing is misunderstood. They are

style

because they cannot make sense of

disadvantaged

express an “experience which it is strongly in

or

interests to render intelligible” Fricker 2007).

their

May 2016, the IB set the following question

In

TOK candidates.“To what extent do the

for

that we use shape the conclusions that

concepts

reach?” Consider how this question applies

we

our judgments about the validity of claims

to

claims-makers; how much of our judgment

and

shaped by the concepts that we do and do not

is

with a claims-maker?

share

all of this, what are our individual

Given

towards epistemic justice,

responsibilities

you continue to explore knowledge in this

As

remember to continue reflecting critically

course,

the knowledge you encounter at school and

on

the world, the gaps left by your education and

in

and how these intersect with power

upbringing,

that may initially be invisible to you.

relations

chapters that follow will help you to make

The

relations visible and navigate knowledge

power

the world with agency. How will you

and

to know and live in the world?

choose

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

(a)

A central case of this sort of injustice is found in the

example of a woman who suers sexual harassment

legitimacy to? In what context, and why?

prior to the time when we had this critical concept,

(b)

so that she cannot properly comprehend her own

experience, let alone render it communicatively

intelligible to others.

the legitimacy of their claim?

IV.3.2 Validity

(Fricker 2007)

especially in cross-cultural contexts?

below, by Fricker.

21

Knowledge

and politics 2

is concerned with the acquisition and application of power, in its many forms, as well as

Politics

collective decisions that are contestable. In knowledge and politics we refer not only to political

all

and structures, but also the wider sense of political life, in which we gather to deliberate and

systems

decisions, as citizens as well as members of communities.

make

this chapter we consider the tensions in knowledge and politics, such as the differences between

In

and opinion; facts and values; and reliability and neutrality. We answer the questions:

knowledge

is knowledge political, and how does this affect knowledge? Despite longstanding negative

why

politics is a way—perhaps a good way, perhaps the only way—of navigating divisive

connotations,

issues and stubborn problems, of attempting to change the world for the better.

Initial discussion

• Is politics the best method available to us for changing the world?

• Is being knowledgeable a prerequisite for effective and active citizenship?

• What attributes are necessary or desirable in a political leader?

• What role does, and should, politics play in the institutions where knowledge is produced and disseminated?

• How are agreement and disagreement on matters of fact dealt with within politics?

• What gives validity to a knowledge claim in politics?

22

about knowledge intersect in powerful

Questions

complex ways with questions about politics.

and

example, what we know about the world,

For

we know it, and who can make claims

how

it are entangled with questions about who

about

the power to make and maintain order in the

has

The answers to these questions form what

world.

call a “epistemic-political system”, and vary

we

historical and geographic contexts. Our

across

system has been called a modern-liberal

present

and is being challenged by various

system,

cultural, economic, spiritual and

ecological,

way out of these crises might require

The

answers to better questions about

different

way we think about the relationship

The

knowledge and politics is still

between

influenced by a debate between

strongly

Hobbes and Robert Boyle in the

Thomas

century. The debate concerned what

mid-17th

as knowledge, and where, how and by

counts

the boundaries of legitimate knowledge

whom

drawn. Boyle and Hobbes had opposing

are

approach reflected the emerging

Boyle’s

sciences and he argued that

experimental

like scientists, could objectively agree

people,

“facts”, if they followed strict processes and

on

disinterested in outcomes; Boyle’s “facts”

were

to a “nature” that existed outside

related

“society”. In contrast, Hobbes doubted

of

people could be objective or sufficiently

that

with the political dimensions of

Grappling

and knowledge-sharing

knowledge-making

an urgent challenge for us today: in being

poses

of ideology that masquerades as fact,

suspicious

of a new system. It is an exciting and

emergence

time to be coming together to overcome

urgent

divisive issues and wicked problems of the

the

today.

world

book explores and examines the processes

This

which facts are arrived at, scrutinizes

through

people and motivations behind fact-making,

the

traces the implications of accepting or

and

something as fact. We have all heard

rejecting

times, “these are the facts”, but can

many

speak for themselves? Matters of fact are

facts

disinterested, neutral, independent,

supposedly

in other words, beyond politics. But what

or

the ideas in the past that shaped this way of

were

and believed that all human

disinterested,

was political.

activity

notion of communities organized

“Boyle’s

their own methods and rules but

around

by limited domains not only

bounded

to the creation of different scientific

led

but, more importantly,

disciplines

science from politics and religion

separated

The final consequence of this would be

…

power, faith … and knowledge would

that

separated, each with its own institutions,

be

and procedures.” (Stalder 2019)

rules,

idea defined the modern-liberal era but

This

appears to be breaking down, perhaps

now

Hobbes’ suspicions that knowledge

vindicating

always political and that disinterestedness is

is

do we guard against dismissing legitimate

how

Howdo we distinguish between

knowledge?

I. Scope

I. Scope

I . S C O P E

political crises of our own making.

thinking about facts?

knowledge and politics, and even the

Box 2.1: Hobbes and Boyle on knowledge, power and faith

views on this subject.

impossible.

ideology and knowledge?

23

I. Scope

has been great concern, especially in

There

years, that people ignore facts and dismiss

recent

1. To what extent do you agree that this is

Chapter 1, we introduced the counterclaim

In

people are not ignoring “the facts”; they do

that

accept them as facts in the first place and

not

to believe a different set of facts. Facts

choose

to have become a signal for identity and

appear

solidarity.

political

mass leaders seize the power to t reality to

Before

lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme

their

for facts … for in their opinion fact depends

contempt

on the power of man who can fabricate it.

entirely

is often said that anything can be political. The

It

people choose to wear, the music they

clothes

the kind of language they use, the food

enjoy,

eat, and especially the food they do not

they

Who can legitimately establish what

2.

facts are and who can legitimately

the

Is it important for at least some knowledge

4.

be non-contestable?

to

practice, consider and critically explore

For

what extent universal human rights are

to

Can you think of any other

non-contestable.

facts”? Aren’t all facts universal?

“universal

have Meatless Mondays and all-gender

though:

been politicized, or were eating

bathrooms

every day and having gender-segregated

meat

in public spaces already political

bathrooms

What aspects of life have been

statements?

depoliticized?

boundaries of politics are difficult to draw.

The

of our choices, actions and claims are

Many

on assumptions and values that are

based

and therefore fall within the domain

contestable,

politics. Arguably, this is the case whether

of

not we are aware of our assumptions and

or

or not our actions are intentionally

whether

political.

2

For discussion

Let’s agree on the facts

disputethem?

3. Is there any knowledge that is beyond

evidence when it contradicts their beliefs.

dispute?

thecase?

(Arendt 1951)

I.1 Is everything political?

eat, are all discussed as political acts. Consider

24

Consider the politics of wearing a

1.

Guevara t-shirt. Does something

Che

change if the person wearing it

important

not know who Che Guevara is?

does

Reflect on the politics of clothing that does

2.

carry an explicit political message,

not

as buying second-hand items to

such

your ecological footprint. To

minimize

There is the idea that not only are our

3.

and words political, so too are

actions

inaction and silence. Describe some

our

of when this is the case.

examples

who are cautious about the politics of

Those

have urged others to keep politics

everything

of sport or science, Halloween or superhero

out

to leave it out of the classroom and

movies,

from the dinner table. This approach can

away

from a belief that there are spheres of life

come

politics does not belong, which should be

where

from attempts to politicize them.

protected

means making something

“Politicizing”

politics. It is often also interpreted

about

the 2001 book Late Victorian Holocausts,

In

and political activist Mike Davis

historian

co-opting an event for political gain, as

as,

or misrepresentation in order to

manipulation

political points. It is condemned when the

score

or context in which it is done is seen as

timing

National tragedies or disasters are

inappropriate.

seen as the wrong context for politics.

usually

recent extreme weather events in view—

With

floods, wildfires and storms—some

droughts,

have suggested that political

commentators

is not a neutral stance. Maintaining

silence

would be a failure to hold policy-makers

silence

account for past and current decisions that

to

rainfall and earthquakes may not

Whereas

have a political dimension, disaster

inherently

response and recovery do.

preparedness,

closely at the aftermath of disasters we

Looking

how vulnerability intersects with racial and

see

inequalities. We also see how the frequency

class

intensity of extreme weather events already

and

communities that are on the frontlines

affects

the climate crisis. Some therefore argue that

of

disasters are not at all apolitical, but have

natural

bit of historical distance can help us gain

A

on this issue. Let’s consider

perspective

from the previous two centuries that

examples

reverberate today.

still

last quarter of the 19th century. These

the

the result of a sustained rise in

were

temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, a

surface

known today as El Niño, causing

phenomenon

across the tropics. In the final decades

droughts

the 19th century, the consequent famines

of

death tolls in the tens of millions of people

had

China, India and Brazil.

across

outsize human cost of these droughts,

The

argues, was not a natural disaster, but

Davis

created by European empires. El Niño

one

patterns were well known in those

weather

of the world, and over generations

parts

ways of being and knowing, expressed

local

I. Scope

I. Scope

For reflection

Check your politics

what extent is this action political?

affect the impact of the disasters.

in fact been depoliticized.

For discussion

Unnatural disasters

through Indigenous knowledge, infrastructure

examines a series of extreme climatic events in

25

I. Scope

administrative systems, had developed

and

cope with drought. Imperial rule actively

to

or dismantled these systems with

undermined

consequences. For example, the

devastating

in India who perished in the 1877

millions

did not die as a result of food shortages;

famine

that year, Indian grain exports to Britain

in

record numbers. Davis similarly shows

reached

Chinese government administrators were

how

at alleviating food shortages in times of

skilled

such that few people actually starved,

drought,

that this resilience was later devastated

but

Victorian imperialism, leaving millions

through

perish in subsequent droughts.

to

El Niño event of 1743–44 was described as

The

in its impact on the plains of north

exceptional

“The spring monsoon failed two years

China.

a row, devastating winter wheat … scorching

in

withered crops and farmers dropped

winds

in their fields from sunstroke. Provincial

dead

supplies were utterly inadequate …”

grain

2001). Yet unlike later droughts, there

(Davis

the skillful leadership of the Confucian

Under

great stores of grain were

administration,

to affected areas, using ships where

mobilized

The administrators brought in

necessary.

of the relief grain from stores outside

85%

area of drought. This sustained two

the

peasants for eight months until the

million

normalized and agriculture resumed,

weather

extraordinary act “no contemporary

an

society guaranteed subsistence as

European

human right to its peasantry …” (Davis

a

and nor did any have the capacity to

2001)

so like this. Indeed, while the Chinese

do

were saved from starvation by their

peasants

millions of Europeans were

administration,

from famineand hunger-related diseases

dying

freezing winters and summer

following

between 1740 and 1743. As Davis is

droughts

to point out, this famine-defence was

careful

an isolated case, and not even the most

not

There were five other El Niño

impressive.

and seven other flood disasters in that

disasters

Each time, the disaster relief was swift

century.

extensive, unlike the responses in later

and

capacity in eighteenth-century China

“State

was deeply impressive”, says Davis, with

…

administrators, a unique system

skilled

stabilize grain prices (overseen by the

to

himself), large and well-managed

Emperor

stores, and “incomparable hydraulic

grain

and canals (Davis 2001). The

infrastructures”

that the Emperor was personally involved

fact

to accuracy in reporting and more frequent

led

disaster relief was politics, at least

innovation;

China. Contemporary European monarchs

in

by comparison much less interested in the

were

droughts of the next century, in 1876 and

The

would not have caused millions of deaths

1899,

not for imperial intervention. Unlike in 1744,

if

administrators did not benefit from

these

maintained budget surpluses and

deliberately

reserves of grain. The difference, Davis

large

was that the Chinese state in 1876 had

asserts,

“enfeebled and demoralized”, and the

been

relief efforts reduced to cash relief and

disaster

foreign charity” (Davis 2001). The

“humiliating

of the El Niño cycle was an important

intensity

but so too was the dismantling of the

factor,

institutional and technical means for

social,

with that risk. “India and China, in

coping

words, did not enter modern history as

other

helpless ‘lands of famine’ so universally

the

in the Western imagination” (Davis

enshrined

They were enfeebled by Victorian

2001).

and the loss of sovereignty. To

imperialism

how, you will have to read Davis’s book.

learn

Is it possible to make politically neutral

1.

about the causes and consequences

claims

What types of claims about disasters can

2.

be free of politics?

never

How is this example similar to or different

3.

the way we speak about the climate

from

2

years, such as 1877, 1899, and 1958–61.

Bad climate versus bad system

minutiae of grain prices and famineprevention.

was no mass starvation.

Consider the following questions.

of huge natural disasters?

crisis today?

26

may feel strange to have the politics of disaster

It

and, for example, the politics of pockets

relief

women’s clothing on the same spectrum.

on

or not everything is political, it is still

Whether

to pay attention to what is being

necessary

or depoliticized, by whom and for

politicized,

this all sounds too much, you may wonder:

If

politics be avoided? Or is the very idea that

can

can opt in or out of politics a question of

you

Political decisions affect the realities of

privilege?

differently based on their relative power.

people

what it means to have the ability to

Consider

from politics, or to be cushioned

disengage

the consequences of political decisions. Do

from

have a responsibility to be informed and

you

about politics, including the

knowledgeable

brings us on to knowledge. Politics

This

human life and so knowledge,

permeates

a human enterprise, will have a political

being

as well. This is why we grapple

dimension

issues of power and justice in the realm

with

Part of what makes TOK

ofknowledge.

is that the answers to questions about

exciting

contestable. In comparison,

knowledgeare

are many educational programmes and

there

around the world in which knowledge

systems

not contestable. What does that say about the

is

of the TOK course and the IB Diploma

politics

Consider this question in the

Programme?

of the next discussionactivity.

context

political lens on knowledge draws our

A

to when and why we give authority

attention

some forms of knowledge and not others.

to

engages us with whether, and how, we

It

some ways of knowing and not others.

privilege

political lens also makes visible the power

A

this in mind, let’s consider the politics

With

knowledge in education, one of the main

of

for disseminating knowledge. Think

institutions

the kind of knowledge institution that

about

your school, the knowledge community of

is

Diploma Programme teachers and students

IB

and the knowledge system within

worldwide

the IBsits.

which

terms: presentation

Search

of ibo

history

this presentation on

Consider

history of the International

the

outlining the key influences on

Baccalaureate,

educational model and approach.

its

As a result of the ideas on which the IB

1.

founded, what are some explicit and

was

assumptions about knowledge in

implicit

IB education?

an

Given its history, what knowledge

2.

are omitted or

traditions

What are the implications of exporting

3.

IB as a “better” educational model

the

places around the world that have

to

traditions that are not

knowledge

we move on, continue to reflect critically on

As

knowledge you are encountering at school

the

in the world. It is a practice that will serve

and

well beyond the IB Diploma Programme. No

you

there are gaps in the curriculum, as well

doubt

in this book. You are invited to notice them,

as

how they might arise and consider

understand

it would take to address them. Think about

what

power and politics affect which perspectives

how

emphasized, marginalized or absent, in

are

classroom and in a global, international

your

curriculum.

I. Scope

I. Scope

what reason.

Practising skills: Identifying

assumptions and drawing implications

kinds of issues that do not affectyou?

underrepresented in the IB?

reflected in the IB?

relations at play in knowledge communities.

27

I. Scope

this book we engage with the

Throughout

caused by incoherent expertise, or what

tension

can do when experts disagree with each other.

we

there an essential tension between the ideas of

Is

and democracy? This section explores

expertise

of authority, participation and trust in the

issues

required for democratic decisionmaking.

knowledge

We take this discussion further in II.2,

make frequent decisions to trust the

We

of experts, for example when we

knowledge

by airplane or have surgery. We trust that

travel

are in the hands of competent, qualified

we

with certified expertise and that

professionals

is checking that this is the case. These

someone

personal decisions, about which we can make

are

judgments as we navigate our daily

informed

Governance, however, includes making

lives.

and decisions on behalf of other

judgments

often on issues that require a great deal

people,

technical expertise and in situations where

of

independently, in pairs or a small

Working

identify a political issue of public

group,

that you are already familiar with or

relevance

to learn about. If you are struggling to

curious

of an issue, follow the links to two case

think

that would work well.

studies

terms: Pisani sex

Search

and HIV

drugs

link takes you to a TED Talk

This

Elizabeth Pisani on sex, drugs and HIV.

by

terms: Leslie The

Search

conspiracy

sugar

this article for the UK newspaper

In

Guardian, (7 April 2016), Ian Leslie

the

the view that sugar in our diet,

investigates

fat, is the greatest danger to our health.

andnot

there is no obvious answer. How can policy-

and politicians ensure that they base

makers

on the best knowledge available? What

decisions

the responsibilities of experts in advising

are

To what extent can citizens

decision-makers?

in these decisions by contributing

participate

evaluating claims and making

knowledge,

of where you are in the world, there

Regardless

no shortage of public policy controversies or

is

across the health sector, environmental

failures

financial markets or other areas of

protection,

In some contexts, these visible

governance.

have eroded the public’s trust in political

failings

guided by seemingly partisan

decision-making

But is there an alternative? Is there

expertise.

model of governance that addresses the

another

in knowledge and politics?

issues

TOK we concern ourselves not with

In

specific policy decisions, but with

evaluating

about how claims-makers and forms

questions

knowledge acquire legitimacy and authority,

of

how we can safeguard against bias and selfinterest

and

and learn from past mistakes.

your investigation draw on the questions we

In

encountered so far and the ones below.

have

What do you know, or what can you

1.

about the experts who guide the

imagine,

What kinds of knowledge should the

2.

possess?

experts

3. Consider which perspectives are missing or

Which groups should be invited to the

(a)

but are not currently involved?

debate

What does their absence tell us about

(b)

kinds of knowledge are valued?

which

What is the nature and extent of public

4.

in this policy decision?

participation

Which groups are most affected and what

5.

of knowledge and power do they

kinds

2

I.2 Expert knowledge and governance

judgments about competing alternatives?

which explores the “post-truth” public discourse.

For discussion

Expertise and the democratization of

knowledge in policy

people with most power on this issue?

underrepresented.

possess?

28

7, section II, explores AIDS public health

Chapter

in South Africa. Chapter 9, section II, looks at

policy

work of expert commissions between countries

the

resolve conicting histories. Comparing these

to

what is the role of politics and how does it

examples,

the credibility and authority of experts?

aect

confidence in the fact that TOK is not

Take

in exploring issues of expertise and

alone

knowledge. Questions about these issues

public

fundamental to protecting the citizen’s

are

issues are discussed by people and

Political

with various levels of power; they share

groups

opinions, make claims with various degrees

their

confidence and make judgments about the

of

and validity of other perspectives. This

reliability

the public discourse. How can you

characterizes

different perspectives? How aware are

evaluate

of the forces that have shaped your political

you

What would be sufficiently convincing

views?

change your mind? As we proceed, recall the

to

in Chapter 1 on intellectual humility

discussions

II.2) and thinking patterns and habits (in III.1).

(in

shapes depending on the context and

different

constraints. If you are curious about what

the

discussion looks like elsewhere, follow

this

link to an excellent conversation on public

the

and the forces that shape it. Hear

knowledge

Amita Baviskar, from the Institute of

from

Growth in New Delhi, and Rifka

Economic

from the University of Strasbourg

Weehuizen,

for Advanced Study. They discuss

Institute

expert and layperson knowledge can

how

integrated into a relationship based on

be

values and participation.

democratic

terms: public knowledge

Search

objectivity and

academic

smart way to keep people passive and obedient

The

to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion,

is

allow very lively debate within that spectrum—

but

encourage the more critical and dissident views.

even

gives people the sense that there’s free thinking

That

on, while all the time the presuppositions of the

going

are being reinforced by the limits put on the

system

of the debate.

range

II. Perspectives

I. Scope

II. Perspectives

Making connections

Politics in science and history

voice in government, and the answers take

teaching profit motivation


II.1 The Overton window

(Chomsky 1998)

29

II. Perspectives

“Overton window” is a term used to

The

the range of ideas tolerated within

describe

discourse and, therefore, the range of

public

and politically acceptable policies in

socially

government. Policies outside of this

democratic

will appear too extreme—“unthinkable”

range

“radical”—to be supported by politicians.

or

window is shaped by the climate of public

The

and so the media can play a very large

opinion,

Note that the window does not necessarily

role.

near the middle of the political spectrum.

sit

politicians, social commentators and

Skillful

in the public sphere can intentionally

activists

or expand the window through reason

shift

rhetoric. Some may deliberately promote

and

ideas so that slightly less extreme

extreme

which were previously outside the

ideas,

become more widely accepted by

window,

Think tanks, for example, need

comparison.

promote particular policies but can rather

not

out of the Overton window

Looking

How do we know where the Overton

1.

Would you expect two strangers to agree

2.

what is inside the window? Why or

about

Are there some ideas, policies or issues that

3.

not be politicized? If so, how would

should

Compare the relative power of the following

4.

to shift the window: social

stakeholders

organizations, cinema, search engines,

media

and television media; teachers,

print

5. Recall an example of the window shifting.

was previously unacceptable,

What

is now policy, and vice versa?

but

make previously unacceptable policies more

to

This tactic is often used by activist

palatable.

is worth noting that the Overton window is

It

necessarily a passive construct but rather

not

assertive and dynamic one—a tool to shape

an

shift political possibilities. Its point is that

and

“window is there for the shifting”, and thus

the

naturalizes ideas and policies as inherently

it

Some observers lament this sort of

political.

arguing for instance that climate justice

thing,

women’s rights should not be politicized,

and

these issues “speak for themselves”; we

as

next section explores echo chambers

The

bubbles, or how the internet may

andfilter

contributing to increased polarization

be

pluralism, by allowing

andreduced

engage only with content they

individualsto

with. agree

Should we suspend new or radical ideas

6.

judgment, for a grace period, until

from

people have had a chance to consider

more

them?

To what extent do you agree that an

7.

of the Overton window is a sign

expansion

To what extent is it unethical for politicians

8.

thought leaders to support ideas

and

policies that they do not believe in,

and

the goal of expanding or shifting the

with

If you had the influence, what ideas would

9.

bring into the Overton window?

you

To what extent has the internet, through

10.

media and online discussion

social

changed the nature of public

groups,

and the Overton window?

discourse

2

groups too.

interrogate that perspective in I.1.

focus on shifting the window of possibilities,

For discussion

window is?

why not?

of progress?

we achieve that?

window of public discourse?

journalists, influencers and politicians.

(a)

(b)

What may have caused this?

30

too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into

For

own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods

our

college campuses or places of worship or our

or

media feeds, surrounded by people who

social

like us and share the same political outlook

look

never challenge our assumptions. The rise

and

naked partisanship, increasing economic and

of

stratication, the splintering of our media

regional

a channel for every taste—all this makes this

into

sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And

great

we become so secure in our bubbles

increasingly,

we accept only information, whether true or not,

that

ts our opinions, instead of basing our opinions

that

the evidence that’s out there.

on

last decade has witnessed repeated

The

to a post-truth politics, in which

references

is framed by appeals to emotion

discourse

of policy details or facts. Political

instead

are able to continue with talking points

figures

when media, experts and opposing

even

have provided proof that contradicts

figures

The internet is commonly invoked as

them.

enabled this political culture to gather

having

with post-truthers being said to

momentum,

political outcomes in Brazil, India,

influence

the United States and the United

Russia,

“Post-truth” was made the Oxford

Kingdom.

2016 Word of the Year owing to its

Dictionaries’

in the context of Brexit and the US

prevalence

election.

Presidential

some have claimed the term is

However,

For example a New Scientist article

misleading.

“a cynic might wonder if politicians are

stated:

any more dishonest than they used

actually

be” (New Scientist 2016). Others believe that

to

confuses the ideas of empirical and ethical

it

whereas what is actually happening

judgments,

a rejection of expert opinions in favour of

is

political signalling. Politically

values-based

figures have also criticized the

conservative

use of the term by liberal commentators

selective

attack what are matters of ideology, not fact

to

2016) and for selectively protecting

(Young

facts” (Mantzarlis 2016).

“liberal

is a great irony of our time that we do not

It

agree about whether we live in a post-truth

even

because the political right accuses the

world,

left of making it up. TOK exists to help

political

with this very dilemma. We can and should

us

to know truth and navigate problems of

strive

and resist succumbing to views such

knowledge,

“nothing is true and everything is possible”,

as

by the way, is the title of a memoir of life

which,

Russia under Vladimir Putin.

in

course, it cannot be claimed that large sections

Of

organized society have suddenly given up on,

of

stopped caring about, truth. Post-truth refers

or

a civil discourse where expertise and “facts”

to

to be insufficient to sway beliefs; where

appear

appear to choose their experts and

individuals

others as politically and ideologically

dismiss

There is some behavioural research to

biased.

that facts alone do not change deeply

suggest

beliefs.

held

Mantzarlis, Poynter Institute’s head of

Alexios

stated the following.

fact-checking,

news became a catch-all term to mean anything

Fake

we don’t particularly like to read.

that

in this chapter we explore how news media

Later

prioritize impartiality can understate the

that

scientific consensus, leaving the

overwhelming

with what appears to be a scientific debate

public

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

II.2 Is there a post-truth public sphere?

(Obama 2017)

(Mantzarlis quoted in Kestler-D’Amours 2017)

31

II. Perspectives

opposed to scientific fact. Robert Eshelman

as

argued that, beginning in the 1990s, fossil-

has

industry groups seized this opportunity and

fuel

reporters of bias if they portrayed global

accused

as a settled fact, while funding research

warming

prove it was not. The tobacco industry used

to

tactics in the decades before. These

similar

succeeded in politicizing the issue and

industries

decades of public debate though the

spawning

consensus had been clear. This is the

scientific

of “false balance” implicated in many

problem

controversies on scientific issues.

public

Jayson Harsin has argued that a

Professor

set of recent developments is creating

convergent

post-truth society. These developments include

a

following.

the

Scientifically and technologically

•

methods of political

sophisticated

and persuasion are used (as

communication

explore later in the Facebook-Cambridge

we

episode) as well as strategic use of

Analytica

and disinformation.

rumours

An “attention economy” exists, characterized

•

information overload combined with a lack

by

society-wide trusted sources of news. Usergenerated

of

content within social networks has

more influential, while at the same

become

there appears to be less attention for, or

time

Filter bubbles curate content delivered via

•

media and search engines according

social

recent studies have suggested that lies

Two

spread faster than the truth. As you read

can

details, though, consider the warning

the

Chapter 8, III.1, about sampling biases in

in

at MIT investigated 126,000

Researchers

stories, shared by 3 million people

Twitter

4.5million times. The researchers’

over

was that lies spread further, faster,

conclusion

what a user “likes”, as opposed to what is

to

We explore filter bubbles and echo

factual.

What are the significant political issues

1.

debated in your community?

being

To what extent is your opinion about

2.

issues influenced by:

these

opinions of close family and

the

friends?

Have you noticed people in your network

3.

the claims of experts? If so, in

questioning

information. Interestingly, fake political

of

spreads faster than fake news about

news

disasters, terrorism, science or financial

natural

The authors specifically found that

markets.

and not Twitter bots, are more likely

humans,

spread fake news. Why is this the case? The

to

speculate that false information

researchers

to be more original than true news and

tends

people are more likely to share surprising

that

(Vosoughi et al 2018).

information

2

chambers in II.4.

For reflection

A post-truth society

(a)

(b)

the news

opinions of friends shared on

the

media

social

(c)

what context, and on what grounds?

trust in, fact-checking websites.

Box 2.2: Do lies spread faster than the truth?

behavioural science research.

deeper and wider than truth in all categories

32

Hancock, a psychologist at Stanford

Jeff

attributes the rapid spread of

University,

news on social networks to “emotional

fake

In 2012, Facebook ran an

contagion”.

that showed some users more

experiment

posts and others more negative posts.

positive

helped interpret the results and

Hancock

that people exposed to less negative

found

are two articles, selected for their

Below

viewpoints. Consider to what extent

differing

authors agree or disagree on the following

the

issues.

What do the different authors say is the

1.

of post-truth phenomenon?

source

terms:

Search

Scruton

Spectator

as long as there have been

For

they have lied, fabricated

politicians,

deceived. The manufacture of

and

has changed over time, as the

falsehood

becomes more sophisticated.

machinery

lies give way to sinuous spin,

Straight

open dishonesty disappears behind

and

and Doublethink. However,

Newspeak

if honesty is sometimes the best

even

politics is addressed to people’s

policy,

and the manipulation of

opinions,

is what it is all about. Plato held

opinion

to be the goal of philosophy and

truth

ultimate standard that disciplines

the

soul. But even he acknowledged that

the

cannot take very much of it, and

people

peaceful government depends on

that

noble lie”.

“the

negative and more positive emotion in

less

own posts, and vice versa.

their

a March 2019 interview for the BBC,

In

explained that people seemed to

Hancock

with emotions that match those of

respond

original post. Not only did the emotions

the

Hancock stated, but the more intense

match,

emotion, the more likely the content was to

the

To what extent do they consider post-truth

2.

to be a serious threat to knowledge?

politics

How do they describe the changes in the

3.

we acquire and share knowledge?

way

What strategies do they suggest for a way

4.

of the post-truth crisis?

out

commentators are

Nevertheless,

to tell us that something

beginning

changed in the past few years. It

has

not that politicians have ceased to

is

lies or to pretend that the facts are

tell

than they are; it is rather that they

other

begun to speak as though there is

have

such distinction between facts and

no

We live in a post-truth

fabrications.

— such is the mantra … Somehow

world

boundaries between true and false,

the

and nonsense, opinion and reality

sense

have been erased, and no one really

…

how to reinstate them.

knows

is one way in which the Brexit

That

is explained by those who cannot

vote

it. If there is no truth, then

stomach

are no longer true or false, but

opinions

yours or mine, ours or theirs. And

simply

the Brexit vote was about identity,

since

were bound to win over those who

“we”

thought there was something to argue

still

As for the “experts”, why should

about.

listen to them, when they were trying

we

phrase the argument in a language that

to

longer applies, as though there were

no

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

emotion in their news feed would write with

go viral.

Practising skills: Evaluating perspectives

Source 1: “Post-truth? It’s Pure

Nonsense” (The Spectator, 10 June

2017)

Post-truth

33

II. Perspectives

objective “fact of the matter” that we

some

all agree upon?

could

The concept of truth has been the victim

…

massive cyber-attacks in recent decades,

of

it has not yet recovered. The most

and

attack has come from social media,

recent

has turned the internet into one great

which

cauldron of opinions, most of them

seething

in which every kind of malice

anonymous,

fantasy swamps the still small voice of

and

terms: FT

Search

WhatsApp

India

is the echo chamber of all

“WhatsApp

lies, fakes and crap in India,

unmitigated

a toxic cesspool,” says Palanivel

it’s

an elected ofÀcial and head

Thiagarajan,

the IT department of DMK, a regional

of

in the state of Tamil Nadu … .

party

Wardle, a research fellow at

Claire

University and co-founder of

Harvard

Draft, a non-proÀt group addressing

First

on social media, says

misinformation

took off with the explosion

WhatsApp

smartphone users in countries such

of

Brazil, Nigeria and India, where

as

has become “a primary source of

it

“These questions about

information”.

role in the spread of misinformation

its

not just to do with elections,” she

are

“It’s about WhatsApp’s role in

says.

full stop.” Its encryption

societies,

… has made it more vulnerable

system

misuse, especially in elections, say

to

who argue it has become a

critics,

for spreading campaign-related

platform

misinformation.

have yet to get used to this, and to the

We

social media has done to the practice

damage

is an opinion-forming and opinionmanipulating

Politics

art. However much people

be inuenced by slick advertising,

can

promises and intoxicating

mendacious

they are inuenced by these

slogans,

only because the idea of truth lurks

things

risk came to a head in Brazil last

This

in what became known as the

year,

“WhatsApp election”. With 120m

Àrst

users in a country of over

WhatsApp

the platform was Áooded ahead

211m,

the October vote with false rumours,

of

photographs and audio hoaxes

doctored

Researchers studying 100,000 images

…

in 347 groups found that

circulating

8 per cent were “fully truthful”.

only

was huge in Brazil. It

“Misinformation

an election plagued with fake news

was

left behind a country split in half by

that

says Fabrício Benevenuto at the

hatred,”

University of Minas Gerais and

Federal

researcher on the impact of the social

a

network. “The political discussion

media

up being reduced to a meme.”

ended

has become the platform

WhatsApp

choice for politicians because of

of

massive reach that goes beyond a

its

loyal voter base, but also because

party’s

the lack of gatekeepers. Messages

of

through the system have no

forwarded

about where they originate, but

context

from the trust of coming from a

beneÀt

groups are considered the

“WhatsApp

dangerous,” says SY Quraishi,

most

former election commissioner.

India’s

disastrous potential of this media

“The

of rational argument. …

humanity and truth. …

in the background of their

somewhere

In the end we all respond to

consciousness.

inner “reality principle”, and will amend

an

belief when its refutation is staring us in

any

the face. (The Spectator 2017)

Source

2: “India: The WhatsApp

election” (Financial Times, 4 May 2019)

election

contact.

34

of politics attempts to reach consensus

practice

what has been described as “an opinion-

through

very strong; you’ve seen how rumours

is

[around] can cause havoc.”

Áoating

Garimella, a researcher at the

Kiran

Institute of Technology

Massachusetts

is studying misinformation in India,

who

more than 5m WhatsApp

analysed

posted in 5,000 public groups

messages

covering roughly 1m people. “We have

…

image-based, subtle misinformation,”

on

Mr Garimella, giving an example of

says

screenshots from a reputable

doctored

channel.

news

says it bans roughly 400,000

WhatsApp

in India every month … .

accounts

biggest challenge is that, unlike

The

WhatsApp cannot identify the

Facebook,

a dierent viewpoint from the ones

oering

in the Spectator and the Financial

expressed

this book investigates the concept

Throughout,

truth, commonly associated with concepts of

of

impartiality and neutrality. Within

objectivity,

and politics, what can we say of the

knowledge

between truth and impartiality?

relationship

issues are, by definition, divisive in the

Political

of lacking clear consensus. Does that mean

sense

knowing “truth” in politics is futile? The

that

of a message without breaking its

source

system … . “We see many

encryption

where the same message was

instances

on multiple groups, over 20 groups

sent

a 10-second window, that means

within

is a person or software sending the

there

says it has also spent about

WhatsApp

in India to run a public education

$10m

around the dangers of

campaign

on traditional media

misinformation

as television, radio and newspapers.

such

think I would say without hyperbole

“I

probably the largest public education

it’s

about misinformation ever

campaign

says Mr Woog. (The

undertaken,”

Times 2019)

Financial

terms: Economist I’d

Search

to you Post-truth world

lie

and opinion-manipulating art” (Scruton

forming

We could ask the question whether

2017).

can exist in politics, but the more

objectivity

question for us here is: what are the

immediate

consider the case of false balance, a

Let’s

example of a media bias that occurs

cautionary

journalists (and, very importantly, text

when

attempt to avoid bias by providing a

books)

perspective on opposing viewpoints.

balanced

give equal air-time or pages of text to two

They

of a debate. The phrase a “coin has two

sides

might come to mind, but is misleading

sides”

it assumes equal weight of both sides.

because

balance occurs when arguments “from

False

other side” are presented out of proportion

the

the actual evidence. It confuses fairness—

to

as giving due merit to the value of

understood

impartiality. This may be caused

evidence—with

a pressure to appear “neutral” to avoid

by

fee-paying advertisers and customers,

offending

a lack of confidence or ability to evaluate

and/or

perspective.

a

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

messages,” says Mr Garimella.

observed that it is speciÀcally focused

Follow the link below to access an article

disagree with the authors of the other two

articles on the issues raised on page 33?

Times. To what extent do its authors agree or

II.3 Truth, neutrality and false balance

It is not the case that astrology is drivel because

[someone] thinks so. It is drivel because it ies in

implications of saying it cannot?

the face of four centuries of evidence, from Galileo to

the latest space probe. To claim, as the BBC appeared

to do, that whether or not to believe in astrology is a

matter of personal opinion reveals a real lack of selfcondence.

At best, such a statement is foolish; at

worst it is open to exploitation by cranks.

(British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) 2011

35

II. Perspectives

7 deals with public trust in scientic

Chapter

is it about a scientic fact that gives

expertise—what

what extent should students, among other

To

be encouraged to disregard expert

individuals,

commonly cited example of false balance is the

A

about anthropogenic global warming,

“debate”

the scientific consensus has been

though

for at least two decades. Follow

overwhelming

terms: NASA Scientific

Search

Earth’s climate is

consensus:

the vast majority of experts—over 97%—

Though

global warming to human activity, the

attribute

3% have been given disproportionately

opposing

platforms, in the interest of balanced

large

This has left the public with an

journalism.

of inconclusive scientific debate

impression

though the scientific consensus is well

even

(Cook et al 2016).

established

example, coverage of global warming by

For

US newspapers—the New York Times,

leading

Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and

the

Wall Street Journal (a group referred to

the

“the prestige press”)—between 1988 and

as

was found to overstate the case against

2002

“[t]he prestige press’s adherence

climatechange:

balance actually leads to biased coverage

to

both anthropogenic contributions to global

of

and resultant action” argued Boykoff

warming,

a review of the impartiality and

Following

of its science coverage, the BBC

accuracy

frequent comment received during this review is

A

elements of the BBC—particularly in the area of

that

and current aairs—does not fully understand

news

nature of scientic discourse and, as a result, is

the

guilty of ‘false impartiality’; of presenting the

often

of tiny and unqualied minorities as if they

views

the same weight as the scientic consensus.

have

approach has for some (but not all) topics

That

widespread. Conictual reporting of this

become

has the ability to distort public perception.

kind

arises in part because news and current aairs

It

who have to think on their feet in a

presenters,

interview, may have little insight into the topic

live

discussed and hence nd it more dicult to

being

balance than when dealing with politics,

establish

media or nance.

the

and genetically modified foods as

vaccinations

where impartial journalism understated the

cases

the journalistic profession shoulder all

Should

blame? It is not that simple. Consider the

this

in Box 2.3 that reports how fossil-fuel

article

groups began in the 1990s to target

industry

who portrayed global warming

reporters

a settled fact: “it was the perfect line of

as

because it played into a core maxim of

attack,

to be fair and balanced in presenting

journalism:

2

Making connections

Politics and science—what gives a fact credibility?

it authority, versus a claim by a politician?

opinion if it clashes with their own beliefs?

and Boykoff (2004).

similarly reported the following in 2011.

The BBC review cites global warming,

(BBC 2011)

the link to find out more.

scientific evidence and consensus.

warming

the contours of a debate” (Eshelman 2014). But

36

Eshelman says, the industry

simultaneously,

studies to discredit the climate

wasfunding

thesis; and even if very few scientists

change

them it was enough to frame the

endorsed

as a “debate” in the media. In this way,

issue

to Eshelman, the industry succeeded

according

politicizing an issue and stoking decades

in

public debate, even though the scientific

of

terms: cjr danger of

Search

and balanced

fair

the extract below and discuss the

Consider

questions.

following

Do journalists approach the issue of balance

1.

when communicating knowledge

differently

the public on political issues as opposed to

to

issues?

scientific

If all perspectives are not equally valid or

2.

is it the responsibility of journalists

valuable,

In knowledge, when is there a trade-off

3.

accuracy and inclusion of different

between

What is the difference between a fair

4.

and a false balance with respect to

balance

a sweltering June day in 1988, James

“On

Hansen, then the director of NASA’s

E.

Institute for Space Studies,

Goddard

before a key committee of the

appeared

States Senate. Seated before a bank

United

cameras and a panel of grim officials,

of

delivered testimony that would

Hansen

to swing accepted wisdom on the

start

science of climate change. The

emerging

effect’, what we now know

‘greenhouse

climate change or climate disruption,

as

caused by human activity, mainly the

was

of fossil fuels since the dawn of

burning

Industrial Revolution, said Hansen

the

if the concept of global warming

Even

rising, it seemed another leap of

was

for most outside the scientific

faith

to believe humans could be

community

profoundly transforming something

so

vast and seemingly permanent as the

as

climate—and do it in as little as

Earth’s

hundred years. In trying to puncture

one

idea, Hansen and those like McKibben

this

their argument simply on science

based

made their case through explanatory

and

They talked about the ways the

writing.

effect would cause more

greenhouse

droughts and the sea levels to rise.

frequent

seemed to make what clearly has

They

a naive assumption: that by

proven

only the science, they could

presenting

swift, determined action to

provoke

their fossil fuel consumption.

reduce

was not much on their radar.

Politics

was a lot of coverage and most of it

‘There

smart,’ he says by phone from his home

was

Vermont. ‘Journalists talked to scientists

in

just reported it. It hadn’t occurred to

and

that it should be treated as a political

them

as opposed to a scientific one,’

issue

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

consensus had been clear.

Box 2.3: The danger of fair and balanced

and other scientists that day.

or the readers to decide whom to trust?

perspectives?

knowledge?

McKibben says of coverage in the late 1980s.

37

II. Perspectives

he adds, ‘It wasn’t long before the

But,

fuel industry did a good job of

fossil

it into a political issue, a partisan

turning

they could exploit, when they

thing

rolling out all the tools that we

started

understand as an effort to overcome

now

science. And their main target was the

the

The fossil fuel industry succeeded.

media.’

the ensuing years, the industry not only

In

over conservatives on the matter of

won

change, but they also played into

climate

media trope of balance and fairness.

the

What came next was what Penn State

…

climate scientist Michael E. Mann

University

the climate wars, and a principal line of

calls

was to question the work of reporters

attack

portrayed climate change as settled

who

It was the perfect line of attack, because

fact.

played into a core maxim of journalism:

it

be fair and balanced in presenting the

to

of a debate. Yet to do that, reporters

contours

frequently using [fossil-fuel] industry-

were

spokespeople as key sources about

backed

actual science—not about a debate over

the

policy solutions, of which industry

potential

fairly be a part. Yet since policy

should

to climate change could severely

solutions

profits, what better way to push back

choke

McKibben considered accurate

What

of climate change in the late

coverage

covering the science, not

1980s—reporters

politics—was in Gelbspan’s estimation

the

major, structural failure on the part of

a

in the 1990s. It began with who

journalists

assigned to cover the subject. ‘It was

was

science writers that were covering this

only

and they were not the types to follow

stuff

money,’ Gelbspan says. Climate change

the

in those years were taking a page

doubters

the fight against the regulation of

from

products, urging newspapers and

tobacco

and television networks to provide

radio

in their reporting of the science.

“balance”

was among the first to understand

Gelbspan

mettle were easily fooled or simply

lesser

caught up in the quotidian pressures

too

meeting deadlines. In this way, the

of

community successfully drove a

denialist

Merchants of Doubt, historians Erik

In

Conway and Naomi Oreskes trace

M.

history of industry-funded and

this

driven deception from

ideologically

acid rain, the ozone hole, and

tobacco,

to contemporary fights about

through

change. ‘Tobacco was the first

climate

systematic denialist campaign,’

big,

Oreskes. ‘The obvious lesson for

says

is to know that this exists, that

journalists

depends on appealing to journalistic

it

of balance and objectivity.’ But, she

virtues

In 2009 came a fact that would be oftrepeated—that

…

97 percent of scientists

expertise on climate and atmosphere

with

in a link between human-

believed

greenhouse gases and global

generated

That’s a level of consensus

warming.

slightly below that of the existence

only

gravity and equivalent to scientific

of

this level of confidence, says Oreskes,

Given

goal of journalists should have been

the

rather than balance. Journalists,

accuracy

other words, wouldn’t have provided

in

to a debate on gravity, giving equal

‘balance’

to someone asserting that it doesn’t

time

why would they for climate change?

exist;

for the two or three percent of so-called

As

Oreskes says journalists should

skeptics,

evaluating the motives for their dissent,

be

given the history of industry- and

especially

tank-led disinformation campaigns.

think

the factors that produce it,

Whatever

balance remains. USA Today, for

false

as a matter of policy requires

example,

an editorial on a ‘controversial’ topic

that

paired with an editorial arguing in

be

(Eshelman 2014)

opposition.”

2

wedge between scientists and reporters.

adds, ‘It leads journalists into a swamp.’

evidence linking tobacco use and cancer.

than to question the underlying science?

the folly of their claims. But journalists of

38

do denialists—or “evidence-resistant-minorities”—

How

the evolution of scientic and political opinion?

aect

article in the journal Cognition (Lewandowsky et al

An

suggests that consensus formation can be

2019)

when a small group of denialists resist evidence

delayed

an issue (such as anthropogenic climate change).

about

want to ensure that we are being scientically

We

while also communicating clearly with

precise,

on this very important issue. The phrase

readers

change’, for example, sounds rather passive

‘climate

gentle when what scientists are talking about is a

and

for humanity.

catastrophe

requires citizens to see things from

Democracy

another’s point of view, but instead we’re more

one

more enclosed in our own bubbles. Democracy

and

a reliance on shared facts; instead we’re

requires

echo chamber is a metaphorical term used to

An

a group in which beliefs and opinions

describe

reinforced by repetition (echoes), while

are

or opposing beliefs and opinions are

alternative

also suggests that this can cause the public to remain

It

about the reality of that issue. To counter

ambivalent

ambivalence, some advocates are using stronger

such

to communicate. As of May 2019, the UK

language

the Guardian recommended in its style guide

newspaper

journalists the terms “climate crisis” and “global

for

rather than “climate change” and “global

heating”,

The Editor in Chief of the Guardian, Katharine

warming”.

less often. In such a chamber, members

heard

or unintentionally engage with

intentionally

that reinforces their existing

information

As social environments, echo chambers

views.

make members feel more confident in

can

themselves, more trusting (and

expressing

critical) of the opinions discussed, but

less

pressured to withhold opposing views.

also

may also find it difficult to leave an

Members

chamber because of how entangled their

echo

cultural and political identities are with

social,

discourse.

the

terms “echo chamber” and “epistemic

The

are sometimes mistakenly used

bubble”

though there are important

interchangeably,

between the two. As Professor

differences

explains in “Escape the Echo Chamber”

Nguyen

linked article), in epistemic bubbles the

(the

opinions and voices are not heard,

opposing

in echo chambers these voices are actively

but

Further, while exposure to

undermined.

evidence can shatter an epistemic

contrary

it may have the effect of reinforcing an

bubble,

chamber.

echo

terms: aeon nguyen

Search

the echo chamber

Escape

bubbles are a type of epistemic bubble

Filter

from the filtering of online content

resulting

by search engines and social media,

delivered

on user information such as search history,

based

and past click-behaviour. For example,

location

news feeds and Google search

Facebook

are customized for users based on this

results

(stored in “cookies”). Eli Pariser, a

information

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Making connections

The science, politics and language of climate change

Viner, gave the following explanation.

(Viner quoted in Carrington 2019).

II.4 Echo chambers and filter bubbles

being oered parallel but separate universes.

(Pariser 2011)

political internet activist who coined the term,

39

II. Perspectives

argued that internet users can become

has

in their own cultural or ideological

isolated

effects have negative implications for civic

Both

as well as for democratic outcomes

discourse,

as elections, though the size of this effect

such

still debated. While activists such as Pariser

is

might this be the case? This section has

Why

how echo chambers and filter

considered

contribute to an increase in political

bubbles

and the spread of misinformation

polarization

political discourse. However, there is

in

side to the argument, that claims the

another

is with human behaviour, not our

problem

or offline environments but instead the

online

worked to raise awareness about them,

have

such as Elizabeth Dubois of the University

others

Ottawa believe that the influence of “echo

of

in social media has been highly over-

chambers

(Dubois quoted in Robson 2018). Still,

estimated”

observers agree that political polarization

many

increased and that media literacy is an

has

skill to develop for active citizenship.

important

case study considers two different

This

Eli Pariser warns us of the

perspectives.

isolation and potential for

intellectual

caused by filter bubbles. David

polarization

challenges this view, stating that social

Robson

will tend to increase the diversity of

media

that an individual encounters

perspectives

The extracts below are just a snapshot

online.

we recommend that you consider both

and

sources in full.

original

terms: Pariser Online

Search

bubble TED Talk

filter

asked a bunch of friends to Google

“I

and to send me screenshots

‘Egypt’

what they got … Daniel didn’t get

of

about the protests in Egypt at all

anything

his first page of Google results. Scott’s

in

were full of them. And this was the

results

story of the day at that time. That’s

big

different these results are becoming

how

. It’s not just Google and Facebook

…

Yahoo News, the biggest news site

either.

the Internet, is now personalized—

on

people get different things.

different

Post, the Washington Post,

Huffington

New York Times—all flirting with

the

in various ways. And this

personalization

us very quickly toward a world in

moves

the Internet is showing us what it

which

we want to see, but not necessarily

thinks

Source 2: Robson, D. 2018. “The Myth of the

2

bubbles of “likes”.

Case study

on echo chambers and

Perspectives

bubbles

filter

you look at any measures of what people think

If

people on the other side, [they] have

about

become vastly more hostile.

(Haidt quoted in Robson 2018)

Source 1: Pariser, E. 2011. “Beware Online

Filter Bubbles”.

friends we keep and the news we respond to.

what we need to see.”

Online Echo Chamber?”

40

terms: Robson BBC

Search

of online echo chamber

myth

Robson, writing for the BBC, describes

David

that show that while social media users

studies

exposed to more polarized news sources,

are

are also more exposed to sources with

they

viewpoints. This means that their

opposing

“diet” is more varied than that of users

media

regularly visit one or two internet news

who

There is also some evidence that social

sites.

users actively seek out diverse views

media

do not align with their existing beliefs and

that

the actual number of users caught up in an

that

chamber is lower than commonly stated.

echo

is, however, some evidence that users

There

become more, not less, entrenched in their

may

when presented with arguments from

beliefs

opposing side of their political position.

the

bubbles and echo chambers—

Filter

views compared

two

To what extent is Robson’s argument

1.

or divergent with Pariser’s and

consistent

Do Robson and Pariser make use of similar

2.

different kinds of evidence?

or

To what extent have you observed or heard

3.

this effect within your personal

about

What are the implications of online filter

4.

or negative?

bubbles—positive

How can the negative effects of online filter

5.

be diminished?

bubbles

Which groups of people are more

6.

to the influence of filter bubbles

vulnerable

preceding few pages have shown Eli Pariser,

The

Obama and The Economist magazine,

Barack

others, argue that echo chambers and

among

bubbles have contributed to the increase

filter

example, the concept of “motivated

For

is supported by research that

reasoning”

that people are so attached to their

shows

identities that they may unknowingly

political

their thinking to dismissing evidence

devote

disagrees with their beliefs. For example,

that

were seen to use more emotive

Republicans

in their online posts when exposed to

words

liberal viewpoints. This is a characteristic

more

echo chambers.

of

(2018) describes the psychological

Robson

of “self-licensing”, in which

concept

may feel that they have earned

individuals

right to their prejudice because they have

the

open-mindedness before. Robson

demonstrated

a 2008 study that found that people

describes

had supported Barack Obama inthe

who

Presidential election were more likely to

US

“Policy-makers should regulate the internet

7.

that what we see is ‘neutral’.”

so


To

statement?

would a “neutral” view look

What

and who could decide on its

like

(a) How do the responsibilities of

8.

governments and

individuals,

such as Google and

organizations

differ in controlling the

Facebook

you expect these

Would

and this control to be

responsibilities

around the world, and why

consistent

why not?

or

political polarization of the past decade.

in

have also been implicated in the spread of

They

in political discourse. Consider

misinformation

2.1. Figure

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

express potentially racist views subsequently.

For discussion

(a)

(b)

the other arguments we have seen so far?

content?

network?

negative effects of filter bubbles?

(b)

and how can that be addressed?

41

II. Perspectives

media users report encountering a variety

Social

political beliefs in their online networks, at

of

according to a 2016 Pew Research Center

least

of 4,500 people in the United States (see

survey

of Facebook/Twitter users who say that most of the people in their

%

have political beliefs that are_____ to theirs

networks

2016, a team of researchers from Oxford

In

Stanford University and Microsoft

University,

whether internet use had led to

investigated

ideological segregation. They reported

increased

social networks and search engines are

that

with an increase in the average

associated

distance between individuals

ideological

of polarization). However, they also

(ameasure

that social networks and search engine

found

were “associated with an increase in an

use

Guess

Actual

exposure to material from his or

individual’s

less preferred side of the political spectrum”

her

et al 2016). The researchers noted that

(Flaxman

people still access online news by directly

most

their mainstream news websites of

visiting

not through social media (though this

choice,

have changed since then) and that the size of

may

effects of social media was relatively modest.

the

research team in 2018 reported that Twitter users

A

“to a large degree” exposed to opinions that

are

with their own. They also reported that those

agree

share political content from both sides of

who

political divide— “who try to bridge the echo

the

a social network cost in terms

chambers”—incur

how many followers they have and how many

of

their posts receive (Garimella et al 2018).

likes

a separate study, also in 2018, concluded

However,

“those who are interested in politics and

that

with diverse media diets tend to avoid

those

chambers … [and] only a small segment of

echo

population are ever likely to find themselves

the

an echo chamber” (Dubois, Blank 2018).

in

finally, researchers from Facebook

And

the existence of echo chambers

investigated

10 million users and found that while

among

feeds tend to show people less diverse

news

2

EU immigration as % of UK population

% of UK child benefit paid to kids living in EU

% of EU budget spent on admin

% of international investment into UK by EU

% of international investment into UK by China

0

10 20 30 40 50

Misperceptions among UK survey respondents about how the EU aects life in the UK. Data

Figure 2.1

source: UK newspaper The Financial Times.

Figure 2.2).

Facebook

23

5 53 19

Twitter

17 6 39 37

Pew Research Center survey conducted 12 July–

Figure 2.2

8 August 2016, “The political environment on social media”: most

Facebook and Twitter users’ online networks contain a mix of people

with a variety of political beliefs.

political information, this was driven more

42

users’ posting behaviour than algorithmic

by

of content (Bakshy et al 2015). Of course,

ranking

seems a convenient conclusion for Facebook

that

but Kartik Hosanagar, professor at

researchers,

we acquired our news media from a randomly selected

If

of Facebook users, nearly 45 percent of news

group

by liberals and 40 percent seen by conservatives

seen

Facebook would be cross-cutting. But we acquire

on

news stories fromour friends. As a result, the

these

found that only 24percent of news stories

researchers

by liberals’ friends were cross-cutting and about

shared

percent of stories shared by conservatives’ friends

35

cross-cutting. Clearly, the like-mindedness of our

were

friends traps us in an echo chamber.

Facebook

newsfeed algorithm further selects which of the

The

news stories to show you. This is based on your

friends’

interaction with friends. Because we tend to engage

prior

with like-minded friends and ideologically similar

more

the newsfeed algorithm further reduces the

websites,

of cross-cutting news stories to 22 percent

proportion

liberals and 34 percent for conservatives. Facebook’s

for

worsens the echo chamber, but not by much.

algorithm

questions about whether our online

The

networks produce echo chambers and

social

bubbles, and to what extent these have

filter

political effects, remain open. This

polarizing

of lack of consensus is one that shows

problem

repeatedly in this book. Different knowledge

up

from the knower? Can they be

independent

“neutral”?

politically

in 1999 about the production of

Writing

under colonialism, Linda Tuhiwai

knowledge

argues that the nature and validity of

Smith

forms of knowledge became commodities

specific

Wharton School, believes that the study was

the

and agrees that it is “the like-

well-designed

of our Facebook friends that traps us

mindedness

an echo chamber”, explaining as follows.

in

the question is which of these news stories do

Finally,

click on. The researchers nd that the nal proportion

we

cross-cutting news stories we click on is 21 percent

of

liberals and 30 percent for conservatives … . We

for

prefer news stories that are likely to reinforce our

clearly

views rather than challenge them.

existing

we believe a research study conducted by

Should

researchers that absolves the company’s

Facebook

and places the blame squarely on us? I

algorithms

the study is well-designed. That said, I disagree

think

a key conclusion of the Facebook study. It is true

with

our friendship circles are often not diverse enough,

that

Facebook can easily recommend cross-cutting

but

from elsewhere in its network (e.g. “what else

articles

Facebook users reading?”). That the news being

are

[in] our feeds is from our friends is ultimately a

shown

within the academic disciplines

communities

developed processes for reaching consensus

have

dealing with disagreement. But what about

and

public? the

research institutions developed systems

Western

“organizing, classifying, and storing new

for

about the world. Within the context

knowledge”

colonialism, this practice of gathering and

of

knowledge can be viewed as part of a

storing

of “power and domination”.

system

II. Perspectives



constraint that Facebook enforces.

(Hosanagar 2016)

Are the tools and methods of knowing


of colonial exploitation. Smith explains how

43


Lorde said you can’t dismantle the master’s

Audre

with the master’s tools. I think about this powerful

house

radicals, liberals, conservatives, and reactionaries,

By

in the masters’ knowledge is seen as

education

inevitably to consciousness of oppression and

leading

and so to the subversive desire for equality

exploitation,

justice. Liberals support and reactionaries oppose

and

free education, public schools, uncensored

universal

metaphor seems to say that education is

Lorde’s

to social change. If nothing the master

irrelevant

can be useful to the slave, then education in

used

masters’ knowledge must be abandoned. Thus an

the

must entirely reinvent society, achieve a

underclass

knowledge, in order to achieve justice. If they don’t,

new

is plausible. Revolutions generally fail. But I see their

This

beginning when the attempt to rebuild the house

failure

work of thinkers such as Linda Tuhiwai

The

and Ursula K. Le Guin draws our attention

Smith

how the tools and methods of producing

to

also have politics. These tools and

knowledge

used to describe and explain the world,

methods,

be used to liberate and empower, or to

can

and misrepresent. They are the products

oppress

the politics of their time. We explore this in

of

the link to find out more about Maria

Follow

“Balkanism”.

Todorova’s

terms: Westsplaining

Search

Balkans

the

(a) Who has the power to legitimize

1.

and who does not?

knowledge,

(a) What are some global currents in the

2.

of knowledge production?

politics

everybody can live in it becomes an attempt to grab

so

the saws and hammers, barricade Ole Massa’s tool-

all

and keep the others out. Power not only corrupts, it

room,

Work becomes destruction. Nothing is built.

addicts.

change with and without violence. Reinvention

Societies

possible. Building is possible. What tools have we to

is

with except hammers, nails, saws—education,

build

to think, learning skills?

learning

there indeed tools that have not been invented,

Are

we must invent in order to build the house we

which

our children to live in? Can we go on from what

want

know now, or does what we know now keep us from

we

what we need to know? To learn what people of

learning

the women, the poor, have to teach, to learn the

colour,

we need, must we unlearn all the knowledge

knowledge

the whites, the men, the powerful? Along with the

of

and phallocracy, must we throw away science

priesthood

democracy? Will we be left trying to build without

and

tools but our bare hands? The metaphor is rich and

any

I can’t answer the questions it raises.

dangerous.

Said draws attention to this in his book

Edward

Maria Todorova, writing in the

Orientalism.

of Western imaginations of the Balkans,

context

“Balkanism”. When these views are given

offers

they become internalized and hold

legitimacy,

not just to describe the world, but to shape

power

But can these same tools—concepts, theories,

it.

reclaimed as tools of liberation?

explanations—be

are the consequences of this for

What

knowledge about the Balkans?

creating

What steps can we take to use knowledge

3.

further social justice and engaged

to

Perhaps the most widespread act of

4.

is voting. What kinds of

citizenship

are useful and necessary in

knowledge

this political act?

performing

the next section, we look at the issues of

In

involved in deciding who to vote for.

knowledge

2

The master’s tools

metaphor, trying to understand it.

discussion at the universities for exactly the same reason.

the revolution will fail.

(Le Guin 2004)

depth in each chapter on the AOKs.

For reflection

(b)

Considering knowledge

citizenship?

Consider the following questions.

(b)

Where does this power come from?

44



Voices: Joseph Mitchell from

thousands of candidates: their name, website, social

media, a photo and a statement. Again, none of this

Democracy Club

is provided by the authorities. Other volunteers then

check the work of the rst volunteers. Like Wikipedia,

we record every edit by every user, to ensure quality

is kept up and to track any malicious edits. Because

citizens themselves produce the information and like

Wikipedia, anyone can edit the database of election

candidates, we hope this leads to greater trust in the

information. It was made by ‘people like me’ not by

some faceless institution.

Should the state provide information on elections?

To an extent, of course. But there’s a trade-off

between independence from the state, which may

be necessary to be trusted and non-partisan, and

effectiveness/reach, which can really only be

“I help run Democracy Club, a not-for-prot organisation

achieved with state resources. In Germany, a state

in the UK. Our vision is of a country with the digital

institution actually runs a ‘voter advice application’

foundations to support everyone’s participation in

where you answer some questions and it suggests

democratic life. We start with elections, because that’s

parties that hold similar views. This relies on

where people are most often looking for information.

Germany’s high levels of trust in the state, which

The best time to serve people is when they’re actively

would be hard to match in the UK.

looking for something. Online search data tells us

Is it okay to rely on volunteers? Yes, they do an

that people ask perhaps surprisingly basic questions

about elections: who should I vote for? Who are the

amazing job. We record all edits and can roll back to an

earlier version of a record if there’s vandalism. We also

candidates? Where do I vote? How do I vote?

require an email to log-in to track user edits. Mistakes

The state doesn’t provide these answers. We worry that

are rare, vandalism is extremely rare. We see people

in the absence of easily accessible information, people

of all parties and none adding data. It’s a chance to

will switch o democracy. So we create databases of

volunteer for the good of democracy, rather than to

elections, candidates, polling locations and election

push your own views.

results. We make these open for anyone to use at no

charge and we use these databases ourselves to run

People are busy: ideally information will reach them

where they are. So we encourage Facebook and Google,

voter information websites: WhoCanIVoteFor.co.uk and

WhereDoIVote.co.uk.

the most used websites or applications in the UK,

to present our data to their users in the run-up to an

We are a non-partisan organisation. We treat all

election. Both companies are cautious, but recognise

candidates and parties equally. We need to do this

they have immense power and they are currently keen

to gain and maintain the trust of the public. This

to improve their public image.

approach means that we give candidates an equal

platform, so long as they’re legally nominated.

Of course, democracy isn’t just elections. How do you

get information about all decisions that are being made

Personally, I would have a problem if a candidate was

advocating policies that would breach fundamental

that will aect your life and how do you get to have a

say in them? Democracy is complex and messy. There’s

human or political rights. But that’s for the users to

decide. It’s important that the public know what the

no digital technology solution to solve all problems. But

we can ensure that data on politicians, votes, lobbying,

candidates stand for.

budgets and so on, is accessible. It’s the rst step.

For transparency and trust, we work openly: you

The fact I’ve thought it necessary to provide more

can see what we’re currently working on; you can

critique it; contribute; or ask us questions. Those

information on elections seems obvious, objective and

neutral to me. And the vast majority of people I meet

with technical knowledge can access the code

that powers our databases and websites. We have

seem to agree. But implicit in it is a value judgement

that says voters should know more about their

thousands of volunteers who gather data on tens of

45


Should we test people’s knowledge before

candidates.

them to participate? I’m not sure. Every person

allowing

but some voices are better informed than

matters,

As a society we all benet by increasing political

others.

But this kind of information faces tough

knowledge.

for people’s attention. The advertising

competition

of consumer goods companies—to sell you a

budgets

of shoes—are vast. Modern consumer capitalism

pair

all your attention. This doesn’t help democracy;

wants

that’s before we talk about money in politics.

and

give democracy a ghting chance, it’s vital that a

To

easy-to-use quick-to-understand service exists

brilliant

on truth—Philippines is

War

zero

patient

terms: Ressa War on

Search

Philippines Al Jazeera

truth

Ressa, journalist and founder of the news

Maria

Rappler, was honoured by TIME magazine

site

has been called a “guardian in the war on

She

(Quinn/Al Jazeera 2019). In the linked

truth”

she speaks about how social media has

video,

weaponized by authoritarian leaders in

been

What can we learn from cases where the same

1.

tools that had potential to be liberating

digital

Knowledge at the intersection of

III.1

subcultures and politics

digital

looks as if 2016 may have been the year when

It

media finally lost the ability to

mainstream

online political dialogue and debates. It

shape

remembered for the rise of post-truth politics,

is

in II.2. A lot has been written about

discussed

the phenomenon of fake news and its

how

on social media co-produced a climate of

spread

politics where the political discourse

post-truth

I came to help set up Democracy Club

Personally,

I think better political decision-making is critical

because

every aspect of our society. It determines if our society

to

better, if we can reduce suering and increase

gets

and whether we make better-evidenced

wellbeing,

In theory, democracy harnesses the ‘wisdom

decisions.

the crowd’, i.e. together we know more than alone.

of

good access to information, a thriving debate, then

With

decision taken after a vote, it seems likely you will get

a

outcomes. So democracy is extrinsically useful.

better

there’s also interesting evidence that suggests it is

But

important too: we literally feel better when

intrinsically

people don’t know what is real and

“When

is fake, when facts don’t matter, then

what

voice with the loudest megaphone

the

more power … . Free speech is being

gains

How are the processes of producing and

3.

disinformation similar to or

disseminating

from how knowledge is produced

different

shared?

and

How has the rise in the power of networks

4.

the influence of individuals over

affected

Is it any more or less possible to

politics?

significant political change as an

create

increasingly disconnected from facts and

become

claims.

evidence-based

increase in fake news is widely viewed as a

The

to democracy. There has been a fast and

threat

response by educators towards equipping

robust

people with the tools for intellectual

young

on the post-truth internet. Studies

self-defence

shown that younger people on average

have

significantly less likely to believe and repost

are

fake news. Indeed, the single most reliable

2

we feel we have a say in issues that are aecting us.”

to provide this information.

For discussion

as Person of the Year in 2018.

used to stifle free speech.” (Ressa 2019)

What kinds of knowledge does Ressa

2.

are required to defend truth and

suggest

democracy against disinformation today?

the Philippines, and her battle against it.

individual?

are instead weakening democracies?

46

of who falls for fake news is not

predictor

or political affiliation, but age. As

ideology

natives, your generation has the literacy

digital

better navigate the online world. This section

to

another phenomenon from 2016, which

examines

have had an outsize effect on the political

may

on where and how old you were

Depending

the time, you may have encountered the

at

Meme War of 2016. Meme culture can be

Great

baffling to the uninitiated; it was

profoundly

these grounds that it was initially dismissed

on

underestimated by mainstream political

and

There is a growing appreciation today

culture.

political memes have transcended their

that

beginnings in digital subcultures and

obscure

a profound influence on young people’s

have

can also shape political life more

Memes

Certainly, memes can set the tone of

broadly.

debate, especially for young people,

political

was the case with Bernie Sanders’ Dank

as

Stash Facebook group and The Donald

Meme

in the lead-up to the 2016 US

subreddit

literacy aects the online political discourse

Digital

dierent people’s ability to participate and

and

to it. The question of digital literacy is

contribute

in Chapter 3.

discussed

culture moves at a dizzying pace and

Meme

playing catch-up are regularly outed as

those

When Hillary Clinton learned how

normies.

dab on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, urged

to

to Pokémon GO to the polls, and took to

voters

asking followers to summarize how they

Twitter

about their student debt in three emojis or

feel

it backfired and was seen as exploiting youth

less,

culture for political gain. That an entire genre

pop

fairly popular memes exists about how “the

of

can’t meme” only suggests that the liberal

left

is falling behind in this political

mainstream

This could matter beyond who is cool

tactic.

uncool on the internet, and have material

and

user-generated content, made up of

Viral

inside jokes, dominated the

subcultural

online media outlets in terms of

established

the newly politicized youth. Below

reaching

the words of 26-year-old Sean Walsh, one of

are

two original moderators of Bernie Sanders’

the

generation’s memes are that generation’s

This

or Hungton Post… . Seriously, memes

C-SPAN

going to be very prevalent in politics. They’re

are

to get ideas into your head.

going

those who worry that “the future of

Might

discourse only gets shallower and less

political

(Dewey 2016) have a point?Or is

informed”

worry misplaced or overstated?

this



Making connections

Digital literacy

sensibilities of the younger generations.

Case study

Pepe the Frog, Harambe and the

divisive politics of digital antiestablishment

subcultures

political affinities.

implications for the future of political discourse.

Dank Meme Stash.

(Walsh quoted in Dewey 2016)

Presidential election.

47


end of the political spectrum

Whichever

originated from, these memes carried a

they

anti-establishment sentiment and

signature

in volumes that had no parallel among

came

have offered the example of meme

We

surrounding the US Presidential

culture

because it might be culturally

election

linguistically accessible to many

and

of this book. But outside of

readers

politics, and indeed the English

US

internets, political memes are

language

in various contexts. Discuss the

produced

How would you explain their success

4.

reach, or their lack of success

and

To what extent are memes an effective

5.

of communicating knowledge

form

What are the limitations of memes in

6.

of communicating knowledge

terms

politics, and how might these

about

be overcome?

limitations

meme subcultures are generally

Political

subversive, grassroots and

youth-led,

In other words, they are everything

collective.

the cyberevangelists told us to be

that

power of the internet. These

democratizing

also marked progressive

characteristics

may have expected political memes and

We

who produce them to also be politically

those

we may have been wrong.

progressive—and

Nagle is author of Kill All Normies:

Angela

Culture Wars from 4Chan and Tumblr

Online

Trump and the Alt-Right and wrote the

to

describes the online alt-right as a

Nagle

group of anti-politically-

heterogeneous

meme-makers, trolls and abusers,

correct

unified in their suspicion of insincerity

loosely

competitive liberal virtue-signalling. In

in

of her more controversial claims Nagle

one

that these groups were at least partly

suggests

backlash against the moral high-grounding

a

self-righteousness of the organized online

and

shaming phenomenon. She claims it was

public

a reaction to the performative wokeness of

also

politics, with its overzealous policing

identity

any and all linguistic and cultural offences.

of

again, it is impossible to disentangle who

Then

reacting to whom in the feedback loops of

was

that followed.

outrage

see how this happened, and why so many

To

not see it happening until it did, let’s take a

did

look at the transgressive methods adopted

closer

the digital alt-right, enabled by the same

by

tools that accompanied the Arab

technological

Occupy Wall Street, Anonymous and

Spring,

2

countercultural groups of past decades.

the mainstream media.

For discussion

Political memes

following.

This was unlike the culture wars of the 60s or the

90s, in which a typically older age cohort of moral

and cultural conservatives fought against a tide

of cultural secularization and liberalism among

theyoung.

(Nagle 2017)

followingquestions.

1. What do political memes look like in

your context?

What do you know about who

2.

them, and why? Where do

produces

they appear?

What would you say is their influence

3.

the political affinities of your

on

generation?

andreach?

about politics?

excited about in terms of the organizing and

Wikileaks.

48

we have to talk about a frog. Pepe was

First

by Matt Furie in 2005 in his comic

drawn

Club and was turned into a meme on

Boy’s

boards and some not exactly family-

message

corners of the internet. Soon there

friendly

Sad Pepe, Angry Pepe, Smug Pepe and

was

Pepe was tweeted into mainstream

more.

by Katy Perry, followed by

prominence

others including the Russian Embassy

many

the UK. Pepe went from fame to infamy

in

being reclaimed by the digital alt-right

after

the /pol/ board of 4chan and /r/The_

on

on Reddit, where Pepes, including

Donald

transgressive and offensive ones,

some

deployed in the Great Meme War. It is

were

to say when things peaked, but the

difficult

campaign releasing an explainer on

Clinton

the Frog on its official website might

Pepe

been it. “That’s Pepe. He’s a symbol

have

with white supremacy” reads the

associated

which continues in questionand-answer

condemnation,

style until the stand-in reader

“[t]his is horrifying” (Chan 2016).

concludes,

weeks later, Pepe became an official

Two

symbol and Pepe memes with racist

hate

other bigoted content were added to the

and

League’s database. Furie

Anti-Defamation

hard to reclaim Pepe, launching the

tried

campaign in partnership with the

#SavePepe

League to get Pepe back

Anti-Defamation

online bigots. As you can probably

from

this has not worked.

guess,

we see reflected in the Pepe story

What

always political in a wider sense than

was

Figure 2.3 In 2019–2020, Pepe was used by pro-democracy

mania exceeded any expectations of

Harambe

participation. If your digital detox

popular

with the week when the Harambe

coincided

took off, you would have returned to a

meme

baffling internet where everyone wanted

very

be in on the joke. Transgression has long

to

a tactic for social resistance, powerfully

been

often by young people, to

deployed,

and destabilize stale social norms

undermine

cultural taboos. It is not difficult to mock

and

online world where viral content and

an

on social networks regularly drown

outrage

information about global issues of

out

urgentimportance.

are transgressive memes, with their cynical

So,

confronting intellectual conformity

mockery,

drawing attention to the hypocrisies of

and

political discourse? Or is it transgression

online

its own sake—just “for the lulz”—without

for

intended political outcome? Even

any

are we reading too much into what is

worse,

overt bigotry?

effectively

we answer these questions matters.

How

memes that challenge

Anti-establishment

and are critical of entrenched

conventions,

positions, expressed in an aesthetic

political

language that appeals to and sometimes is

and

fully grasped by young people, can be a

only



When a gorilla named Harambe was shot dead at

the Cincinnati Zoo that year after a child fell into his

enclosure, the usual cycles of public displays of

outrage online began as expected with inevitable

competitive virtue signaling. At rst, emotional and

outraged people online blamed the child’s parents

for the gorilla’s death, with some even petitioning to

have the parents prosecuted for their neglect. But

then a kind of giddy ironic mocking of the social

media spectacle started to take over. The Harambe

meme soon became the perfect parody of the

sentimentality and absurd priorities of Western

liberal performative politics and the online mass

hysteria that often characterized it.

(Nagle 2017)

presidential campaigns and elections.

protesters in Hong Kong as a symbol of their resistance against

China’s central government

powerful way of communicating about politics.

49


IV. Ethics

the same time, though, anti-moral,

At

subversive, offensive, racist, sexist

irreverent,

regularly bursts out of the memefactories

content

in the dark corners of the internet and

more conventional social network spaces

into

influence many young people’s political

that

affinities and ideas. How you

identities,

these, distinguish between them,

encounter

hold yourself and others accountable in

and

political spaces, is part of the skill set of

online

this note of personal accountability and

On

responsibility for how we behave in

collective

LeGuin, the IBO asks, in relation to

Like

and politics, “Can we know what

knowledge

forms of justice are relevant to the theme

Various

knowledge and politics. The idea of epistemic

of

for example, is discussed in Chapter 1,

justice,

In the context of the public sphere and open

IV.3.

there are issues of justice regarding

dialogue,

perspectives have access to a platform,

which

are thus more widely heard. And at the

and

of politics and technology, the issue

intersection

justice shows up in social media, filter bubbles

of

echo chambers, which we discuss earlier in

and

chapter. In the next section we focus on how

this

engage with ethical issues on university

youth

How much do you need to know

1.

sharing a political video,

before

To what extent does it matter how

2.

of your friends have shared it,

many

political spaces, we move into a section

online

to the ethics of knowledge in politics.

dedicated

educational institutions with the task of

As

young people for active and productive

preparing

in society, universities have a special

participation

important role with regard to knowledge

and

politics. For example, political activism

and

US campuses in the 1960s played a key role

on

the civil rights and anti-war movements, as

in

as the movements for the rights of women

well

sexual minorities. Because of their role

and

producing and disseminating knowledge,

in

are said to be freer than the rest

universities

society. How does privileging the freedom

of

speech and scholarship affect the politics of

of

in these special public spaces?

knowledge

is only in very specific cases that limitations on

It

freedom are put in place, such as when there

this

concerns about violence or violations of the

are

In recent years, however, the tension between

law.

and safety has profoundly affected

freedom

discourse on university campuses. As safe

the

2

For ref lection

How would you decide whether a

post is unacceptable?

petition or meme?

digital citizenship.

and which ones?

I V. E T H I C S

last words of the Mahabharata are, ‘By no means

The

I attain a goal beyond my reach’. It is likely that

can

a human idea, is a goal beyond human reach.

justice,

IV.1 Campus politics: Pluralism,

academic freedom and no-platforming

We’re good at inventing things that can’t exist.

(Le Guin 2004)

justice is and what it requires?”

campuses and social media networks.

spaces, trigger warnings and politically correct

50

become more common, some observers

speech

asked whether these come at the expense

have

pluralism and deep dialogue. Is the university

of

shifting from being a place that is safe

campus

political differences, to a place that is safe from

for

differences? The political phenomenon

political

(or alternatively deplatforming)

No-platforming

limiting, restricting, denying or

means

access to a venue or an audience to

revoking

perspectives that might be offensive or

certain

There have been numerous instances

inflammatory.

a controversial guest speaker is blocked

where

the exception of hate speech—is

When—with

appropriate to deplatform a political view?

it

about your own answer to this question,

Think

explore the Disinvitation Database (linked

then

a crowd-sourced register of events

below),

an invited speaker has been blocked from

when

terms: Disinvitation

Search

FIRE

Database

website’s user’s guide

The

instructions on how to use the database.

contains

What do you notice about the timeline of

1.

or the profile or profession

disinvitations,

How have the topics brought up as reasons

2.

disinvitation changed over time?

for

What else do you notice about the success

3.

of disinvitations, the types of events

rate

another perspective on this issue and

For

investigation into the question

further

follow the link to the article “Why

above,

is sometimes a justifiable

no-platforming

terms: aeon Why no

Search

is sometimes a

platforming

the claim that “No-platforming

Consider

to intolerance and the

contributes

of political views” and the

polarization

that “No-platforming protects

counterclaim

the proliferation of intolerant and

against

political views”.

polarizing

in a pair or small group, come up

Working

a set of arguments and examples in

with

look at the evidence you have been able to

Next,

in support of the claims. Which claim

produce

consider the implications of your

Finally,

What are the consequences for

conclusion.

depending on whether you decide

knowledge

or in favour of no-platforming?

against

your explorations of the Disinvitation Database

In

may encounter calls for blanket bans on

you

perspectives or petitions to deny someone

certain

right to address the student public. When

the

are unsuccessful, a host of disruptive tactics

those

been used, ranging from walkouts to the

have

veto”—escalating noise and disruption

“heckler’s

the event can no longer continue.

until

have faced the criticism

No-platformers

limiting the right to speak is a threat to

that

And yet, some no-platformers argue

freedom.

a speaker who fails to explicitly condemn

that

deserves to be directly confronted.

injustice

confrontations are often not conducted

These

the spirit of respectful, or even peaceful,

in

Consequently, no-platformers

disagreement.

also been criticized for their offensive

have

and hostile actions.

language

appeal to mutual respect crops up regularly

The

conversations around campus politics, but this

in

is also central to engaging with difference

value

TOK and in the IB. To discuss the politics of

in

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

Practising skills: Exploring

perspectives and drawing implications

known as no-platforming shines a light on this.

support of each of these claims.

from speaking at a university campus, for example.

is more convincing? What is your conclusion?

addressing students on campus.

For reflection

Disinvitation

of the disinvited speakers?

or the political affiliation of the speakers?

position”.

respectability we turn to the example below.

justifiable position

51

IV. Ethics

offence enters the picture, it can be

When

to continue a dialogue between

challenging

perspectives. But what does it mean

different

something to be offensive in the context of

for

these two op-eds regarding an

Consider

at a local board of education. When

incident

“offensive” about showing disrespect, and

is

is it about causing harm?

when

terms: Kaleem Caire

Search

need to learn

Children

terms: Respectability

Search

urgent challenges in

politics

Does calling for respect reduce the power

1.

marginalized groups to challenge the

of

Is the politics of respectability a way for

2.

in power to maintain power and

those

the strategies of those who

discredit

them? Or is mutual respect

challenge

for effective dialogue and

necessary

with differences in perspective?

engaging

Disrupting politics with

IV.2

technology

psychographic

following quote is from Alexander Nix, CEO

The

Cambridge Analytica.

of

just put information into the bloodstream to the

We

and then watch it grow, give it a little push

internet

now and again over time to watch it take shape.

every

so this stu inltrates the online community and

And

but with no branding—so it’s unattributable,

expands

untrackable.

quoted by UK television station

(Nix

4 in 2018)

Channel

3, III.2 considers the research of

Chapter

Kosinski, David Stillwell and Thore

Michal

of the Cambridge Psychometric Centre.

Graepel

researchers’ findings from a 2013 study

The

that a person’s personality traits could

suggested

predicted using their Facebook Likes and

be

follow-up 2015 study by Kosinski, Stillwell

a

Wu Youyou suggested that an artificial

and

(AI) could use Likes to predict

intelligence

individual’s personality more accurately

an

even close friends and family. Eventually

than

research earned the attention of Strategic

their

Laboratories (SCL) and

Communications

subsidiary Cambridge Analytica, both of

its

were heavily implicated in attempting

which

influence the 2016 US Presidential election

to

the UK’s Brexit referendum. Indeed in

and

Alexander Nix, then CEO of Cambridge

2016,

are thrilled that our revolutionary approach

We

data-driven communication has played

to

an integral part in President-elect Trump’s

such

extraordinarywin.

Analytica claimed to use personality

Cambridge

to analyse voters’ behaviour, values

data

opinions, and then send them tailored

and

to nudge them in the direction of

advertising

Analytica’s client. This was called

Cambridge

It was not a new practice;

microtargeting.

political observers noted that it had been

some

effectively in Obama’s 2012 campaign.

used

refers to the process of analysing

Microtargeting

to predict the behaviour, interests and

data

held by specific groups of people and

opinions

serving them messages they are likely to

then

was new about Cambridge Analytica and

What

was how much data they had and what

SCL

claimed to be doing with it. Alexander Nix,

they

former CEO of Cambridge Analytica and

the

former director of SCL, has claimed that the

a

profiles of some two-hundred-and-twenty

data

2

For discussion

What is offensive?

politics and justice?

respect

Analytica, exclaimed the following.

madison schools

status quo?

(Nix quoted in Ahmed 2018)

respond to.

million Americans were kept by SCL, and that

52

of these profiles contained thousands of

each

points. SCL marketing material claimed

data

they had developed sophisticated analytical

that

in order to use these huge data sets to sway

tools

Wigmore, the communications director

Andy

Leave.eu—one of the two major campaign

of

supporting the UK’s withdrawal from the

groups

Union (EU)—has said that Cambridge

European

assisted his group because of the

Analytica

interests of their investors. The Leave.

shared

campaign used social media data and AI

eu

target voters with highly individualized

to

of different

advertisements—“thousands

of advertisements”—depending on their

versions

according to Cadallawar (2017).

personalities,

Banks, founder of the organization Leave.

Arron

would later state that Cambridge Analytica’s

eu,

AI won the referendum for those

world-class

Luntz, American pollster, reacting after the

Frank

US Presidential election results commented

2016

one saw it coming. The public polls, the experts,

No

the pundits: just about everybody got it wrong.

and

were wrong-footed because they didn’t

They

who was going to turn out and vote.

understand

for Cambridge Analytica … They gured out

Except

to win. There are no longer any experts except

how

observers have since cast doubt on such

Several

as overstating Cambridge Analytica’s

claims

and influence. But how did Cambridge

success

obtain all its data? For the US

Analytica

a sizeable amount came via Aleksandr

market,

an assistant professor formerly at the

Kogan,

Psychometric Centre. He developed

Cambridge

app called This Is Your Digital Life that

an

psychometric quizzes to Facebook

provided

in exchange for their results and data, and

users

data of their friends. In the summer of 2014,

the

200,000 people used his app, providing

over

30 million user records for Cambridge

over

Analytica.

an interview on BBC Radio 4 in March

In

Kogan said that he had been used as

2018,

scapegoat, maintaining that Cambridge

a

had approached him, written the

Analytica

of service for the app and told him his use

terms

Facebook data was legal and appropriate. He

of

led to believe that thousands, if not tens of

was

of apps were exploiting their users’

thousands,

in the same way. He also claimed he had

data

profited from this collaboration personally

not

that the money he received was mostly

and

to pay the participants—each participant

used

generally, Kogan raised concerns

More

the social networking business model.

about

Analytica had allegedly used

Cambridge

Facebook data for micro-targeting, but

people’s

were other platforms and social networks

so

Twitter and Instagram, whose profits

like

derive from advertising. When someone

mostly

an account, they essentially sign an

creates

to be sold to advertisers for microtargeting

agreement

in exchange for access to a desirable

that costs large amounts of time,

product

and money to run.

expertise

the effectiveness of its political microtargeting,

about

claims that fuelled a hysteria following

scandal that people were being manipulated

the

vote for the “wrong” outcomes in a post-truth

to

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

voting patterns (Mayer 2017).

being paid between $3 and $4.

wishing to leave the EU (Cadwalladr 2017).

as follows.

Users

United States

70.6 millions

1.2

Philippines

Indonesia

1.1

Cambridge Analytica.

1.1

United Kingdom

0.79

(Luntz quoted in Wood 2016)

Mexico

0.62

Canada

India

0.56

0.44

Brazil

Vietnam

0.43

Australia

0.31

Figure 2.4

Where Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed

Facebook user data, according to www.theatlas.com

Cambridge Analytica made extravagant claims

53

IV. Ethics

enabled by technology. Prosecuting

environment

Analytica, or its campaign clients,

Cambridge

complicated because the nature of their

was

meant only the people being targeted

medium

improved Cambridge Analytica’s messaging

AI

If an advertisement does not get

iteratively.

on, it is automatically tweaked based

clicked

the personality profile and served again; if

on

is clicked on, the person is shown more such

it

How much did this influence political

content.

Without controlled experiments it is

outcomes?

to know.

hard

Albright, assistant professor and data

Jonathan

Elon University, believes the influence

scientist,

is a propaganda machine. It’s targeting people

This

to recruit them to an idea. It’s a level of

individually

engineering that I’ve never seen before. They’re

social

people and then keeping them on an

capturing

Analytica’s data allowed campaigners

Cambridge

optimize candidates’ campaign movements.

to

Analytica claimed that they saw small

Cambridge

based on engagement with people’s

openings,

posts, in Michigan, Pennsylvania and

Facebook

—known as the “blue wall”, because

Wisconsin

are traditionally democratic states—and

they

Trump scheduled events there. The Clinton

so

mocked him at the time, but apparently

analysts

was the small margins in Michigan,

“it

and Wisconsin that won Trump the

Pennsylvania

(Anderson, Horvath 2017).

election”

October 2016, Nix made the following

In

statement.

in the United States we have somewhere

Today

to four or ve thousand data points on every

close

So we model the personality of every

individual…

across the United States, some 230 million

adult

has been used for centuries,

Propaganda

online networks may have increased the

but

and efficacy of political persuasion.

precision

beginning of this chapter explored how

The

emotions and fake news spread quickly

intense

social networks. SCL (parent company

through

Cambridge Analytica) described itself as “the

of

election management agency”, using

premier

such as “psychological warfare” and

words

operations” (Weinberger 2005). SCL

“influence

to have influenced elections and other

claimed

outcomes in Italy, Latvia, Ukraine,

political

Afghanistan, Romania, South Africa,

Albania,

Kenya, Mauritius, India, Indonesia,

Nigeria,

Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Colombia,

the

St Vincent and the Grenadines, St

Antigua,

and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago. An

Kitts

for Politico stated that SCL used “military

article

campaigns to social media

disinformation

and voter targeting” (Vogel, Parti 2015).

branding

is also alleged to have operated extensively

SCL

developing countries to manipulate public

in

and claimed to be able to instigate

opinion

It certainly sounds like something from

coups.

James Bond or Mission Impossible films

the

it did not help that SCL and Cambridge

and

were backed by a reclusive hedge fund

Analytica

called Robert Mercer.

billionaire

Potter, President of Campaign Legal Center,

Trevor

non-profit organization that works to reduce

a

influence of money in politics and to support

the

access to voting, reacted as follows.

unrestricted

a random billionaire can change politics

Suddenly,

public policy—to sweep everything else o

and

table—even if they don’t speak publicly, and

the

if there’s almost no public awareness of his or

even

many observers, including political

However,

academic experts, have voiced scepticism

and

these claims. It is a big leap to go from

about

personalities to influencing voting

understanding

Could behavioural microtargeting

decisions.

be powerful enough to sway elections and

really

There is some evidence to suggest

referendums?

its influence has been grossly exaggerated.

that

2

on social media could see them.

is substantial.

emotional leash and never letting them go.

(Albright quoted in Cadwalladr 2016)

herviews.

(Potter quoted in Mayer 2017)

people.

(Nix 2016)

54

Hersh, professor of political science at Tufts

Eitan

and author of Hacking the Electorate

University

idea that some additional piece of information in

The

overwhelming wave of data going into people’s

this

is going to trick them … It doesn’t give people

heads

credit.

enough

Nix’s exclamation at the beginning

Recall

this section: “we are thrilled that our

of

approach” helped Trump win.

revolutionary

Nix failed to mention was how surprised

What

team was of the result: “[a] day earlier,

his

Analytica executives told reporters

Cambridge

thought Trump’s likelihood of winning was

they

20 per cent” (Ahmed 2018).

at

himself, when interviewed on BBC

Kogan

4 in March 2018, said that the accuracy

Radio

the data he harvested had been extremely

of

He estimated that, in practice,

exaggerated.

and his team were six times more likely to

he

inaccurate information about a person’s

get

and likes and dislikes as they were to

personality

accurate information. In conclusion, Kogan

get

that microtargeting was not necessarily

thought

most effective way to use such data sets

the

are a few good reasons to be sceptical.

There

data harvested from social media, even

First,

data, does not necessarily provide

personality

actionable information or insight.

additional

other publicly available data points can

Many

a person’s political stance, including

suggest

address. Hersh states that while personality

their

are correlated with political values, the

traits

is generally weak; and that people

correlation

wrongly receive advertisements (such as

who

intended for a different demographic)

those

do not like them. For example, when he

really

to create a microtargeting model

attempted

identified people interested in climate

that

he found the best proxy is simply party

change,

if you don’t know that, everything

affiliation;

very difficult, and if you do, everything

is

doesn’t really matter. Hersh argues that

else

is effective is mobilizing voters through

what

targeting, rather than persuading

behavioural

second limitation is that almost all

The

data is self-reported, which

psychographic

it vulnerable to individuals’ blind spots

leaves

inaccurate sense of self: people who repeat

and

personality test often do not return the same

a

Additionally, their tastes and opinions—

result.

what they like on Facebook—may change,

and

they do not often go back to unlike things,

but

this sort of behavioural data needs to be fresh.

so

and most fundamentally, what does it

Finally,

to say one can “infer” political values from

mean

set of personality traits? Can we assume that

a

if the personality data were accurate, it would

Even

be difficult for microtargeting to compete with

still

information sources in the cluttered and

other

online environment. The total amount

fast-moving

political content online is so large that it dwarfs

of

output of manipulators. A team of researchers

the

2018 released results of an investigation into the

in

of infamous “Russian bots” on Twitter,

influence

looking at their ability of spreading news

When

and making it viral … we nd that their eect

content

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

gave the following view.

(Hersh quoted in Chen, Potenza 2018)

them to vote differently.

personalities align with politics?

with the following conclusion.

on social platforms was minor.

(Zannettou et al 2018)

55

IV. Ethics

a 2018 article for the New York Times,

In

Nyhan, Professor of Public Policy at

Brendan

University of Michigan, argues that the

the

of times fake news items are liked

number

shared or retweeted may seem impressive

and

you look at the complete picture of how

until

information is available online. In 2018,

much

reported that 2.1 million election-related

Twitter

to examples from this section and

Referring

discuss the following questions.

below,

What are the implications of microtargeting

1.

political knowledge?

for

How might microtargeting for political

2.

be different from microtargeting

knowledge

Why do observers and experts disagree

3.

the impact of behavioural

about

1: Wakefield, J. 2018. “Cambridge

Source

Can Targeted Online Ads Really

Analytica:

a Voter’s Behaviour?” (BBC News

Change

online)

terms: Wakefield

Search

Cambridge Analytica

BBC

powerful influence of emotional

The

is well known; however, the,

advertising

that currently exists for product

regulation

does not, as yet, cover online

marketing

campaigns. Chris Sumner, Research

political

at the Online Privacy Foundation, has

Director

team simulated a campaign to test

Sumner’s

they could identify, target and influence

whether

on the EU referendum. For example,

voters

used language of fear to target“neurotic

they

(Wakefield 2018) and more

personalities”

messaging for audiences that were

energetic

found that people behaved as we

“We

they would. If you get the

predicted

US Presidential election campaign, but in

2016

these represented just 1% of all election-

fact

tweets. In a separate study with other

related

Nyhan also found that: “fake news

researchers,

was heavily concentrated among a

consumption

group — almost 6 in 10 visits to fake news

small

came from the 10% of people with the

websites

conservative online information diets”

most

right they can be very powerful

messages

Messaging works and is really

indeed.

can nudge people one

effective—and

or the other.” (Sumner quoted in

way

2: Cadwalladr, C. 2016. “Google,

Source

and the Truth About Internet

Democracy

terms: Guardian

Search

democracy truth

Google

Cadwalladr, writing in the UK newspaper

Carole

Guardian, argues that whether or not

the

propaganda influenced the 2016

microtargeted

referendum or the US Presidential elections,

Brexit

problem remains the lack of transparency and

the

about how voters’ personal data is

regulation

terms: reason

Search

Analytica

Cambridge

Nolan Brown argues that too

Elizabeth

is being made of both the power and

much

of behavioural microtargeting. People

novelty

worried about devious political actors

have

voters throughout the history of

influencing

including political advertisements via

politics,

and robocalls when they were first

television

introduced.

2

tweets were posted by Russian bots during the

(Guess et al 2018).

Box 2.4: The impact of behavioural microtargeting in politics

Wakefied 2018)

that affects consumer purchase decisions?

Search” (the Guardian)

microtargeting in politics?

targeted online ads

being mined and used to influence them.

3: Brown, E.N. 2018. “Cambridge

Source

WasDoing Marketing, Not Black

Analytica

Magic” (Reason.com)

pointed out the significant issues that arise.

doing marketing

identified as being motivated byanger.

56

why claims of political influence

Understanding

exaggerated can reveal truths about how we

are

political processes. Let’s consider

comprehend

the media and public opinion may have

why

the efficacy of political microtargeting

overstated

particular, and big data in general. Perhaps the

in

at invasions of privacy combined with

outrage

stoked by Cambridge Analytica’s claims

fears

fertile ground for sensationalizing

provided

company’s impact. Others, including

the

technology experts, appear to have been

some

impressed.

genuinely

Heidi Tworek wrote an article on

Historian

following topic: “Did ‘sinister’ emotional

the

by the data analytics company,

manipulation

Analytica, decide the U.S. election?

Cambridge

terms: Tworek

Search

Analytica Trump

Cambridge

the link to read the arguments Tworek

Follow

then answer the following questions.

proposes,

is often said that technology disrupts

It

businesses and markets for

industries,

consumer’s benefit. In what ways is

the

disruption in politics similar and

technological

may be that we have an instinctive

It

towards new media technology,

apprehension

we have seen throughout modern history,

as

example with the invention of the printing

for

and later in the 19th century with mass

press

distribution.

newspaper

being a data scientist, statistician or

Without

network expert, to what extent can one

social

the impact of behavioural microtargeting?

judge

history can provide some guides on

Perhaps

What arguments does Tworek make about

1.

exaggeration of political microtargeting

the

general, and of Cambridge Analytica in

in

particular?

To what extent is psychometric

2.

different from previous

manipulation

and crowd-influencing

crowd-reflecting

technologies?

What criteria could we use to discern

3.

psychometric manipulation and

whether

microtargeting have influenced

political

outcomes in recent years?

political

it more or less vulnerable to negative

makes

as compared to other domains?

disruptions

finally, what will it take to guard against

And

disruptions?

negative

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

whether this time is different.

For discussion

Fears of mass media

History suggests otherwise.” (Tworek 2018)

and the new old fear

different? Is there something about politics that

57

Knowledge

and technology 3

does it mean to live and be knowledgeable in a technological culture? This question carries

What

sense of urgency in a world of extraordinary technological means and equally extraordinary

a

and ecological challenges. What assumptions underpin the technological world and what

social

does it produce?

imperatives

technology an added layer of complexity in the world, or a tool to help us comprehend complex

Is

Could it be both? This chapter explores what we mean by technology and how it relates

systems?

knowledge, with the broader goal of comprehending the role of technology in how we come to

to

what we know.

know

Initial discussion

• What role has technology played in the development of knowledge?

• How is technology changing our relationships with knowledge?

• Is it possible to produce new knowledge without the use of technology?

• What role has technology played in terms of expanding or contracting access to knowledge?

• To what extent can the risks associated with technology be known?

58

a literal level we can measure the scope of

On

by its reach: our robots have landed on

technology

and reached the further vestiges of the solar

Mars

and our microscopes can now “see” at a

system,

of half the width of a hydrogen atom.

resolution

of radio programming are radiating

Decades

a hundred light years across, announcing

bubble

existence to anyone listening. But in the

our

of the size of our galaxy, the reach of

context

broadcasts is rather small—represented, for

these

by the blue dot in Figure 3.1. At a galactic

example,

our technological footprint is tiny; and does

scale,

I. Scope

I. Scope

I . S C O P E

not even register at the scale of our universe.

broadcast signals into space in an expanding

Figure 3.1

How far human radio broadcast signals have reached into the galaxy

59

I. Scope

reach of human-made objects is also

The

if only barely. The human artefacts

interstellar,

from our home on Earth are the Voyager

farthest

two probes launched in 1977. Attached

spacecraft,

each of them is the Voyager Golden Record, a

to

sent to the stars and intended for any

message

that might intercept it one day. The

intelligence

carry the cultural portrait of humanity

Voyagers

a technologically advanced civilization,

as

greetings in various languages, natural

including

music and images. The concept and

sounds,

of the record are every bit as interesting

contents

its engineering, an instance of technology

as

how we understand and portray

reflecting

back to ourselves. Follow the link to

ourselves

out more.

find

we explore the scope of technology

Before

consider what we mean by the word

let’s

which can refer to physical

“technology”,

(such as bridges), human activities

artefacts

as the construction of bridges) and

(such

(such as the engineering concepts

knowledge

terms: Carl Sagan Annie

Search

aeon

Druyan

short film linked here tries to

The

some of the cultural background of

capture

Golden Record Project. From a present-day

the

point, the project provides a glimpse

vantage

the spirit and values of the technological

of

of Western thought approximately

enterprise

What might a project such as this look like if

1.

were started today?

it

Do you think it would resonate culturally

2.

be widely endorsed, or be met with

and

these various types of technologies,

support

types of communities emerge around

various

in which people play different roles.

them

for example, what it means to be a

Consider,

native and in which ways this anchors

digital

individual’s identity and orientation

an

3

half a century ago.

doubt, disagreement and/or fear?

Figure 3.2

The Golden Record, attached to each of the Voyager spacecraft, is a 12-inch gold-plated phonograph record,

containing sound and images from Earth (right) and a cover (left) containing instructions about how to “play” the record

and where it comes from

towards the world.

that guide the construction of bridges). To

60

does navigating a technological culture

What

today? Chapter 10 explores how in

require

1970s, writer and critic John Berger looked

the

the contemporary role of art as a way of

at

the aesthetics and politics at play

comprehending

the world. He argued that we comprehend

in

not necessarily by looking at paintings, but

this,

looking at ourselves looking at artworks in a

by

today the technological lens is

Similarly,

into focus a world that nobody has

bringing

before. What can we learn by exploring

seen

ways of knowing? Can we examine not

new

technologies themselves, but how we

just

with them, in order to understand

interact

about ourselves and about the time

something

which we live?

in

terms: James Bridle New

Search

of seeing

ways

and writer James Bridle has been at the

Artist

of exploring what these new ways of

forefront

might look like. Bridle created a series

seeing

podcasts modelled on the ethos of Berger’s

of

series, that explore knowing and

television

in a technological world. All four episodes

being

available using the QR code, as are links to

are

case studies on topics of knowledge and

pertinent

of the ideas explored by Bridle is the

One

of digital technologies. The internet

materiality

feel invisible—WiFi is in the air, data

may

in the Cloud—but there is an elaborate

is

that makes it possible. For

infrastructure

the submarine cable system, in

example,

below, is decidedly material and

Figure3.3

An elaborate network of fibre optic

tangible.

deep underwater, it is painstakingly

cables

and maintained to enable our global

installed

The pattern of these cables

connectedness.

both historical and contemporary

reveals

I. Scope

I. Scope

I.1 Technological culture and knowledge

technology that you may choose to explore further.

way nobody had seen before.

power relations.

Figure 3.3 Map of the global network of submarine communications cables as of 2019

61

I. Scope

terms:

Search

Submarine

Telegeography

When we bring into view the material basis

1.

our invisible digital connectedness,

for

2. What do you wonder about?

what it means for the current global

Consider

of digital information to overlap with the

flows

outlines of empires. This overlap serves

former

a hint that questions of digital equity and

as

justice will be important throughout this

digital

Depending on where you are in the

chapter.

there are differences in how much digital

world,

you can move, with what speed

information

at what cost. This has implications beyond

and

we canstream Netflix in HD; it fuels

where

information asymmetries and inequities,

global

which the downstream effects for knowledge

of

terms: James Bridle

Search

infrastructure

imperialism

the claims made by Bridle in the

Consider

about how technological infrastructure

video

both affecting flows of knowledge today

is

making historical power relations visible.

and

thesis is that technology is extending the

His

and inequities of the past into the

symmetries

1. To what extent do you agree?

2. How might this be happening?

3. What may be the effects of this on

you want to better understand some of the

If

of the submarine cable systems,

implications

the link to an FAQ section that explores

follow

owns and who uses these cables. Consider

who

Why are there many cables between some

3.

but no cables between Australia

continents

technological developments are

While

entangled in specific histories,

inescapably

are also changing our relationship with

they

and power today. Our capacity to

knowledge

technologies towards human ends does not

steer

keep up with the pace of technological

always

Questioning the values that

development.

technological systems can be difficult

underpin

they are buried under miles of code, or

when

they are so commonplace that they remain

when

as historically marginalized communities

Yet,

increasingly impacted by new technologies,

are

is necessary to scrutinize the values and

it

prejudices inherent in our technologies.

possible

there is also the question of the ecological

Then

With new energy-intensive technologies

impact.

as blockchain having a significant energy

such

resource footprint, the question of who bears

and

costs and who gains the benefits is urgent.

the

is part of a larger question concerning the

This

between nature and technology.

relationship

you read on, remember to consider how the

As

of nature and technology intersect and

scopes

we know about this intersection between

what

in technology are often seen

Advances

downstream applications of scientific

as

3

For ref lection

Invisible digital connections

cables faqs

important questions such as the following.

what do you notice?

and South America, for instance?

hidden in plain sight.

are of interest to us in TOK.

For discussion

Present-day empires of infrastructure

Youtube

the living world and the machine world.

I.2 Is there more to technology than the

present day.

application of scientific knowledge?

breakthroughs. Much investment into

knowledge?

62

and pure research in science,

fundamental

through government or private

whether

grants, is in fact justified through its

sector

usefulness in the development of new

supposed

Is this belief true, though? Project

technologies.

was a 1960s study commissioned

Hindsight

the US Department of Defense to identify

by

factors that led to successful research and

the

programmes. Part of this was to

technology

the relationship between scientific

understand

and technological innovation. Project

research

was among the earliest and most

Hindsight

studies of its kind and introduced the

ambitious

of technology studies as a dedicated field of

field

distinct from science. The study found

enquiry,

scientific research contributed to only 9%

that

the key events that led to the development

of

successful technology programmes.

of

events were responsible for the

Technological

91%. What is the difference between

other

and scientific events? According

technological

this study, science was defined as theoretical

to

experimental studies of unexplained

or

while technology was defined as

phenomena,

capability to perform specific engineering

the

with known phenomena.

techniques

historians of technology it is widely accepted

Among

science owes more to the steam engine than the

that

engine owes to science … . Science is applied

steam

more than technology is applied science.

technology

Sergio Sismondo’s words, above.

Consider

what extent would you agree, and is this

To

changing over time? Why do we

relationship

to concern ourselves with making a

continue

between science and technology? A

distinction

of it has to do with questions of funding,

part

and epistemic power. We celebrate

prestige

inventors for their genius, but even one

famous

of “The Big Bang Theory” will suggest

episode

is a perceived power differential between

there

and engineers, and the kinds of

scientists

produced by each. It is an equation

knowledge

Knowledge outside the scope of

I.3

technology

advances in nanotechnology to machine

From

and neural networks, the scope of

learning

can appear relentlessly expanding.

technology

we talk about the limits of technology,

When

is often a conversation about practical

it

such as the limits of computational

limitations,

that will—the story goes—one day

power,

be overcome.

soon

a computer beats the human champion

When

the game of chess, as is becoming more and

at

frequent, common reactions include a

more

of accomplishment for having produced

sense

a capable machine, and/or a sense of

such

in the face of an intelligence that

humility

ours. Tasks like playing chess are in

surpasses

relatively easy for a computer. But when

fact

intelligence (AI) produces an image

artificial

passes for digital art, or writes verses

that

humans find indistinguishable from

that

we may wonder what are the limits

poetry,

technology. Can a computer controlling a

to

… dance?

robot

question acquires a more serious tone in

This

context of jobs in the future. Many of the

the

that humans perform as “work” can

activities

replaced by machines. How can we know

be

jobs are less likely to be replaced by

which

Think about which human acts may be

robots?

I. Scope

I. Scope

(Sismondo 2009)

uncomputable, and what makes them so.

that keeps shifting.

63

section explores what we know about the

This

between technology and society,

relationship

why it matters. Consider the two opposing

and

one, that technology drives history,

perspectives:

the other that society determines the type

and

technology that exists. Which perspective

of

you agree with, and how would you

would

How we answer this question has

know?

for knowledge; for example, if

implications

development regularly outpaces

technological

development, institutions and ethics need

social

evolve to guide this progress.

to

Marx, among others, held the view that

Karl

was one of the determinants of

technology

or historical outcomes and structures, as

social

quote reveals: “The hand-mill gives you

this

with the feudal lord, the steam-mill,

society

with the industrial capitalist.” This

society

a form of technological determinism which

is

that technology develops according to

posits

own internal logic, and that as it advances it

its

cultural and social patterns to fit itself.

moulds

does technological determinism look like

What

practice? One argument is that the political

in

that follow technological advancement

structures

tend towards a particular order. Consider,

will

example, David Hayes’ view on the political

for

that would form around widespread

structure

increased deployment of nuclear power

The

must lead society toward authoritarianism.

facilities

safe reliance upon nuclear power as the

Indeed,

source of energy may be possible only in a

principal

state … dispersed solar sources are more

totalitarian

than centralized technologies with social

compatible

was speculating that nuclear energy

Hayes

more centralized administrative power

requires

for instance, solar energy, which could

versus,

completely decentralized. You could live

be

and autonomously off the grid with

comfortably

energy, but not with nuclear.

solar

get out of this dichotomy, Langdon Winner,

To

his influential 1980 essay “Do artifacts have

in

proposed a middle path, the coproduction

politics?"

of technology and society, naming it

politics”. We explore this further

“technological

section IV.

in

the development of technology, technical

In

and knowledge have historically been

skill

Put simply, men’s disproportionate

gendered.

and power in the field made an impact

influence

3II. Perspectives


II.1 Determinisms: On the relationship

between technology and society

II.2 Coded male: Identity and technology

on technology that can still be felt today. For

In this way, it drives history.

nuclear energy.

equity, freedom and cultural pluralism.

(Hayes 1977)

Figure 3.4 Man operating a Linotype machine in the early 20th

century

64

past 50 years, scholars have been looking

the

technological innovation through a feminist

at

and critically evaluating claims about how

lens

intersects with gender. The design of

technology

technologies or the mechanization

reproductive

domestic work through “labour-saving”

of

have been some of the sites of

appliances

thiswork.

dynamics between technology and gender

The

not always play out in straightforward

did

predictable ways. Consider the example of

or

technologies. In the 1980s Cynthia

printing

studied, through a gender lens, the

Cockburn

in the London printing industry

transition

the Linotype compositor to computerized

from

Operating one of the Linotype

typesetting.

was considered highly skilled work;

machines

trade was strongly unionized and exclusively

the

Wajcman: the new QWERTY

Summarizing

was designed to give women an equal

keyboard

greater chance to become typesetters, because

or

were cheaper labour.

women

male coding of technology, through

The

technological competence as

constructing

has meant that contributions of

masculine,

to innovation have been mostly left out

women

history. Consider that before we used the

of

“computer” to refer to a machine, we used

word

was done by hand, letter by letter. The

process

which uses its own type of keyboard,

Linotype,

set one line of text at a time, making

could

printing process much more efficient. It

the

well and so its design remained largely

worked

for close to a century.

unchanged

the 1970s and 1980s electronic methods of

In

text for printing started to take over

preparing

these used the QWERTY keyboard (the same

and

on typewriters). It is important to mention

used

typewriting was considered unskilled

that

and was performed almost exclusively by

work

Researchers in the field of technology

women.

have examined the printing industry’s

studies

to the new keyboard. It seems this change

switch

neither innovative nor inevitable. Instead, it

was

to have a political origin and gendered

appears

Feminist scholar of technology

implications.

as a job description for people who performed

it

In the early decades of digital

calculations.

the majority of human computers

technology,

women. Like other forms of so-called

were

work”, computing up until the 1970s

“women’s

seen as highly structured, repetitive and

was

As the field professionalized, academic

tedious.

and a culture that advertised computers

degrees

“toys for the boys” contributed to the gender

as

in technology that we are still aiming to

gap

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

male. Before the Linotype machine, the printing

Judy Wajcman explains.

a male province, it does not always coincide with the

In choosing to dispense with the Linotype [keyboard]

layout, management were choosing a system that would

interests of men as a sex. As we have seen, some

technologies are designed for use by women to break

undermine the skill and power basis of the compositors

and reduce them to “mere” typists. This would render

the craft control of men. Thus gender divisions are

commonly exploited in the power struggles between

typists (mainly women) and compositors (men) equal

competitors for the new machines; indeed, it would

capital and labor. In this way, the social relations that

shape industrial technology include those of gender as

advantage the women typists. The keyboard on the

new printing technology was designed with an eye to

well as class.

using the relatively cheap and abundant labor of female

(Wajcman quoted in Jasano et al 2001)

typists. Although machine design is overwhelmingly

close today.

65

3.5a shows Margaret Hamilton,

Figure

in 1969, alongside the code she

photographed

her team wrote that helped put a man on

and

moon. Katie Bouman (Figure 3.5b), in 2019,

the

shown with stacks of hard drives of telescope

is

that gave us the first image of a black hole.

data

50 years apart, the images celebrate

Taken

women’s significant contributions to

two

advancements. Around the

technological

that these images went viral in 2019,

time

part of the absence and erasure of

Another

in the field comes from the very way we

women

to produce an image of a

endeavour

hole. black

after, the internet began to scrutinize

Shortly

extent of her contribution, and cast doubt

the

the legitimacy of featuring her story so

on

Opportunistic Twitter and

prominently.

accounts impersonating her were

Instagram

up to spread falsehoods and diminish

set

achievement. This troubling tale of our

her

urges us to consider—in an age when

times

innovation is an increasingly

technological

enterprise—what does it look like

collaborative

definition of technology intersects with

Our

identities to produce different frictions. Of

different

frictions, movements such as Afrofuturism

these

born and animated. Although the term

are

was not coined until 1993, the

“Afrofuturism”

relating to the intersection of race and

ideas

had been floating among the African

technology

especially in North America, for decades.

diaspora,

through them is the realization that the

Woven

scenarios of a technological future were

optimistic

neutral. The techno-enthusiasm of the space

not

that imagined the cosmos as the new frontier

race

not neutral, especially given that the “frontier”

was

referred to US expansion since the 17th

previously

This sentiment is captured in Gil Scott-

century.

song “Whitey on the Moon”, placing the

Heron’s

achievement of the moon landing

technological

the context of racial and social inequalities.

in

3II. Perspectives

For reflection

Women technologists

Katie Bouman became the public face of the

to give women technologists their due credit?

Figure 3.5b Katie Bouman

Figure 3.5a Margaret Hamilton

define technology.

A greater emphasis on women’s activities

immediately suggests that women, and in particular

black women, were among the rst technologists.

After all, women were the main gatherers, processors

and storers of plant food from earliest human times

onward. It was therefore logical that they should be

the ones to have invented the tools and methods

involved in this work such as the digging stick, the

carrying sling, the reaping knife and sickle, pestles

and pounders. If it were not for the male orientation

of most technological research, the signicance of

these inventions would be acknowledged.

(Wajcman quoted in Jasano et al 2001)

66

art, music and literature, afrofuturism

Through

assumptions about what was

challenged

technological, questioned the priorities

considered

social costs of technological progress, and

and

what a technological future could look

reimagined

and who belonged in it. The most mainstream

like,

of these ideas is the nation of Wakanda

expression

the 2018 movie BlackPanther.

in

addition to afrofuturism going global,

In

futurisms all over the world are

Indigenous

alternative visions of the future,

birthing

or otherwise. These movements,

technological

their own different ways, are driving the

in

on digital justice and equity. There is

discourse

on this topic in section III, where we discuss

more

algorithms through an anti-oppression lens.

AI

how technology intersected

Understanding

systems of power in the past will help us to

with

how it influences the technologies

comprehend

built today, and the ways people will

being

the last 15 years we have witnessed the first

In

of an African American US President and

election

2011 Arab Spring, both seen as examples of

the

enabled by technology, specifically

democracy

networks on the internet. We have also

social

so-called WhatsApp elections in

witnessed

and Brazil in 2019, a Facebook-Cambridge

India

scandal, and rapid increases in fake

Analytica

populism, and political polarization

news,

authoritarianism. Is the internet a force

and

democracy and liberty, or for authoritarian

for

Has it exacerbated or mitigated the

populism?

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

II.3 Democratizing and liberating, or

controlling and authoritarian?

inequality and divides in our access to knowledge?

Making connections

Echo chambers and democracy

“Individuals empowered to screen out material

that does not conform to their existing preferences

may form virtual cliques, insulate themselves

from opposing points of view and reinforce their

biases. Internet users can seek out interactions

with like-minded individuals who have similar

values, and thus become less likely to trust

important decisions to people whose values dier

from their own.” (Van Alstyne, Brynjolfsson 1996)

Chapter 2 looks in depth at the question of echo

chambers and lter bubbles that may increase

political polarization. How else has technology more

broadly, and the internet specically, impacted how

we lter data and information?

interact with them in the future.

67

II. Perspectives

terms: How we

Search

the intended uses of

confuse

this 11-minute animated video about the

Watch

between the internet and active

relationship

does technology participate in the

How

of knowledge, from the pursuit and

processes

of knowledge, to the sharing of and

production

to knowledge? This section considers

access

the tools we use present both opportunities

how

challenges for what it means to be

and

people who access Wikipedia daily may

Even

unaware of its mission statement: “Imagine

be

world in which every single person on the

a

is given free access to the sum of all

planet

knowledge.” The Wikipedia project also

human

outspoken critics, who describe its impact

has

much harsher words. Figure 3.6 shows the

in

Monument in the Polish town of

Wikipedia

is] the greatest project co-created by

[Wikipedia

regardless of political, religious or cultural

people

… with Wikipedia as one of its pillars the

borders

society will be able to contribute to the

knowledge

development of our civilization, social

sustainable

and peace among nations.

justice

3III. Methods and tools

For discussion

Intended and actual uses of technology

technology aeon

citizenship, and consider the following questions.

Given evidence that the internet can both

1.

and suppress freedom, what

promote

can we reach about the role of

conclusion

in citizenship?

technology

If your answer to question 1 is that “it

2.

and technology can be a tool for

depends”

good and ill, say more about what it

both

on and which factors affect the

depends

actual uses of technology.

Are the producers of technological tools

3.

accountable for the intended use of

only

products, or also for the actual use?

their

this question, for example, in the

Consider

of personalized advertising and

context

microtargeting in the Facebook-

political

Cambridge Analytica scandal.


knowledgeable in a technological culture.

III.1 The sum of all human knowledge

Słubice. Its inscription reads, in part:

Figure 3.6 The Wikipedia Monument in the Polish town of

Słubice, unveiled in 2014

68

is a case study in the collective

Wikipedia

of multiple perspectives, enabled

negotiation

technology, towards crafting a shared

by

of fact. It can be a step towards

understanding

democratic participation in the production

more

knowledge, assuming, that is, that we accept

of

is on Wikipedia as knowledge. Yes, it

what

crowd-sourced, but as far as crowds go,

is

is exceedingly well-organized, which

Wikipedia

have good or bad results.

may

is hardly news to anyone in the 2020s

It

there are concerns with knowledge on

that

terms: Truth in

Search

Everything

Numbers:

2010 documentary Truth in Numbers:

The

According to Wikipedia raises

Everything

questions about knowledge in the

important

age. Below we provide some prompts

digital

exploring the profound ways that this

for

has affected how we produce and

technology

knowledge. The documentary provides

access

of the context for these discussions, but

much

is a decade old—so consider the following

it

and questions with any recent sources

points

Power and authority: Wikipedia's model of

•

participation questions the power

collective

academic credentials. This is not to say

of

power plays no role on Wikipedia, but

that

it does not sit with an intellectual elite.

that

documentary reveals a deep suspicion

The

authority and derision of elitism among

of

contributors. Experts are given

Wikipedia

special role in contributing to content

no

are no longer seen as legitimate

and

and arbiters of what counts as

gatekeepers

Theirs is just another opinion,

knowledge.

of Wikipedia and criticizing it for its

reliability

and racial bias is old news. Yet many

gender

remain unresolved, perhaps even widely

issues

even though Wikipedia is one of

unknown,

primary reference sources for many people

the

the world. Despite the problematic

around

of how Wikipedia is set up, people

politics

to organize “editing marathons” to add

continue

or develop the entries of underrepresented

to

or topics. They are confronted with the

people

that Wikipedia might be the best they

possibility

do at this scale, and it is up to them to make

can

to be welcomed? What may be

something

consequences of this?

potential

Neutrality and trust: content on

•

is presented by its creators as

Wikipedia

sourced, coming from no

democratically

point of view. Do you agree

particular

this claim that Wikipedia is neutral

with

view from nowhere”)? Wikipedia’s

(“a

sourcing of content means

collective

we are not able to evaluate claims

that

on who the claims-makers are. Recall

based

Carr's advice to history students from

E.H.

9: “study the historian before you

Chapter

[their] facts”. How are legitimacy

study

Accountability and credibility: because

•

contributors use pseudonyms,

Wikipedia

cannot be held personally

contributors

for what they write or delete.

accountable

does this affect the credibility of

How

on Wikipedia? Are the risks

knowledge

Wikipedia vandalism or misconduct

of

by the benefits of pseudonymity

outweighed

Is it knowledge? Is it appropriate to

•

what Wikipedia contributors are

describe

as producing knowledge? Would

doing

describe what is on Wikipedia as

you



it good enough.

Wikipedia. In some ways, questioning the

For discussion

Everything, according to Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia

and trust built on Wikipedia?

that explore the same issues.

for intellectual freedom and privacy?

knowledge?

with no special power or authority. Is this

69

the challenges outlined in the discussion

Beyond

there are outstanding issues with

above,

The same entry in another language

Wikipedia.

have different or even contradictory

may

Wikipedia favours published sources,

content.

tends to exclude Oral Traditions and non-

which

forms of knowledge. Wikipedia itself

written

looked into the possibility of oral footnotes

has

entries, in the project People are Knowledge,

on

here.

linked

terms: Wikimedia

Search

oral citations

research

Wikipedia inspire confidence that, in

Does

digital culture that is often divisive and

a

we can arrive at a consensus about

inflammatory,

Do technologies such as the wiki

knowledge?

make the process of how we come to

platform

things more inclusive andjust?

know

Preserving, sharing and universal

III.2

to knowledge

access

contributions to the digital

Democratizing

base of humanity is one issue, but

knowledge

access to it presents an altogether

increasing

challenge. The impulse to gather

different

preserve knowledge is not new; libraries

and

performed this function for millenia.

have

is thedigital age changing what this

How

like—what are the new challenges

looks

opportunitiesin how we preserve and

and

accessknowledge?

1996 Brewster Kahle has been leading an

Since

to preserve all digital knowledge. His

effort

the Internet Archive, saves a copy of

project,

page on public websites. It has collected

every

of billions of copies of online content.

hundreds

you have ever used the Wayback Machine

If

access past versions of websites, you may

to

recognize the value of such a project.

already

allows access to the internet as it was in the

It

which is important where hyperlinks

past,

content is revised and pages are

expire,

deletedroutinely.

9 asks what remains of the past and how

Chapter

access it. Consider how technological

historians

such as the Wayback Machine,

developments,

how much of the past becomes available.

change

might the methods used to produce knowledge

How

history change as a result?

in

you are interested in further exploring the role of

If

in knowing the past and imagining the

technology

look at the work of historian Abby Smith Rumsey.

future,

talk delivered to technologists at Google—linked

Her

how we preserve and share knowledge

below—tackles

time, and how technology is changing this.

across

terms: Smith

Search

YouTube When

Rumsey

keeps an extensive list of book-burning

Wikipedia

in history, a small number of which are

incidents


Making connections

History and digital traces of the past

we are no more

accidents, with the rest being attempts to control

70

spread of knowledge. The losses from such

the

can be incalculable and irrecoverable.

incidents

this reason, the Internet Archive has partial

For

of itself in several physical locations across

copies

geopolitical contexts. What can we learn

different

this project both for preserving human

from

as well as decentralizing the control

knowledge

knowledge? Is decentralizing the control of

of

ethos of the Internet Archive is that in matters

The

knowledge, access drives preservation. In other

of

the best way to preserve knowledge is to

words,

that it is accessible and in use. Inversely,

ensure

says, “If you take things away from a

Kahle

it’s as if it doesn’t exist”. His work is

generation,

not on a secure vault for safekeeping,

modelled

on a public library that is designed for use.

but

are potential barriers to use, and therefore

What

to access, in a repository of human

barriers

project’s goal is bold: universal access to

The

knowledge. The Internet Archive is not just

all

the internet, but digitizing books,

backing-up

and movies as well as recording over 100

music

channels 24 hours a day. The technology

television

digitize recorded material already exists, but is

to

on the internet worth preserving, just

everything

we are able to? How can we anticipate,

because

what knowledge will be useful in the

correctly,

And can technologies to search and

future?

digital culture is an intensely visual

Today's

People appear in photos produced on

culture.

own devices, tagged by friends, captured

their

security cameras, in the background

by

or otherwise) in the photos of

(intentionally

in public spaces—all of which get

strangers

into streams of data. When these get

siphoned

with powerful face-detection technology,

coupled

digital technologies see much

However,

than physical appearance. They include

more

insights into our likes, uses of

behavioural

and reactions, interactions and

language

algorithms in criminal justice that calculate

of

likelihood an accused will reoffend (called

the

risk): this risk score feeds into other

recidivism

that suggest the length of the prison

algorithms

The tragic irony is that longer prison

sentence.

have been shown to increase the rates

sentences

recidivism. And so, technology in the US

of

system has been shown to discriminate

prison

ethnic and economic class lines. People of

along

tend to receive a higher recidivism risk

colour

which means they tend to be given longer

score,

sentences, which, due to the internalized

prison

of prison, means they have fewer

experience

once released and contribute to

opportunities

recidivism risk scores for others in their

higher

This vicious feedback loop is

neighbourhood.

of many that has resulted in the grossly

one

incarceration of black men in the

disproportionate

States. To dive deeper into this example,

United

the link to Cathy O’Neil's talk at Google

follow

“Weapons of Math Destruction”. She

about

recidivism risk specifically from 28:40.

discusses

terms: Cathy O’Neil

Search

of Math Destruction”

“Weapons

terms: ProPublica

Search

bias risk

Machine

the link to the article Machine Bias:

Follow

Assessments in Criminal Sentencing”

Risk

Predictive knowledge produced by

1.

models has limitations and

computer

as does predictive knowledge

caveats,

by humans. How can we know

produced

machine predictions are more or

whether

reliable than human ones?

less

What kind of knowledge is necessary

2.

be able to evaluate the validity and

to

Who should decide what assumptions a

3.

like this should be based on?

model



knowledge a desirable thing?

knowledge such as the Internet Archive?

YouTube

For discussion

Machine bias

catalogue such a vast collection keepup?

assessments

III.3 Using data to know humans

and consider the following questions.

individuals have good reason forconcern.

neutrality of risk assessment algorithms?

relationships. Consider, for instance, the use

71

2013 a team of researchers published results

In

they could predict personality traits

suggesting

Facebook Likes. Their method—called

using

modelling—laid the foundation

psychographic

what has been called microtargeting

for

with in depth in Chapter 2, IV.2). The

(dealt

Kosinski, Stillwell, Graepel and

researchers,

summarized their findings as follows.

Youyou

religious and political views, personality

ethnicity,

intelligence, happiness, use of addictive

traits,

parental separation, age, and gender.

substances,

model correctly discriminates between

The

and heterosexual men in 88% of

homosexual

African Americans and Caucasian Americans

cases,

95% of cases, and between Democrat and

in

in 85% of cases ...

Republican

Percentiles

3.7 shows that the personality traits

Figure

age of Facebook users is associated with

and

they Like on Facebook. For example, the

what

of users who Liked “The Colbert

extraversion

basic premise was that individuals

Their

be profiled from their Facebook

could

Figure3.8 shows how accurately the

Likes.

claim to be able to predict common

researchers

characteristics. They tested the

personal

of their predictions by comparing it

accuracy

users’ self-reported personality assessments,

to

found that their model predicted gender

and

race with over 90% accuracy. It predicted

and

details such as sexual orientation,

other

affiliation and religion with over

political

80%accuracy.

the lengths to which this thesis

Given

been implicated in alleged political

has

it is worth considering the

manipulation,

and methodology behind it.

assumptions

science was fairly straightforward; what

The

revolutionary were the massive amounts

was


Case study

Digital technology, social networks

and psychometrics

accessible digital records of behavior,

…Easily

Likes, can be used to automatically

Facebook

accurately predict a range of highly sensitive

and

attributes including: sexual orientation,

personal

Report” was relatively low.

(Kosinski et al 2013)

of data the researchers could use to discern

Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Stability Age

100

100

100

100

100

100

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

The Colbert

Report

Nicki Minaj

90

90

90

90

90

90

Mitt Romney

Camping

Camping

80

80

80

80

80

80

The Colbert

Barack

Report

Barack Obama

Report

Obama

70

70

Barack Obama

70

Nicki Minaj

70

Cuddling

70

70

Cuddling

The Colbert

60

50

Hello Kitty

Camping

60

50

Cuddling

Report

60

50

60

50

Barack Obama

Report

60

50

Cuddling

60

50

Cuddling

Nicki Minaj

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty

40

40

40

40

40

40

Nicki Minaj

30

30

30

30

30

30

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty

20

20

20

20

20

20

Mitt Romney

Report

10

10

10

10

10

10

0

0

0

0

0

0

Figure 3.7 Personality traits, age and Likes on Facebook

72

correlations. They developed a Facebook

the

called MyPersonality that offered users

app

personality tests and used the results to

free

the benchmark personality profile.

construct

app collected information about users’

The

and personal data, which formed the

Likes

set to be analysed for patterns and

data

with the benchmark profile.

correlations

tests analysed smartphone gyrometers

Some

revealed, for example, how erratically

that

handled their phones, which has

individuals

found to correlate with certain types

been

behaviour. The app went viral, collecting

of

on 6 million Facebook users. With such

data

data, the researchers were able to

extensive

their model iteratively.

refine

results returned correlations that were

The

stereotypical and sometimes

sometimes

high intelligence among the sample were

of

for “Thunderstorms”, “The Colbert

Likes

“Science” and “Curly Fries”, whereas

Report”,

intelligence was correlated with Likes for

low

“I Love Being A Mom”, “Harley

“Sephora”,

and “Lady Antebellum”. To dive

Davidson”

into this research and its results, follow

deeper

link to the original paper.

the

terms: Computer-based

Search

judgments are more

personality

a 2015 follow-up study of over

In

people, Kosinski and colleagues asserted

86,000

an algorithm mining a user's Likes “was

that

to predict a person’s personality (as self-

able

using a standard questionnaire) more

reported

than most of their friends and family.

accurately

a person’s spouse came close to matching

Only

computer’s results” (Wu et al 2015).

the



Single versus

0.67

in relationship

Parents together at 21

0.6

0.73

Smokes cigarettes

Drinks alcohol

0.7

0.65

Uses drugs

Caucasian versus

0.95

African American

Christianity versus Islam

0.82

Democrat versus

0.85

Republican

0.88

Gay

0.75

Lesbian

Gender

0.93

0.25 0.50

0.00

0.75 1.00

Area under curve

Figure 3.8

Accuracy with which some common personal characteristics were

predicted

accurate pnas

surprising. For example, the best predictors

73


Accuracy (self-other agreement)

claimed that a computer with 10

They

could predict a person’s personality

Likes

than their work colleagues; with

better

Likes, better than their friends; with 150

70

better than their parents; and with

Likes,

Likes, better than their partner.

300

a third study in 2017 Kosinski and

In

investigated whether psychographic

colleagues

could lead to higher click-rates on

targeting

Extroverts were shown a beauty

advertisements.

that said “dance like no-one

advertisement

watching (but they totally are)”, whereas

is

were shown a woman with a makeup

introverts

brush and the caption "beauty doesn't have

shout". The targeted advertisements resulted

to

up to 40% more clicks and purchases than

in

or untargeted advertisements. The

mismatching

conclusion: psychological targeting

summary

work grew out of the Cambridge

This

Centre, based at the University

Psychometric

Cambridge, and eventually attracted

of

attention of Cambridge Analytica (see

the

or psychography is a scientific attempt to quantitatively measure a person’s

Psychometry

The OCEAN model (also called the five-factor model) that is widely used

personality.

model also assumes that a person’s important personality traits will become a part of

The

language, and that the most important traits will be encoded into the person’s language

their

3

Openness

0.7

Spouse (0.58)

Agreeableness

Extraversion

Five-Trait average

Family (0.50)

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

Friend (0.450

Cohabitant (0.45)

Conscientiousness

Neuroticism

0.2

Work colleague (0.27)

0.1

60

10

70 90100 150 200 250300

Figure 3.9

Number of Facebook Likes (log scaled)

Predictions of personality: accuracy of a computer versus colleagues, friends and family

appeared to make advertisements more effective.

Chapter 2, IV). Kosinski vigorously denied any

assumes that personality can be measured using the following dimensions:

• openness to experience

• agreeableness

• conscientiousness

• neuroticism.

• extraversion

as a single word.

74

with Cambridge Analytica and left

association

University for Stanford in 2014.

Cambridge

plays a significant role in

Technology

our senses and making more of the

augmenting

knowable. It can bring very small or very

world

objects into visibility, make very fast or

large

slow processes perceptible, reveal invisible

very

and render complex phenomena

relations

In extending our cognitive abilities,

intelligible.

enlarges what we can know and

technology

does it mean to be at the frontier of

What

We have drills that bore 100 floors

knowledge?

into polar ice to extract ice cores that

down

climate data from a time long before

contain

this, in the 2013 study, Kosinski’s team

Before

issued the following warning.

had

of the ocean, and yet less is known

bottom

the Earth’s seabed than about the surface

about

Mars. Computers are generating proofs of

of

unsolved problems of mathematics,

complex

of which are beyond our human capacity

some

verify. Digital and multimedia art open

to

avenues of expression, with unclear

new

and implications. We have models

limitations

complex systems, fed by big data and

of

by AI algorithms, producing outcomes

engined

predictions that influence decisions with

and

humanconsequences.

pushes the frontier of our knowledge

Technology

the same time as it expands the set of known

at

At the beginning of this chapter we

unknowns.

you to consider whether knowledge

invited

can be produced without the use of

today

If so, what new questions about

technology.

terms: Bouman

Search

of black hole

picture

do you take an image of an object

How

appears to us on Earth as small as an

that



Predictability of individual attributes from digital records of behavior may have considerable negative

implications, because it can easily be applied to large numbers of people without obtaining their individual

consent and without them noticing. Commercial companies, governmental institutions, or even one’s Facebook

friends could use software to infer attributes such as intelligence, sexual orientation, or political views that

an individual may not have intended to share. One can imagine situations in which such predictions, even if

incorrect, could pose a threat to an individual’s well-being, freedom, or even life.

(Matz et al 2017)

Making connections

Technopolitics

Chapter 2, section IV, considers the political implications

of this research.

III.3 Technology at the frontier of

knowledge

verification, validity and reliability arise?

transforms how we can know it.

For discussion

Making connections

Technological toolkits

How to take a picture of a black hole

Consider the dierent areas of knowledge. How

with Katie Bouman

is technology changing the methods and tools

available for the production of knowledge?

TEDTalk

orange on the surface of the moon? What

humans. We have powerful sonar to map the

75

that object is a black hole, from which

if

particle can escape, not even the light

no

to take an image of it? This was the

necessary

challenge confronting scientists

technological

gave us the first image of a black hole,

who

2019. How did they overcome it? Just over

in

years before their breakthrough, Katie

two

spoke at a TEDx event. Watch the

Bouman

to find out how Bouman and team built

video

impossibly large telescope to photograph

an

elusive and never-before-seen object. Then

an

these questions.

consider

How did the team protect against their

1.

bias?

potential

What gave them confidence that their

2.

were reliable?

results

Chapter 7 we discuss the phenomenon of

In

regress, which deals with the

experimenter’s

of providing experimental evidence

challenge

phenomena that have only been theorized

for

never observed. How can we know that the

but

one gets from technological tools and

results

reect a real phenomenon, if we have

instruments

observed that phenomenon before and have

never

has kept company with death ever since

Photography

were invented, in 1839. Because an image

cameras

with a camera is, literally, a trace of something

produced

before the lens, photographs had an advantage

brought

any painting as a memento of the vanished past

over

the dear departed. To seize death in the making was

and

matter: the camera’s reach remained limited as

another

as it had to be lugged about, set down, steadied.

long

once the camera was emancipated from the tripod,

But,

portable, and equipped with a range nder and a

truly

of lenses that permitted unprecedented feats

variety

close observation from a distant vantage point,

of

acquired an immediacy and authority

picture-taking

than any verbal account in conveying the horror

greater

mass-produced death. If there was one year when

of

power of photographs to dene, not merely record,

the

camera is an example of how a new

The

changed the way that knowledge is

technology

in varied fields, from science, to art to

produced

In “Looking at War” Susan Sontag

journalism.

about how photography achieves both a

writes

of objectivity as well as perspective, and a

sense

and immediacy that far exceeds any

legitimacy

accounts of war.

previous

terms: Sontag Looking

Search

War New Yorker

at

are some continuities, but also very

There

differences, between the visual language

many

Sontag’s time and the visual language of

of

Consider, for example, the claim that

today.

relationship between image-making and

the

has shifted away from representing reality

truth

most abominable realities trumped all the complex

the

surely it was 1945, with the pictures taken in

narratives,

and early May in Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, and

April

in the rst days after the camps were liberated,

Dachau,

those taken by Japanese witnesses such as Yosuke

and

in the days following the incineration of the

Yamahata

had the advantage of uniting two

Photographs

features. Their credentials of objectivity

contradictory

inbuilt, yet they always had, necessarily, a point of

were

They were a record of the real—incontrovertible, as

view.

verbal account, however impartial, could be (assuming

no

they showed what they purported to show)—since a

that

was doing the recording. And they bore witness

machine

the real, since a person had been there to take them.

to


Figure 3.10 Varroa destructor (mite) on the back of Apis mellifera

(honeybee)

Making connections

Technology and the experimenter’s regress

nothing to compare with?

towards altering and creating different realities.

Looking at War

populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in early August.

(Sontag 2002)

76

historian Deborah Levitt supports such

Media

claim, arguing that animation is the dominant

a

of our historical moment. She proposes

medium

concept called the “animatic apparatus” to

a

sense of contemporary culture, spanning

make

from Instagram influencers to post-

everything

politics. In this age, Levitt claims, the

truth

between real and fake, natural and

boundaries

alive and inert are less clear and less

unnatural,

Instagram influencers use digital filters,

relevant.

enhancements and CGI to look unreal,

cosmetic

hyper-real, while at the same time “virtual

or

such as @lilmiquela appear real

influencers”

to gain over a million followers, release

enough

on Spotify, endorse hair products and

songs

social justice causes. Many of

champion

To what extent does deepfake technology

1.

new challenges for evaluating the

present

How might processes of knowledge that

2.

on evidence need to adapt as aresult?

rely

To what extent are deepfakes a

3.

problem requiring a

technological

is arguably the most powerful industry in

What

history has entered the lives of most people

human

Earth with openly world-changing ambitions—but

on

a deliberate process of ethics, inclusivity, and

without

to the full conversation between Krista

Listen

and Anil Dash on “Tech’s Moral

Tippett

fans continue to interact with her

@lilmiquela’s

if she were a real person. Perhaps this is not

as

makes the claim that the way we think

Levitt

things no longer functions in the animatic

about

Her use of the plural “worlds” is

worlds.

because there is no one world with

deliberate

our senses interface, but rather selfcontained

which

or intermingling media environments

exist in print, digital or virtual form. Also, a

that

amount of day-to-day life occurs through

huge

that are algorithmic and imperceptible,

processes

that we cannot sense them, though the

in

digital and material, certainly

environments,

us. Can our ethics serve us in this age?

sense

What different responsibilities rest with

4.

producers of deepfakes, the platforms

the

which they spread and the people who

on

them?

view

When is a warning or disclaimer

5.

a deepfake video sufficient,

accompanying

when might it be necessary to remove,

and

or erase a video? Who should come

ban

with the relevant guidelines and

up

standards?

terms: Anil Dash Tech’s

Search

Reckoning

Moral

the ability to influence life on this planet,

With

core activities such as communication,

including

movement, consumption and

learning,

and to bestow or strip power

reproduction,

from individuals and peoples, technology

away

needs ethics. But such ethics are

obviously

when the cause and effect of

challenged

impacts are difficult to observe

technological

IV. Ethics


IV. Ethics

surprising in an age of deepfakes.

For ref lection

Coping with the hyper-reality of

deepfakes

reliability of claims and sources?

technological solution?

I V. E T H I C S

accountability.

(Tippett 2017)

Reckoning” at the link.

or infer, when technological progress has been

77

IV. Ethics

and when those who stand to be

naturalized

affected are often the least aware

negatively

able to influence it. How do technology,

and/or

and capitalism intersect to affect

democracy

modes of being and knowing? What

human

of ethics, inclusivity and accountability

processes

this section we focus on ethical questions

In

in the different processes of knowledge.

arising

technology has a wide role in these

As

many of the questions come up

processes,

in the book. Much of this chapter

elsewhere

on digital technologies, but technology

focuses

refer to many systems and material

can

of order, including seeds and

arrangements

methods and how we organize public

farming

and libraries.

spaces

in 1980, Langdon Winner proposed the

Writing

idea, at the time, that technologies

unpopular

embody sociopolitical norms as well as

both

them. Technology, he argued, is not

reinforce

neutral tool; it is fundamentally political,

a

not just to electronic gadgets, but also

referring

the arrangement and distribution of power. We

to

of people as having political motivations

think

aspirations, but what does it mean to say

and

technological artefacts have politics?

that

in the 1920s, Robert Moses built

Beginning

200 overpasses in Long Island, New York,

about

The overpasses were high enough to allow

USA.

to go under them, but not public buses.

cars

biographer, Robert A Caro suggests that

Moses’

was done intentionally to limit the access

this

certain areas of the city for racial minorities

to

low-income groups who relied on public

and

These artefacts continue to shape the

transport.

today. city

do technological artefacts acquire their

How

Is politics “given” by their users or

politics?

It is not uncommon for physical objects

creators?

reflect the implicit or explicit biases of their

to

just as algorithms reflect the biases of

makers,

programmers. When discussing the political

their

of technological objects, we tend to

dimensions

on their use and their user. The Long Island

focus

though, had political consequences

overpasses,

to their use and users, in limiting what

unrelated

go underneath them. They exemplify a

could

that distributes power a certain way,

technology

certain things to happen and not others,

allowing

certain actions and not others.

facilitating

the extent that objects continue to perform a

To

political purpose, do they take on that

certain

We see that technologies build order

politics?

the world that affects everyday life (such

in

movement, communication, consumption

as

reproduction), that can have effects for

and

This order is built through the

generations.

intentional or otherwise, of individual

decisions,

collective agents in society. Some people

and

more influence in those decisions than

have

what factors affect the relative power of

others;

and communities to influence the

individuals

of technologies? Winner argues that the

politics

opportunity to influence technological

greatest

exists the first time a technology or

politics

is introduced, and that it subsequently

system

fixed through habit, economic

becomes

or material infrastructure. He

considerations

3

should we implement?

IV.1 Do artefacts have politics?

It is no surprise to learn that technical systems of

various kinds are deeply interwoven in the conditions

of modern politics. The physical arrangements of

industrial production, warfare, communications, and

the like have fundamentally changed the exercise

of power and the experience of citizenship. But to go

beyond this obvious fact and to argue that certain

technologies in themselves have political properties

seems, at rst glance, completely mistaken. We all

know that people have politics, not things. To discover

either virtues or evils in aggregates of steel, plastic,

transistors, integrated circuits, and chemicals seems

just plain wrong, a way of mystifying human artice

and of avoiding the true sources, the human sources

of freedom and oppression, justice and injustice.

Blaming the hardware appears even more foolish

than blaming the victims when it comes to judging

conditions of public life.

(Winner 1980)

compares technological innovations to acts of

railways and seeds. By politics he was referring

78

and arguesthat: “the same careful

law-making

one would give to the rules, roles, and

attention

of politics must also be given to

relationships

things as the building of highways, the

such

of television networks, and the tailoring

creation

seemingly insignificant features on new

of

would be going too far to say that the

It

you sit on has politics, and the power

chair

determine your behaviour. Or would it?

to

is evidence that the design of spaces

There

buildings influences how people relate

and

each other, including theirlevels of

to

in professional settings.Material

teamwork

and architectures encourage

arrangements

activities to happen; they enhance

certain

ways of being, mediate and facilitate

specific

actions, and not others. One example is

some

material arrangements and technologies

the

accompany and reinforce gentrification. In

that

about what divides and unites people,

thinking

is worth considering not only political

it

also the material arrangements

debatesbut

roads, toilets and park benches. Have you

of

looked at something and thought “this

ever

designed to stop people from sleeping

was

on it”? And yet, this is a primary

comfortably

for designers of seating spaces in

concern

and other public areas. Who might be

parks

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

Figure 3.11

Low overpass bridge on a Long Island parkway, built by Robert Moses

machines” (Winner 1980).

negatively impacted by this?

79

are instances in which the

“[There]

process of technical development

very

so thoroughly biased in a particular

is

that it regularly produces

direction

counted as wonderful

results

by some social interests

breakthroughs

crushing setbacks by others. In such

and

it is neither correct nor insightful to

cases

‘Someone intended to do somebody

say,

harm.’ Rather, one must say that

else

technological deck has been stacked

the

in advance to favor certain social

long

and that some people were

interests,

to receive a better hand than

bound

can be developed and deployed

Technology

quickly that its impact, and corresponding

so

concerns, are understood only in

ethical

Modern technologies may soon

retrospect.

beyond what human creators can

progress

comprehend. What happens, for example,

fully

the source code for a computer program

when

too complex (or, more simply, too long)

becomes

an individual to be able to read in a lifetime?

for

happens when high-frequency financial

What

bots trade with each other too rapidly for

trading

to keep track of in real time? Generally

humans

the benefits of these hard-to-keeptrack-of

speaking,

technological activities have outweighed

risks, even though computer glitches, stock

the

flash-crashes and security vulnerabilities

market

become common. But what of the other

have

of technology, known and unknown?

impacts

implications of this idea—that technology

The

one day outpace human comprehension—

may

significant for how we encourage and

are

technology, and understand its role

regulate

technologies have proved able to

Certainly,

us, in terms of both intended and

surprise

impacts. One argument is that

unintended

incentives behind the development and

the

of technology—towards, for

application

the competitive strategic interests of

example,

states, corporations or entrepreneurs—

nation

push its developers and adopters to move

can

quickly. Another structural argument is

too

those in a position to develop and deploy

that

technologies—technical experts, business

new

and government administrators—

managers

not have the incentive or interest to fret

may

potential negative implications, or may

over

the power to violate ethical boundaries

have

withimpunity.

technology itself can appear to be a

While

box”, the human processes that drive it,

“black

business and state interests, regulation

including

research, can be comprehended. This can

and

observers to anticipate potential ethical

allow

The insights obtained from Big

implications.

only tell us about what has happened in the

Data

We still need human thought and morality

past.

consider what we should do in the future.

to

we need to consider the kinds of models

Indeed,

data that we use, and how these are aligned

and

our wants and needs. When businesses make

to

of data, for example, should they only be

use

with profits, or should they also

concerned

one of the more common arguments

Perhaps

that technology is neutral—that its ethical

is

are dependent on the user. Writing

implications

the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, John

of

former head of the Cambridge University

Rust,

Centre, noted that “if you know

Psychometric

3IV. Ethics

For discussion

The technological deck

others.” (Winner 1980)

What systems, technologies and/or

1.

of infrastructure have you

arrangements

or inferred to benefit certain

observed

at the expense of others?

groups

How can we recognize when human

2.

begin conforming to technological

politics

politics?

IV.2 Can we predict the impacts of

technology?

insociety.

consider ethics?

the research you’re doing is groundbreaking, it

80

always be used for good or bad”. Technology

can

the values, biases and ideas of its

mirrors

In this view, technology can be

developers.

sexist and otherwise biased towards any

racist,

the conceptual building block of

Consider

technologies: models. We consider

many

throughout this book. A mathematical

these

is as much a feat of technology as the

model

that forecast limits to growth or the

simulations

data analyses run by Cambridge Analytica.

big

has argued that such models “are

O’Neil

embedded in mathematics”, with all

opinions

subjectivity and fallibility of their human

the

but that they are often assumed or

creators,

to be “neutral”. To complicate matters

presented

the inner workings of these technologies

further,

not visible to the vast majority of people,

are

including regulators, either due to barriers

often

cites an example of a teacher performance

O’Neil

system that used algorithms to

measurement

teachers according to a comparison of their

rank

test scores with their predicted scores

students’

by, you guessed it, a separate model).

(predicted

at the bottom of the distribution were

Teachers

But O’Neil argues there was almost no

fired.

between a teacher’s scores over

correlation

years: that they were effectively

subsequent

fired at random, according to the random

being

of students to their classes. The class

allocation

were too small and the model’s predictive

sizes

unproven, but the technology inspired

power

confidence among administrators to fire

enough

teachers. O’Neil cites examples of money

their

and car insurers that use factors such

lenders

whether applications are spelled correctly to

as

the interest rate a customer must pay.

determine

result is that people from lower educational

The

can pay higher car insurance even

backgrounds

institutions are better at testing their

Some

because of their underlying incentives.

models

continuously tests and improves

incentive,

models that predict consumer purchase

its

In contrast, those responsible for

behaviour.

US prison system have been much less

the

in testing and improving their

proactive

stop recidivism, as we saw earlier

modelsto

models can also result in

Credit-scoring

feedback loops: a person with a low

unforeseen

score cannot borrow cheaply, so has to

credit

high-interest rate loans that are even harder

use

pay off. Credit scoring models then further

to

that person.

downgrade

of the questions at the beginning of this

One

asked you to consider the extent to

chapter

1. Has your answer changed? If so, how?

If this is the first time you are considering

2.

question, what would you say are the

this

that make some technological risks

factors

unknowable?

What are the implications of this for how

3.

produce and apply knowledge using

we

the people at the heart of developing new

Are

best placed to judge the ethical

technologies

blowing has been a controversial

Whistle

over the last decades, associated with

practice

Edward Snowden and Christopher

Wikileaks,

(who brought attention to the Cambridge

Wylie

story). What factors affect whether

Analytica

blowing in technology is a positive

whistle

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

givenpopulation.

inthis chapter.

For ref lection

Technological risks

of expertise or intellectualproperty.

which risks of technology can be known.

technology?

IV.3 Responsibilities of

technologists

implications of their work?

if they are better drivers.

ethical practice?

Amazon, the online retailer with a clear profit

81

example of ethical action among

An

occurred at Google in 2018, when

technologists

engineers went on strike in protest of

4,000

company’s involvement in defence-related

the

technologies (Project Maven), which were

AI

used to interpret video images of drone

being

After the employee strike, Google did

strikes.

renew its involvement in the Pentagon

not

were the main points of the engineers’

These

letter.

protest

Google should not be involved in the

•

of war”.

“business

Project Maven was using artificial

•

to collect and interpret data,

intelligence

was passed to the US Ministry of

which

Defense.

Various employees had expressed concerns

•

the company’s involvement in the

about

The company had addressed these

•

in part by explaining that

concerns

technology would not be directly

the

in warfare; that is, to operate

employed

The employees were not satisfied with this

•

technology was still being

response—the

for military purposes and therefore

utilized

the potential to inflict lethal damage.

had

By engaging in the weaponization of

•

Google was risking its reputation

technology,

the machine mind free from the biases that

Is

the human mind? Does it look at us all

plague

a neutral lens or would we find human

through

buried within the lines of code?

prejudices

company’s ability to recruit the best

the

and continue to succeed in

employees

Google should not want to be categorized

•

other companies who had chosen to

with

Google’s motto “Don’t Be Evil” set it apart

•

other companies. The company must

from

and uphold its core values above

protect

else, or else lose the trust of

everything

engineers cited Google’s moral

The

and the potential damage to the

responsibility

Ultimately, they requested that Google

brand.

cancelled the project with immediate

(a)

and (b) issued a policy stating that the

effect

would never be involved in the

company

terms: Google

Search

of war open letter

Business

2016 study (Bolukbasi et al) reported that

A

trained on Google News voiced sexist

software

When asked to complete the statement,

views.

is to computer programmer as woman is

“Man

X”, the software replied “homemaker”. The

to

stated:

researchers

3IV. Ethics

Case study

engineers strike over AI use

Google

military tasks

in

programme.

project.

business.

work more directly in the warfare industry.

itsusers.

drones or launch weapons.

creation of warfare technology.

Follow the link to read the original letter:

as a trusted brand. This would damage

IV.4 Can AI be unethical?

82

scientist Joy Buolamwini has shown that

MIT

systems sold by companies such as IBM,

AI

and Amazon are systematically more

Microsoft

in predicting the gender of men than

accurate

recognition is used in an increasing

Facial

of applications, and a bias in the

number

Snow of the American Civil Liberties

Jacob

(ACLU) has argued that a new real-time

Union

recognition technology called Rekognition,

facial

by Amazon and being sold to police,

created

more likely to match people of colour to

is

who have been arrested for a crime. This

people

exacerbate a situation where people of

would

are already more likely to be targeted

colour

police. In a political stunt conducted by the

by

faces of US Congress members were run

ACLU,

Rekognition, which falsely identified

through

as having a criminal record. Of those

28members

as criminals, 40% were people of

misidentified

even though only 20% of US Congress

colour,

are people of colour. Civil rights

members

interpreted the results as evidence that

workers

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

[t]he blind application of machine learning runs the

risk of amplifying biases present in data. . . .

[E]ven word embeddings trained on Google News

articles exhibit female/male gender stereotypes to a

disturbing extent.

(Bolukbasi et al 2016)

women and have a white bias.

technology can affect people’s lives. For example,

the technology was discriminatory.

Figure 3.12

Gender Shades Press Kit (Buolamwini, MIT)

83

IV. Ethics

(using 840 billion words selected from

English

internet) become prejudiced through word

the

that mirror humans’ semantic

associations

such as flowers (nice) or insects (not

biases,

Additionally, the machines learned to

nice).

female names with family and male

associate

Figure 3.13 Example from Google Translate that went viral on Twitter in 2017

with career. According to researchers,

names

biases within the text of the internet

these

“recoverable and accurate imprints of our

are:

biases … whether morally neutral as

historic

insects or flowers [or] problematic as

toward

race or gender” (Caliskan et al 2017).

toward

Twitter chatbot called Tay, developed by Microsoft

A

released in March 2016, was shut down after

and

3

separate study published in 2017 in Science

A

that programs that teach themselves

reported

Turkish detected

English

o bir aşçi

she is a cook

he is an engineer

o bir mühendis

o bir doktor

he is a doctor

she is a nurse

o bit hemşire

o bir temizlikçi

he is a cleaner

he/she is a police

o bir polis

o bir asker

he is a soldier

she is a teacher

o bir öğretmen

o bit sekreter

he is a secretary

he is a friend

o bit arkadaş

o bir sevgili

she is a lover

she does not like her

onu sevmiyor

onu seviyor

she loves him

onu görüyor

onu göremiyor

she sees it

he cannot see him

o onu kucakliyor

she is embracing her

o onu kucaklamiyor

he does not embrace it

o evli

she is married

o bekar

he is single

o mutlu

he’s happy

o mutsuz

she is unhappy

o çalişkan

he is hard working

o tembel

she is lazy

https://twitter.com/seyyedreza/status/935291317252493312

84

16 hours because it began posting inflammatory

just

racist tweets. Apparently, the bot learned these

and

from being attacked by, and responding

views

other Twitter users. This very rapid change is

to,

Rust, the Head of Cambridge University

John

Centre, once said that all AI

Psychometric

a “a bit like a psychopath … adept at

is

emotions, but underdeveloped

manipulating

(quoted in Lapowsky 2018). Indeed,

morally”

important area of enquiry is how moral

an

happens in AI. According to

development

Iyad Rahwan, Director of the Max

Professor

is a growing belief that machine behaviour

there

be something you can study in the same way

can

you study human behaviour. We are teaching

as

in the same way as we teach human

algorithms

. . When I see an answer from an algorithm,

beings.

need to know who made that algorithm.

I

fascinating case is Norman, an AI developed

A

Rahwan as part of a research project to

by

AI morality. Specifically, Norman

investigate

trained to interpret Rorschach-style

was

called Xiaoice that had “more than 40million

bot

apparently without major incident”

conversations

2016). Tay’s experience raised questions

(Bright

the extent to which technology is a mirror of

about

images and describe in text what it

inkblot

Norman has an experimental control

“sees”.

that is identical, except that Norman was

twin

using gruesome images found on the

trained

while its twin was trained on images

internet,

everyday life. As a result, Norman “sees”

of

very differently. When presented the

things

abstract image, the control algorithm

same

people standing next to each other,

described

Norman saw a man jumping from a

whereas

“Norman’s view was unremittingly

window.

saw dead bodies, blood and

bleak—it

in every image” (Rahwan quoted in

destruction

2018), whereas its twin responded far

Wakefield

positively. This result has implications for

more

behaviour as well, such as the extent to

human

we regulate and censor content found in

which

media. At least in machines, Rahwan

popular

matters more than the algorithm … . The

Data

we use to train AI is reected in the way the AI

data

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

noteworthy because Tay was similar to another

human inputs, literally and metaphorically.

Box 3.1: Technology as our offspring, mirror or something else entirely

Potentially triggering content:

violence

Planck Center for Humans and Machines:

suggests, nurture matters more than nature.

(Rahwan quoted in Wakeeld 2018)

perceives the world and how it behaves.

(Rahwan quoted in Wakeeld 2018)

Figure 3.14b

Regular AI saw “a person is holding an

Regular AI saw “a black and white photo of a small

Figure 3.14a

umbrella in the air”. Norman saw “man is shot dead in front

bird”. Norman saw “man gets pulled into dough machine”.

of his screaming wife”.

85

is trained on data sets. It is this training that

AI

what AI “knows”. The training data

determines

often assumed to be objective, ahistorical and

is

but that assumption is incorrect.

non-ideological,

data may consist of images that are

Training

sorted and labelled by a group of

selected,

usually men from relatively privileged

people,

working and living in contexts

backgrounds,

Joanna Bryson at the UK’s University of Bath

Dr

of computer science remarks that

department

are programmed by “white, single

machines

from California” and that diversifying the

guys

might help. Bryson adds: “There is no

workforce

way to create fairness. Bias is not a

mathematical

word in machine learning. It just means that

bad

machine is picking up regularities. It is up to

the

to decide what those regularities should be”

us

in Santamicone 2019).

(quoted

people of color, women, the disabled,

“As

and other vulnerable communities

LGBTQ+,

impacted by data-centric

disproportionately

we must find tangible ways to

technologies,

ourselves into the creation, training,

insert

testing of algorithmic matrices …

and

systems are encoded with the same

These

responsible for the myriad systemic

biases

we experience today. We can no

injustices

afford to be passive consumers or

longer

subjects to algorithmic systems that

oblivious

impact how and where welive,

significantly

we love and our ability to buildand

who

wealth.” (Dinkins, undated)

distribute

has been made on this front.

Progress

Institute for Human-Centered

Stanford’s

Intelligence (HAI) has a mission

Artificial

recruit designers who are: “broadly

to

of humanity … across gender,

representative

nationality, culture and age, as well as

ethnicity,

this is not just a technology problem,

Ultimately,

a political one that we encounter in many

but

spheres of life. It raises the question

different

whether technology will continue to mirror

of

rather than emancipate it. Jill Lepore,

humanity,

historian of polling at Harvard University, has

a

that data science enables data consultants

argued

dictate politicians’ views, and not the other

to

around: “data science is the solution to one

way

but the amplification of a much bigger

problem

political problem” (Lepore quoted in

one—the

2016).

Wood

should also be concerned with the question

We

responsibility: if an algorithm does, indeed,

of

out to make racist or sexist or otherwise

turn

judgments, do we hold its creators

unethical

Project al-Khwarizmi, Stephanie Dinkins seeks

In

empower communities of colour to participate

to

knowledge production and application in

in

Follow the link to find out more

technology.

terms: Dinkins Project

Search

al-Khwarizmi

Which kinds of knowledge are

1.

exchanged between the computer

being

How does this project influence your

2.

on who should be involved in the

opinion

In what ways should the processes of

3.

and applying knowledge ensure

producing

3IV. Ethics

dissimilar to those of most human beings.

can’t aord to have a tech that is run by

We

exclusive and homogenous group creating

an

that impacts us all. We need more

technology

about people, like human psychology,

experts

and history. AI needs more unlikely people.

behavior

2018)

(Thomas

discussion

For

across disciplines”.

accountable?

AI and algorithms through an antioppression

lens

about her work, then consider the questions.

scientists and the community participants?

production of technological knowledge?

that AI is more just and socially equitable?

86

Knowledge

and language 4

a grat xtnt, human ings ar knowledgeable aus of our apaity for languag. W us

To

and onpts to dsri and xplain th world, and to pass on this knowldg aross

languag

and gographis. Th world's languags ar an immns olltion of divrs prsptivs

tim

diffrnt ways of knowing and ing. This haptr xplors how w oniv of languag, its

and

funtions, and its possil uss and misuss.

Initial discussion

• Is knowledge possible without language?

• What kind of knowledge is knowing how to use a language?

• How do we know what we claim to know about language?

• How can we balance the benefits of a single global shared language against the costs of losing languages in a

globalizing world?

• Do we have a moral responsibility to protect and preserve linguistic diversity?

87

I. Scope

haptr vnturs yond languags suh as

This

Hindi or Mandarin to onsidr languag

English,

roadly onivd, from th Pionr plaqu

mor

for xtratrrstrial intlligns, to th

writtn

speak nearly seven thousand languages,

Humans

with multiple dialects. The countless other

some

on Earth communicate with innumerably

species

nearly all of which we have, thus far, failed to

more,

… . Human languages are products of

understand

minds, and thereby, can be understood by

human

minds, by means of human senses—sight,

human

touch. How could we begin to imagine an

sound,

language if we cannot imagine with

extraterrestrial

senses the beings communicate? They may not

what

vocal chords with which they produce sounds

have

ears with which they capture them. So we must

or

on universally-understood concepts, and devise

rely

communication method neither specic to location

a

species nor world. Perhaps, the only similarity

nor

our species is the universe in which we both

between

Thus, the language we are most likely to share is

live.

study of the universe itself: science. The result of

the

th Pionr 10 sparaft was launhd

Whn

spa in 1972, it arrid a mssag for

into

intlligns yond th solar

xtratrrstrial

A fw thinkrs in this ara, inluding

systm.

Salzman Sagan, Carl Sagan and Frank

Linda

wr taskd with rafting a mssag that

Drak,

omprhnsil to xtratrrstrials. What

was

ths thinkrs say? How would thy sayit?

would

widly agrd upon ida at th tim, dsrid

A

an artil y Jak Rosnthal, was that sin

in

th univrsal languag. To what xtnt do

was

agr? What assumptions undrpin that

you

If you had to dsign a mssag for alins,

laim?

would you want on your tam to hlp you

who

it and what kinds of knowldg would you

do

for th task?

nd

knots usd y th Inas, to digital od

Khipu

th 3D undrwatr songs of whals. What

and

w know through languag and how do w

an

what w know aout it?

know

symoli mssag on th Pionr plaqu

Th

a standard of distan and tim

ommuniatd

hydrogn, th most aundant lmnt in

using

univrs and, assumdly, th most likly atom

th

studid y wll-informd xtratrrstrials.

to

standard was thn usd to ommuniat

This

onpts. For xampl, th ltromagnti

mor

rlasd y a hydrogn atom during

radiation

is alld th hyprfin transition has a

what

of aout 21 ntimtrs and a wav

wavlngth

of 0.7 sonds; ths wr usd as units

priod

spa and tim in th plaqu. A small mark

of

th hydrogn atoms on th top lft of th

twn

shows that distan and tim valus

illustration

4

I . S C O P E

Figure 4.1 Illustration on the Pioneer plaque written for

extraterrestrial intelligences

this conclusion was the Pioneer Plaque.

(Rosenthal 2016)

I.1 A limitless language

hav n st in inary.

88

languag was also usd in th illustration,

Body

an opn hand, and a stan rvaling

showing

and moil lims. Immdiatly to

flxil

woman’s right, xprssd in inary, is th

th

8, twn two lins orrsponding

numr

hr hight. This illustratd that sh was

to

× 21 ntimtrs tall (21 ntimtrs ing

8

wavlngth).

thhyprfin

lins and dashs in th lft half of th

Th

ar our osmi addrss, with our sun

plaqu

th ntr and th lins stiking out radially

in

rlativ distans and dirtions

indiating

known pulsars (rapidly rotating nutron

to

that srv as osmi lighthouss), along

stars

thir priods (th intrvals twn

with

ursts) in inary form. Th

ltromagnti

last signal from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was

The

on January 22, 2003; NASA reported that the

received

source had depleted. Although the spacecraft can

power

longer speak to us, it presses onward—it now speaks

no

us. As interstellar courier, it bears the accumulated

for

of every human, transcribed in, perhaps, the only

voice

language in all the cosmos. We are but cosmic

common

just learning how to take our rst steps into

toddlers

10 remains more than just a ghost of a ship, and

Pioneer

plaque is more than a shout into the void … .

the

from such a mission—one that spans space,

Born

and perhaps, civilizations—is a new mindset, an

time,

beings were to emerge, we know not their anatomy

If

biology nor psychology, their physical traits, their

nor

qustion of how w an known y

Th

aross tim and spa, is a ommon

anothr,

among humans. Languag

proupation

an ssntial doul funtion as a

prforms

of knowldg as wll as a vhil to

stor

that knowldg. In th as of spokn

transfr

this an ahivd through an

languags,

Oral Tradition. Writtn languag,

unintrruptd

of pulsars hangs ovr tim and so th

priod

ats as a kind of timstamp in th ag

plaqu

th univrs. To larify our addrss furthr,

of

solar systm’s plants ar shown in ordr at

our

ottom of th plaqu, with thir distans

th

th sun in inary. Takn togthr, this

from

ats lik a uniqu osmi thumprint

information

our solar systm aus, apparntly, in th

of

Way, it alon fits ths haratristis

Milky

on th plaqu.

displayd

th vast mptinss of spa, it is xtrmly

Givn

that Pionr 10 will intrptd y

unlikly

alin intllign. Evn if that nvr happns,

an

it was rtainly not a wast of tim or

howvr,

as it profoundly galvanizd our thinking

ffort

languag and idntity.

aout

disposition; more or less, we are blind to every

their

of their species. They could be dierent in every

aspect

ways we have yet to understand or could

way—in

imagine. We make numerous assumptions about

even

life is and what life is not—educated guesses

what

o a sample size of one. But if, in some form or

based

advanced consciousness arises elsewhere in

another,

cosmos, it is possible that those beings will wonder,

the

we did: What are the lights in the sky? Where did the

as

come from? What else is out there? Who else

planets

out there? They may compile a system of knowledge

is

the cosmos and the laws that govern it; we call this

of

About this hypothetical species, we know but

‘science.’

thing: the science they develop—the natural laws

one

discover—if they were to do so, would be exactly

they

same as our own. Science speaks to all of us in a

the

lavs a matrial rord sparat

howvr,

whovr produd it, whih an travl

from

and surviv duraly. Blow, w

distans

th knottd thrads lft hind y

onsidr

Inas, how and whthr ths prform th

th

of languag and what thy man in

funtions

I. Scope

I. Scope

plaqu ommuniats tim as wll, sin th

space, and just learning how to speak to the universe … .

otherworldly perspective. …

way nothing ever has … .

sensory capabilities, their intellectual sophistication,

(Rosenthal 2016)

trms of knowldg.

89

I. Scope

languags ar only on spifi

Human

of th human and othr-than-human

xampl

condent can we be in our ability to learn

How

the narrative khipus, when they are so

about

dierent from our understandings of

radically

We are trained from an early

communication?

that mathematics and language are two

age

worlds. The Incas, however, collapsed

discrete

into a three-dimensional construct—an

them

of civilizational complexity in the

achievement

asn of a writtn Ina languag has long

Th

sholars aus Ina soity had

onfoundd

th othr faturs—inrdil arhittur,

all

uranization, govrnan and soial

thnology,

wr ommon to larg-sal

systms—that

in Egypt, China, Msopotamia,

ivilizations

and Cntral Amria. Only th Ina

Mxio

to lak a writtn languag. Thy usd

appard

arrangmnt of knottd strings, known

an

khipu or quipu, rsmling a fari aaus,

as

to kp a numrial rord of

prsumaly

and dmographi information. That

rsours

howvr, until sholars ralizd that khipus

was,

a form of 3D writing.

may

growing ody of rsarh suspts that

A

ould hav rordd not just numrs

khipus

narrativs of th Ina Empir “inluding

ut

storis, and vn anint philosophis”

nams,

Urton 2018). If so, th mthod would

(Mdrano,

ntirly diffrnt from any known sripts, as

usd not symols ut a 3D inary od mor

it

to th languag of omputrs. Khipus

similar

Is thr any knowldg that annot

2.

through languag, and if so

transfrrd

What might xampls of knowldg that

3.

only transfrrd through languag?

an

th oarsnss of diffrnt animal

xampl,

and faris usd), spin dirtion, olour

hairs

th rlativ plamnt and shap of knots.

and

(th knot makrs, or “writrs”)

Khipukamayuqs

information using ths tools in a systm

odd

may hav n rad throughout th mpir.

that

if w disount, tmporarily, th possiility

Evn

khipus ontain narrativ information, th

that

of ounting in knots is still radial.

onpt

human ings larn to ount y

Modrn

pils of physial ojts, suh as toys

making

loks, thn prod to ount with fingrs

and

thn symols. As Gary Urton nots, th

and

symol for 7 dos not intuitivly look

English

svn of anything, ut th khipu od

lik

7 was a knot mad y wrapping string

for

itslf to mak svn loops. With all

around

varials at thir disposal—txtur, spin,

th

and knot strutur—Urton stimats

olour

th khipukamayuqs had ovr 1500 “words”

that

thir “voaulary”—far mor than Sumrian

in

signs or Egyptian hiroglyphs.

uniform

4

For reflection

The role of language in knowledge

aility to ommuniat.

what would an xampl?

1. Is languag ssntial to knowldg?

Box 4.1: Inca writings

form of narrative cords.

(Medrano, Urton 2018)

Figure 4.2 Khipu knots

ommuniat information through txtur (for

90

wr mathmatially omplx rords

Khipus

ommuniatd information in a dural

that

that was mor rsistant to rain and

mdium

handling than pn and papr. Ths

rough

also rval th ativitis and nds

rords

Ina lif: many khipus ar dvotd to th

of

of tax data, onnting nams,

rording

information and liailitis through

houshold

for us y a sophistiatd and powrful

knots,

govrnmnt strutur. It is fasinating

Ina

losly thir systms rsmld our own.

how

ould w rading too muh into it?

Or

Hyland, a profssor of anthropology and

Sain

Gographi Explorr, has suggstd

National

just th olour of ominations twn

that

allows for 95 uniqu ord pattrns. Hr

ords

is that ominations of olours and knots

thory

syllals or words, usd in narrativ

rprsntd

or hronils. This was asd partly

pistls,

a disovry of khipus from a villag in th

on

that wr arfully prsrvd and kpt

Ands

for nturis, for far of thir dstrution

srt

Spanish onquistadors. Th Collata khipus,

y

thy ar known, having om from th

as

of San Juan d Collata, hav sin n

villag

idntifid as narrativ pistls y

“rlialy

dsndants of thir rators”. Th Collata

th

“xhiitd a divrsity of vivid olours

khipus

ould rord historial narrativs with th

and

as as Europan ooks” (Ston 2017).

sam

th Collata khipus hav n stimatd to

But

during th mid-18th ntury, ovr

originat

aftr onquistadors from Spain

200yars

lading to spulation aout whthr

arrivd,

wr an innovation inspird y ontat

thy

th Spanish writing systm.

with

th hundrds of thousands of khipus that

Of

hav xistd, only a tiny fration rmain,

may

most wr dstroyd y Spanish onqurors,

as

in an ffort to ras Ina history

prhaps

ustoms. Th only storis that w hav

and

th Ina wr writtn y th Spanish

aout

a rurring thm throughout

onqurors,

ut on that might orrtd if

history,

an diphr an Indignous Ina

sholars

through th khipu. Mdrano, th

history

o-author of a rnt papr on

undrgraduat

khipu, nots that: “it’s rally aout rvrsing

th

pushing ak against th ours of history,

and

that th winnrs hav always writtn it, and

in

is an opportunity to rvrs that path”

this

intrviwd on CBC Radio, 28

(Mdrano

xplor ths issus furthr, follow th links

To

two artils.

to

1: Mdrano, M and Urton, G. 2018.

Source

Ina’s Knotty History” (Sapins).

“Th

trms: Sapins Inas

Sarh

history

knotty

2: Ston, D. 2017. “Disovry May Hlp

Source

Diphr Anint Ina String Cod”

to

trms: National

Sarh

ina khipu od

Gographi

I. Scope

I. Scope

Dmr 2017).

(National Geographic).

Making connections

The importance of writing

We consider and expand on the role of literacy in

Chapter 8, Chapter 9 and Chapter 11. Explore these

connections to understand how writing is connected

to assumptions about social progress, numeracy

and cognitive ability, and what enters the historical

record. How do the khipu knots challenge ideas from

these dierent AOKs?

91

I. Scope

dsriing mthods, prsptivs and

In

w oftn us th mtaphor of a lns.

idas

mightsay that languag is a lns through

On

xprin and omprhnd th

whihw

Th languag of our thoughts, for

world.

an influn what w s whn

xampl,

look out th window or witnss a soial

w

Is it possil to look at th world

intration.

this lns? Can w tak off our linguisti

without

and know th world without

sptals

or dos it only tak shap through

languag,

that dfin onpts? If thos words

thwords

in on languag, ut not anothr, do

xist

of diffrnt languags thn s and

spakrs

th world diffrntly? Do thy know

know

worlds?

diffrnt

th 1920s Bnjamin Whorf and Edward

In

th hypothsis that our world

Sapirproposd

ar shapd y th languags w spak.

viws

strngth of this influn rmains opn

Th

trms: Boroditsky

Sarh

shaps th way

languag

prsntr in th linkd vido, Lra

Th

prsnts th viw that languags

Boroditsky,

might languags that us diffrnt

How

of tim, spa, olour or numrs

onpts

Gorg Lakoff and Mark Johnson

Linguists

studid th mtaphors that prvad

hav

sph and rflt and rinfor our

human

attituds and valus. Th authors

prsptivs,

is not unommon among Amrian

whih

spakrs:

had a fight this morning, sh won th

“Thy

y shooting down vry point h

argumnt

points ar right on targt.” (Lakoff,

“His

1980)

Johnson

osrvd that w oftn dsri

Lakoff

using languag appropriat for

argumnts

war, whih shaps how w oniv

disussing

and ngag with argumnt: a vral

of

twn winnrs and losrs, rquiring

attl

and stratgy, attaking and

prparation

and involving angr and/or othr

dfnding,

motions. This framing of argumnt is

strong

from univrsal, though; imagin a mtaphor

far

argumnt as dan, not somthing to won

of

lost, ut rathr with th goal of a plasing,

or

moving prforman.

artisti,

dos not hav to an xris of

This

and you do not hav to rly on

imagination

and Johnson’s viws. You may awar

Lakoff

xampls suh as th Aymara popl of

of

In thir languag, to look ahad mans

Pru.

look at th past, whih is known to us and

to

an s in front of us. Th futur is hind

w

w annot look into somthing that

aus

not yt happnd. You may spak multipl

has

yourslf, or hav prs in lass who

languags

a diffrnt languag from you.If so, hk

spak

and how mtaphors from on languag

whthr

ultur translat into th othr and onsidr

or

insights you gain from ths similaritis

what

impliations of th mtaphors w us do

Th

only onrn ultural insight. A lot of th

not

in aadmi disiplins is also rootd

jargon

mtaphor: lak hols, invasiv spis,

in

onomi ontagion. Ths ar

nuroplastiity,

just ultural rlis: this knowldg, framd

not

mtaphors, is applid in poliy prsriptions,

y

and duation, and politial dat.

training

4

mad.”

“Thy attakd vry xampl I gav.”

to dat.

For discussion

How language shapes the way

we think

w think TED Talk

shap th way w think.

and diffrns.

lad us to rah diffrnt onlusions?

I.2 The role of metaphor

onsidr th xampl of “argumnt as war”,

92

the elds of economics and political science,

Within

studies is a large and important, as well

development

exciting, area of enquiry. The term “development”

as

meanings that reect and reinforce how

contains

has typically been approached. When one

development

of the associations of the words “development”

thinks

“developing”, one may imagine a small child

and

up”, developing strong bones and limbs,

“growing

bigger and gaining knowledge. This serves to

getting

the process of development and invokes a

naturalize

and status dierential between the developed

power

developing—between adults and children naturally,

and

between rich and poor nations problematically and

but

inaccurately.

developing nations “growing up” into actualized

Are

of themselves? Perhaps the term “economic

versions

would be more accurate and/or helpful, as

recovery”

alternative to “economic development”. A number of

an

historians, notably Mike Davis, have argued that

political

developing nations—the Third World, as they were

the

known—were “made” through the processes of

formerly

and imperialism that destroyed or depleted

colonialism

language is not merely a body of vocabulary

A

a set of grammatical rules. It is a ash of the

or

spirit, the means by which the soul of each

human

culture reaches into the material world.

particular

language is an old growth forest of the mind,

Every

watershed of thought, an entire ecosystem of

a

xplor linguisti divrsity is to ngag with

To

multipl prsptivs ontaind within ovr

th

human languags. Thr ar powrful and

7,000

fors ating on ths languags

unprdntd

resources. Instead of a young child who needs to

and

up, then, these nations might be more accurately

grow

through the metaphor of a patient recovering

presented

illness or, more specically, infection. This

from

is aligned with our exploration of dierent

argument

to history, such as restitutive and ethical

approaches

versus faithful histories, in Chapter 9,

histories

IV. section

metaphor of recovery avoids the paternalistic

The

of the word “development” and restores

overtones

to the recovering, rather than emphasizing

agency

need for development assistance. It centres the

their

of this inequity as something inflicted rather

cause

natural, for which justice, and not charity, is the

than

also the term “economic growth”, which,

Consider

sounds like an earnest and natural process

again,

nations should strive for. Children grow into

that

saplings grow into mighty trees. Indeed,

adults;

and plants that fail to grow are, like nations,

children

with concern. But, when confronted with

beheld

environmental devastation and

consumption-driven

depletion, perhaps we need another word

resource

target. We explore growth, green growth,

and

and economic happiness in Chapter 8.

de-growth

that dsrv our attntion. Thr

transformations

also diffrnt prsptivs aout th natur of

ar

its rol and rlationship to knowldg.

languag,

xplor a divrsity of prsptivs oth

W

was th UN’s Intrnational Yar of

2019

Languags, and lratd divrsity

Indignous

simultanously signalling onrn for th

whil

rat at whih this divrsity is ing lost.

rapid

th 7,000 human languags that w know of,

Of

wnt xtint twn 1950 and 2010. Th

230

has sin inrasd suh that on languag

rat

now lost vry two wks. Som stimats

is

II. Perspectives

I. Scope

II. Perspectives

Making connections

Growth and development as metaphor

more appropriate response.

knowledge systems, social systems, infrastructure


within and aout languag in this stion.

spiritual possibilities.

II.1 Linguistic and epistemic diversity

(Davis 2003)

du to gloalization, uranization and othr

93

II. Perspectives

that 90% will disappar in this ntury

warn

2018).

(Strohli

srv as an organi rpository of

Languags

knowldg, rvaling th historis,

human

and valus of popls, and di whn

ulturs

no longr spak th languag. Th

hildrn

Wad Davis has said that of

anthropologist

languags that urrntly xist, half ar not

th

taught to hildrn, and ar at a vry ral

ing

of dying.

risk

this really means is that within a generation

What

two, we are witnessing the loss of fully half of

or

legacy. This is the hidden backdrop of

humanity’s

age. our

th 7,000 languags spokn y human ings,

Of

mr 23 ar spokn y half of th world’s

a

whil aout 3,000 ar ndangrd.

population,

only is that a trrifyingly lonly and

Not

prospt for thir last spakrs, it poss

isolating

widr loss to humanity and our olltiv

a

is a misonption that th loss of

Thr

languags—and of ultural divrsity

ths

gnral—is a natural phnomnon that

in

progrss. But nithr hang, nor

aompanis

ar a thrat to ultur; rathr, as

thnology,

assrts, it is powr and “th rud fa of

Davis

Th grat tragdy is that “virant,

divrsity.

living ulturs and languags ar

dynami,

ford out of xistn” (Davis 2003). Th

ing

ntury alon witnssd multipl larg-

20th

stat moilizations against Indignous

sal

for instan in Canada, Australia and

languags,

oftn through fatory shooling. Th fors

Tit,

politis of olonization, rsour xtration

and

uranization hav n ovrwhlming for

and

ommunitis, oftn laving only offiial

many

languags prottd. Davis furthr xpands

stat

th xtrnal fors that hav ausd th dath

on

may be industrial as the case of the

They

forestry practices that have destroyed

egregious

subsistence base of the nomadic Penan in the

the

of Sarawak in Borneo. In Nigeria the once

rainforests

soils of the Ogoni in the Niger delta can no

fertile

be farmed because of toxic euents of the

longer

industry. Elsewhere the calamity may

petrochemical

caused by epidemic disease as in the case of

be

Yanomami who have suered dreadful mortality

the

to exotic pathogens brought into their lives by

due

gold miners who have recently invaded their

the

Or the agent of destruction may be ideology,

lands.

in the case of the crude domination of Tibet by

as

communist Chinese. But in every case these

the

cultures that are overwhelmed by powerful

are

forces beyond their capacity to adapt to.

external

observation is in fact a source of considerable

This

For it implies that if humans are the agents

optimism.

cultural destruction, we can also be facilitators of

of

survival.

cultural

do not have a consistent and clear boundary

We

dialects and languages. Some languages

between

be very similar and some dialects very

may

two words are not particularly useful

dissimilar—the

describing actual language variation, according to

in

John McWhorter, who has said “dialects is all

linguist

is” (2016). The hundreds of “dialects” spoken

there

China and in Tibet, for example, are very dissimilar

in

not mutually comprehensible to speakers of other

and

States often promote dissimilar languages

“dialects”.

4

of many languags this ntury.

(Davis 2003)

knowldg systms.

(Davis 2003)

“Dialects is all there is”

Figure 4.3

Cornish became extinct in the late 18th century before

a process to revive the language began in the early 20th century

domination” that thratn ultural and linguisti

94

dialects to help national solidarity and reduce

as

factionalism and loyalties. Contrast this with,

regional

McWhorter points out, the languages of Norway,

as

and Denmark, which are not considered to

Sweden

dialects, but a speaker of one could understand

be

other to a very large extent. Serbian and Croatian

the

similarly considered to be separate languages, in

are

small part because of the entanglement between

no

and political, religious and cultural identities,

language

each is very easily understandable to a speaker of

but

other. Before the breakup of Yugoslavia, its lingua

the

was called Serbo-Croatian and was taught in

franca

to the Macedonians, Slovenians, Bosnians

school

Montenegrans, alongside the Serbs and Croats.

and

Serbian is written in cyrillic, and Croatian in Latin,

But

are very dierent writing systems.

which

AOK history, w s how muh languag,

In

th aility to writ, has inflund

partiularly

is rordd and who rords it. Th

what

of this ar profound: history

impliations

th storis of popl and judgs

ontains

lgitimay of thir laims to powr,

th

and idntity. Languag xtintion

rprsntation

thrfor an ovious and urgnt onrn

is

Indignous Popls whos Oral Traditions

for

prsrvd thir knowldg and ultur

hav

Indigenous languages generally tend to be the

...

complex, specialised and idiosyncratic,

most

those spoken in remote areas by only

especially

few hundred people. Big global languages like

a

Spanish or Mandarin Chinese are relatively

English,

and on the whole follow more predictable

simpler

Because of this uniqueness, the languages

patterns.

are most at risk are arguably those that have

which

most to teach us about the incredible breadth and

the

of human perception and experience …

variety

ar many xampls of Indignous

Thr

that, in addition to ing xotiizd y

languags

gloal lit, srv to hallng how w oniv

a

th ida of languag and xpand our idas

of

human snsory and ognitiv potntial.

aout

ar storis of drum languags that an

Thr

kilomtrs pr hour. Thn thr is Kuuk

160

spokn y th Thaayorr of North

Thaayorr,

in Australia, whih famously has

Qunsland

for asolut ardinal dirtions (suh

16words

north, south, ast and wst that w ommonly

as

instad of rlativ dirtions (suh as lft

know)

right, and straight ahad). Evryday soial

and

in Kuuk Thaayorr rly on this

intrations

sns and spakrs hav n shown

ardinal

possss a pronound aility to know, at any

to

tim, thir ardinal orintation. This arris

givn

into thir ommuniation of tim, som

ovr

laim. Whras English spakrs

rsarhrs

arrang hronologial piturs from

onsistntly

to right, and Arai or Hrw spakrs from

lft

to lft, th Thaayorr, whn faing north,

right

hronologial piturs from right to lft,

arrang

whn faing south, from lft to right. Whn

ut

ast, thy arrang th piturs oming

faing

thir odis. On intrprtation of this is

towards

thir onpt of tim flows from ast to wst,

that

th ris and fall of th sun (Boroditsky

along

hav historially n dply

Languags

in thir nvironmnt, harouring

mddd

knowldg aout th animals, plants

dtaild

osystms of th aras. Intrstingly, som

and

hav laimd thr to a strong

rsarhrs

twn linguisti divrsity and

orrlation

finding that thr ar most spis

iodivrsity,

animals and plants whr thr ar th most

of

the 6,900 languages currently spoken on Earth,

Of

than 4,800 occur in regions containing high

more

w rad aout th disovry of a nw

Whn

of plant or animal y sintists, w

spis

paus to onsidr whthr th popl

should

liv alongsid that spis alrady, in fat,

who

aout and hav a nam for it. Historially,

know

disovrrs hav gnrally not pausd

would-

nough. Loal languags, thn, an

long

of as “ologial nylopdias”; if thy

thought

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

2009).

for gnrations.

languags spokn.

biodiversity.

(Goreno et al 2012)

(Survival International 2019)

Most of thos languags ar thratnd.

ommuniat mssags ovr vast distans at

95

no longr spokn, this knowldg may

ar

aus many languags hav no writtn

lost

Asurdly, many of ths languags wr

rord.

primitiv y mor industrializd

onsidrd

rar irumstans, a languag may

In

from a omprhnsiv writtn

rsurrtd

suh as Hrw, whih appard to

rord,

did twn 4 bce and th 1800s. Modrn

hav

and soial ntworking hav nald

thnology

languag spakrs and rsarhrs to

rar

with ah othr and txt mssaging has

onnt

to rord prviously unwrittn languags.

hlpd

projt alld Wikitongus has onntd

A

in many ountris to doumnt, on

voluntrs

spakrs talking in th diffrnt tnss of

film,

mothr tongu. Th projt has vn sought

thir

rord a rang of motional rgistrs y asking

to

aout thir hildhood, romanti livs,

spakrs

hops and goals. Th projt unovrd nw

and

nvr studid y linguists, as wll as

languags

languags that hav no rlation to othr

isolatd

languags. Ths projts ar notal for

known

urgny of thir ontriutors, and for good

th

Rportdly, on of th last spakrs of

rason.

dialt did just for h ould mt with

a

intrviwrs. It is possil that 500

Wikitongus

ould similarly “slip through thir

languags

in th nxt fiv yars” (Strohli 2018).

grasp

trms: Trur

Sarh

and maning

languag

to or rad th transript of this

Listn

with writr David Trur, who

podast

Ojiw, th languag of his popl,

larnd

an adult and has n involvd with

as

fforts vr sin. Disuss th

rvitalization

qustions.

following

Can som knowldg only arrid

1.

in a rtain languag?

forward

Trur xplors th rlationship twn

2.

and sovrignty.

languag

What is th rol of th nation in

(a)

and promoting languag,

prsrving

thrfor rtain typs of

and

knowldg?

Who an and should hlp to prsrv

(b)

languag if th stat is unwilling?

a

What rsponsiilitis rst with individual

3.

of highly ndangrd

spakrs

4II. Perspectives

ommunitis that first mad ontat.

language is a species, but most languages are

Every

habitats, linked closely to the physical habitats

also

which they occur.

in

2012)

(Klinkenborg

For discussion

Preserving a language

Ojiw

languags?

Making connections

Potowatomi and the grammar of animacy

Chapter 5 includes a case study of Potawatomi,

a language related to Ojibwe.

II.2 English as the global lingua franca

There are those of course who quite innocently ask, ‘Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all spoke the same

language? Wouldn’t it be easier for us to get along?’ My answer is always to say, ‘Terric idea. Let’s make that

universal language Yoruba, or Lakota, or Cantonese.’ Suddenly people get a sense of what it would mean to be unable

to speak your mother tongue. I cannot imagine a world in which I could not speak English, for not only is it a beautiful

language, it’s my language, the expression of whom I am. But at the same time I don’t want it to sweep away the other

voices, the other languages of the world, like some kind of cultural nerve gas.

(Davis 2003)

96

what th anthropologist Wad Davis

Dspit

English is oftn th gloal lingua franca—a

says,

languag twn spakrs of diffrnt

shard

languags. English is also th mdium

nativ

intrnational duation, positioning it as a

of

in whih knowldg is transfrrd

languag

aquird gloally. Many studnts rading

and

ook and studying this sujt do not us

this

as a first or vn sond languag.

English

what that mans for th way thy ar

Considr

dos it man to know a languag “wll”?

What

is th aritr of “wll-spokn” or “wll-

Who

languag? It is important to onsidr

writtn”

rol of duation in dfining propr

th

Th standard forms of languag taught

languag.

shools, for xampl, ar idalizd. Through

in

Tanu, author of Growing up in Transit:

Danau

Politics of Belonging at an International

The

was orn in Canada to a Chins-

School,

fathr and a Japans mothr. Sh

Indonsian

intrnational shools in multipl

attndd

for most of hr arly lif and

ountris

Sh idntifis as a “Third Cultur

duation.

(TCK)—a transnational youth raisd

Kid”

th ultur of hr parnts. In hr ook

outsid

turns to issus of languag, knowldg

Tanu

politis y offring insights from hr

and

work at Th Intrnational Shool (TIS) in

fild

many TCKs of non-English spaking

For

thir xprin of English-mdium

familis,

shools rsml that of

intrnational

immigrants in English-

sond-gnration

ountris. Th dominant ultur of

spaking

shools has signifiant impat

intrnational

th intrultural dynamis that our on

on

as wll as in th hom.

ampus

dsris how fluny in English oms

Tanu

with ing intrnational, and marks

onflatd

status of osmopolitan ultural apital.

th

affts studnts’ slf-prption, as wll

This

taught, oftn ntangld with th intrsts of

is

ultur and rligion. On what

nation-uilding,

an som popl laim that thir varity of

asis

is inhrntly ttr than anothr? As

languag

usrs of a languag, to what xtnt

individual

and should w rsist and hallng linguisti

an

may instans whn a partiular

Thr

varity is not mor propr in som

languag

sns, ut mor appropriat to th

asolut

In knowing a languag, on also

situation.

how to us it in diffrnt forms—words,

knows

and rgistrs—dpnding on th

phrass

in shool, with los frinds, in a jo

ontxt:

with family, and so on. This is od-

intrviw,

a phnomnon many of our radrs

swithing,

intrnational shools will rogniz as ing a

in

story is insparal from th prosss of

This

and gloalization, whih undrpin

olonialism

hirarhis. “Th primay of

soioultural

is insparal from th history of th

English

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

onvntions?

transfrring or aquiring knowldg.

shools and govrnmnts, on partiular form

part of thir daily livs.

Box 4.2: English language and the politics of belonging at international schools

Jakarta, Indonsia.

as thir rlationships with family mmrs.

97

II. Perspectives

Empir and postwar Amrian gloal

British

(Fild quotd in Tanu 2017). Tanu

domination”

a prsonal story of how hr duation

offrs

powr rlations within hr family.

afftd

I was growing up, I flt a sns

“As

supriority for spaking English. I

of

arguing with Mom in my tns

rmmr

I swithd from Japans to English

whn

I spok fast, using English

mid-argumnt.

that I knw wr too diffiult

xprssions

my Japans mothr to undrstand

for

to hr limitd English. Sh askd m

du

spak in Japans. I talkd ak, tlling

to

somthing to th fft that English

hr

my first languag and sh was going

was

hav to dal with it. My outurst was

to

omination of gnuin frustration

a

not ing al to xprss myslf in

at

as wll as I ould in English, and

Japans

at ing al to spak English

arrogan

and apitalist disourss aout

Colonial

and ultur hav imud English

languag

suh powr that vn a hild an us

with

as ultural apital to maintain or

languag

rlations of powr with adults.”

hallng

2017)

(Tanu

tahing was ntral to many

Languag

projts, along with th intntional

olonial

of nativ populations that

ultivation

th olonizr’s tasts. This mimiry,

adoptd

languag and valus, y th olonizd

of

is dsrid as on of th most

popls,

th varitis, ants and dialts

Considr

English languag that ar spokn in your

of

Who is said to spak English “wll” and

1.

dos this man?

what

olonial sujt forvr rahing ut

th

th sam ut not quit”

inadquat—“almost

2017). To spak th olonizr’s languag

(Tanu

know thir ways has long n a stratgy

and

gain soial moility, furthr nforing

to

olonizr’s position. Languag is th

th

tool w us to assrt politiizd

instrumntal

and signal our intllign and

idntitis

in th workpla, as wll as th

omptn

or strutur, dpnding on your position,

trap,

plas us in a ultural ontxt. Our ant

that

th “story of whr w hav n and

tlls

w ar going”, in whih th spakr

whr

listnr signal and disrn information

and

position thmslvs in “intrnalizd

to

hirarhis” (Tanu 2017).

soioultural

givs th xampl of South Asian

Tanu

who samlssly swithd twn

studnts

English with a South Asian ant

spaking

spaking to prs from South Asia,

whn

spaking with an Amrian ant

and

non-South Asians. Sh xplains how

to

ants nals th spakr to

“swithing

th privilgs that English ntails, whil

ass

rsisting its powr to dfin

simultanously

idntity” (2017). Th Indian studnts

thir

osrvd at TIS, in hr viw “rlaimd

sh

powr to mark th oundaris twn

th

(South Asian) and outsidrs (non-

insidrs

Asian) y ing sltiv of whthr

South

spok using an Indian (insidr) ant,

thy

Amrian (outsidr) ant” (2017). Ths

or

wr th gatkprs dtrmining

studnts

was an insidr or outsidr and thir

who

What assumptions ar mad aout diffrnt

2.

asd on th way thy spak

popl

What do you think popl infr—rightly or

3.

you y th way you spak

wrongly—aout

4

ttr than hr …

fftiv stratgis of olonial powr, laving

powr am from ant.

For reflection

The English language and you

English?

ontxt.

English?

98

sn th dominan of English in

Having

shools and itis, you may also

intrnational

notid how this affts th tasts and norms

hav

musi, art and soial lif. Whil th gloal

of

and rah of English is undnial, so is

sop

olonial natur. Considr th pom y Shailja

its

low. To what xtnt is th dominan of

Patl

that sh dsris dlining ovr tim?

English

Listn:

fathr spaks Urdu,

my

of daning paoks,

languag

fountains –

roswatr

its urss ar autiful.

vn

spaks Hindi,

H

and mlodi,

suav

Punjai,

arthy

as saag panr,

salty-rih

Swahili lad with Arai.

oastal

spaks Gujarati,

H

anstral prid.

solid

languags,

Fiv

diffrnt worlds.

fiv

English Yt

shrinks

him

down

th languags spokn in diffrnt

Considring

of th world, and y whom, an provid

parts

with lus aout how popl partiipatd in

us

olonial nountr. Hr w fous on English,

th

thr may othr loal xampls that ar as

ut

to onsidr with rgard to th rol of

intrsting

in th olonial projt. Many languags

languag

tras of thir past and lus aout how

arry

wr afftd y th military and onomi

thy

of mpirs.

powr

of British India, for xampl, ontinu

Tras

hard today in th adn of Indian

to

Thr is also “Hinglish”—spokn oth

English.

th Indian diaspora and English-spakrs

y

India—a form of od-swithing twn

within

English and Hindi words in th span of a

using

Sin it rquirs a lvl of omptn

sntn.

oth languags, Hinglish an simultanously

in

a way to rlaim th olonists’ languag as an

tongu of indpndnt India, as wll as to

offiial

an immigrant idntity in English-spaking

assrt

In Hinglish it is not words suh as

ontxts.

“jungl”, “vranda”, “ungalow”,

“dinghy”,

or “pyjamas” that w ar listning

“shampoo”

Ths ntrd th English languag

for.

muh arlir. Thir story—and that

mainstram

othr words that did not quit stik—is told

of

th 1886 Hobson-Jobson, a glossary providing

in

window into British India through th us of

a

What w ar listning for, rathr, is

languag.

way of spaking English, ld y spakrs

anothr

Hindi in diffrnt ontxts around th world,

of

an assrtion of idntity, solidarity and ultural

in

gatkping.

Vitorians on th suontinnt wr

Whil

with xitmnt th nuans of loal

xploring

ntring English, thousands of hildrn in

words

ountris around th world had thir

olonizd

washd with soap for using thir nativ

mouths

in shools. Th mpir’s languag,

languags

through shooling, was on of th

imposd

of olonization. And so onsquntly,

wapons

many post-olonial ontxts, languag

in

and ontinus to a sit of struggl

am

liration and dolonization. Howvr,

for

is not as simpl as dfying th olonizr’s

it

Following indpndn many

languag.

inluding India, ontinud to nfor

nations,

tahing of an offiial “mothr tongu” in th

th

projt, displaing Indignous

nation-uilding

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

II.3 Language and colonization

Hobson-Jobson

Compiled over 14 years by two polymaths and

language enthusiasts who served with the East India

Company, Hobson-Jobson is part-dictionary, partjournal.

Fascinating for its representations, as well

as its telling omissions, Hobson-Jobson betrays the

sometimes simultaneously confused, curious and

condescending attitudes of colonists.

for whit mn

Takn from Migritude (Patl 2010)

99

II. Perspectives

in th pross. At th tim of India’s

languags

for xampl, dpnding on whr

indpndn,

found yourslf on th suontinnt, Hindi

you

as forign as English and was mt with

was

rsistan, spially in South India.

widsprad

ld to th Offiial Languags At of 1963,

This

nald English to usd indfinitly

whih

offiial purposs, and xplains why English

for

to on of India’s two offiial

ontinus

languags.

Knyan writr and post-olonial thorist

Th

wa Thiong’o hampiond writing in

Ngũgĩ

languags of Afria, arguing that using th

th

languags as a litrary mdium

olonizrs’

to dntr th mpir and affirms its

fails

ovr th “mntal univrs of th

hgmony

(Thiong’o 1986). For Ngũgĩ wa

olonizd”

it was important to ngag in th

Thiong’o,

rsistan through writing and

anti-imprialist

Loal languags wr still a way to

rading.

partiular forms of knowldg orally

transfr

th hom, ut authoritativ knowldg

in

to writtn down and rad, spially

tndd

duational institutions, and for this

in

h argud it must availal in loal

rason

languags.

diffrnt approah, alit towards similar

A

was usd y post-olonial sholars who

goals,

th olonizrs’ languags as a

appropriatd

tati. It is somtims rfrrd to

suvrsiv

th mpir “writing ak” to th imprial

as

Writing in English, Frnh or Spanish,

ntr.

sholars hallngd th dominant

ths

and rprsntations of th olonizd

thoris

working from within th systm. Writing

y

th olonizrs’ languags also nald

in

among gographially disprsd

solidarity

divrs formr olonis.

andlinguistially

it is not unommon for post-olonial

Andso,

or Indignous languag onfrns

studis

ntirly arrid out in th languags of

to

olonizrs.

formr

human apaity for languag is tid up

Th

qustions of moral haratr, intlltual

with

grim history of languag and th daf

tims

a poignant as study. Prsntly thr

prsnts

ovr 200 sign-languag ommunitis around

ar

world, ah rgardd as having a full

th

from a linguisti standpoint, with its

languag

grammatial ruls. Th main diffrn is

own

sign languags ar omposd of gsturs

that

ommuniatd visually, whras spokn

and

ar voalizd. Gathrd around ths

languags

ar ommunitis of knowrs and

languags

Bing daf or partially daf dos not

“spakrs”.

mak somon a mmr of daf

automatially

Instad, mmrship in daf ultur

ultur.

dtrmind y ommuniation in a signd

is

as wll as shard norms, lifs, valus

languag,

attituds.

and

history of daf ultur holds lssons for how

Th

undrstanding of languag has shiftd ovr

our

with profound impliations. In som daf

tim,

around th world, duation is fousd

shools

tahing hildrn lip-rading and oral sph,

on

ordr for thm to ttr al to intgrat

in

th haring ommunity. This approah,

with

oralism, dats ak to th lat 19th

alld

whn th mdial profssion proposd

ntury,

r-duation of thos rfrrd to at th tim

a

“daf-muts”, a trm widly onsidrd

as

today. Th oralist approah displad

offnsiv

pratis of signd languag,

long-standing

dotors idntifid as a aus of isolation,

whih

aout dafnss undr th authority of

Spaking

and mdiin, haring individuals wr

sin

to dfin th rlationships twn languag

al

th daf or partially daf, as on of dfiit,

and

a handiap, physial disaility, a prolm to

as

urd y inrasingly laorat instrumnts.

idas ontinud to shap th knowldg

Ths

was produd and shard in various

that

rgarding haring and dafnss for

disiplins

of th 20th ntury. Among th various

most

of th oralist approah is th thrat that

ritiisms

poss to th daf ommunity, whr dafnss

it

sn positivly, as th asis for a ultur and

is

dissmination of knowldg using sign

th

An xampl of th omplxity and

languag.

of sign languag in daf ultur is

sophistiation

4

or mor mildly, a wast of tim.

II.4 Deaf culture and signed languages

aility and prsonhood. Th trould and at

xplord low.

100

kind of knowledge is deaf

What

knowledge?

culture

trms: Potry with

Sarh

SLAM YouTu

ASL

SLAM is a form of prforman potry

ASL

known as spokn word potry), whr

(also

things is a human act, it is not an act of

Naming

We are the ones who through language create

nature.

out of the phenomena around us. Yet we forget

things

we control this process and let the process

that

us. Naming things—using language—is a very

control

level abstraction, and when we name something

high

‘freeze’ it by placing it in a category and making a

we

out of it. Language is a map but three important

‘thing’

to remember about maps are: the map is not

things

territory; no map can represent all aspects of the

the

and every map reects the mapmaker’s

territory;

of view.

point

plays a ky rol in all th diffrnt

Languag

of knowldg—inluding th

prosss

words ar spokn. It is a platform for pots

no

prform in Amrian Sign Languag and

to

translation into English is providd. Wath

no

short vido of ASL SLAM dirtor Douglas

this

(a) To what xtnt an an ASL pom

1.

into English without a loss of

translatd

Can you know th answr to

maning?

without knowing ASL?

this

Ar ths prolms of translation

(b)

to signd languags?

spifi

(a) In whih ways dos sign languag

2.

mor amiguity than spokn and

invit

In whih ways is sign languag mor

(b)

than spokn and writtn

pris

Would you all th daf ommunity

3.

of knowrs? Why or why not?

aommunity

of knowldg. But w also us

appliation

and tools to know things aout languag,

mthods

How do we know what we know

III.1

language?

about

muh of human linguisti aility is innat

How

shard among all humans? This was th

and

at th hart of a long and animatd

qustion

in linguistis, drawing ontriutions

ontrovrsy

philosophy, ognitiv sin and

from

Mor importantly, it apturd th

anthropology.

of th puli, with many outsid of th

intrst

world losly following th dat

aadmi

what univrsal faturs ar found in all

aout

rgardlss of othr diffrns among

languags


II. Perspectives


For discussion

Ridloff and onsidr th following qustions.

writtn languags?

languags?


to xplain what it is and undrstand how it works.

(Lutz 1996)

prodution, sharing, ass, aquisition and

thm. To know this might rval insights aout

101

origin of languag—how did w as humans

th

to hav th shard apaity for languag,

om

why dos it hav ths partiular univrsal

and

and not othrs? Suh qustions ontinu

faturs

mattr aus languag is important for

to

w oniv of ing human and how w

how

answr to ths qustions aout languag—

On

as univrsal grammar—is attriutd to

known

Chomsky, prolaimd th most important

Noam

aliv y th New York Times. Univrsal

intlltual

thory suggsts that humans hav

grammar

innat faulty for languag aquisition, and

an

whihvr spifi languag(s) vntually

that

all shar a st of strutural faturs.

dvlop,

th 1950s, linguists had n dating th

Sin

of ths faturs, ut th ida of univrsal

dtails

Evrtt, a linguist and formr Christian

Danil

hallngd ths idas in 2005

missionary,

show up among th Pirahã popl in th

not

And so that fatur ould not, in fat,

Amazon.

univrsal aftr all. His laims wr initally

dismissd, ut grw mor aptd

widly

Th Chomsky-Evrtt dat is full of

latr.

dtail you may intrstd to xplor

thnial

and Evrtt’s work on th Pirahã

indpndntly,

is th sujt of th 2012 doumntary

languag

Grammar of Happinss”. For TOK it

“Th

qustions aout what ounts as suffiint

raiss

for laims aout languag. How an

vidn

did whthr Evrtt’s findings ar a rar

w

to an othrwis rlial thory aout

xption

grammar, or a ountrxampl that

univrsal

its dismissal? How w know what w

warrants

aout languag, and how w sustantiat

know

aout it with vidn, rmain important

laims

This is xplord furthr in III.3.

qustions.

w xplor th sintifi mthods usd to

First,

languag through its rlationship

omprhnd


undrstand human similaritis and diffrns.

grammar was largly aptd.

with th human rain.

with laims that on of ths faturs dos

Voices: Looking for language in the brain

our mind has the mysterious capacity of transforming

arbitrary bursts of sounds or scribbles on a page into

with Nikola Vukovic

a vast array of meaningful thoughts and concepts.

Indeed, our personal, professional and social lives are

all transformed by language. Starting from infancy

each of us builds up lexicons of tens of thousands of

words.

Since language is so integral to what it means to be

human, how do we go about studying it scientically?

Early theoretical investigations themselves relied

on language. Linguists, for example, used thought

experiments and everyday observations to draw

conclusions about how language functions and its

properties as a formal system of signs and grammatical

rules. However, besides being a cultural artefact that

can be observed through the lens of art, philosophy or

anthropology, language is also a human neurocognitive

capacity, amenable to neuroscientic study. From

this perspective we can ask a range of new questions,

such as: where in the brain is linguistic knowledge

stored? How does language interact with other

There is an almost innite human capacity for taking

cognitive systems such as one used for vision, audition

things for granted. One example is that our everyday

or movement? Are dierent languages stored and

encounters with spoken or written language are not

represented together, or in separate brain areas? What

met with wide-eyed astonishment. We rarely question

is the biological basis of language learning problems,

the fact that we are one of the articulate animals, but

disuencies or acquired language decits?

102

a major way of linking the brain to linguistic

Historically,

has been through the study of brain injury

behaviour

caused individuals to lose (parts of) their

which

ability. Examples are the patients of Paul Broca

linguistic

Carl Wernicke—two physicians and anatomists from

and

19th century. Their famous work linked language

the

(aphasias) with damage to specic areas of

disorders

frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. In the case

the

Broca’s aphasia, damage to a region in the front of the

of

called the inferior frontal gyrus caused problems

brain

speech production, while comprehension was

with

preserved. However, damage to the superior

relatively

lobe led to the opposite decit of normal

temporal

production, but loss of comprehension, known

speech

of neuroscientic research since have helped

Decades

extend the basic insights of Broca and Wernicke

us

up a more rened model of language in the

andbuild

Developments in technology and data analysis

brain.

led to the understanding that the machinery that

have

us to produce and understand words and

enables

lies in a network of brain regions much more

sentences

than previously thought. Methodologies

distributed

as functional magnetic resonance imaging

such

allow us to record metabolic brain activity with

(fMRI)

precision, but low temporal resolution. Tools

spatial

as EEG and MEG are able to record brain activity

such

it oms to languag, xprts disagr

Whn

many ntral qustions: whn and how

aout

languag originat? Ar all languags

did

to on anothr on som lvl? To what

rlatd

is languag a uniquly human apaity?

xtnt

maks som languags mor omplx or

What

is not our pla in TOK to try and rsolv

It

dats. But w an and should

ths

th ompting laims mad as part

valuat

ontrovrsis and opn qustions aout

of

Other tools, such as transcranial magnetic

resolution.

(TMS) allow us to disrupt the functioning

stimulation

a targeted brain area temporarily and to draw

of

about its causal role in a given cognitive

conclusions

example, new research shows that word meaning

For

not represented in a purely symbolic fashion. Rather

is

dening words by sole reference to other known

than

as is the case with a dictionary, our brain

vocabulary,

word meaning by calling upon more “basic”

stores

systems. Understanding a word is very

sensorimotor

from just retrieving a denition—it involves

dierent

simulating the various perceptual, motor and

mentally

properties that someone associates with the

emotional

When you hear the word “cat”, your brain produces

word.

extremely fast simulation of what it would be like

an

see a cat in front of you, to hear it or touch it, or how

to

felt one time when a cat scratched you. From a

you

psychology perspective, this is quite a daring

traditional

because it seems to blur the distinctions between

view,

thinking and acting. However, this insight

perceiving,

hardly surprise any poet, knowing the visceral

will

words can have on us: they can lift our spirit and

eect

a joyous swelling of the chest, stir us to action,

cause

us to tears or infect us with stomach-hurting

bring

This emphasizes the fact that there are many

laughter.

ways of knowing, through language,

complementary

On what asis ar th diffrnt laims mad

1.

on what asis an thy ontstd?

and

If onfliting laims ar supportd y vry

2.

vidn—nurologial, ognitiv,

diffrnt

and so on—to what xtnt is it

typologial

to ompar thm?

possil

What is th diffrn twn laims

3.

ar dsriptions of how languag

that

and xplanations of why it works a

works

way?

partiular



process, such as language.

as Wernicke’s aphasia.

science or art—as presented in this book.

with millisecond temporal precision, but lower spatial

Practising skills: Evaluating claims

diffiult than othrs?

languag. Considr th following qustions.

103

Garia Marquz appars oftn on

Garil

lists of favourit authors. Howvr,

popl’s

rading his work in English is atually

anyon

a translation y Grgory Raassa, a

rading

litrary translator, st known for

rsptd

vrsions of works y famous

English-languag

Amrian novlists, among thm Jorg

Latin

Garill Garia Marquz and Julio

Amado,

Famously, Garia Marquz had said

Cortazar.

Raassa’s translation of One Hundred Years

that

Solitude was ttr than th original. To what

of

ar English languag radrs assing

xtnt

Marquz’s work? Or is it, as th Polish

Garia

and Nol laurat Wislawa Szymorska

pot

said (quotd in Popova 2016), “that

on

miral whn a translation stops ing a

rar

is it that maks a translation good, or

What

or ttr than anothr? Clarly th ontxt

ad,

translating a washing-mahin manual

mattrs:

a diffrnt proposition from translating a

is

novl, rligious txt, sintifi papr or

litrary

In som ontxts prision is paramount,

haiku.

in othrs prision may sondary to

whil

asthti quality that is dsrid as artisti,

an

various polaritis hav n usd to

Indd,

translation: as an art or sin, as pris

dsri

rativ, as intrprtiv or ruls-asd. You

or

sns that translation rquirs a alaning

might

ths tnsions. For xampl, omputr-assistd

of

systms, whih us ruls aout word

translation

and syntax, suggst options to a human

ordr

to mak th final, asthti, judgmnt.

ing

addition, thr is th fundamntal qustion of

In

omptny: you might assum, rightly,

languag

knowing th sour languag is a or

that

for translators. This assumption was

omptn

whn Ursula L Guin, a pionring

hallngd

stmd novlist and translator, produd

and

own “translation” of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching,

hr

knowing no Classial Chins. Instad

dspit

usd a 1898 translation y Paul Carus

sh

th assistan of JP Saton, a profssor of

and

a translation ut as a lyrial “rndition”, as

as

and unsholarly”, xplaining

“idiosynrati

like that reader to see why people have loved

would

book for twenty-ve hundred years.

the

Guin mad important intrprtiv disions

L

prsnt th author, Lao Tzu, and his ook

that

losly alignd with hr intrprtation of

mor

“funny, kn, kind, modst, indstrutil,

it:

and inxhaustily rfrshing ”

outragous,

1998). Hrman, in a rviw of L

(Hrman

ook, notd that anything that wnt

Guin’s

th spirit of th ook, as sh undrstood

against

was unapologtially altrd, inluding

it,

to th “king”, “sag”, “mpir” and

rfrns

(usd as a positiv trait), whih sh

“proprity”

rsptivly with “humankind,” “wis

rplad

“th puli good” and “odin”

souls”,

as a ngativ trait). Politial and war-

(usd

ommntary was similarly dltd. L

rlatd

appars to omit, rarrang or rintrprt

Guin

lashs with hr task of making

whatvr

intlltual and spiritual sns”

“asthti,

Lao Tzu’s work. Dspit th xtnt of

of

hangs, L Guin’s work is dsrid

ths

“sholastially rsponsil” and rflting

as

rsarh and onsidral

“painstaking

slf-onsiousnss”

mthodologial

1998).

(Hrman


III.2 Problems with translation

translation and oms … a sond original”?

as follows.

Tao Te Ching is partly in prose, partly in verse;

The

as we dene poetry now, not by rhyme and meter

but

as a patterned intensity of language, the whole

but

is poetry. I wanted to catch that poetry, its

thing

strange beauty. Most translations have caught

terse,

in their net, but prosily, letting the beauty

meanings

through. And in poetry, beauty is no ornament;

slip

is the meaning. It is the truth … . Scholarly

it

of the Tao Te Ching as a manual for rulers

translations

a vocabulary that emphasizes the uniqueness

use

the Taoist “sage,” his masculinity, his authority.

of

language is perpetuated, and degraded, in

This

popular versions. I wanted a Book of the Way

most

to a present-day, unwise, unpowerful, and

accessible

unmale reader, not seeking esoteric secrets,

perhaps

listening for a voice that speaks to the soul. I

but

(Le Guin 1997)

rativ, honst or dply fling.

Chins. Sh dsrid th alaimd rsult not

104

Guin’s approah to translation prsnts

L

as wll as risks. To what xtnt an

nfits

ass Lao Tzu’s work through L Guin’s

radrs

vrsion? What might th nfits

alaimd

philosophr Waltr Bnjamin on said

Th

thr is no ttr starting point for

that

than laughtr. If h was right,

undrstanding

with th xampl aov, w ar on th

thn

path to undrstanding th omplxitis

right

translation. Th linguist Vinnzo Latronio

of

up with a mor srious xampl—th

follows

ffort in th English dition of Bild-

translation

or AnAnthropology of Images y

Anthropologie,

historian HansBlting, whih was pulishd

art

an ntir haptr. Th rason, th author

missing

was that “dspit a los ollaoration

xplaind,

th patint translator”, th haptr “smd

with

rsist any maningful translation” from

to

into English (Blting 2014). Th sam

Grman

howvr, appars in Spanish, Frnh

haptr,

a numr of othr translations. What dos

and

man for an ntir chapter to rsist translation,

it

that too only in English? What dos it sound

and

whn it gts translatd anyway?

lik

imagins that th missing haptr

Latronio

omittd aus it would hav “soundd

was

Whn is it a good or ad thing for

translatd”.

to sound translatd from English, or

somthing

translatd into English? Can languags

sound

this powr ovr on anothr?

hav

you had usd Googl Translat in 2017, putting

If

th following sntn in Grman aout th

in

of aadmi disiplins, you would

organization

got a rathr urious rsult:

hav

politis of knowldg afft who has

Th

powr to rsist awkward, impris and

th

translations. Blting, as an

misintrprtiv

with som influn, was al to

aadmi

against a translation that did not

advoat

his original maning and intntion.

aptur

lak this powr, and what would

Whomight

th impliations? Th xampl invits us

onsidr languag quity, and th xtnt to

to

translation is a mattr involving two

whih

languags. Languag quity is not only

“qual”

onrn in th ontxt of olonialism and

a

Loal powr imalans twn

gloalization.

and minority languags, spially

national

of statlss nations, play out in ways that

thos

also dsrving of our attntion in trms of th

ar



III.2.1 Resisting translation

and/or risks of this?

Google Übersetzer

SPRACHE ERKENNEN

ENGLISCH

THE ECONOMICS OF ECONOMICS

DIE VOLKSWIRTSCHAFTSLEHRE (AUCH

NATIONALÖKONOMIE, WIRTSCHAFTLICHE

(INCLUDING ECONOMICS, ECONOMICS,

ECONOMICS, ECONOMICS, ECONOMICS,

STAATSWISSENSCHAFTEN ODER

SOZIALÖKONOMIE, KURZ VWL), IST EIN

ECONOMICS) IS A PART OF ECONOMICS.

TEILGEBIET DER WIRTSCHAFTSWISSENSCHAFT

politis of knowldg.

105

plants, insts and animals ommuniat

Do

anything w would all a languag,

using

ould onivaly larn? Do w think of

and

as uniquly human?

languag

sing and rat mating displays, fish

Birds

s dan, ants rlas phromons. W

and

nountr ths laims aout animal

rgularly

and ommuniation, ut th qustion

haviour

whthr thy amount to languag,

rmains

whthr what is ing ommuniatd is

and

Som xampls mak it asir to

knowldg.

and support that laim. Koko th gorilla,

mak

did in 2018, was famous for hr aility

who

ommuniat using 1,000 hand signs and

to

undrstand 2,000 words. Koko was said to

to

hrslf, and gav us a glimps into hr

xprss

Sh mastrd hundrds of nouns and

mind.

at last on instan usd thm to all an

in

sh did not lik a “toilt”. Koko was

intrviwr

said to xprss omplx motions, suh as

also

for xampl whn hr kittn, whom sh

grif,

All Ball, was killd y a ar. Would w

namd

of th most urious pisods of languag

On

to vr tak pla was a NASA and

rsarh

govrnmnt-fundd projt in th 1960s

US

a Carian watrfront faility known

at

Dolphin Hous. Rsarhrs studid

as

ommuniation in th

human-taan

of onnting with anothr sntint

hops

intllignt spis to undrstand thir

and

on th world. On th tam was

prsptiv

and puli intlltual Grgory

anthropologist

onvind aout hr aility to xprin

mor

if sh wr al to ommuniat thm?

motions

would it tak to onvind that Koko

What

grif?

“knows”

grat aps ar our losst volutionary

Th

and xtnding linguisti apaity

rlativs

thm may a logial first stp towards

to

our undrstanding of languag. Mor

widning

Christin Hungr, a sph pathologist,

rntly,

hr dog, Stlla, hav gaind a following

and

Instagram with vidos that show Stlla

on

xprssing thoughts and dsirs.

supposdly

som rsarhrs hav suggstd that

Sparatly,

also “spak” a languag, and on that w

trs

Christin and Stlla @hungr4words

Follow

and follow th

(instagram.om/hungr4words),

low to a National Geographic pi on tr

link

ommuniation.

Gographi How

National

srtly talk to ah

trs

as study low faturs on xampl

Th

humans nountring ommuniation in

of

with th othr-than-human world. It also

and

pronivd notions of what languag

xplors

who is apal of it and how it rlats to

is,

If w do not or annot undrstand

knowldg.

apaity of non-humans to us languag,

th

what asis an w mak laims aout thir

on

and nurosintist John Lilly. It was a

Batson

and, as it would turn out, dply

pionring

wr initially two diffrnt approahs

Thr

th study, on sking to diphr

to

and th othr to tah dolphins

“dolphins”

undrstand and mimi English. Th formr

to

aandond within a fw yars, ut th

was

was pursud furthr. Dolphins had

lattr

known to mak sounds through thir

n

that rsml human sph.

lowhols


connections

Making

and religion

Language

6 discusses language acquisition motivated

Chapter

religious practice, and the translation and

by

of religious ideas.

dissemination

Language and the other-thanhuman

III.3

world

might al to larn.

othr

knowldg?

Case study

From Dolphin House to DareWin

prolmati attmpt at th study of languag.

106

projt ulminatd with a young

Th

alld Margart How Lovatt,

rsarhr

24 hours a day, six days a wk in

living

immrsiv xprimntal stting with an

an

som point, Ptr gan xprining sxual

At

and having disruptivly. At first, th

urgs

would paus to allow him to mingl

rsarh

fmal dolphins nary. But as his nds

with

mor frqunt, th rsarhrs didd

am

dal with thm as part of th xprimnt,

to

John Lilly had n approvd

Manwhil,

th US govrnmnt to xprimnt with

y

also known as “aid”, whih h was

LSD,

to th othr two dolphins. Muh to his

giving

th halluinogni drugs did

disappointmnt,

sm to hav any fft.

not

oth of ths sandals rok out in th

Whn

on immdiatly aftr th othr, Dolphin

mdia,

thn, Batson had alrady lft th projt.

By

would ontinu to rsarh dolphin

Lilly

throughout his arr, with

ommuniation

fring mthods suh as tlpathy.

inrasingly

th dolphin did at Lilly’s othr laoratory

Ptr

Miami, within a fw wks of Dolphin

in

losing down. Lovatt stayd and turnd

Hous

Hous into hr family hom.

Dolphin

Dolphin Hous vnts sparkd a

Th

that som say had a lasting fft

ontrovrsy

marin sin rsarh and th marin

on

movmnt. Lovatt did not

onsrvation

aout it for half a ntury. But thr

spak

hundrds of hours of audio and vido

wr

as wll as photographs from hr tim

matrial,

Ptr in Dolphin Hous, and in 2014 sh

with

to go on th rord and ontxtualiz

agrd

vnts. Th nsuing doumntary The Girl

th

Talked to Dolphins, tlls th rivting story of

Who

infamous xprimnt. Follow th link to a

this

lip from th doumntary: “Tahing a

short

to spak English” (2:43).

dolphin



adolsnt dolphin alld Ptr.

and Lovatt was th on to tak ar of it.

Hous was dfundd and dommissiond.

Figure 4.4

Margaret Howe Lovatt with Peter the dolphin

107


trms: Tahing a

Sarh

to spak English

dolphin

girl who talkd to

Th

YouTu

dolphins

aftr th optimism and ultimat fiaso

Dads

Dolphin Hous, what do w know aout th

of

taans us to ommuniat and

languag

What ould w larn aout languag,

how?

oth humans and non-humans, from

among

lin of nquiry? Do w hav diffrnt

this

or ttr qustions aout th potntial

answrs

ommuniating with intllignt animals on

of

At last, do w hav a sns of whr

Earth?

limits ar, of how far w ar willing to go in

th

th xtnt that languag influns your rality,

To

w hav nountrd argumnts in this haptr

and

suggst it dos, should w mor intntionally

that

languag towards thial or politial goals?

utiliz

I.2, xamining th onpts of growth and

Stion

provids on argumnt for this.

dvlopmnt,

this ook w hallng th ida that

Throughout

an “nutral”—so what dos nutral

knowldg

2 disusss how politial and soial will

Chaptr

takl limat hang has n undrmind y

to

alan—th attmpt at impartial rporting

fals

atually ovrstatd th as against

that

gloal warming. Shool txtooks,

anthropogni

this on, also hav a rol to play. Fals

inluding

was not a prolm of languag as muh

alan

of ditorial and journalisti prati, ut thr

as

a languag-rlatd quivalnt. “Chang” and

is

ar not words you assoiat with

“warming”

risis and mass animal-xtintion,

atastroph,

thy ar oftn also usd in rfrn

though

rsarh in this ara looks vry

Although

today, thr ar som striking

diffrnt

Prhaps our prsnt-day “girl who

parallls.

to dolphins” is a frdivr who

talks

on whals. Som of th popl—

avsdrops

marin sintists, mavrik linguists,

amatur

frdivrs, sound thnology

world-lass

study dolphin and whal

nthusiasts—who

today also hav vry

ommuniation

mthods and thoris. Thy too

unorthodox

th lins of onvntion. Jams Nstor tlls

push

story of ths rngad frdiving

th

working olltivly undr th nam

sintists,

in th linkd vido.

DarWin,

trms: Daring frdivr

Sarh

who talks to sprm

rgistrs and lvls of motionality

diffrnt

with diffrnt manings. Unitd

assoiatd

Srtary Gnral, António Gutrrs,

Nations

dsrid limat hang as a “risis” and

has

dirt xistntial thrat”. Grta Thunrg has

“a

argud “[i]t’s 2019. Can w all now

powrfully

it what it is: limat rakdown, limat

all

limat mrgny, ologial rakdown,

risis,

risis and ologial mrgny?”

ologial

in Carrington 2019).

(quotd

a study of nwspapr ovrag twn 2001

In

2015, Chrry Norton and Mik Hulm found

and

ditorials aout limat hang am

that

lss dividd on partisan lins. This may

muh

good nws, ut thy onvrgd towards an

narrativ—what you might

“Eomodrnist”

a “aland” or idologially unontntious

all

of th issu—that mphasizd

framing

and innovation as routs out of

thnology

risis, whil rognizing that adaptation to

th

wathr would nssary. It was

xtrm

a all to “thno-utopianism”, th ida that

also

4IV. Ethics

ordr to know?

I V. E T H I C S

IV.1 Language, emotion and truth

whals

languag looklik?

thnology will fr us from our trouls.

to th limat mrgny. Languags hav

108

w saw in Chaptr 2, II.3, in May 2019 th

As

nwspapr th Guardian issud a guid

UK

rommnds using th languag “limat

that

risis, or rakdown” and “gloal

mrgny,

instad of “limat hang” and

hating”

Following that xampl,

“gloalwarming”.

trms: npr rviwing

Sarh

for ovring

languag

languag of aortion rights has om

Th

politiizd, whih is unsurprising

xtrmly

many. Th US National Puli Radio (NPR)

to

linkd hr provids an insight into

artil

nwspaprs hav grappld with writing

how

it, spially whn thy do not want

aout

tak sids. For xampl, th trms “ay”

to

“fotus” may sm intrhangal ut,

and

th NPR rports, anti-aortion advoats

as

argud that “fotus” fls dvoid of lif,

hav

aortion-rights supportrs ontnd

whras

“unorn hild” or “ay” unfairly

that

aortion with murdr. Pulishrs

quats

stuk twn th rok and th

appar

hard pla—how do thy did

provrial

languag is appropriat? What lssons

what

w larn aout how languag intrsts

an

our this and politis?

with

spaking, “fotus” rfrs to th

Thnially

twn th ighth wk of prgnany

stag

irth and is th prfrrd trm in most

to

and mdial us. Bfor th ighth

sintifi

th trm is “mryo”. But this

wk,

produs a rgistr that may

trminology

in som ontxts. “Fotus” is

inappropriat

usd in vryday languag y xpting

rarly

national puli roadastr (CBC) issud

Canada’s

mmo along similar lins. If our word hois,

a

and rational as thy appar to ,

unmotional

and rinfor a lak of limat ation, thn

rflt

ut “ay” and “hild” ar widly

parnts,

vn in th arlist days of prgnany. To

usd

aout a misarriag—“sadly, thy lost

spak

ay aftr svn months of prgnany”—

th

th word “fotus” instad of “ay”

using

sm unsympathti or old-hartd

ould

a dply traumati vnt. As a not:

aout

aortion advoats hav also ojtd

som

th trm “xpting mothr”, insisting on

to

prson”. It an sm lik a languag

“prgnant

dat has afftd how w rfr to

Th

and supportrs of aortion. NPR

opponnts

guidd journalists to us “aortion rights

has

ut not “pro-lif” or

supportr/opponnt”,

Among othr things, this is

“pro-hoi”.

ffort to prott NPR from ausations of

an

ias, ut as Elizath Jnsn writs,

politial

has not stoppd its radrs and listnrs,

that

oth sids of th dat, from omplaining

on

th magazin favours “th othr sid”.

that

standards and this … ar

“Journalism

always lar-ut. Thy rprsnt a

not

ffort to put in pla poliis that

st

to produ fairnss and auray.

attmpt

ah sid to hoos th languag

Allowing

wants dos not produ, muh lss

it

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

this would appar to a stp in th right dirtion.

Box 4.3: “Babies are not babies until they are born. They’re foetuses.”

aortion

arms ra.

guarant, that goal.” (Jnsn 2019)

IV.2 Just language

Teach her to question language. Language is

the repository of our prejudices, our beliefs, our

assumptions.

(Adichie 2017)

109

IV. Ethics

ontain parls of wisdom, shard

Languags

olltiv knowldg and som

historis,

positiv things—as author Chimamanda

lss

Adihi puts it, “prjudis” and

Ngozi

xprssions that an privd

Avoiding

opprssiv or marginalizing (known as

as

orrtnss”) and onfronting

“politial

languag ar manifstations of

prolmati

ida that languag an inflit harm and

th

hang. And w hav good rason to

prvnt

that it an. But what happns whn our

liv

and soial norms volv fastr than our

morals

our languag rflts past

languag—whn

What fatorsafft how quikly

snsiilitis?

and its various ommunitis of

languag,

adapt to th nw politis?

spakrs,

to th intrnt, for xampl, has n

Ass

important vhil for individuals to gathr,

an

and larn aout rvisiting languag—

disuss

th risk of laving hind popl and groups

with

th hargd issu of offnsiv and opprssiv

On

it is rlvant for us in TOK to xamin

languag,

sop for agrmnt and disagrmnt.

th

dos not only rflt our valus; its

Languag

us influns th dvlopmnt of

ontinud

and in this way it prptuats thos

attituds,

th list of words on loggr has

Considr

using in his fforts to mak his

stoppd

trms: On using mor

Sarh

languag isht

inlusiv

1. On what asis hav words n inludd in

Who an lgitimatly argu on of ths

2.

is not harmful and should not on

words

for thr is suffiint agrmnt that

happn

languag is unaptal and falls out

rtain

us. How dos this onsnsus form? What

of

influn it? And how do w first om to

fators

th qustions aov us “w”, ut th

Noti

vary for diffrnt tims and groups

answrs

popl. Som may om to know th this

of

politis of languag through prsonal

and

othrs, through th laims of th first

xprin;

Thn thr ar thos who do not om

group.

know this for a long tim, or at all. Thr is

to

thr for a grat dal of disagrmnt

potntial

disput. Thr may disagrmnt on th

and

of th harm or offn too, and thrfor

xtnt

this spa, it is ultimatly important how w

In

Considr th rol of powr, in trms

disagr.

whih laims-makrs ar sn as rlial

of

lgitimat, whih laims ar ing trustd

and

susptd, and what ounts as vidn for

or

harm ing xprind or don. How do

th

onpts of truth, nutrality, ojtivity and

th

apply hr?

impartiality

that ar widly onsidrd raial, thni

Words

gndrd slurs ar oftn mt with zro

and

Ar thr trms and phrass at th

tolran.

arrying offnsivnss that is not yt

frontir,

3. What kinds of thial rsponsiilitis do

with rgards to languag that you

(a)

us that you know is offnsiv

urrntly

as a onsqun of harmful languag

(b)

hav usd in th past without

you

whn harmful languag is usd y

(c)

ls in your prsn?

somon

4

Ar ths issus of languag per

“assumptions”.

or of its us? Is suh a distintion possil?

se

know whih words aus harm and violn?

th appropriat ation.

who do not or annot ass th onlin disours.

aknowldgd or known?

idas and valus. Considr what nds to

For discussion

Inclusive language

you hav:

languag mor inlusiv.

to som groups of popl

whit mal

ralizing

that list?

th list?

110

and

Knowledge

Indigenous

societies

centuries, Indigenous Peoples have developed bodies of knowledge and practices for

For

understanding, and living in the world. With globablization, and a world still healing

explaining,

the violence of colonialism and imperialism, how are we encountering these diverse

from

knowledge traditions? In our capacity as non-Indigenous authors, in this chapter we

Indigenous

explore both our knowledge about Indigenous Peoples and, where appropriate, the different

will

belonging to Indigenous Peoples. Studying knowledge and Indigenous societies

knowledges

not only the encounter between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples and knowledge,

reveals

also the relationship of education and knowledge with power, as told through the stories of

but

5

colonialism and decolonialism.

Initial discussion

• Where does your knowledge about Indigenous societies come from?

• What does it mean to say something is Indigenous knowledge?

• How is Indigenous knowledge acquired and by whom?

• How are the processes of producing, sharing and applying Indigenous knowledge similar to or different from

those processes for other types of knowledge?

• What gives value and legitimacy to Indigenous knowledge?

111

I. Scope

societies have diverse ideas and

Indigenous

relating to citizenship, governance, laws,

practices

teaching and learning, ceremony, ritual,

ethics,

and healing, and relationships, among

health

These ideas, and the way that knowledge

others.

them is organized, produced and shared

about

not align with how you understand

may

explain the world. If that is the case, we

or

your curiosity towards this feeling of

invite

As this chapter will make clear, we

unfamiliarity.

much to learn from Indigenous knowledges,

have

the more legitimacy and authority they are

and

the more comprehensible and accessible

given,

will begin to appear. While Indigenous

they

are rooted in rich intellectual

knowledges

they are not a thing of the past and

traditions,

be spoken about in the present tense.

should

knowledges and Peoples are also

Indigenous

recognized as holding important keys

increasingly

our way out of the climate and ecological crises.

to

United Nations Permanent Forum on

The

Issues (UNPFII) estimates that there are

Indigenous

Indigenous people worldwide, living

370million

over 70 different countries. Who calculates those

in

and how? What are the different ways

numbers

has been defined and understood?

indigeneity

are important questions associated

These

identity and rights. Those recognized

with

Indigenous are granted protections within

as

and international law and, in some

national

benefits in relation to affirmative action.

contexts,

May 2016 the Fifteenth Session of the UNPFII

In

that since Indigenous Peoples continue

affirmed

be vulnerable to exploitation, marginalization,

to

assimilation and genocide, they are

forced

to special protections. Agreeing on

entitled

can be a high-stakes and deeply

definitions

political issue.

challenging

is no official definition of “Indigenous”

There

international law, because of the diversity

under

experience among Indigenous Peoples. There

of

also no such thing as one “Indigenous world

is

would be correct to be suspicious

view”—you

any textbook that purports to explain such

of

view. Sometimes writers and thinkers will

a

refer to themselves as Indigenous, or

not

collective term, because it defines

another

experience through the pathology of

their

and obscures the specificity and

colonization,

of distinct Indigenous cultures. The

diversity

of these groups is commonly called

knowledge

knowledge, but it would be more

Indigenous

at times it has served the political

However,

of Indigenous Peoples to unite under one

cause

globally, as sovereign peoples independent

banner,

the nation states that marginalized them.

of

Chakravorty Spivak calls this “strategic

Gayatri

(2010) using one essentializing label

essentialism”

advance strategic political goals. The word

to

was used by Aboriginal leaders inthe

“Indigenous”

as a way to identify, unite and represent their

1970s

in political spaces such as the United

communities

(UN). Until then their common cause had

Nations

dismissed by international organizations as

been

problems to be dealt with within nationstates.

domestic

By uniting under one banner, Indigenous

could express their common cause and be

Peoples

as a sovereign and independent force.

seen

and organizations have adopted various

Nations

definitions of “Indigenous” to enable

working

decisions, but these are not intended to

policy

definitive. You may have also heard the terms

be

“Native”, “First Nations”, “Tribal”

“Aboriginal”,

“Amerindian”, among others. “Indigenous”

and

chosen because other terms carried negative

was

or had been imposed by colonizers.

connotations

5

I . S C O P E

accurate to call it Indigenous knowledges.

I.1 Who and what is Indigenous?

It has been said that being born Indian is being born

into politics. I believe this to be true; because being

born a Mohawk of Kahnawake, I do not remember a

time free from the impact of political conict.

(Alfred 1995)

The use of the plural “peoples” is intentional and

112

to affirm the diversity among Indigenous

necessary

and their rights to self-determination.

Peoples

are said to be Indigenous based on

People

and recognition from their

self-identification

The idea of measuring indigeneity

community.

bloodline is problematic, as the Australian

by

Rights and Equal Opportunity

Human

reported in2002.

Commission

Aboriginal people may generally be direct

While

of the original inhabitants of a particular

descendants

form of ‘Seth begat Enosh begat Kenan’

genealogical

order to prove membership of the group. … A

in

may have been adopted into a kinship group

person

there is no direct or suitable ospring to carry

where

ceremonial obligations. … Genetic science

out

have no part to play in determining whether

should

not a person should be eligible for benets. If the

or

of descent is to remain in Australian law

element

a test of Aboriginality, it should be interpreted in

as

with Indigenous cultural protocols.

accordance

United Nations Working Group on

The

Populations (WGIP) adopted a

Indigenous

definition in 1982 but would not

preliminary

on a lasting definition. Later, James Anaya,

agree

United Nations Special Rapporteur on

former

Rights of Indigenous Peoples, made an

the

to define Indigenous Peoples as: “living

attempt

of pre-invasion inhabitants of

descendants

now dominated by others [that remain]

lands

distinct groups that find themselves

culturally

by other settler societies born of forces

engulfed

empire and conquest” (Anaya 2004).

of

leaders have argued that any definition

Indigenous

indigeneity must refer to their ties to land and

of

Many, such as Māori scholar Linda Tuhiwai

place.

of the Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Porou iwi,

Smith

referring to a range of distinct peoples and

By

using the single word “Indigenous”, do we

cultures

Rights include individual as well as

Indigenous

rights. It is the collective rights that protect

collective

basis of Indigenous society, and for which

the

recognition is important from nation states

ongoing

multilateral organizations. Collective rights

and

the rights to self-determination, subsistence

include

self-governance and land. In the context

economies,

Indigenous sovereignty, it is worth pointing out

of

settler states are not being petitioned to grant

that

to Indigenous Peoples, but to recognize and

rights

concept of international human rights

The

the Western democratic societies that

reflects

them, and has tended to overlook

designed

rights in favour of individual rights.

collective

relationships did

Indigenous-settler

begin with the “Age of Discovery”

not

between European

encounters

and their colonies. Most

empires

cultures arrived and settled

human

place at some point in history,

into

the messy timeline of who was

and

first, and what happened upon

where

create the backdrop of claims

contact,

indigeneity today.

to

Ainu, Japan’s Indigenous

The

are a noteworthy example.

People,

by the Japanese state

Acknowledged

in 2008, and officially

only

I. Scope

I. Scope

question whether we should use a single term at all.

of Australia, Indigenous customary law does not

part

on linear proof of descent in the Judeo-Christian

rely

undermine and ignore their differing experiences?

uphold Indigenous Rights, Title and Law.

Box 5.1: The Ainu—Japan’s Indigenous People

Figure 5.1

Ainu group from the Island of Hokkaido or Yezo, Department of

Anthropology, 1904 World’s Fair

113

only since 2019, their claims to being

recognized

have been long disputed. What

Indigenous

the implications of designating the Ainu as

are

Indigenous group as opposed to an ethnic

an

Consider the following article, as well

minority?

the questions below.

as

1. What gives legitimacy to the claim of Ainu

the diversity of Indigenous Peoples, their

Despite

and the contexts in which they live,

histories

knowledges are often said to possess

Indigenous

shared features, two of which specifically

some

the scope of Indigenous knowledge: the

concern

that it is local and holistic.

claims

does it mean to say that Indigenous

What

is local? The word suggests that

knowledge

is depth to this knowledge: it is produced

there

a specific cultural and ecological context, by

in

with a long tradition of direct personal

people

and close engagement with the

experiences

and is appropriate to navigating a

place,

environmental and social reality.

particular

Peoples have developed an intimate

Indigenous

of their environments that allows

understanding

to thrive anywhere from the Amazon

them

to the high-altitude deserts of the

rainforest

At the same time, implicit in the

Himalaya.

that Indigenous knowledge is local is

claim

assumption that it is only appropriate to or

the

in a local context. Could it be that

applicable

have so little to learn from the tribes in the

we

or nomads in the Changthang? Or is

Amazon

idea a vestige of colonization, of a failure to

this

decolonize?

is important to consider why universality is

It

a claim typically associated with Indigenous

not

Could some aspects of Indigenous

knowledge.

be considered universal? Could, for

knowledges

(b) By whom?

What are the implications for the

4.

and traditions of the Ainu if

knowledge

who voyaged over vast stretches of

navigators

ocean be generalized into a universal system

open

navigation? What about the water management

of

crop cultivation practices of Indigenous

and

do have a system of knowledge that is

We

across the world—through education

deployed

globalization—that is assumed to be

and

valid and applicable. Consider why

universally

forms of knowledge are assumed to be

some

rather than local, and through which

universal

and practices they have been produced.

methods

critics have argued that local knowledges

Some

all there is—that the Western system of

are

is not inherently universal, but has

knowledge

universalized. For example, Vandana Shiva

been

the following.

writes

universal/local dichotomy is misplaced when

The

to the western and Indigenous traditions

applied

knowledge, because the western is a local

of

which has been spread world wide through

tradition

universal would spread in openness. The globalising

The

spreads by violence and misrepresentation. The

local

level of violence unleashed on local systems

rst

knowledge is to not see them as knowledge. …

of

local knowledge does appear in the eld of

When

globalising vision, it is made to disappear by

the

it the status of a systematic knowledge, and

denying

it the adjectives ‘primitive’ and ‘unscientic’.

assigning

the western system is assumed to be

Correspondingly,

‘scientic’ and universal.

uniquely

5I. Scope

What is offered as evidence, and what

2.

compelling evidence of the

constitutes

Ainu’s indigeneity?

3. (a) On what basis can this evidence be

disputed?

Search terms: tofugu the Anui

they are considered Indigenous?

indigeneity?

I.2 Indigenous knowledge as local,

holistic and dynamic

farmers on the Balinese terraced rice fields?

intellectual colonisation.

(Shiva 1993)

example, the knowledge and skills of Polynesian

114

claim made about Indigenous

Another

is that they are holistic—they

knowledges

of domains such as history, art,

conceive

religion, language and medicine as

culture,

overlapping, inseparable and

interconnected,

into a whole. Think about how

integrated

is different from the way knowledge is

this

in the TOK course, where separate

presented

of knowledge have their distinct scope

areas

methods, producing different and possibly

and

perspectives on the world. This

irreconcilable

the questions of whether, and when,

raises

is appropriate to use the tools of the areas

it

knowledge to understand Indigenous

of

in their interconnected complexity.

knowledges

we use the methods of science, or art or

Would

to evaluate an Indigenous knowledge

religion

Does the holism of Indigenous knowledges

claim?

a different understanding of the world,

facilitate

compared to the fragmented view arising from

as

different academic disciplines? Keep these

the

in mind as you encounter claims across

questions

knowledge is often described as

Indigenous

but dynamic; a cumulative body

traditional,

knowledge and set of practices, developed

of

millennia through direct experience and

over

5.2 Painting depicting a location from an Australian

Figure

songline

Aboriginal

a better metaphor for Indigenous

Perhaps

is a compass—a tool for orienting

knowledge

knowledge is not a fixed body of

Indigenous

that can or should be preserved in

knowledge

authentic state. It is continuously adapting

some

growing in response to the forces that affect it.

and

view of the diversity, as well as the

In

local, holistic and dynamic nature

supposed

Indigenous knowledge, consider the

of

questions.

following

Recall the map metaphor of knowledge

1.

we explored in Chapter 1. To what

that

is your knowledge, your map

extent

the world, informed by Indigenous

of

suggested that Indigenous knowledges

Shiva

be rendered invisible by denying them

can

status of “knowledge”, and threatened

the

“erasing and destroying the reality which

by

What is this reality that Indigenous

2.

attempt to represent?

knowledges

3. What are the forces destroying this reality?

context of Australian Aboriginal songlines,

the

through the landscape used by

pathways

beings of the Aboriginal creation

ancestral

(known popularly as the Dreaming).

story

meld together geography, history and

Songlines

with song and art, and those who can

astronomy

many songs in the right sequence hold an

sing

knowledge about their environment

expansive

the meanings of their world. Each song

and

important landmarks and other clues

describes

help a traveller to navigate vast distances.

that

Australian continent is said to be covered

The

songlines, some of which extend hundreds of

in

and cross numerous tribal, cultural

kilometres

linguistic boundaries. Songlines can be

and

in multiple languages in sequence,

composed

I. Scope

I. Scope

For discussion

The scope of Indigenous knowledge

knowledge?

the chapters in this book, and elsewhere.

they attempt to represent” (Shiva 1993).

transmitted orally, in an ongoing process. Thatis,

Box 5.2: Songlines—storytelling, music, geography and astronomy

oneself in the world. Consider this metaphor in

and their rhythm, rather than words, is said to

115

I. Scope

II. Perspectives

the contours and features of the terrain.

map

to a song is described as equally

Listening

more effective for knowing the land than

or

on or seeing it. Further, songlines can

walking

painted in stages, with a complex key of

be

structures and colours that appear

symbols,

groups of people, living on different

Different

of land, will know different songlines

sections

is an astonishing diversity of beliefs,

There

and rituals among Indigenous cultures.

practices

these ways of knowing and being

Collectively,

the world capture what we know about the

in

potential of humanity. Much as the

wondrous

or the biosphere envelops the planet,

atmosphere

too does the sum total of human cultures—

so

anthropologist Wade Davis has

something

terms: Wade Davis

Search

from endangered

Dreams

the link to listen to Davis explain the

Follow

of the ethnosphere, through examples

concept

its diversity and the forces threatening the

of

of Indigenous ways of living.

survival

different ways of thinking and being,

The

over centuries, are practised by

developed

of knowledge keepers. In engaging

communities

the knowledge of Indigenous cultures

with

is important not to exoticize, fragment

it

selectively misinterpret them. Recall the

and

about holistic Indigenous knowledge:

argument

what extent can we grasp what it means for

to

Cofan of the Amazon to hear plants speak

the

sing to them, without understanding other

and

domains of that context and system

interrelated

knowledge? This chapter invites you to

of

The songlines contain vast cultural

story.

akin to an entire cosmology,

knowledge,

the laws, responsibilities and

outlining

of the people, and are meticulously

ceremonies

terms: What are

Search

YouTube

songlines?

Indigenous knowledges and practices

explore

the contexts in which they are embedded—

in

experience, language and ecology. Often,

history,

we are learning to engage with Indigenous

when

outside of our cultural domain, it is

knowledges

to forget that there are multiple perspectives

easy

Indigenous knowledge communities as

within

and each of these communities has ways of

well,

through disagreements and resolving

working

claims. As authors, it is not our place

competing

share Indigenous stories with you. Gregory

to

(Opaskwayak Cree Nation) specifically

Younging

against the tendency to treat and share

cautions

knowledge as gnaritas nullius or “no

Indigenous

knowledge”, and therefore everyone’s

one’s

This undermines Indigenous

knowledge.

agency over how their knowledge is

Peoples’

in accordance to Indigenous Protocols

shared

a long time, knowledge production practices

For

as academic research) and knowledge

(such

institutions (such as schools) have

dissemination

and marginalized Indigenous ways of

erased

and being. Today, these practices and

knowing

challenge the relationship—past

institutions

contemporary—between education and

and

colonialpower.

5

taught and learned by each generation.

Follow the link to learn more about songlines.

more like a visual code than a map.

and therefore different chapters in the creation


termed the “ethnosphere” (2003).

cultures TED Talk

and Customary Laws.

II.1 Education for all

116

has been written about the destructive

Much

damaging effects of Western education

and

Indigenous students, for example in the

on

of the Canadian residential school

context

or the policies of Thomas Babington

system,

in British India. The effects are

Macaulay

for example, there are lower rates of

ongoing;

success among Indigenous students in

academic

the World” is a 2010 documentary

“Schooling

the assumptions and consequences

about

the Education for All movement, with a

of

on schooling in Ladakh, a region in the

focus

educational programmes (including

International

IB Diploma Programme) have gaps in their

the

in terms of the representation and

curricula

of non-Western ways of knowing and

inclusion

The inclusion of this chapter in TOK

being.

a significant opportunity to consider

offers

education” both as a proces of decentring

“decolonizing

Western knowledges in the curriculum,

well as “education that decolonizes” through

as

way it is set up.

the

education, values associated with

Within

are shaped and reflected by decisions

knowledge

what gets taught and how. Therefore,

about

curriculum becomes an important part of

the

decolonization project. Which forms of

the

have been and are being prioritized

knowledge

valued, and which perspectives are

and

or excluded? Who has the power

misrepresented

make these decisions, and how do those

to

get and maintain that power?

people

terms: Schooling the

Search

thefilm

World

mountainous region of

The

provides an inspiring context for

Ladakh

socio-political themes because of

examining

rapid changes that have occurred in just

the

generation, and where living memories

one

teach us much about ideas of development

can

progress. Some of this can be traced back

and

the application of mainstream, culturally

to

is a prime case study, because in

Education

schools in Ladakh had the highest

the1990s

of exam failure in the world, with more

rate

90% of Ladakhi students failing the

than

Indian board exams. Students were

annual

in one of three languages, none of

taught

were Indigenous, in a system imported

which

a post-independence interpretation

from

British education with casually religious

of

The implications of this for

overtones.

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

A major thrust of much colonial and state policy has

been the attempt to assimilate Indigenous groups

both by force of arms and through more subtle

pressures to conform to the dominant society. . . .

In many countries, governments ran programs of

indoctrination under the guise of education.

First Nations Studies Program, University

of British Columbia

mainstream educational systems today.

Case study

Schooling the world and learning

from Ladakh

unadapted development policies in the 1980s.

northern part of India.

Ladakhi identity and Traditional Knowledge

117

became clear only decades

preservation

The Students Educational and Cultural

later.

of Ladakh (SECMOL) was founded

Movement

address this problem in a forward-looking

to

culturally resonant way that respected

but

Knowledge, with the criteria for

Traditional

being that a student had to have

admission

exams elsewhere. SECMOL as a case

failed

informs how and why we educate, or

study

education, and how far the implications of

seek

decisions go. It also explores the tensions

those

innovation and tradition as ways to

between

second case study, presented in the film

A

from Ladakh” concerns traditional

“Learning

knowledge and the role of food

ecological

The film tells the story of an ill-

subsidies.

system of wheat and rice subsidies

conceived

began in the 1970s that led to the collapse

that

local food systems. The entire region

of

then enrolled into the cash and market

was

dependent on and reinforced by the

economy,

knowledge economy of education.

modern

terms: Ancient futures

Search

from Ladakh Vimeo

Learning

consequences of this included new forms

The

labour relations and rising inequality,

of

dysfunction, plastic and other nonbiodegradable

communal

waste, water pollution, and the

of cardiovascular and metabolic

prevalence

of which existed until very

diseases—none

Ladakhis are exceptionally aware and

recently.

lament is audible and profound, and yet

their

is good practice, and in this case important,

It

clarify what the words “decolonize”

to

“indigenize”—sometimes used

and

in relation to knowledge.

interchangeably—mean

coming, consuming and leaving. What

keep

we learn from this case and from local

can

of response and resistance? How do

forms

balance individual, communal and ekistic

we

in rapidly modernizing and globalizing

needs

cultures?

Indigenous

Ladakhis there is a robust discourse

Among

ways forward and optimism in the face of

on

Local agents of change champion

challenges.

for change aligned with or against the

visions

and international aid system. Local

national

and change-making are necessarily

politics

in Traditional Knowledge, identity

entangled

culture. This includes Ladakh’s identity

and

“Little Tibet”, the generations of Tibetan

as

that call it home, and the nomads

refugees

move through the plains and rely on trade

who

the militarized borders between India,

across

and Pakistan. Religion in this context

China

Buddhists and Muslims side-by-side

includes

centuries, Christian missionaries, and the

for

influx of Hindus as high-paying tourists

steady

as cheap labour for Ladakhi landlords.

or

Buddhist monasteries house priceless,

Many

works of art and yet lack the

centuries-old

to preserve them in the way of

resources

museums. Some of those monasteries

modern

caches of ancient weapons, though

house

Buddhism has a reputation for peace.

Tibetan

has this narrative been shaped by one

How

the 14th Dalai Lama, in his political

man,

existential struggle? Ladakh sits at the

and

top of India, incongruously into

geographic

national identity, and sandwiched between

the

Tibet and Pakistan, with

Chinese-occupied

India has fought fivewars.

whom

5II. Perspectives

recover from a failed modernism.

to outsiders Ladakh appears pristine, tourists

II.1.1 Decolonizing knowledge, indigenizing

Decoloniziation, in the context of knowledge:

the curriculum

“involves valuing and revitalizing Indigenous

knowledge and approaches and weeding out

settler biases or assumptions that have impacted

Indigenous ways of being. Decolonization

necessitates shifting our frames of reference

with regard to the knowledge we hold; examining

how we have arrived at such knowledge; and

considering what we need to do to change

118

prejudice, and assumptions

misconceptions,

Indigenous Peoples.” (Antoine et al 2018)

about

Indigenization is:

process of naturalizing Indigenous knowledge

“the

and making them evident to transform

systems

places, and hearts … [T]his involves

spaces,

Indigenous knowledge and approaches

bringing

with Western knowledge systems. It is a

together

coming together of these two ways of

deliberate

its nature, TOK is well placed to address

By

of these calls to action. What might a

both

indigenized TOK course and

decolonized,

look like? How can decolonizing and

curriculum

work in TOK reflect on the rest of

indigenizing

IB Diploma curriculum?

the

two processes are often said to go hand in

These

The work is to simultaneously deconstruct

hand.

knowledge and knowledge systems,

colonial

upholding the persistence and value of

while

ways of knowing. There are dangers

Indigenous

doing one without the other: it can lead to

to

or to criticism that does not offer an

tokenism,

and thus reverts back to a default state.

alternative

Indigenous ways of being and knowing

That

is a testament to the strength of Indigenous

persist

and the value of Indigenous knowledge.

Peoples

Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning Through Ceremony,

In

Florence Davidson (Haida/Settler) and

Sara

Davidson (Haida Nation) write about

Robert

social function of the potlatch as a locus of

the

sharing, identity formation, resource

knowledge

and ceremonial transmission of

distribution

There is variety among the potlaches of

protocols.

First Nations of the Pacific Northwest,

different

the event may involve a ceremony, a rite of

and

the sharing of food, dances and stories

passage,

the exchange of resources. In “We Were Once

or

Davidson and Davidson write about the

Silenced”

federal government’s deliberate attempt

Canadian

undermine the acculturation and knowledge

to

of Indigenous Peoples through anti-

transfer

legislation. The 1884 Potlatch Ban was

potlatch

lifted in 1951, and potlatches that had been

only

and performed in secret are now openly

adapted

again. People born during the 67 years

convened

the ban were bearing witness to their cultural

of

being performed freely for the first time

practices

this ban and other assimilationist

Alongside

Indigenous children were removed from

tactics,

communities and placed in residential

their

The last such institution, Gordon

schools.

Residential School in Saskatchewan,

Indian

operated by the Canadian government

was

1996. Throughout all of this, elders and

until

keepers honoured ancestral ties and

knowledge

the cultural survival of Indigenous ways

ensured

knowing, learning andbeing.

of

does it mean to indigenize and decolonize

What

against the backdrop of legislation

education

education used to eradicate cultural

and

knowledge practices? How do we, as

and

teachers and communities, protect

individuals,

taking part in the very same abuse again,

against

As you come up with your own

unintentionally?

consider these tworesources.

answer,

1: the calls to action (62–65) for education

Source

the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of

by

terms: TRC Canada

Search

to Action

Calls

2: the principle of “two-eyed seeing” by

Source

Elder Albert Marshall, as an approach

Mi’kmaq

weaving together Indigenous and non-

to

knowledges.

Indigenous

terms: Two-eyed

Search

AMarshall thinkers

seeing

education is said to be an important

Land-based

of the “Indigenous resurgence”

component

which calls for regeneration of

paradigm,

cultural, spiritual and political

Indigenous

and marks a shift in political

practices

away from reconciliation and

consciousness

know my history, I had to put away my books and

To

to the land.

return

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

in their lives.

being.” (Antoine et al 2018)

Canada.

II.1.2 Land-based education

towards decolonization.

(Trask 1999)

119

does it mean to think of land as a source

What

knowledge? How is that knowledge learned,

of

and passed on from generation to

shared

What enables or disrupts those

generation?

education is important because

Land-based

so radically dispossessed

colonization

concept of “coming to know” is used in some

The

knowledges to refer to the process

Indigenous

seeking to understand the world by listening

of

and learning from all our relations. It places

to

learner in relationships of respect, gratitude

the

reciprocity with the natural world—rivers

and

oceans, mountains and hills, plants, animals,

and

humans and others. In many Indigenous

spirits,

traditions, we come to know by

knowledge

attention to these relationships, by

paying

our responsibilities as members of the

honoring

world and by listening to the teachings

natural

knowledge keepers and ancestors both human

of

other-than-human. These stories cover

and

from the teachings of plants and the

anything

of ancestors to the rights of physical

presence

and our responsibilities towards them.

places

to know is a form of knowledge that

Coming

Peoples from their land and the

Indigenous

knowledges and traditions

relationships,

from that land. Land-based education

drawn

to re-establish important connections to

seeks

resources, traditions and the context

nature,

social relationships and community, and

for

a range of pedagogies from sustainable

includes

to ethics.

agriculture

about how one applies that knowledge,

example

in accordance with it and passes it on to

lives

next generation. In this framing, knowledge

the

both explanations, such as what the

contains

is like and why it came to be like that, as

world

as principles for relational living, such as

well

and reciprocity. It is passed on

interdependence

stories, and can be communicated in song,

in

do the sources of Indigenous knowledge

How

the legitimacy of the things we come to

affect

Consider how coming to know about the

know?

or the natural world through Indigenous

past

of knowing intersects with historiography

ways

scientific knowledge. The encounter of

or

and settler or colonial accounts of

Indigenous

past is particularly interesting. How do

the

differing descriptions, explanations and

these

of what happened in the past

understandings

5II. Perspectives

processes?

II.2 Coming to know

poetry, dance and ceremony.

carries responsibilities and expectations, for

meet one another?

120

Tuhiwai Smith explores the relationship

Linda

history and power, with the question

between

why revisiting history is such a significant

of

of decolonization. In her book, Decolonizing

part

Research and Indigenous Peoples,

Methodologies;

suggests that because colonization

Smith

in various forms, knowing the past

continues

demands for justice. “To hold alternative

enables

is to hold alternative knowledges”,

histories

says, and the teaching of these alternative

she

and knowledges allows us to find new

histories

of doing things. The process of revisiting

ways

the past—becomes key to

histories—reclaiming

decolonizing project. And yet in international

the

practice, Indigenous accounts of history

academic

still rarely acknowledged as valid. Smith

are

that the telling of these accounts becomes a

argues

act of resistance.

powerful

typical arbiters of historical facts and truths—

The

of education boards or courts of law—are

think

neutral nor often capable of dealing with

neither

ways of knowing the world. How

alternative

we build capacity to know the world from

can

different perspectives? To what extent does

truly

these different perspectives help to create

holding

more just and more sustainable future?

a

6, III.3 explores two opposing philosophies

Chapter

land management in the 1800s that still

on

in the conservation discourse today.

reverberate

Muir was one of the pioneers of modern

John

conservation and emphasized the

wilderness

of natural environments and systems.

sacredness

argued for protecting natural spaces from

He

activity. On the other side of the debate

human

Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief Forester of

was

United States, who advocated the sustainable

the

equitable use of natural resources for the

and

of all citizens. This discourse between two

benefit

leaders in the United States left out

conservation

perspectives of the Indigenous Peoples, who

the

been stewards of the land for millennia. One

had

or the other, whether for the plundering of

way

land or its protection, Indigenous Peoples

the

removed from it. Muir’s vision prevailed

were

Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks,

and

in 1872 and 1890, were “both forcibly

created

of their native inhabitants” and “created a

emptied

template that survived well into the

conservation

was an early hero of conservation, but also

Muir

ally of the Indigenous Peoples. His legacy

no

shapes environmental politics even

powerfully

and has contributed to the exclusion of

today

Peoples from their land from Yosemite

Indigenous

Kaziranga. As we have discussed elsewhere in

to

chapter, land is an important connection to

this

knowledges, beliefs, resources and

Indigenous

The process of displacement from land

history.

called deracination, and correcting for it (for

is

through land-based education) is an

example,

component of Indigenous resurgence.

important

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

II.3 Conservation

Making connections

History, prehistory and language

How could we harm the forest? We’re the ones that

save the forest. As long as we are here, the forest will

In Chapter 9 we discuss what it means for Indigenous

societies in the 21st century to be considered

be ne. We are the defenders of the forest. If we leave,

who will protect the forest?

“prehistorical”, because of a conception of history that

is tied to written records. The acknowledgement of

(Baiga, Achanakmar Tiger Reserve)

oral history has brought some validity to Indigenous

historical accounts. New information surrounding

the Incas’ khipu knots, which we discuss in Chapter

4, complicates this story. If the Incas are deemed to

have kept historical records, not in written language

but in a kind of material code, should we revisit

where they fall across the prehistory versus history

boundary? Ultimately, examples like these blur the

problematic line between prehistory and history, and

add weight to Indigenous accounts of the past.

next century” (Zaitchik 2018).

121

II. Perspectives

of the original national parks were very

“Some

Banff has a horrible history of forcing

colonial.

out … a lot of the original parks had this

folks

that to protect nature you have to get

mentality

of people … none of these ecosystems have

rid

since the last ice age without people.”

existed

discussion about traditional ecological

The

(TEK) and nature religions in

knowledge

6 explains how and why popular

Chapter

and Western academia have, to an

science

embraced Indigenous ecological

extent,

An important question to

knowledges.

is why this has been so. The thesis of

consider

1 below, “How Conservation Became

source

is palpably relevant in our time,

Colonialism”,

we confront both a climate crisis and the

as

for decolonizing education. A similar

need

asserts that “increases in conservation

article

some of the most globally significant areas

in

conservation interest will increasingly not

of

be unjust, but also impossible without

only

consent and leadership” (Artelle

Indigenous

2019). And Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood

etal

that it is not just an issue of justice or

argues

but that Indigenous leadership leads

fairness,

higher economic and social returns than

to

Indigenous Peoples are best placed to lead

If

as these authors assert, how do

conservation,

metaphors have been used to describe

Various

such as a parent, organism, goddess

nature,

pan-psychic entity. The word “nature”

and

variously refer to an idea or entity, and is

can

connected to the act and concept

obviously

conservation: if conservation is the act of

of

in small groups, how you think about

Discuss,

know nature.

and

Do you have a relationship with nature, and if

1.

what does that relationship mean to you?

so,

How do your emotions, transactions and

2.

manifest in your interactions

identity

and thoughts and knowledge about,

with,

nature?

Choose one of the following statements

3.

most aligns with how you think about

that

and share why that is so. To what

nature,

are these statements mutually

extent

Nature is a place for me to explore and

(c)

the natural world.

enjoy

your own description if the above are

Offer

insufficient.

the people in your group have different

If

discuss why that might be the case.

responses,

example, does it depend on whether you

For

we can, or cannot, materially measure

think

define what nature is? Does it depend on

or

or not you have regular opportunities

whether

Discuss whether your different conceptions

4.

and knowledge about nature affect

of

you think of conservation. How

how

privilege, culture and access to

do

intersect with attitudes towards

nature

and knowledge about nature?

conservation

the arguments and perspectives of

Consider

two linked articles.

the

1: Zaitchik, A. 2018. “How

Source

Became Colonialism” (FP.com).

Conservation

terms: How

Search

became

conservation

2: Jacobsen, R. 2011. “Number One With

Source

Bullet” (Outsideonline.com).

a

terms: Number one

Search

Outside online

bullet

5

For discussion

Who knows about conservation?

(Artelle quoted in Wood 2019)

exclusive?

(a) Nature should be kept safe and

protected.

Nature should be used responsibly to

(b)

and improve the lives of people.

sustain

to go hiking, skiing, hunting, sailing and so on?

state-run efforts at conservation (2019).

you conceive of your role?

colonialism Foreign Policy

humans, nature is theobject.

122

2 introduces writer and civil rights

Chapter

Audre Lorde’s metaphor that “the

activist

tools will never dismantle the

master’s

house” (Le Guin 2004). The tools and

master’s

of knowledge production have been,

methods

in some cases are still being, deployed

and

Indigenous Peoples in damaging

towards

Consider, for example, the colonial and

ways.

history of Indigenous Peoples as

imperial

subjects or informants, and the body

research

knowledge produced to describe and explain

of

cultures, behaviour and customs.

Indigenous

this history, what would it take

Given

the tools and processes of knowledge

for

and dissemination to do justice

production

Indigenous Peoples? How do Indigenous

to

and researchers engage with the

scholars

production practices in mainstream

knowledge

Chapter 2 we see Le Guin build on Lorde’s

In

with the question: what other tools

metaphor

we have to make the house we want to live

do

This section explores not only the methods

in?

tools that have been used to produce and

and

claims about Indigenous Peoples,

legitimize

also the methods and tools developed by

but

Peoples to understand and explain

Indigenous

don’t need anyone else developing the tools

We

will help us to come to terms with who we

which

We can and will do this work. Real power lies

are.

those who design the tools—it always has. This

with

in this chapter we discussed how

Earlier

idea of coming to know things shapes

the

perspectives. But it is not as

Indigenous

Indigenous Peoples only produce and

if

knowledge in a single way, whereas

acquire

researchers have a range of tools

academic

methodologies that produce evidencebased

and

claims. Linda Tuhiwai Smith argues that

perspectives are often excluded from

Indigenous

research because Indigenous Peoples

academic

historically been the object of research.

have

suggests that by reducing Indigenous

Smith

to objects of study, non-Indigenous

Peoples

have excluded their participation in

researchers

an inanimate object can’t contribute to

research;

research.

need to be controlled and studied,

Objects

allowed to influence the study. And

not

Indigenous knowledge, technologies

thus,

ethical codes, developed over

and

were“discovered” by Western

millennia,

beginning in the 17th century and

science

as property belonging to the

“commodified

archive andbody of knowledge of the

cultural

so to reclaim the processes of knowledge

And

that happens under the name

production

Indigenous scholars have engaged

“research”,

“researching back” in a parallel of the empire

in

back”, which we discuss in the context

“writing

post-colonial literature in Chapter4, II.3.

of

result of Indigenous research methods

The

knowledge from a position of Indigenous

is

as both subject and researcher, which

researcher

Indigenous experiences and world

centres

and “talks back” to colonial and imperial

views,

traditions in an academiclanguage.

knowledge




academicfields?

West” (Smith1999).

the world.

III.1 Indigenous research methods:

Research as a relational activity

power is ours.

(Irwin 1992)

123

Wilson, who is Opaskwayak Cree,

Shawn

what an Indigenous research

outlines

looks like from the perspective of

paradigm

knowledge keepers and seekers.

Indigenous

proposal centres relationships and the

His

that Indigenous knowledge

perspective

deeply relational. Honouring these

is

means that researchers must

relationships

accountable for choices in how they

be

conduct and communicate

conceptualize,

research. Follow the link to a video that

their

this idea of research as a relational

explores

terms: Shawn

Search

Decolonizing

Wilson

can rational

methodologies:

be a basis for

research

relationships

renewed

YouTube

is the role of Oral Tradition in enabling

What

to be handed down through

knowledge

To what extent is Oral Tradition

generations?

in preserving knowledge in Indigenous

effective

Wall Kimmerer, of Citizen Potowatomi Nation and author of Braiding Sweetgrass, writes

Robin

the role of language in Indigenous knowledge with a study of Potawatomi, language. “The

about

is the heart of our culture”, explains one of Kimmerer’s Elders, “it holds our thoughts,

language

way of seeing the world. It’s too beautiful for English to explain” (2014). The following is an

our

from Kimmerer’s chapter “Learning the grammar of animacy”, in which she asserts that

extract

attempting to understand the world, something is lost in the language of science, “the same

in

first taste of the missing language was the word Puhpowee on my tongue. Puhpowee …

“My

as ‘the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight.’ As

translates

biologist, I was stunned that such a word existed. In all its technical vocabulary, Western

a

has no such term, no words to hold this mystery. You’d think that biologists, of all

science

would have words for life. But in scientific language our terminology is used to

people,

the boundaries of our knowing. What lies beyond our grasp remains unnamed. …

define

is a noun-based language, somehow appropriate to a culture so obsessed with things.

English

30 percent of English words are verbs, but in Potawatomi that proportion is 70percent.

Only


and community activity.

III.2 The role of language

societies?

Figure 5.3 Sculpture of a manaschi, a Kyrgyz storyteller

specialized in narrating the “epic of Manas”

Case study

The “grammar of animacy”

something that swells around youand in you when you listen to the world”(2014).

124

that 70 percent of the words have to be conjugated, and 70 percent have

Whichmeans

tenses and cases to be mastered.

different

languages often assign gender to nouns, but Potawatomi does not divide the

European

into masculine and feminine. Nouns and verbs both are animate and inanimate. You

world

a person with a word that is completely different from the one with which you hear

hear

airplane. Pronouns, articles, plurals, demonstratives, verbs—all those syntactical bits I

an

could keep straight in high school English are all aligned in Potawatomi to provide

never

ways to speak of the living world and the lifeless one. Different verb forms, different

different

different everything apply depending on whether what you are speaking of is alive.”

plurals,

2014).

(Kimmerer

recounts the challenges of learning this grammar of animacy, which includes verbs for

Kimmerer

be a Saturday”, “to be a hill”, “to be a long sandy stretch of beach” and “to be a bay”.

“to



125

I ranted in my head. ‘There is no reason to make it so complicated. No wonder

“‘Ridiculous!’

one speaks it. A cumbersome language, impossible to learn, and more than that, it’s all

no

A bay is most definitely a person, place, or thing—a noun and not a verb.’ I was ready

wrong.

give up. I’d learned a few words, done my duty to the language that was taken from my

to

then I swear I heard the zap of synapses firing. An electric current sizzled down my

And

and through my finger, and practically scorched the page where that one word lay. In

arm

moment I could smell the water of the bay, watch it rock against the shore and hear it

that

onto the sand. A bay is a noun only if water is dead. When bay is a noun, it is defined by

sift

trapped between its shores and contained by the word. But the verb wiikwegamaa—

humans,

be a bay—releases the water from bondage and lets it live. ‘To be a bay’ holds the wonder

to

for this moment, the living water has decided to shelter itself between these shores,

that,

with cedar roots and a flock of baby mergansers. Because it could do otherwise—

conversing

a stream or an ocean or a waterfall, and there are verbs for that, too. To be a hill, to be

become

sandy beach, to be a Saturday, all are possible verbs in a world where everything is alive.

a

land, and even a day, the language a mirror for seeing the animacy of the world, the

Water,

that pulses through all things, through pines and nuthatches and mushrooms. This is

life

language I hear in the woods; this is the language that lets us speak of what wells up all

the

us. …

around

doesn’t give us many tools for incorporating respect for animacy. In English,

English

are either a human or a thing. Our grammar boxes us in by the choice of reducing a

you

being to an it, or it must be gendered, inappropriately, as a he or a she. Where are

nonhuman

words for the simple existence of another living being? …

our

Our toddlers speak of plants and animals as if they were people, extending to them self

…

and compassion—until we teach them not to. We quickly retrain them and

andintention

them forget. When we tell them that the tree is not a who, but an it, we make that

make

an object; we put a barrier between us, absolving ourselves of moral responsibility

maple

opening the door to exploitation. Saying it makes a living land into ‘natural resources.’

and

a maple is an it, we can take up the chain saw. If amaple is a her, we think twice.”

If

point is that language deeply affects how we relate to and know our world.

Kimmerer’s

this argument next to Le Guin’s, posed below, which suggests that perhaps learning

Consider

grammar of animacy is not necessary, that the same feat can be accomplished by a change

the

inframing.

among all things appears to be complex and reciprocal—always at least twoway,

“Relationship

back-and-forth. It seems that nothing is single in this universe, and nothing goes one

In this view, we humans appear as particularly lively, intense, aware nodes of relation

way.

an infinite network of connections, … with and among everything—all beings—including

in


grandfather. …

(Kimmerer 2014)

what we generally class as things, objects.

126

and the behaviorists willfully saw dogs as machines, without feeling. Isseeing

Descartes

as without feeling a similar arrogance? One way to stop seeing trees, or rivers, or hills,

plants

learning

Language

Do you need to understand Potawatomi

1.

learn the lessons of animacy, or is it

to

for a person like Kimmerer to

enough

How would you describe the relationship

2.

speaking an Indigenous

between

and understanding Indigenous

language

in the world?

perspectives

To what extent can Indigenous

3.

about the natural world

knowledge

Traditional ecological

III.3

(TEK)

knowledge

Indigenous people of the world possess an

The

knowledge of their environments, based on

immense

of living close to nature. Living in and from

centuries

richness and variety of complex ecosystems, they

the

an understanding of the properties of plants

have

animals, the functioning of ecosystems and

and

techniques for using and managing them that is

the

and often detailed. In rural communities

particular

developing countries, locally occurring species

in

relied on for many—sometimes all—foods,

are

fuel, building materials and other products.

medicines,

people’s knowledge and perceptions of the

Equally,

and their relationships with it, are often

environment,

elements of cultural identity.

important

1994; former

(Mayor

General of UNESCO)

Director

ecological knowledge (TEK) is

Traditional

label used to describe and give validity

a

traditional, local and folk knowledges

to

from ecology to environmental

spanning

in a language like English

becaptured

treats the non-human world

that

Should we break grammatical rules in our

4.

to incorporate new ideas such

languages

To what extent does Le Guin, in the

5.

above, suggest a way of being and

quote

that parallels the grammar of

thinking

without having to learn it?

animacy,

Unlike other elements of

metaphysics.

knowledge, it has been embraced

Indigenous

modern science, particularly in the fields

by

land management, conservation, medicine

of

botany. What is it about TEK that has been

and

attractive to modern scientists? Why has

so

knowledge been relatively accessible?

ecological

does this compare with the uptake of

How

perspectives in other disciplines,

Indigenous

as mathematics and art?

such

of the interest stems from growing

Part

of the scale and urgency of the

awareness

damage confronting us, namely a

ecological

planetary mass extinction and climate

sixth

We encounter a related phenomenon

crisis.

the growing popularity of nature-religions

in

Chapter 6, III.3. As Henry Huntingdon

in

Nikolai Mymrin describe, TEK is seen

and

having passed the practical test of being

as

for generations of people who have

useful

on this detailed knowledge for their

“relied

have literally staked their lives

survival—they

its accuracy and repeatability” (Huntington,

on

1998).

Mymrin



only as ‘natural resources,’ is to class them as fellow beings—kinfolk.” (Le Guin 2016)

For discussion

asobjects?

explain the lessons in English?

asanimacy?

127

we consider the contributions of TEK

Below,

modern science. Can the lessons of TEK be

to

in isolation, or are the languages

understood

cultural and spiritual practices and beliefs

or

accompany it necessary? How does holism

that

to TEK? Do we need, for example, to

apply

the grammar of animacy as described by

learn

(in the case study) or other relational

Kimmerer

Wyndham is an ecological anthropologist

Felice

ethnobiologist who has studied people

and

highly sophisticated sense of space beyond

with

body, “a form of enhanced mindfulness”

their

says is common in many hunter-gatherer

she

She describes this as “an extremely

groups.

skill base of cognitive agility, of

developed

able to put yourself into a viewpoint

being

perspective of many creatures or objects—

and

water, clouds” (quoted in Robbins 2017).

rocks,

the extent that these abilities are necessary for

To

understanding and application of TEK, how

the

we learn them? TEK is not only facts about

might

natural world, but also ways of thinking and

the

to a report published by the

According

Bank (Sobrevila 2008) Indigenous

World

comprise less than 5% of the world’s

Peoples

but manage 25% of the world’s

population,

surface and maintain 80% of the

land

biodiversity. TEK is described as the

planet’s

holistic body of knowledge that

cumulative,

over time as successive generations

accumulates

discoveries about their environment. This

make

is said to be “tried and tested” as

knowledge

generation has relied upon it, for example

each

navigating and sustainably using their

in

recent decades, anthropologists and

In

have documented the ecological

conservationists

and insight of Indigenous Peoples

understanding

the world, from Māori navigation at sea

around

Mayan forest-gardens. Henry Huntington

to

how Inuit elders in Alaska were able to

reported

the future behaviour of beluga whales from

infer

present behaviour of beavers, which had

the

spawning habitat for salmon that would

reduced

less food for the whales. Huntington

mean

how he was initially confused about

recounts

they were talking about beavers until he

why

the connection himself: “It was a more

made

view of the ecosystem … It would be

holistic

rare for someone studying belugas to be

pretty

about freshwater ecology” (Huntingdon

thinking

managers and scientists in Australia

Land

adopted Indigenous Peoples’ fire-

have

techniques and enlisted their help as

control

of the land after a particularly

co-managers

to colonization in 1789, Aborigines

Prior

the landscape with controlled burns—a

managed

called “fire stick farming”. Using this

practice

they influenced many parts of the

technique

including biodiversity, water stocks

landscape,

flows, the stock of wildlife for hunting and

and


ways of being to comprehend and applyTEK?

natural environments.

Examples of TEK in practice

quoted in Robbins 2018).

perceiving.

destructive decade of bush fires.

the balance of edible plants.

Figure 5.4 Yugambeh man demonstrating his re-building skills

128

skill with fire was commented upon in

Their

by early settlers that described the

accounts

as “park-like”. Bill Gammage, historian

landscape

the Australian National University, notes five

at

in the use of fire by the Aborigines (2011).

stages

land management regimes around the

Modern

struggle with stage 1, which is the most

world

stage. basic

1. Control the amount of fuel for wildfires.

2. Maintain diversity.

3. Balance species.

4. Ensure abundance.

5. Locate resources conveniently and predictably.

extent and precision of the Aborgines’

The

of land prompted Gammage to write

management

“Australia was not natural in 1788, butmade”

that

(2011).

degradation can impact the

Environmental

preservation and reliability of Indigenous

transfer,

knowledge has developed a concept

“Traditional

the environment that emphasizes the symbiotic

of

of humans and nature. It oers an approach

character

local development that is based on co-evolution

to

the environment, and on respecting the carrying

with

of ecosystems. … Western science is

capacity

and materialist in contrast to traditional

positivist

which is spiritual and does not make

knowledge,

between empirical and sacred. Western

distinctions

is objective and quantitative as opposed to

science

knowledge, which is mainly subjective and

traditional

Western science is based on an academic

qualitative.

literate transmission, while traditional knowledge

and

often passed on orally from one generation to the

is

what extent are the following characteristics

To

TEK similar to or different from the natural

of

practical, based on empirical observations,

•

and trial and error, and it

experimentation,

tools for pest control, fire prevention,

provides

accounting and conservation

resource

For example, the Aamjiwnaang

knowledge.

of Anishnaabe First Nations people

community

Ontario, Canada, have reported a decline in

in

communication as a direct consequence

traditional

petrochemical contamination in their region.

of

in foodstuffs, wood, rocks, and

Contaminants

supplies, have forced the community to

water

traditional activities such as berry-

abandon

foraging for medicine and food, and

picking,

Because those activities are not happening,

fishing.

oral instructions and stories which surround

the

and allow them to pass from one generation

them

the next are no longer being shared and are in

to

of being lost (Hoover et al 2012).

danger

only does environmental degradation affect

Not

health of Indigenous Peoples, it can hit doubly

the

by undermining the preservation and

hard

of Indigenous knowledge and

transfer

their ability to rebound from the environmental

so

impact.

the extract above, Mazzocchi asserts strong

In

about science and traditional ecological

dichotomies

To what extent do you agree with these

knowledge.

What are some of the assumptions

assertions?

6, III.3, explores nature-religions and the

Chapter

made by a number of anthropologists, that

argument,

and religion are adaptive processes that enable

culture

group to survive in their environmental niche. That

a

also explores the diering perspectives on nature

section

forth by Muir and Pinchot. Chapter 7, II, discusses

put

what ways is TEK aligned or unaligned with these

In

What might explain dierences in these

perspectives?

taught experientially and passed down

•

generation to generation, typically

from

oral histories, and embedded into

through

and community practices

family

holistic, rooted in culture and identity,

•

language, spirituality and

including



Making connections

TEK, religion and science

inherentin them?

Francis Bacon’s view of nature.

perspectives?

next by the elders.” (Mazzocchi 2006)

Practising skills: Analysis

and human sciences? TEK is:

health

129

an authority and belief system that governs

•

explains the rules for use of natural

and

a knowledge that includes important

•

and value systems that, for example,

ethics

the use of this knowledge in

constrain

and exploitative practices

extractive

this chapter considers the difference

Later,

cultural appropriation and

between

and the question of intellectual

appreciation,

rights to protect and reward

property

Peoples’ knowledge. In relation

Indigenous

TEK and its applications, such as medicinal

to

and in particular the potential for

plants,

to monetize this knowledge, what

businesses

the arguments for and against treating it as

are

property? Property rights typically

intellectual

written documentation and proof of

require

Intellectual property rights are

ownership.

because TEK is preserved through

complicated

Tradition over generations. It is an issue of

Oral

knowledge, and not just about

acknowledging

it commercially: the significance

rewarding

a cosmology, that serves as a foundation for

•

assumptions and beliefs about nature,

the

world and the universe, and explains

the

place and role of human beings in

the

Indigenous knowledge generally goes

of

within the wider culture of

unacknowledged

what basis do TEK claims about health

On

illness, treatment and medicine compare

and

the claims of standard medical practice?

with

knowledges are needed to evaluate the

What

of medicinal knowledge traditions

effectiveness

practices? And how would we reward these

and

and anthropologist Charis Boke offers

Herbalist

perspective on this below, and similar themes

a

complexities arise in the case study on the

and

of folk medicine and global health

intersection


resources

the world.

science.

(Adapted from: Emery 1997; Houde 2007)

with the status of intellectual property?

inUganda.

Voices: Charis Boke on experience and evidence in traditional Western herbalism

130

herbal medicine” (WHM) or “traditional

“Western

herbalism” are terms used to distinguish

Western

based on Anglo-American traditional

herbalism

medicine from systems of herbal medicine

herbal

in the world, such as homeopathy,

elsewhere

or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Ayurveda

the last 50 years, traditional Western herbalists

“Over

learned their craft in various settings. Some

have

have tried to formalize, professionalize and

teachers

their teaching, designing multiple-year

institutionalize

with clinical components. Other teachers

programmes

not taken this approach, choosing to stick with the

have

herbalist educators have created institutions

Some

by dominant forms of scientic knowledge,

recognizable

as reading biochemical assay studies of plant

such

Even so, those teachers still draw on

constituents.

of direct encounter with living plants and

practices

substances grounded in long histories.

medicinal

wow,’ she says under her breath, eyes wide. ‘That’s

‘Ooh,

intense.’ …

dropper circulates until everyone has taken a drop

The

two of the richly red infused alcohol, registering its

or

and sensations. The schisandra berries, too,

avors

each of us dipping our ngers in the bowl

circulate,

feel their hard, small, wrinkled round bodies. We

to

them, crack open a few to look inside, touch

smell

look carefully. When both have passed through

them,

hands, Sparrow pauses her discussion of

everyone’s

patterns, harvest times, and how to be careful of

growth

when buying commercially.

provenance

what are folks tasting?’ A question that grounds

‘So,

Materia Medica class, where students learn the

each

with which to speak about medicinal avors,

languages

well as taxonomy and medicinal uses of plants.

as

was REALLY intense to me, like packed with energy,’

‘It

adds. Sarah

great,’ says Sparrow, the teacher, turning from the

‘Yeah,

where she had written all these words. ‘What else?

board

don’t know,’ Ash says, ‘it tasted warming to me. But

‘I

dry.’

denitely

all mostly got it. It’s denitely drying, or “astringing”

‘You

traditional western terms, and sour, and somewhat

in

but not too much. And it’s got a kind of neutral

pungent

can be warming or cooling depending on the

energy—it

though it tends toward cooling because it’s

condition,

It’s also often stimulating for folks.’

sour.

add these collected observations to our Mat

Students

notes for schisandra. Tasting this plant’s extract

Med

them into a dierent kind of learning space where

brings

can connect the information they gather from

they

lecture and discussion to their direct experience,

the

dierent kinds of knowing together. As a cultural

ltering

I follow this attention to taste, touch,

anthropologist,

and sensation in order to examine the kinds of

smell,

that matter to herbalists, and that approach to

evidence

informs their approach to medical knowledge

evidence

the last 50 years in the United States, complementary

In

alternative medical practices have become very

and

We can take this as one indication that

successful.

people think there are alternatives to biomedicine,

many

it comes to thinking about and working on bodies

when

health. Herbalism, however, is not just ‘alternative’

and

biomedicine—contemporary herbalists develop

to

practices to work in conversation with it.

knowledge

at The Center where I conducted research

Teachers

the experience of a trained herbalists’ sensory

claim

as a form of knowledge that can provide evidence:

skills

plants’ medicinal qualities; for plant preparations’

for

composition, and capacity for ecacy; and

strength,

bodily states of wellness and illness. These claims

for

in contrast to biomedical ideals, which developed

are

tandem with the networks and institutions that

in

ingestible substances (food, pharmaceuticals,

regulate

which consider somatic or bodily

supplements),

unreliable evidence in part because

experiences

are not understood to be easily reproducible.

they

suggest that reproducibility is not possible

Herbalists

any case, because each body, plant, and ailment

in

distinct, albeit with some shared features. It is in

are

conversations about evidence, and the relation

these

bodily experience to legitimate knowledge, where

of

make their most meaningful contribution

herbalists

human health. Claims about experience, and the

to

of sensory experience, opened the way for what

training

Michelle Murphy might call an herbalist

anthropologist

otherwise,’ and it is that ‘otherwise’ I

‘technoscience

here (Murphy 2006). To say that one can know

trace

by tasting, growing, touching, nurturing them

plants

evidence and its production outside a statusquo

locates

paradigm for health. Direct experience as a mode of



“traditional” apprenticeship mode.

more generally.

‘It’s like, sweet but spicy,’ Angie says.

How about the energetics? Who felt it was cooling?’

131


and mutual aid as an ethic of care underpinned

learning

herbalist practices and companies grew out of

how

justice movements as political projects (see Katz

health

Kropotkin 1902 on mutual aid and solidarity as

1981;

key dierence between biomedical practitioners

A

herbalists, though, lies in how they produce

and

for themselves about the materials of their

knowledge

and its bodily eects—where herbalists

medicine,

and smell and try plant-medicines to understand

taste

eects, biomedical doctors are not generally

their

to sample all the pharmaceuticals they

encouraged

prescribe. Thus, it is the substances about which

could

experiences produce knowledge: whole plant

herbalists’

made from plants conceived as beings with

preparations,

humans can have intimate relations, instead of as

whom

and whole bodies understood to be shaped

resources;

constitutions and individual tendencies, but always

by

in relationship with the world around them.

already

regulatory measures have moved away

Contemporary

bodily attunements, seeking evidence produced

from

machines (such as isolated molecular structures) to

by

in for the tastes and smells that trained bodies can

stand

terms: Aeon Magic

Search

ormedicine?

we guard against romanticizing the

While

of traditional communities and

knowledge

the advances and perspective of

devaluing

medicine, we must also recognize the

modern

of Indigenous knowledge wrought

devastation

centuries of colonial rule and subsequent

by

instability. Consider this article, which

political

describes the challenges of global

powerfully

amid folk approaches to healing among

health

communities in Uganda.

Indigenous

What roles do belief and scepticism play in

1.

we receive knowledge from different

how

about medicines and health, herbalists make

evidence

and social interventions into regulatory worlds,

political

to shift how federal and state monitors allow

seeking

to identify medicines with trained bodily senses.

them

reveals a politics of evidence as herbalists

Herbalism

claims about plants’ healing capacities and about

make

as a system of knowledge. What’s most

herbalism

is to ask: whose evidence, and evidence

interesting

what purposes, has shaped western herbalism

for

a set of intellectual orientations? And how does

as

institutionalization make claims on regulatory

its

as it tries to at once hold on to, but also move

structures,

legitimacy in terms of biomedical standards

Producing

evidence may not be at the forefront of all herbalists’

of

but it does play a central role in the creation and

minds,

of structured curricula like that used at

maintenance

Center. In other words, herbalists’ attempts to make

The

work legitimate to regulators and to the general

their

is shaping how they teach herbalism. Part of

public

professionalization of herbalists as they seek to

the

new possibilities for legitimate medicine through

make

politics of evidence relies also on a change in

changing

What factors within and external to a

2.

affect the perceived or actual

community

(a) Under what circumstances can the

3.

between Indigenous and

encounter

knowledge produce negative

scientific

results?

How might we distinguish between

(b)

knowledge and other beliefs

Indigenous

(a) In the context of this example, which

4.

can be used to make

standards

about whether knowledge

judgments

“works”?

(b) Who should set the standards?

Should these standards apply

(c)

or should there be

universally

5

political modes).

out of a space of alternative-ness?

identify. In response to the gray area of what counts as

institutional forms.”

Practising skills: Exploring perspectives and evaluating claims

legitimacy of its knowledge?

held by local populations?

cultures?

limitations and exceptions?

132

ethical issues are explored throughout this

While

this section looks in more detail at the

chapter,

how Indigenous Peoples are represented in

•

culture

where the line between appreciation and

•

is in relation to Indigenous

appropriation

how we navigate the tension between the

•

not to know and the responsibility to

right

knowledge with voluntarily isolated

share

peoples.

tribal

Nelson’s project on Indigenous Peoples,

Jimmy

They Pass Away”, serves as a case study

“Before

the complex political and knowledge concerns

on

arise when non-Indigenous individuals tell

that

story of Indigenous Peoples and knowledge.

the

political implications of aesthetic decisions are

The

in Chapter 10. “Before They Pass Away”

explored

to similar aesthetic and political concerns.

connects

photographs are widely acclaimed

Nelson’s

beautiful compositions that appear to

as

their subjects. “I wanted to put them

celebrate

a pedestal like they’ve never been seen

on

says Nelson (2014), and contrasts

before”

aesthetic with the “impoverished” and

his

aesthetic used by NGOs and

“patronizing”

organizations to raise funds for their work.

other

unabashedly acknowledges choosing to

Nelson

“the most beautiful people on the

photograph

(2014), leaving out Indigenous Peoples

planet”

did not meet his criteria for authenticity.

that

trying to put these people in the same context

I’m

somebody like Kate Moss … Our society, for

as

reason, has decided she is important and

whatever

to be photographed in a high-concept way;

deserves

the “authenticity” of a different culture

Critiquing

the outside is problematic for a number

from

obvious reasons. In our particular historical

of

outsiders may be conditioned to expect

moment,

exoticized orientalist aesthetic. Photographers

an

complicit in perpetuating that aesthetic if

are

are not especially careful to guard against it.

they

the photographs are stunning, they may

While

inadvertently degrading because they show

be

subjects isolated from progress, science

their

all the other facets of modern life. They

and

the fact that their subjects may watch

obscure

wear denim jeans and use social media

Netflix,

the camera is not pointed their way. And

when

can prompt the incorrect assumption that

they

featured communities have been that way

the

as if their cultures are not constantly

forever,

and adapting to the world around them

adjusting

everyone else’s. Cultures, unlike artefacts

like

are preserved and shown in museums

that

galleries, adapt, collide, meld together and

and

change over time. Anthropologist Julia

certainly

is simply not true that tribal people have been

It

for thousands of years’; they have been

‘unchanged

constantly, as we have. It is clear that for

evolving

their attraction and purity is rooted in their

Nelson,

from the future, and their containment

exclusion

the past— so that is the only reality he presents

to

his photos. By omitting their interactions with

in

‘modern world’ that they are a part of, and

the

the myth that they are dying out,

perpetuating

work freezes tribal peoples in the past and

Nelson’s

other problematic assumption has to do

The

narrative and language, both of which

with

reflect and reinforce beliefs, attitudes

powerfully

assumptions, as we see in Chapter 4. The

and

“Before They Pass Away” invokes an

title

passing, a natural consequence of

inevitable

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

I V. E T H I C S

questions of:

knowledge

IV.1 The ethics and politics of

representation

Lagoutte makes the following argument.

eectively denies them a place in this world.

(Lagoutte 2014)

I’ve tried to do the same here.

history and progress that such cultures are lost,

(Nelson quoted in Merrill 2014)

133

IV. Ethics

the only thing one can do is admire the

and

It does not, for example, suggest that

memory.

is a perpetrator to this passing, or an idea

there

justice, though maybe there is something

of

about how Indigenous communities are

criminal

off their lands. What is causing the

persecuted

away” that Nelson references? Is this

“passing

inevitable?

passing

International has been a fierce critic of

Survival

project, and has assembled an impressive list

the

objectors featured on its website, among them

of

of Indigenous communities around the

leaders

terms: Survival

Search

Jimmy Nelson’s

International

the critics is Nixiwaka Yawanawá, from

Among

Amazonian Yawanawá tribe in Brazil.

the

outrageous! We are not passing away but

It’s

to survive. Industrialized society is trying

struggling

destroy us in the name of ‘progress’, but we will

to

defending our lands and contributing to the

keep

tribal leader Benny Wenda made similar

Papuan

comments.

spokesperson Davi Kopenawa

Yanomami

to Nelson’s project as follows.

reacted

is not true that Indigenous peoples are about to die

It

We will be around for a long time, ghting for our

out.

living in this world and continuing to create

land,

children. our

Corry, director of Survival International,

Stephen

made the following similar argument.

has

reality, many minority peoples, especially

In

ones, are not ‘disappearing’: they are being

tribal

through ‘our’ illegal theft of their land and

disappeared,

… we are simply turning our usual blind eye.

resources.

critics’ perspectives are not told through

These

photographs, captions or descriptions in

the

They Pass Away”. Nelson responds that

“Before

is not an anthropologist or sociologist, that he

he

wants to take good photographs of beautiful

just

With the important political implications

people.

his work, and the politicization of Indigenous

of

minority issues in general, good intentions

and

not enough. In Chapter 10 we examine the

are

of Sharbat Gula, photographed as Afghan

case

by National Geographic photographer Steve

Girl

McCurry.

McCurry and Nelson appear to have had

Both

intentions, yet both have been criticized by

good

on behalf of minority groups. Both episodes

and

our curiosity about how identity, privilege,

invite

and aesthetics intersect in our present

culture

moment.

political

5

(Corry 2014)

world and prominent photographers.

Before they pass away

protection of the planet.

(Yawanawá 2014)

people are still strong and we ght for our freedom.

My

are not ‘passing away’, we are being killed … .

We

(Wenda 2014)

Figure 5.5

Nixiwaka Yawanawá, protesting against the exhibition

(Kopenawa 2014)

of Nelson’s work at London’s Atlas Gallery, wearing ceremonial

headdress along with Western casual wear, no less or more

“authentic” than Nelson’s representations

134

terms: National

Search

Native

Geographic

are countering

Americans

stereotypes

racist

story about Indigenous photographers’

This

representations of Indigenous life was

visual

in the December 2018 issue of

published

Geographic magazine, a few months

National

the magazine reflected on decades of its

after

coverage of Indigenous Peoples and

racist

How does the representation of

1.

life in popular media affect

Indigenous

2. What makes a representation valid and

What introduces bias into a

3.

representation?

Is the accuracy of representations

4.

Indigenous Peoples improved or

of

from having multiple diverse

reduced

perspectives?

appropriation usually applies when

Cultural

of a marginalized culture are used

elements

a dominant culture. While cultural sharing

by

generally desirable, it is complicated by the

is

dynamics of racism and privilege. How

power

we appreciate, learn from and draw on other

can

knowledge in a way that is responsible?

cultures’

acculturation, assimilation or cultural

Unlike

appropriation is said to perpetuate

exchange,

and marginalization because of the power

racism

involved. Appropriators typically lack

dynamics

understanding of the cultural markers they

an

using, and/or use them in a belittling way,

are

example as fashion symbols and accessories.

for

this way, appropriation signals that

In

cultures are “free for the taking”,

marginalized

lose the distinctiveness of their

communities

markers through appropriation, which

cultural

drain the urgency of their political claims

can

historical grievances. Appropriation can also

and

inaccurate stereotypes and the idea

perpetuate

Indigenous cultures are monolithic.

that

art, fashion, dance and music are

Visual

the areas most readily associated with

often

As interest in indigenizing the

appropriation.

grows and in some cases outpaces

curriculum

capacity of schools to keep up, campuses

the

become a frequent site of conflicts over

have

is appropriate and what is

What

appropriating

terms: Vimeo Jo-Ann

Search

Archibald

Archibald of the Stó:lo Nation

Jo-Ann

some of the protocols and

explains

appropriate to sharing Indigenous

processes

Consider the relational approach

knowledge.

knowing and the responsibilities and

to

that come with it, described

expectations

How are Archibald’s protocols of sharing

1.

knowledge similar to or

Indigenous

from intellectual honesty and

different

referencing practices?

academic

What gives one access to Indigenous

2.

and the permission to

knowledge

What responsibilities rest with the learner

3.

Indigenous knowledge that may not

of

4. Consider what happens when protocol is

What are the implications of not

(a)

protocol?

following

To what extent would breaches of

(b)

be issues of justice?

protocol

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

For discussion

Representing Indigenous life

appropriation.

persons of colour.

For discussion

what we know of Indigenous knowledge?

reliable?

earlier, and answer the following questions.

IV.2 Appreciation or appropriation

share it?

apply to other types of knowledge?

not followed.

which is an echo of colonialism. Marginalized

135

IV. Ethics

intellectual property has been used

Indigenous

a legal term to identify collective intellectual

as

rights for specific cultural knowledge.

property

has been promoted by the World Intellectual

It

Organization of the United Nations

Property

more fairly value Indigenous knowledge

to

cultural heritage. In 2007, the UN General

and

accepted the Declaration on the Rights

Assembly

Knowledge and access—

IV.3

peoples

uncontacted

referred to as lost or isolated tribes,

Variously

the term “uncontacted peoples” rings

even

misconceptions about these groups living

with

voluntary isolation across the world today.

in

they may not have peaceful contact with

While

groups at the moment, this does not mean

other

they never have had. Still, very little is

that

about them. Only about 100 such groups

known

in the world today and their survival is

exist

threat. Their predicament poses urgent

under

are some of the practical challenges to

What

collective intellectual property,

implementing

or otherwise? Advocates of collective

Indigenous

rights seek a new legal system that

property

Indigenous Peoples’ rights over their

protects

cultural heritage and

property—including

Knowledge—as formsof intellectual

Traditional

that are collectiveresources.

property

11:] States shall provide redress … which may include restitution, developed in

[Article

with Indigenous peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and

conjunction

property taken without their free, prior and informed consent or in violation of their

spiritual

traditions and customs. …

laws,

31:] Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop

[Article

cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as

their

manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic

the

seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions,

resources,

designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have

literatures,

right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural

the

about sharing and having access to

questions

One perspective argues that we have

knowledge.

responsibility to share knowledge with them

a

could improve their lives.

that

idea, combined with popular stereotypical

This

of their lives, has motivated all sorts

depictions

people to initiate “first contact”—sometimes

of

tragic consequences. Missionary work is

with

common motivation for contacting these

another

Refer to the Washington Post article “‘God,

tribes.

Don’t Want to Die’ US Missionary Wrote Before

I

was Killed” (Slater, Allan 2018) for how one

he

5

of Indigenous Peoples, including the following.

heritage, traditional knowledge, andtraditional cultural expressions.

Making connections

which powerfully inuenced colonial attitudes to

Indigenous art in the early 20th century, are owned and

Indigenous art and artefacts in museums

held in London by the British Museum, though a small

In Chapter 10, section II, we examine the issue of

selection was temporarily loaned back to Nigeria in

Indigenous art and artefacts held in museums in

late 2018. Refer to Chapter 10 for further discussion on

advanced industrialized nations, and the related issues

of appropriation and repatriation. The Benin Bronzes,

patrimony and the repatriation of Indigenous art.

recent story ended badly.

136

terms: God, I don’t want

Search

die Washington Post

to

the history of “first contact”

However,

us that such encounters are usually

teaches

deadlier for the tribes than the initiators of

much

This can be due to communicable diseases

contact.

violent conflict and state-sponsored ethnic

or

Contacted groups often die in large

cleansing.

the context of the encounter between the US

In

and Sentinelese tribe, consider these

missionary

What responsibilities do we, the mainstream,

•

for spreading knowledge to Indigenous

have

generally and uncontacted tribes

Peoples

specifically?

Are we, the mainstream, in any way entitled

•

knowing what they know?

to

What is lost and gained if their knowledge is

•

spread through the mainstream?

never

evidence-based and practice-informed

The

of action is to leave uncontacted peoples

course

This respects their right to determine

alone.

own future—including whether they want

their

establish contact. Do individuals and states

to

a responsibility to uphold this right, when

have

concerned peoples mostly live beyond the

the

of the state?

reaches

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

Figure 5.6

The Sentinelese stand guard on an island beach

numbers quickly.

questions.

137

6

and

Knowledge

religion

world’s religions, across time, serve as repositories of knowledge while also holding a continued

The

significance: religious themes are woven into cultural practices, literature, history, film and

social

Even our ability to fully grasp current events—elections, policies, revolutions, movements and

art.

informed by our understanding of religion. Religious practices and rituals powerfully

conflicts—is

identity across the generations and collapse the past into the present. In an increasingly

shape

interconnected world, diverse examples of religious knowledge and practices encounter

globally

another, and stand together, their uniqueness perhaps diminished, in the face of what some have

one

as a modern monoculture. In this chapter, we add depth to our understanding of human

described

knowledge by looking at its relationship withreligion.

Initial discussion

• Who has religious knowledge and what is it about?

• What are legitimate sources of religious knowledge and what makes them so?

• What does it mean for a religious claim to be true or false, and who can decide?

• How can disagreements between conflicting religious claims be dealt with?

• How is the process of producing and acquiring religious knowledge similar to or different from this process for

other types of knowledge?

138

the 21st century unfolds, the question

As

what would happen to the scope and

about

of religion as a result of globalization

power

modernization is yielding unexpected

and

It was widely predicted that the

outcomes.

of religion in politics and society would

role

However, we appear to be witnessing

diminish.

resurgence. Sociologist Peter Berger has

a

pondering these questions for decades,

been

is sceptical of the view that modernity

and

at the expense of religion. His book

advances

desecularization, albeit from two decades

on

opened with the following claim: “The

ago,

that we live in a secularized world

assumption

false. The world is as furiously religious as it

is

was” (Berger 1999).

ever

is not to say that religion has been

This

by globalization. Berger argues that

unaffected

in a global context has led, inevitably,

modernity

pluralism. Section II explores this idea further.

to

now, consider what it is about religion

For

has allowed it to persist and sustain such

that

in the face of powerful forces that

diversity

uniformity and diminish difference.

promote

question for the scope of religion is

Another

religious beliefs and practices are

whether

in every human culture. Is religion, its

found

diversity notwithstanding, a

extraordinary

feature of humanity? The answer

universal

this question will depend on how we

to

of the concept of religion, and is

conceive

exploredbelow.

claims of religion’s historical significance

Given

continued relevance, it is important to

and

what this supposedly universal and

consider

thing called religion is. We can name

enduring

religions and religious traditions, such

different

Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, shamanic

as

“religious”? On what basis can we distinguish

all

from other realms of human activity,

religion

consider two contrasting approaches to

Let’s

religion, both of which have profound

defining

for what is called religious

implications

This affects people’s identities,

knowledge.

status and the rights afforded to them

political

legal frameworks.

by

Z. Smith and William Scott Green

Jonathan

a narrow definition of religion as “a

propose

of beliefs and practices that are relative to

system

beings” (Smith, Green 1995). This

superhuman

special experiences, spiritual practices,

excludes

views and ideologies that are sometimes

world

as religion but do not have a

classified

element. Some forms of Buddhism,

supernatural

as Zen Buddhism, do not qualify under

such

definition. The advantage of this restrictive

this

is that it narrows the scope of religious

definition

to a more coherent and consistent

knowledge

of beliefs and traditions that is easier to

set

workwith.

this restrictive definition leaves a

However,

number of people and concerns out of the

large

Instead, David Chidester proposes a selfconsciously

field.

vague definition of religion as “that

of human experience engaged with

dimension

norms” (Chidester 1987). By “sacred” he

sacred

the higher powers and forces that affect

means

give meaning to human life.

and

are, of course, academic definitions in the

There

of religious studies, which often do not

field

to how the concept of religion is

correspond

in the public sphere. For example,

understood

Perkins, President of the Family Research

Tony

and presently serving as Chair of the US

Council,

on International Religious Freedom,

Commission

said, “What most people either don’t realize

has

willfully ignore is that only 16 percent of

or

is a religion—the rest is a combination of

Islam

I. Scope

I. Scope

I . S C O P E

such as culture, science or politics?

I.1 What is and is not religion?

and animistic folk religions. What makes them

139

I. Scope

judicial, economic, and political system.

military,

by comparison, isn’t a judicial or

Christianity,

has Perkins so precisely deduced the

How

of Islam that is a religion? What

percentage

you need to know in order to form a

would

about his claim? There is a growing

judgment

among scholars of religion that, in

concern

past decade, questioning the religiosity of

the

has moved into the legal and political

religions

in the United States. Scholars speculate

discourse

this may be due to religious illiteracy

that

narrow understandings of what is and is

and

religion, or political interests to covertly

not

other religions. The prevalence of

undermine

perspective is the topic of When Islam Is

this

a Religion: Inside America’s Fight for Religious

Not

by Asma Uddin (2019). It explores the

Freedom

spread and implications of the effort

origin,

redefine Islam as something other than a

to

and the threat this poses to religious

religion,

and human rights. Uddin argues that

freedom

loss of liberty and constitutional protection

the

Muslims means a loss of liberty for everyone

for

the United States.

in

explore this further, follow the link to a

To

between Uddin and Benjamin P.

conversation

terms: Religious Studies

Search

When Islam is not a

Project

Chitwood suggests that part of the issue

Ken

that the field of religious studies has failed

is

communicating to the public the academic

at

of “religion”. For the most

understanding

Chitwood (2019) suggests, the public

part,

and misunderstandings

understandings

religion are explored at conferences, but

of

have not effectively engaged with

scholars

what are some claims made about

Consider

groups in your context.

religious

What are the responsibilities of religious

1.

scholars towards religious literacy

studies

How is knowledge about religion

2.

or how should this take place?

disseminated,

Who are the stakeholders in the

3.

about religious literacy?

conversation

What are your personal responsibilities

4.

terms of encountering or propagating

in

intuitive answers to questions about

Our

often invoke stereotypes and clichés,

religion

as religions are based on belief, they

such

to the transcendental realm, or they

belong

in the private and not the public sphere.

belong

studies scholars Brad Stoddard and

Religious

explore these and other

CraigMartin(2017)

believed oversimplifications about

commonly

As we have seen, false, incomplete or

religion.

though they are, stereotypes can be

inaccurate

and Martin look at claims such as

Stoddard

are mutually exclusive” and explore

“Religions

these matter-of-fact statements are not

how

neutral. What we claim to know about

actually

has material consequences. The authors

religion

that in some prison systems, for example,

show

are asked to declare their religion in

people

one box only” style—reinforcing the idea

“tick

6

For ref lection

economic code—but a faith.”

Responsibilities and implications

the public sphere about this.

among the public?

claims about religion?

powerful political levers.

Figure 6.1 Muslims pray during the “Islam on Capitol Hill” event at

the West Front Lawn of the US Capitol (2009)

Marcus of the Religious Studies Project.

religion

140

religions are mutually exclusive. What you

that

as your religion determines whether

declare

will have access to certain spaces, be able to

you

certain groups and so on; and you would

attend

be able to change your declared religion

only

every six months. What assumptions

once

terms of the assumptions and consequences

In

these stereotypes and clichés, Stoddard

of

Martin invite us to consider the following

and

we encounter claims about religion.

whenever

the two perspectives below on

Consider

or not religion is universal.

whether

How might the “universality” of religion

1.

claims about whether religion is

affect

What implications does this have for

2.

knowledge?

religious

we should be sceptical of boundaries

While

between concepts, blurring the

constructed

between religion and state authority

line

has brought about serious and

specifically

can do this activity working on your own,

You

a partner or in a small group.

with

Chapter 1, we discuss the map metaphor of

In

and you may have depicted your

knowledge,

as a literal map. How does religious

knowledge

inform your map of the world? How

knowledge

it fit with other domains such as history,

does

science and politics? Do some of these

art,

spill over or cut across other domains

domains

clearly?

more

Batchelor follows what he calls a

Stephen

Buddhism, that acknowledges the

Secular

approach is useful to us beyond this

This

and indeed beyond this course and the

chapter,

Diploma Programme. We can practise on one

IB

commonly made in the context of

statement

terms: Religious

Search

Project Why do

Studies

terms: Religious Studies

Search

Project Return of

Research

consequences. Similarly, the

well-documented

between religion and science has

boundary

controversy, with claims-makers on each

caused

closely policing the boundary. Each of these

side

Where does the scope of religion overlap

1.

the other domains?

with

2. What happens in the overlapping zones?

Where is the boundary particularly clear,

3.

broken or blurry? Describe what

wiggly,

means and why you have drawn or

it

it this way.

imagined

you are doing this exercise with a partner or in

If

group, compare your maps and share what you

a

the importance of doubt and questioning.

as

comprehends Buddhism as a way of being

He

I. Scope

I. Scope

With this claim, who is trying to persuade whom of

what? Who stands to gain and who stands to lose if

the claim is received as true?

(Stoddard, Martin 2017)

about religion are these rules based on?

religion: that religion is universal.

Practising skills: Identifying assumptions and drawing implications

we believe?

created, discovered or revealed?

homo religiosus

I.2 Touchpoints and tensions

issues is investigated below.

For discussion

How would you map out the scope of religion?

identify as significant similarities and differences.

Box 6.1: Is secular Buddhism religion without belief?

141

mystery and vitality of spiritual life as well

and doing, but not necessarily requiring belief,

I. Scope

in his view, involves this problem: when

which

believe that “this is how reality works”,

you

require supernaturalistic explanations

you

as God or Karma, which dominates what

such

see as Christianity or Buddhism. Above

people

argues Batchelor, “secular Buddhism is

all,

to do, not to believe in” (Batchelor

something

in Tippett 2018).

quoted

is an increasingly popular conception

This

spirituality as something independent of

of

phenomena. Another popular

supernaturalistic

sees Buddhism as more of science

framing

philosophy, and less as religion. To the

and

that everyone is free to imagine their

extent

spiritual and religious dialogue, that is

own

what are the implications of this for

great—but

knowledge, and concepts such as faith,

religious

objectivity and neutrality? As a counter-

truth,

consider the views of Thupten Jinpa,

perspective

close aide and translator to the Dalai Lama.

a

terms: Thupten Jinpa

Search

the Dalai Lama

translating

people are … encountering a

“When

such as Tibetan Buddhism, it’s

tradition

different historically from, say, any of

very

monotheistic traditions that you see in

the

do we popularly conceive of the

How

between religion and politics?

relationship

may have heard phrases such as “religion

You

politics do not mix” or “the separation

and

church and state”—both of which align

of

the idea of secularism, a pillar of many

with

democracies. However, it would be

modern

to think that religion and politics are

naive

domains. Mahatma Gandhi stated

isolated

his autobiography (1927) that “those who

in

religion has nothing to do with politics

say

not know what religion is”. Religion and

do

powerfully intermix in ways that

politics

human life, for better or worse, such

affect

in the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s

as

the Rohingyarefugee crisis of the early

and

West … where there has been a kind

the

gradual separation between spirituality

of

religion. And then you have science …

or

your understanding of the world is

where

on what you can directly perceive or

based

you can infer on the basis of … direct

what

… . So this kind of separation

experience

science and philosophy and

between

has not occurred in the context

spirituality

Tibetan tradition, Tibetan buddhism.

of

you cannot look at Tibetan Buddhism

…

say this is religion… you cannot

and

this is philosophy … nor can you say

say

is science. But within that tradition,

this

have all the elements. … So that

you

the training of a monk very, very

makes

because you have to … study

sophisticated,

these aspects, the relationship between

all

perception and the world, and the

our

between true knowledge and a

distinction

belief in assumption. You know, how

mere

a language in thought relate to the

does

reality?” (Jinpa quoted in Tippett

actual

2013)

to Jinpa, knowledge must be

According

into a holistic system, including

integrated

through meditation. This is radically

ethics,

from the disciplinary training of

different

century. The scholar Omid Safi, musing

21st

theentanglement of religion and politics,

on

was drawn … to the study of mystics because I was

I

out on politics, and wanted to lose myself in

burned

ethereal, eternal, sweet, and love-lled world [of]

the

mystics. . . . But my beloved mystics kept acting

the

and politically. Because they loved God, they

socially

God’s creation. . . . Many of them positioned

loved

as champions of the weak and the

themselves

and acted in a way that today we would

marginalized,

“speaking truth to power.” In their profoundly

call

society—and let us admit that ours today

hierarchical

still profoundly hierarchical—these mystics kept

is

reminding the rulers that it was God who was the

on

6

scientists and researchers.

I.3 Not only religion: The spiritual and

the political

wrotethe following.

ultimate King.

(Sa 2016)

142

the context of politics, religion can be a

In

force through which people are

powerful

to act. Religious communities have

moved

times been at the forefront of social

many

and social activism. The kind of force

reform

religion wields in politics, and the social

that

it performs, vary greatly across contexts.

function

claim that religion is a regressive force, or

To

that it is a progressive force, are

conversely

of generalizations that should be

examples

the global processes that thrust strangers

In

and drive friends apart, religion

together,

likely to continue playing a role. Safi

is

usthat this function of religion is

reminds

new or unique to any particular religious

not

knowledgetradition.

the world and throughout history

Around

witness religion entangled with political

we

(a) To what extent is religion inherently

1.

Why might this be the

political?

has it been politicized and

Where

and how would

depoliticized,

(a) Why is it important to know the

2.

to the questions above?

answers

instances in your context,

Consider

the contemporary or historical

in

of your community, where

events

have witnessed the political

you

of religion. Are there

impact

and differences across

similarities

I. Scope

I. Scope

instead insisted that human beings stood radically

equal, as the teeth in a comb?

Was Rabbi Heschel not concerned with politics

when he said that he was praying with his feet in

marching for civil rights, when he said that church

and synagogue were forbidden as long as African

Americans were treated as they were, and when he

said that he could not read his prayer book when

every time he opened it he saw images of the children

of Vietnam burning in napalm?

criticallyevaluated.

Was Brother Martin not political when he said that

our concern was to save the very soul of America

by standing out against racism, materialism, and

militarism?

Was Thomas Merton not political when he said: ‘The

world is full of great criminals with enormous power,

and they are in a death struggle with each other.’ His

deep attachment to the life of spirit, even silence, did

not prevent him from getting involved in issues of

justice and injustice, or speaking out against racism

and war.

(Sa 2016)

Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Herschel

For discussion

Figure 6.2

during the Selma march in 1965

Political or politicized?

reform, liberation or oppression.

case?

(b)

Was Moses not concerned with the political as he led

the Hebrews out of bondage?

weknow?

Was Amos not concerned with politics when he said:

‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness

like a mighty stream.’

(b)

Was Jesus of Nazareth not concerned with social

change and transformation as he sat with prostitutes

and lepers, keeping the company of the outcast and

the downtrodden?

Was Muhammad of Arabia not concerned with the

political as he overthrew the Arab tribal bonds and

these instances?

143

I. Scope

kinds of questions altogether, probing and

dierent

in ways neither could alone.

illuminating

and religion are sometimes, at least in the

Science

Western imagining, conceived of as being

popular

opposition to each other, as being mutually

in

ways of describing reality. The debate

exclusive

creationism and evolutionary theory in

between

United States is a commonly cited example.

the

voices aligned with the political far right

Religious

grown audibly hostile to science, provoking

have

new atheist response that is hostile to religion

a

for example, Bradley, Ruse 2014). But some

(see,

argue that rather than posing

commentators

answers to the same questions, religion

competing

TOK, we demarcate science as an area of

In

but religious knowledge as a theme;

knowledge,

might this be the case? In the past religious

why

was designated as an area of

knowledge

in itself. Why might we have moved

knowledge

from that?

away

map metaphor of knowledge reminds us

The

be sensitive to and critical of the boundaries

to

between different knowledge domains.

drawn

his book The Territories of Science and Religion

In

Peter Harrison discusses the supposed

(2015),

between religious knowledge and

tension

domains that are stereotypically

science,

as irreconcilable, or at least opposed

positioned

one another. We should remember that the

to

“science” and “religion”, as they are

categories

today, emerged comparably recently,

understood

in a very specific historical and cultural

and

Humans have been performing acts of

context.

and endeavouring to systematically

worship

the natural world for much longer

explain

we have described or understood those

than

as religious or scientific. For much of

practices

history, and in many contexts even today,

that

one another. As religion and science have

to

into strikingly distinct disciplines, we

grown

ahistorically applying this distinction to

risk

thepast.

to what extent is the conflict between religion

So,

science centred on Western sensibilities

and

to the development of science in early

owing

Europe, at a time of strained relationships

modern

the Church? Luckily for us, many ambitious

with

have attempted to answer that question,

scholars

V. Raman, among others, argues

Varadaraja

this separation does not appear so strongly

that

other religious and cultural contexts. While

in

science emerged in Western Europe

modern

discoveries that appeared to clash with

with

Church, laying the foundation for the

the

that underpins most contemporary

secularism

democracies, this did not happen

Western

Raman (quoted in Tippett 2007) says

elsewhere.

“Eastern” religious traditions had “a clear

the

of what constitutes religious

understanding

inside experience on the one hand,

knowledge

what may be called intellectual, analytical,

and

knowledge” on the other. He uses an

secular

to describe the relationship between

analogy

and religion: if we conceive of the

science

as a poem, science provides the tools to

universe

the structure, rhyme and metre of the

understand

but it does not tell us the poem’s meaning,

poem,

answer the question about why the poem

or

cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne

“Le

point.”

connaît

thinkers over the centuries have argued that

Many

world is too complex for us to put everything

the

the straitjacket of reason”, as Raman (quoted

“in

Tippett 2007) calls it. The successes of modern

in

he argues, have led to an addiction

sciences,

rationality, whereas the religious experience

to

the unravelling of the mystery of existence.

is

enables us to look at human events in

Religion

6

I.4 Religion and science: Competing

answers and complementary questions

we ask our questions aects the answers

How

arrive at. … [S]cience and religion … ask

we

(Tippett 2010)

and we will not dwell on it in depth.

and science ask altogether different questions.

exists. In his telling, that comes from religion.

(“The heart has its reasons which

reason doesn’t understand.”)

(Blaise Pascal)

these practices were not thought of as opposed

“transrational” terms—transrational being that

144

is beyond rationality or irrationality, such

which

compassion, love, reverence and faith. Do you

as

with this dichotomy that Raman is posing?

agree

or whynot?

Why

status does religious knowledge have in

What

of legitimacy and reliability in comparison

terms

the other areas of knowledge? What contextual

to

affect its status? Why is it not considered

factors

area of knowledge? How would you respond

an

claims that non-Abrahamic traditions, or

to

religions, as Raman argues, are more

“Eastern”

with the scientific pursuit of knowledge?

aligned

explore this line of enquiry further, refer to

To

(2010) and Wallace (2003).

Capra

especially in its pop culture

Buddhism,

is often framed in psychological

imagining,

as a “science of the mind”, or alternatively

terms,

more of a philosophy than a religion. Even

as

early as 1974, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

as

predicted that “Buddhism will come to

had

West as a psychology” (quoted in Goleman

the

Perhaps these interpretations of Buddhism

2004).

tell us more about the cultures to

ultimately

it is spreading, than about Buddhism

which

is often perceived as spreading

Globalization

privileged set of knowledges and cultures

a

the world. How have religious

around

and practices met this force?

communities

the scope of religious thought expands,

When

some religions becoming global, it is

with

to consider how the global modernized

interesting

of those religions compares with the more

version

contextualized versions at their origin.

locally

religious knowledge be independent from

Can

place and people who produced it? While

the

knowledge can travel far, to what extent

religious

it be understood by those outside of the

can

community? For example, we consider

religious

knowledge issues involved in translation

the

Chapter 4. To what extent can religious

in

be thought of as consistent or truthful,

knowledge

translations and other transfers are used?

when

what extent would you agree that Tibetan

To

in California, and Tibetan Buddhism in

Buddhism

are the same religion? More generally, how

Tibet,

religious knowledge spread, and how might

does

we mentioned the enduring pluralism of

Earlier,

practices in the modern world. There

religious

today over a million Buddhists in North

are

the vast majority of whom were not

America,

to the faith. In Europe, there is a significant

born

population—tens of millions—and

Muslim

in places such as the Netherlands. Across

rising

world, practitioners and believers of

the

faiths are sharing space. Are religious

different

encountering one another and

knowledges

into conversation any differently from

entering

ways they have in the past?

the

many places around the world, religious

In

and identity were until very recently

knowledge

II. Perspectives

I. Scope

II. Perspectives

The very idea that Buddhism had anything to do with

psychology was at the time for most of us in the eld

patently absurd. But that attitude reected more our

own naivete than anything to do with Buddhism.

(Goleman 2004)

itself.

it change in response to being spread?


II.1 Engaging with religious multiplicity

inherited; they were forms of learning the values

145

II. Perspectives

practices of the culture in a community or

and

As people become more mobile, comfortable

place.

independent of their home communities, they

and

the opportunity and challenge of crafting their

face

and/or religious identities. Some people

spiritual

places have come into this faster than others,

and

to sociologist Peter Berger, for most of

According

people would rarely, if ever, encounter

history,

of a different religion; to be of a certain

someone

in a given village would be self-evident,

religion

inevitable and taken for granted. With

natural,

and secularism, people had the

globalization

opportunity of imagining other possibilities.

new

describes modernity as “a gigantic

Berger

from destiny to choice” in which

transformation

“must choose what they believe, how

people

define themselves, how they are to live”

they

in Tippett 2006a). People now encounter

(quoted

even neighbours, with very different

others,

beliefs and world views. Has this

religious

how we value and perceive religious

changed

What else has been affected?

knowledge?

cosmopolitan cities around the world,

In

diversity is being championed and

religious

as well as feared and resisted. It adds

celebrated,

the richness of human experience as well as

to

the insecurity of those who feel threatened

to

change. Reverend angel Kyodo williams has

by

religious diversity. Where diversity

investigated

been welcomed, williams observes that

has

identities and sense of thriving is not

people’s

on religious sameness. Instead, the

dependent

sense of mobility and spaciousness

heightened

accompanies religious diversity outweighs

that

unease. However, some communities do feel

the

by religious diversity. In light of what

threatened

what it means when people say they

Consider

religious or spiritual, or when they specify

are

What relationship do spirituality and

1.

belief have to knowledge, in

religious

How are religious knowledge

2.

norms, traditions and

communities,

(a) religious people

(b) those who are spiritual but not religious

of the themes within diversity is tolerance,

One

refers not simply to accepting people who

which

different, but also tolerating people who you

are

not like or agree with, or who do seemingly

do

is worth considering what skills might be

It

of the knower in navigating the

required

of religious pluralism effectively and

landscape

We briefly explore the relationship

respectfully.

religious knowledge and the concept

between

truth below. How might we evaluate the

of

6

For ref lection

The spiritual and religious

that they are spiritual but not religious.

creating another layer of friction.

terms of:

(a) what is considered a reliable source of

knowledge

who has the authority and/

(b)

legitimacy to decide what is

or

knowledge?

institutions seen differentlyby:

(c) those who are neither spiritual nor

religious?

strange or nonsensical things.

you have read, why might this be the case?

competing claims of different religions?

Does religion seek truth?

intellectual tradition has broader meaning, as well as

specic connotations. Learn more about the relationship

What kind of knowledge is religious knowledge? There

between ‘ilm and the pursuit, acquisition and application

are diverse perspectives about how knowledge is

of knowledge by following the link.

perceived in religious traditions and in, for example,

mainstream pop culture, TOK and the IB Diploma

Search terms: Islamic concept of

knowledge al-islam

Programme. Consider the Arabic word ‘ilm (

), which is

commonly translated as “knowledge”, but in the Islamic

146

religious experience, as far back as we can take

All

none of it is pure, authentic, unadulterated. The

it,

practised in the year 100 is radically unlike

Christianity

practice now. Christians don’t always like to

Christian

that, but it’s so. Same thing is true of Judaism.

admit

thing is true of all the great religious traditions.

Same

Hinduism, various schools of thought have dierent

In

for what constitutes valid knowledge (pramā)

criteria

invalid knowledge (apramā); and what are

and

sources of knowledge.

legitimate

the diversity of religious intellectual traditions,

Given

the distinct ways each of them approaches

and

about where knowledge comes from, and

questions

knowledge is valid, does it make sense to speak

what

religious knowledge as one thing? Are the various

of

more similar than they are dierent? Some

religions

those who suggest the answer is “yes” start from

of

assumption of a fundamental truth underlying all

an

sentiment drove the Mughal Emperor Abū al-Fath

This

al-Di Muh ammad Akbar to convene interreligious

Jalāl

among adherents of Islam, Hinduism,

dialogues

Judaism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism

Christianity,

his court in the second half of the 16th century. At

at

the same time, Jean Bodin imagined a similar

around

between seven sages, including a Roman

conversation

a Lutheran, a Calvinist, a Jew, a Muslim, as well

Catholic,

a natural philosopher and a sceptic in Colloquium

as

Seven about Secrets of the Sublime.

ofthe

were early attempts to discern a common

These

amid all the religious dierence. Echoes of this

core

appear in the eld of comparative religion,

sentiment

in eorts to promote religious tolerance through

and

dialogue and education. The claim is that if

interfaith

religions share a common core of true beliefs, then

all

search for and nd this would be promising in terms

to

promoting mutual understanding and overcoming

of

conict. And, not insignicantly, adherents

religious

dierent religious faiths would have less reason to

of

the truthfulness of other faiths. In light of this,

doubt

the role of truth in religious knowledge—is truth

examine

that religions disagree about or is it a unifying

something

of religious knowledge?

factor

the coloration of their time and temperament and

on

the local color, as much as anything can. So any

of

of a one—of a true, authentic faith always

notion

us backwards towards fundamentalism. And

leads

is a betrayal of the varieties of religious

fundamentalism

not an assertion of them.

experience,

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

religious dierence.

A religious assembly of dierent faiths at the court

Figure 6.3

of Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556–1605), miniature painting by

Nar Singh circa 1605)

II.2 Multiple perspectives

They have changed within themselves, have taken

(Gopnik quoted in Tippett 2017)

147

religious knowledge lose something, or

Does

something, if it changes over time? How has

gain

understanding and perception of religious

our

changed over time?

knowledge

studies scholar Reza Aslan has

Religious

what it means for religion to change,

considered

in Islam. Islam’s prophets, he

particularly

are “intimately connected to the worlds

says,

of which they arise”, and the transition

out

one world, or era, to another has been

from

a “reformation”. Aslan’s assertions are

called

and invite us to think carefully

provocative,

the relationship between religious

about

and the past, and the role and

knowledge

of individuals in the development of

influence

knowledge. Aslan expresses some of his

religious

especially Aslan’s final point above,

Consider

the tension between the influence of

regarding

versus the influence of individuals

institutions

how a religion is defined. The history

on

religion is rich with stories about how

of

and institutions gain and lose the

individuals

and authority to make claims about

legitimacy

knowledge. What gives legitimacy to

religious

lose authority? How has this varied over

and

and across contexts?

time

we encountered the view of Stephen

Earlier,

who talks about Buddhism without

Batchelor,

What does it mean for individuals to

belief.

religion in whatever manner they want

interpret

To what extent is this a religious, political

to?

moral freedom, and how does it variously

or

around the world? Because stewards

manifest

religious systems can wield significant power,

of

problem of competing interpretations can

the

to power struggles and violence—between

lead

between institutions, and between

individuals,

and individuals.

institutions

to Aslan, this process of reformation,

According

“passing of institutional authority into

the

hands”, has been ongoing in

individual

since the end of the colonial era. For

Islam

prior to that, the religious authorities

14centuries

maintained a firm grip on the meaning

had

teaching of Islam, for example because

and

a few people could actually read the

only

As the authority of different religious

Qur’an.

has weakened, across the world,

institutions

to factors including better education,

due

communication between communities

literacy,

democratic governance systems, more

and

have asserted themselves. Now

interpretations

around the world are living “their faith

Muslims

enormous diversity and eclecticism” (Aslan

in

in Tippett 2014) against a backdrop of

quoted

that are still trying to understand

nation-states

religion fits alongside a constitution, a legal

how

and human rights.

system

multiplicity of interpretations has the

This

to promote tolerance and pluralism,

potential

it can also lead to strife. In the absence of a

but

religious authority, such as a Muslim

centralized

or Vatican to mediate over 1.6 billion people,

Pope

debate can become a cacophony of voices

the

one another. As a result of all this,

outshouting

speaks of multiple Islams and disputes the

Aslan

of a monolithic Islamic World, a notion

existence

has become a “fact” of religion, history and

that

interchangeably used with another

geography,

invented term—“the Arabworld”.

recently

6II. Perspectives

views as follows.

There’s this misunderstanding, amongst most people

of faith that prophets sort of grow up in some kind

of cultural or religious vacuum. That a prophet is

somebody that just plopped down to earth from

heaven, and with a ready-made message, in which

they found a brand new religion. But prophets don’t

invent religions. Prophets are reformers of the

religions that they themselves grow up in.

Jesus did not invent Christianity. Jesus was a Jew. He

was reforming Judaism.

The Buddha did not invent Buddhism. The Buddha

was a Hindu. He was reforming Hinduism.

When we use the term reformation, what we mean is

the fundamental conict that is inherent in all religious

traditions, as I say, between who gets to dene the

faith. Is it the institution? Or is it the individuals?

(Aslan quoted in Tippett 2014)

religious claims? How do claims-makers gain

148

we talk about physics, biology,

When

mathematics, history, the visual

economics,

and psychology, we refer to domains of

arts

that are generally consistent and

knowledge

coherent. This makes it possible to

internally

of one physics and one mathematics—but

talk

we talk about one Christianity or one Islam

can

the same way?

in

Aslan's view on the matter in the

Consider

of Islam:

context

… there is very little that Muslims

“

the world have in common with

around

other. … people will say, well, they all

each

in the Qur’an, but … [t]he Qur’an

believe

a scripture. ... And so people are going

is

come at it quite differently, depending

to

their own prejudices and preconceived

on

notions.

can say, well, but they don’t all pray

You

same way? Well, no, actually they

the

does gender intersect with religion?

How

are powerful dimensions of identity as

Both

as markers of power and privilege. The

well

“devout Muslim” and “feminist” are

terms

imagined to be in opposition,

stereotypically

are clearly not necessarily so. This section

but

at extracts about women in Christianity

looks

Islam, but is just a small window into a very

and

all pray the same way. The Shia pray

don’t

times, the Sunni pray five times,

three

is some difference in the rituals of

there

prayer. the

don’t they all follow Islamic law?

Well,

There’s six different schools of Islamic

No.

and even within those schools, there’s

law,

diversity of opinion, and idea.

enormous

don’t they all believe that the same

Well,

Don't they all believe there is no

thing?

but God, and Muhammed is God’s

god

Yes, but many of them think of

messenger?

have trouble even saying the word

I

I mean, the scholar in me wants to

‘Islam.’

an ‘s.’ Wants to say ‘Islams’.” (Aslan

add

in Tippet 2014)

quoted

exists within many religions today.

Pluralism

has it shown up in your context? What are

How

implications of variety and disagreement

the

religions for religious knowledge?

within

the implications of religious doctrine

twofold:

women in religious communities, as well as

for

representation and prominence of women

the

the history of religious thought. As we move

in

this section, consider to what extent

through

in religious knowledge communities face

women

or different issues compared to women

similar

the arts, in science and technology or in the

in

this chapter considered how religion has

Earlier,

over time, and continues to change, in

changed

to forces of modernity. The status and

response

of women have also changed dramatically,

rights

in the 20th century. To the extent that

particularly

has been a strong reaction against feminism,

there

example, it has at times been framed in

for

terms, around issues of reproductive

religious

and modesty. Consider, for example, the

health

lines from Genesis 3:16, which tell

following

story of God’s punishment of Adam and

the

(thelines below refer only to Eve) for their

Eve

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

For discussion

Diversity of opinion

that phrase in vastly different ways.

II.3 Women and religion

historical profession.

Original Sin.

complex and important topic. The issue is at least

149

what extent can we comprehend the words

To

in our present cultural and historical

above

Chapter 8 considers the long and

moment?

history of the politics and science of

gendered

pain. The quote from Genesis provides

women’s

religious perspective on this that is neither

a

nor divergent from the historical

surprising

Even monarchs were not spared this

narrative.

the Church of England was unwilling

treatment:

endorse Queen Victoria’s use of anesthetics

to

giving birth to her children. Reportedly,

while

response was to take the anesthetics anyway.

her

denial of women’s pain remains, bizarrely,

The

issue in both science and society, and one that

an

the West, rising levels of divorce, teen

In

and single-parent households have

pregnancy

been blamed on a “feminist” undermining

also

the sanctity of marriage, through birth

of

and women’s rights to choose whether,

control

and with whom to have children. Across

when

section illuminates some tensions and

This

about the extent to which

disagreements

knowledge has changed over

religious

Consider how you would evaluate the

time.

knowledge changes significantly

“Religious

time.” over

knowledge largely remains stable

“Religious

time.” over

What kind of examples and arguments

1.

you offer in support of each of these

can

class, religion and political affiliation

contexts,

collided over the issue of women’s rights.

have

according to Rebecca Chopp, a

However,

theologian, the institution of marriage

feminist

Christianity has been transformed many

in

through history, including recent North

times

history. She asserts that men and

American

lived shorter lives in the 19th century,

women

that the average American marriage lasted

and

than ten years. Step-parenting, second

less

and blended families were common

marriages

up until the 1950s, at which point a new

even

of stable nuclear families was adopted into

ideal

culture. That ideal has been crumbling for a

US

of years. As Chopp puts it, there is no

number

tradition”—marriage has been reinvented

“one

times. The introduction and wide

multiple

of contraceptive pills, for example,

acceptance

shifted the foundations of marriage.

profoundly

intimacy that formed and sustained

The

and the legal structures that formed

marriages,

it, were no longer tightly bound. To put it

around

physical intimacy was suddenly possible

simply,

very low risk outside of marriage and within

at

there was more choice about how many

marriage

to have and when.

children

Analyse and evaluate the evidence. What

2.

you say about the factors that influence

can

(a) What conclusion can you draw based

3.

your analysis?

on

In TOK you will be asked to draw

(b)

between different types of

comparisons

How does your conclusion

knowledge.

religious knowledge compare to

about

you might be able to say about

what

or Indigenous knowledge?

scientific

6II. Perspectives

the woman the Lord God said, I will greatly increase

To

pains in childbearing and in pain you shall

your

forth children. Yet your desire shall be for your

bring

and he shall rule over you.

husband,

3:16)

(Genesis

communities have responded by

Religious

marriage support systems and pro-

providing

marriage, pro-family, pro-abstinence movements.

may be partly rooted in religious assumptions.


the extent of the change over time?

following claims.

claims?

150

and religion will continue to adapt

Marriage

these social forces. Already, in just a few

to

the legal and social legitimacy and

years,

of marriage have been conferred to

benefits

partnerships in a number

non-heteronormative

countries, bringing about the possibility

of

satisfying relationships with strong family

of

to situations where this was

dynamics

legally or culturally impossible.

previously

some contexts religious arguments have

In

used in support of or against these

been

developments.

can we evaluate the diverse and sometimes

How

claims made about what religious

opposing

says about women or how women

knowledge

in religious practice? We can, of

participate

look at the claims-makers and critically

course,

their perspective, motivations and gaps.

assess

Ahmed, a professor at Harvard Divinity

Leila

suggests that we might also wish to

School,

the questions to which the claims are

consider

responding.

I get constantly called and asked to explain

…

Islam oppresses women; I have never yet

why

called and asked, ‘Why is it that Islam has

been

seven women prime ministers or heads of

produced

…?’ I don’t think it’s really entirely innocent.

state

think it’s about political power and how we want to

I

the second decade of the 20th century, a

In

of politicians across Europe targeted

number

wearing of a veil—in different forms,

the

hijab, niqab or burqa, among others—

called

Muslim women. Western news media

by

extensively covered the “liberation” of

also

and Iraqi women during the US war

Afghan

terrorism. Ahmed describes this as history

on

what was disturbing there was to see the replay of

…

the British Empire did in Egypt 100 years ago. …

what

I need to invoke here is the belief at the end of the

what

century that the veil symbolized the oppression

19th

Muslim women. It’s part of the mythology of that era

of

which whatever was being done in another country,

in

countries that they dominated, whether it was India

the

sub-Saharan Africa or the Muslim countries, however

or

women dressed there it was the wrong thing. In

the

Africa, they didn’t wear enough clothes;

sub-Saharan

didn’t dress the way European Victorian women

they

In the Middle East, they wore too many

dressed.

So the veil in the West … became the emblem

clothes.

how uncivilized Islam was … .

of

recounts that Lord Cromer, the British

Ahmed

in Egypt a century ago, had

administrator

about “telling people how Egyptian

gone

ought to be”, liberating Egyptian

society

from the veil so that their men would

women

“civilized”. At the same time, Cromer

become

the founder and President of the Society

was

to Women’s Suffrage, inEngland.

Opposed

didn’t think women ought to have the vote. He

He

Victorian society was perfect as it was, with a

thought

ruling over everything, and that is a society

patriarch

ought to be spread across the world. And in the

that

and veils have been, of course,

Headscarves

by women of different religions and in

used

parts of the world: by Zorastrans

different

Iran, among Christians across the Middle

in

and in various faiths across the Indian

East

Veils are a clear example of the

subcontinent.

of religious, gender and cultural

entanglement

and markers. The visible aspects of

identities

identity interact with politics in ways

religious

raise important TOK questions.

that

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

(Ahmed quoted in Tippett 2006)

represent Islam.

name of that, Muslim women had to unveil.

(Ahmed quoted in Tippett 2006b)

(Ahmed quoted in Tippett 2006)

repeating itself, stating:

151

II. Perspectives

one, it allows strangers to know that a

For

belongs to a particular religious group,

person

to make assumptions about that person’s

and

Under what circumstances might

beliefs.

of religious groups want to emphasize

members

de-emphasize their religious identities? To

or

extent is what we know about religions

what

by their visible aspects?

influenced

Religion, power and the politics

II.4

knowledge

of

spread of religious knowledge is part

The

the histories of conquest, imperialism

of

colonialism. However, the relationship

and

our knowledge about religions and

between

histories is often less obvious, or even

these

erased. How have these political

deliberately

affected our collective knowledge

processes

religious practices? As a result of their

about

what might be misrepresented,

influence,

or altogether missing from

underrepresented

Empire of Religion, David Chidester explores

In

fundamental questions.

three

questions are part of academic debates

These

the relationship between knowledge

about

power in the context of religious studies.

and

explores religious knowledge

Chidester

in the context of power relations—

production

imperial and Indigenous. He shows

colonial,

newly converted Indigenous informants

how

with missionaries, and how foreign

worked

became “local experts”, to produce

travellers

and reports on Indigenous religions

surveys

the colonial administrators and imperial

for

These were the raw materials, says

theorists.

that gave birth to the discipline of

Chidester,

studies, which placed itself in a point

religious

time between an imagined primitive past of

in

belief and the future triumph of the

Indigenous

history of religious knowledge invites

This

to consider what questions we should be

us

about the knowledge coming from

asking

studies. What are the constraints

religious

limitations of academic knowledge about

and

and its supposed objectivity and

religion,

Which is a more reliable source of

neutrality?

about religion—academic study

knowledge

a secular lens, or religious authorities

through

leaders?

and

6

colonial civilizing project.

our understanding of religion?

How is knowledge about religion and religions

produced? How is that knowledge authenticated?

How is that knowledge circulated?

(Chidester 2003)

152

individuals, communities and authorities

Many

to have religious knowledge. In this section

claim

explore the various ways in which religious

we

is acquired, produced and shared. As

knowledge

read on, consider what gives religious claims

you

claims-makers legitimacy. On what basis

and

religious knowledge be claimed, and what

can

as good evidence for it?

counts

know, it feels good to pray, you

You

as well.

might

knowledge systems very often have

Religious

component of personal practice, variously

a

“inner work”, meditation and prayer.

called

what extent does the knowledge arising

To

this practice—the questions, answers,

from

observations and so on—have a

thoughts,

and status comparable to that of other

validity

of knowledge? Does religious knowledge

areas

from practice, or is the practice itself a

arise

of knowledge, regardless of its results? Is

form

ability to perform a religious ritual as much

the

as knowledge?

skill

– Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s

Shunryu

has notably said that gaining religious

Mind,

by gathering information, as is

knowledge

when people attempt to learn

customary

is a way to “end up not knowing

something,

at all” (2011). To understand Zen

anything

he argues, one should not try

Buddhism,

gather as many pieces of information as

to

but rather to clear one’s mind. This

possible,

has been embraced and trivialized by a

idea

of pop culture artefacts, from Hollywood

range

kids to self-help books. Suzuki refers to

karate

information is processed as an echo of preexisting

new

beliefs and ideas, and true learning is

Many spiritual and religious teachers

impossible.

guides echo the apparently contradictory

and

of knowing and unknowing ourselves, of

ideas

trying to become something but becoming

not

nonetheless. How is the process of

something

this knowledge similar to, different

learning

or incomparable to learning knowledge of

from

forms?

other

the beginner’s mind there are many

“In

but in the expert’s there are

possibilities,

How might a “beginner’s” interpretation

1.

this quote differ from an expert’s?

of

What does it mean for knowledge in

2.

to have accuracy?

religions

To what extent does the concept of

3.

apply to religious knowledge?

reliability




III.1 Acquiring and transferring

knowledge in religion

(Epicurus 341–270 bce)

Figure 6.4 Shunryu Suzuki

For discussion

Beginner’s mind

few.” (Suzuki 2011)

achieving “emptiness”; if the mind is unclear,

153

the context of perspectives, it is interesting

In

consider the engagement of children with

to

knowledge. The child psychiatrist Robert

religious

has built a career writing books about the

Coles

spiritual, political and moral lives

psychological,

children. He asserts that young children may be

of

spiritual than we recognize, that they have a

more

curiosity and interest that aligns with how

natural

born to religious families—whether

Children

are Sikh, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian,

they

Jewish or Hindu—are typically involved

Jain,

the culture of their religion from childhood.

in

knowledge is most often inherited or

Religious

down from parent to child in this way.

passed

children are taught that their parents’

Many

is the one true faith. When religious

religion

is non-contestable, can we still say

teaching

what is being taught is knowledge? More

that

what is the role of contestabilityand

generally,

in producing religious knowledge?

disagreement

is the language of God, all else is poor

Silence

translation.

has played a key role in the spread

Language

religious knowledge, and the processes by

of

religious knowledge is passed down,

which

through spoken or written traditions.

whether

these processes acquire or lose legitimacy

How

authority are rife with knowledge issues.

and

is language essential to knowing something

But

or to sharing it? To what extent is

religiously,

a sufficient means for expressing and

language

religious knowledge?

sharing

traditions often spread to new audiences

Religious

translation. What opportunities and risks

through

from acquiring religious knowledge in a

arise

other than the original?

language

learning in religious

Language

practice

terms: Divine

Search

language learning

words

the gap between religious teachings

Closing

one’s personal practice can be a powerful

and

for learning the language in which

motivator

religious tradition developed. Consider this

a

about learners of Hebrew, Arabic and

article

Tibetan who are hoping to connect

classical

their religions, and the questions that

with

motivating them.

are

To what extent can the nuances of

1.

language be translated?

religious

Does being able to understand a religious

2.

in multiple languages:

text

(a) promote new interpretations

(b) promote more precise interpretation?

whether and how much people trust

(a)

translation of a religious text

a

how people might decide between

(b)

translations without

competing


religion looks at the world.

our eort in this planet as creatures who have a

It’s

and use language to ask questions and answer

mind

through speculation, through story-telling …

them

do we come from? What are we? … [T]hose

Where

questions inform religious life and

fundamental

the lives of children …

inform

(Coles quoted in Tippett 2009)

Making connections

Translating religious texts

4 explores how the practice of translation in

Chapter

part depends on what is being translated. What

large

the quality of translation of a religious

determines

as compared to other types of text? Is language

text,

enough to qualify or give legitimacy to

uency

aspiring to be a translator of religious texts?

someone

For discussion

inreligious practice

III.2 Religious knowledge and language

(Rumi 1207–1273)

3. Which factors determine:

speaking the source language?

154

the 21st century the task of explaining nature

In

largely fallen to science, but this is a relatively

has

occurrence. Explanations of natural

recent

have occupied religious thought and

phenomena

1967 Clarence Glacken published a fairly

In

account of the relationships

comprehensive

religion and nature in the Western

between

This inspired other investigations into

world.

environmental impacts of Western culture,

the

philosophy and science. These works

religion,

“an epic struggle in Western culture

portray

organicist and mechanist worldviews

between

between those who view the natural world as

…

sacred and having intrinsic value, and

somehow

who view the Earth as a way station to a

those

realm beyond the Earth …” (Glacken

heavenly

Religion was viewed as both culprit and

1967).

in the environmental destruction story.

saviour

in 1967 Lynn White published an article

Also

argued that Abrahamic religions (Judaism,

that

and Islam) perpetuated modes

Christianity

living that were inherently damaging to

of

environment, and argued, like Toynbee a

the

later, that the solution to this problem

decade

also be essentially religious” (White

“must

In these authors’ view, Buddhism or

1967).

were more sensitive to nature than

Paganism

prevailing monotheism. Combined with

the

forces of the era, the existential threat

cultural

the Cold War, and growing alarm about

of

degradation, this all made

environmental

more curious about and receptive

Westerners

non-Western religious traditions. Max Weber

to

had already traced capitalism’s unbridled

(1958)

Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism and

ideas.

belief systems and traditions showed

Indigenous

to offer more environmentally sensitive

up

and behaviours.

values

view was romantic and simplistic—

White’s

religions were causing environmental

Western

and Asian or Indigenous traditions

destruction

inherently nature-friendly. Yi Fu Tuan

were

an influential article in 1968 disputing

published

ideas, noting that deforestation predated

these

that Asian nations did not have a

Christianity,

impressive environmental record,

particularly

that many regions of the world had

and

environmental decline, scaled for

witnessed

numbers, well before the arrival of

population

Western civilization.

modern

scholars agree that nature plays a role

Numerous

shaping religion, and vice versa, but there is

in

less agreement on the important

comparatively

These include whether religion helps or

details.

adaption to the environment, and the

hinders

of this influence in relation to other

strength

features. For decades, anthropologists

cultural

been investigating the role of religion and/

have

spiritual beliefs in Indigenous Peoples’ ability

or

thrive in their environmental contexts. A

to

evolutionary argument is based on “the

common

of the most sustainable”—or the idea

survival

culture is a set of adaptations to a specific

that

and that religions evolved to guide

environment,

towards successful adaptations. This was

people

view of anthropologist Julian Steward, who

the

Indigenous Peoples in North America’s

studied

Basin. Another anthropologist, Marvin

Great

stated in the 1960s that the sacredness of

Harris,

in India was ecologically advantageous,

cows

to sustain the nutrient cycles of agroecosystems

serving

and the carrying capacity of the land.



III.3 Religion and nature

The present threat to mankind’s survival can be

removed only by a revolutionary change of heart in

individual human beings. This change of heart must

be inspired by religion in order to generate the will

power needed for putting arduous new ideals into

practice.

(Toynbee quoted in Porritt 1984)

practice, and been reflected in it, for millennia.

Harris subsequently generalized as follows.

Beliefs and rituals that appear to the nonanthropological

observer as wholly irrational, whimsical, and even

maladaptive have been shown to possess important

positive functions and to be the dependent variable of

recurrent adaptive processes.

(Harris 1971)

consumption of natural resources to religious

155

view has been criticized for being overly

This

and simplistic and for perpetuating

romantic

of Indigenous Peoples as

conceptions

It also ignores the stark fact of the

unscientific.

decline in animal populations (tigers,

dramatic

and elephants, for example) that has been

rhinos

by demand in some traditional medicine

driven

While anthropologists may celebrate

systems.

and Indigenous knowledge

nature-religions

generally, it is another thing to use

systems

to judge which of these are better or

science

for the environment. Yet, that task may be

worse

relationship between nature and religion

The

difficult to untangle and loaded with

is

implications, especially so in the

political

and anti-colonial discourses.

decolonizing

are clearly individuals, groups and

There

structures that would benefit from

power

or understating the importance

overstating

religion in shaping human culture and our

of

with the environment. But the

relationship

can shine a light on our way forward,

debate

offering hope against the existential

perhaps

of climate and ecological crises.

threat

number of terms refer to the category of

A

and spiritual traditions that are

religious

as more environmentally sensitive.

described

include natural religion, nature worship,

These

religion, Animism, Paganism, Heathenry,

Earth

and Pantheism. This category has

Druidry

historically viewed by Western culture as

been

and in the case of Paganism even as

primitive,

for failing to understand (or rejecting) the

evil,

as God’s creation and for worshipping

universe


connections

Making

Indigenous knowledge and nature

Religion,

is a sub-eld of anthropology that

Ethnobotany

in early 20th-century attempts by

originated

to document the uses of plants

anthropologists

Indigenous Peoples. This research gradually

by

to study how plants were used to sustain

expanded

health of people and their communities,

the

their environment, sometimes through

including

spiritual connection. It is related to Indigenous

a

systems generally, and traditional

knowledge

ecological knowledge (TEK) specically, which

involves the knowledge gained by Indigenous

Peoples in their interactions with the environment

over time. Ecological knowledge is sometimes

inseparably connected to religious beliefs

and practices.

Many leading scholars in the eld have asserted

that TEK can lead to sustainable use of natural

resources. Some researchers also believed that

within these religious practices were important

spiritual truths that did more than advance

environmental sustainability. This was a signicant

shift in how mainstream scientic culture

saw Indigenous Peoples, but it was also

criticized, as noted earlier, for its simplistic and

romantic perspective.

inevitable, and much needed.

elements of God’s creation rather than God.

156

however, posed a strong counter

Romanticism,

this perspective in 18th-century Europe,

to

leaders in Jean Jacques Rousseau, Samuel

with

Coleridge and Johann Wolfgang von

Taylor

They developed a philosophy of

Goethe.

that rejected the “destructive, dualistic

nature

reductionistic worldviews, which they

and

to be a central feature of Western

considered

(Taylor 2005). Indigenous Peoples

civilization”

nature religions were seen as more sensitive

and

nature, egalitarian and less greedy, an idea

to

was problematically known as the “noble

that

humans outside of

savage”—uncorrupted

and therefore beacons of humanity’s

civilization

Paganism has seen renewed

Contemporary

in recent decades coinciding with alarm

interest

environmental destruction. Groups of

about

Neopagans have attempted to

self-identified

their traditions into defined and selfcontained

solidify

religions, with nature-based spiritual

and with a sacred feminine principle

paths,

of the male divine principle of the

instead

God. Paganism shares beliefs and

Abrahamic

with other nature revering movements

politics

as Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism and

such

become an:

has

religions were long condemned for

Nature

misinformed or downright evil and

being

belief systems. The tables appear to

dangerous

turned, with those who subscribe to nature

have

criticizing mainstream religions for

religions

failings.

environmental

much of the same political space as

Occupying

nature-religionists are those who believe

the

scientific narratives could be framed as

that

narratives with life-revering ethics and

sacred

Instead of longing for and loving

spirituality.

these narratives describe a spiritual

God,

to the Earth, the biosphere or the

attachment

As examples, consider how adherents

cosmos.

the Gaia theory, developed by atmospheric

to

James Lovelock, conceive of the

scientist

as a self-regulating organism with a

biosphere

metaphysics of interdependence. Such

necessary

are being, to an extent, incorporated

narratives

existing world religions as well as into new

into

it should be obvious why nature so

Perhaps

attracts human religious attention.

consistently

the late 19th century, E.B. Tylor coined the

In

“Animism” for the category of beliefs

term

the elements and forces of the natural

that

are inspirited; that is, they have spirits

world

engage with human beings. This was

that

referred to as totemism, considered by

earlier

as one of the earliest religious

anthropologists

that described a feeling of spiritual

forms,

or kinship between human and

connection

non-humanbeings.



emerging religions.

innate goodness.

United Nations Earth Charter:

Sustainability with spirituality

attractive religious alternative for some non-indigenous

moderns, perhaps especially environmentally

The Earth Charter is an international declaration

of fundamental values and principles for a just,

concerned ones, who value indigenous religious

cultures for their environmental values, but either found

sustainable, and peaceful 21st-century global

society. It was drafted by a United Nations-led

them largely inaccessible, or chose not to borrow from

them because of the often strongly asserted view that

process and endorsed by organizations representing

millions of people globally. It is noteworthy for

eorts to ‘borrow’ from indigenous peoples actually

constitute cultural theft.

language that could be construed as religious, or

nearly religious; as stated on the Earth Charter

(Taylor 2005)

website: “the protection of Earth’s vitality, diversity,

and beauty is a sacred trust”. It could also be

described as a vision of humanism, with emphasis

on human agency, stewardship, responsibility and

cooperation. Humanity is tasked with choosing its

future, which “at once holds great peril and great

promise”, and with recognizing “we are one human

family and one Earth community with a common

destiny” (www.earthcharter.org).

157

David Thoreau was a naturalist, writer

Henry

leading figure in the Transcendentalism

and

movement. His famous 1854 work,

religious

included the phrases “in wildness is

Walden,

preservation of the world” and “Heaven

the

under our feet as well as over our heads”,

is

his belief that nature was a source

asserting

spiritual truth. Thoreau was influential in

of

for a spiritual basis for conservation and

calling

establishing national forest preserves

advocated

would eventually become the world’s

that

National Parks. He was a big influence on

first

Muir, a naturalist, author, environmental

John

and pioneering advocate for the

philosopher

of the wilderness. Muir was one

preservation

the first Europeans to explore Yosemite

of

the wider Sierra Nevada Mountains, and

and

to have found a sacred place where

claimed

could hear the “divine music” of nature.

he

Anderson described Muir as “the

William

of our oneness with the earth”

archetype

Biographer Steven J. Holmes described

(1990).

as “one of the patron saints of twentiethcentury

him

American environmental activity”,

“profoundly shaped the very categories

who

which Americans understand and

through

their relationships with the natural

envision

(1999). Another biographer, Donald

world”

said Muir believed his mission was

Worster,

the Americansoul from total surrender

“saving

in the Wilderness marked a period in the United States of increasing interest in nature untouched by humankind, and the link between

Twilight

purity of nature and spirituality. One contemporary critic described the painting as “Nature with folded hands, kneeling at her evening

this


For discussion

Environmental issues

To what extent have ecosystems shaped

1.

knowledge, and vice versa?

religious

Under what circumstances might

2.

movements be considered

environmental

religious?

How might religious doomsday

3.

and scientific environmental

prophecies

predictions influence each

catastrophe

other?

to materialism” (2008).

Figure 6.5 Twilight in the Wilderness by Frederick Edwin Church (1860). Painted six years after Thoreau’s Walden was published (1854),

prayer” (Longfellow quoted in Sweeney 1989). Religious symbols include: a tree stump (bottom left) as a “wilderness altar” with a cross of

branches and the outline of an angel; three trees (right) symbolizing the three crosses at Calvary. Others interpret the scene apocalyptically,

as a metaphor for environmental abuse and forthcoming civil war.

158

vision of conservation was profoundly

Muir’s

to the extent of seeming religious, and

ideological

with the utilitarian perspective of Gifford

clashed

the first Chief Forester of the United

Pinchot,

Muir emphasized the sacredness of natural

States.

and systems, while Pinchot argued

environments

the responsible, sustainable and equitable use

for

natural resources for the benefit of all citizens.

of

Muir might be characterized as a naturereligionist,

Whereas

Pinchot was a politically progressive

who wanted to help the poor, promote

Christian

and guard against powerful business

democracy

that irresponsibly extracted natural

interests

They thus had much in common, but

resources.

and Pinchot clashed over conflicting values

Muir

views on the management of public land.

and

Pinchot argued that sheep should be able

Whereas

graze the land in Yosemite, Muir considered

to

a desecration of a sacred space. In response,

this

believed Muir “had failed to apprehend

Pinchot

religious duty to develop natural resources for

the

good of humankind” (Taylor 2005).

the

Nash, a historian, described this clash

Roderick

a “spiritual watershed” and evidence that the

as

cult” had become a powerful voice

“wilderness

environmental politics (1967). Muir’s stance

in

conflicts over land management for

influenced

around the world, often excluding the

decades

People, the earliest stewards of the

Indigenous

from the debate entirely and displacing them

lands,

the natural resources they had relied on for

from

The sad irony is that these peoples often

millennia.

nature-oriented religious beliefs and traditions

had

begin with, which called for the sustainable and

to

To what extent has religious knowledge been

1.

to remain relevant to changing world

able

To what extent can we say that religions

2.

beneficent or destructive

promoted

Are some religions intrinsically more

3.

friendly than others?

environmentally

How do the doctrines and traditions of

4.

religions affect whether they can

different

Do some religions have inherent advantages

5.

disadvantages in guiding communities

or

Do unprecedented environmental

6.

call for:

challenges

the production of new religious

(a)

knowledge

the reinterpretation of existing

(b)

knowledge

religious

(c) something else?



“May we live long and die out”

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement aims to

phase out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to

reproduce, to allow Earth’s biosphere to return to good

health. To what extent is this movement religious?

Follow the link to nd out more.

Search terms: VHEMT org

For reflection

Tackling challenges

realities?

relationships with nature?

help or adapt to the climate emergency?

towards sustainable ways of living?

ethical use of land and natural resources.

Making connections

Conservation as colonialism

Section III.3 reveals how the Abrahamic world

religions have been held up to scrutiny for allegedly

underpinning extractive and/or anthropocentric

framings of humankind’s relationship with the

environment. In Chapter 5 we engage with the idea

that Indigenous knowledge in general, and traditional

ecological knowledge (TEK) in particular, have been

increasingly embraced by the conservation community.

159


disasters are frequently called acts

Natural

God, even by insurance companies. The

of

consequences of earthquakes

devastating

volcanic eruptions posed a challenge to

and

long before science could explain

theologians

How did religious explanations account

them.

these events, and how did natural disasters

for


shape

Zelinga de Boer, professor of earth science

Jelle

co-author of Earthquakes in Human History,

and

that ancient Palestine and indeed the

notes

region now known as the Holy Land is

whole

“tectonically unstable region”, with evidence

a

frequent and substantial earthquakes

of

history (de Boer quoted in

throughout

2005).

Tippet,

lead to a frequent religious question:

Disasters

was God when nature destroyed human

where

This question is answered in different

lives?

across the range of religious and spiritual

ways

interpretations of natural disasters

Some

explain them as a form of punishment

frequently

human misconduct. These interpretations

for

evolved over time. Earlier explanations

have

not invoke an omnipotent God’s justice,

did

instead the lashing out of animal spirits

but

De Boer describes how one

underground.

tradition interprets natural disasters not

Japanese

punishments but as naturalistic phenomena

as

by, for example, a giant catfish in the

caused

set of very powerful earthquakes hit

A

USA between December 1811 and

Missouri,

1812. Following the earthquakes

January

a huge increase in participation at local

was

Some estimates suggest that 15,000

churches.

members joined the Methodist Church at

new

time. The earthquakes continued, getting

that

and weaker, for two more years.

weaker

going, so much so that the preachers

stopped

them earthquake Christians.

called

1 November (All Saints Day) 1755 a

On

earthquake struck Lisbon, Portugal,

powerful

as church services were overflowing.

just

the churches and other structures

As

30,000 people died within six

collapsed,

Fires and a tsunami caused the

minutes.

death toll to exceed 100,000 in the

total

following. John Wesley saw it as an

days

severe punishment on a sinful

especially

but that was not a belief widely

population,

by the people of Lisbon and Portugal.

shared

philosophers such as Kant

Enlightenment

Voltaire questioned what kind of God

and

permitsuch devastation and strike

would

devout families. The Lisbon

especiallythe

were mocked for attempting to recover

clergy

and other icons even as the burning

crucifixes

collapsed. The quake challenged

churches

belief in a benevolent God,

Europeans’

the power of the Catholic

weakened

in Portugal and, according to De Boer,

Church

have sent lasting reverberations through

may

as a world power (Portugal had a

Europe

empire) was destroyed overnight.

significant

1756 poem on the disaster of

Voltaire’s

ridiculed the idea of a just God and

Lisbon

the idea that “whatever is,

interrogated

There are still many people who share

isright”.

6

Case study

Natural disasters and explanations in

religious knowledge

Woe to the men on earth who dwell, nor dread th’

Almighty’s frown; when God doth all his wrath reveal,

and shower his judgments down. Lo! from their

seats the mountains leap, the mountains are not

found, transported far into the deep and in the ocean

drowned. Who then shall live and face the throne,

and face the judge severe? When heaven and earth

are ed and gone, O where shall I appear? Firm in the

all-destroying shock may view the nal scene; for lo!

the everlasting Rock is cleft to take us in.

(Christian hymn,

62nd song of John Wesley’s Collected Hymns)

traditions.

Sugami Bay that moves and causes earthquakes.

Voltaire’s philosophy today.

Eventually many of the new church members

160

may be obvious to many of our readers

It

religious knowledge has sometimes

that

enhanced, and at other times utterly

greatly

the wellbeing of peoples, nations

devastated,

cultures throughout history. Religion is

and

brought up in casual as well as formal

frequently

as necessarily entangled with

conversations

of conflict, conquest, subjugation and

forces

Whether God exists or whether

imperialism.

is a force for good or evil are interesting

religion

but not quite within the scope of

questions

Rather, we ask questions such as “How

TOK.

are we that God exists?” and “How can

sure

untangle causation from correlation when

we

at the consequences and implications of

looking

religiousknowledge?”

WRETCHED man, earth-fated to be cursed;

OH

of plagues, and miseries the worst!

Abyss

on horrors, griefs on griefs must show,

Horrors

man’s the victim of unceasing woe,

That

lamentations which inspire my strain,

And

that philosophy is false and vain.

Prove

in crowds, and meditate awhile

Approach

shattered walls, and view each ruinedpile,

Yon

and children heaped up mountain high,

Women

crushed which under ponderous marble lie;

Limbs

unnumbered in the pangs of death,

Wretches

mangled, torn, and panting for their breath,

Who

beneath their sinking roofs expire,

Buried

end their wretched lives in torments dire.

And

when you hear their piteous, half-formed cries,

Say,

from their ashes see the smoke arise,

Or

will you then eternal laws maintain,

Say,

God to cruelties like these constrain?

Which

you these facts replete with horror view,

Whilst

you maintain death to their crimes was due?

Will

IV. Ethics


IV. Ethics

(Voltaire 1755)

I V. E T H I C S

Our situation at the beginning of the 21st century

is like that of Europe at the beginning of the 17th

century. Then, as now, the landscape was littered

with the debris of religious conict. It is fair to say

that religion did not distinguish itself at that time.

The secularization of Europe grew directly out of the

failure of religion to meet the challenge of change. As

one who deeply believes in the humanizing power of

faith and the stark urgency of coexistence at a time

when weapons of mass destruction are accessible to

extremist groups, I do not think we can aord to fail

again. Time and time again in recent years we have

been reminded that religion is not what the European

Enlightenment thought it would become: mute,

marginal, and mild. It is re, and like re, it warms but

it also burns. And we are the guardians of the ame.

(Rabbi Sacks 2003)

161

IV. Ethics

we have an ethical responsibility to gain

Do

of different religions to help us

knowledge

the world and those around us?

understand

question seems straightforward but in

This

involves a few assumptions that have

fact

relating to the ethics of knowledge

implications

idea that the modern state, through a secular

The

to the study of different religions,

approach

promote tolerance and intercultural

can

is fairly widespread among

understanding

and educators, especially in the West.

politicians

where does this idea come from? Why is

But

tolerance assumed to be the result of

religious

education about religious differences rather

an

an education in religious belief? And finally,

than

what extent is this kind of education about

to

the intellectual roots of this idea,

Tracing

Eaghll (writing in Stoddard, Martin

Tenzan

suggests that this is in fact a close

2017)

on Christian ecumenism—the effort of

variation

Christian churches to promote mutual

different

and develop good relations.

understanding

out of an urgent need to calm tensions

Arising

Christian denominations in the

between

of the Reformation, it is understandable

midst

it was an attractive idea, that exploring

why

commonalities among religions can help

the

differences—be they cultural or

overcome

But to what extent is this applicable

political.

a global level today? Given its origins in a

on

context, Eaghll argues, this approach to

specific

education should not be uncritically

religious

globally, at least not as a politically

exported

option.

neutral

alternatives are there? Rather than learning

What

the different dimensions of religious

about

and belief through descriptions of

practice

rituals and teachings of Sikhs, Jains, Jews

the

Buddhists, we would … do what? Eaghll,

or

example, suggests a critical approach to

for

how religion functions ideologically

examining

society. Rather than assuming that exposure

in

descriptions about religious diversity will

to

to tolerance and empathy, he suggests we

lead

analyse how religion is conceptualized

should

categorized, how it is used and misused, and

and

revisiting the question at the beginning of this

So,

perhaps we should be asking instead:

section,

kind of knowledge about religion do we

what

an ethical responsibility to pursue? And

have

kind of approach to learning about religion

what

in service of a global ethic of justice? In relation

is

these questions, consider how the ways you

to

learned about different religions—including

have

chapter—have influenced your attitudes

this

andbeliefs.

6

IV.1 Religious education for tolerance

and mutual understanding

and religion.

religion value-neutral?

how power and politics affect all of this.

162

or without religion, good people can behave well

With

bad people can do evil; but for good people to do

and

religion necessary for morality? To claim

Is

would be to suggest that humans lack

so

moral compass, that in the absence of

a

authority about right and wrong, and

divine

fear of judgment and punishment, we

without

behave in immoral ways. To claim the

would

that humans do have

oppositewouldmean

like a moral compass, independent of

something

teaching and belief, and we would need

religious

explain where that capacity comesfrom.

to

critics of religion—especially those who

Some

as anti-theists—echo the sentiments

identify

by Weinberg above. They cite

expressed

where religion has been used to justify

examples

acts of terrorism, and racial and sexual

slavery,

to show that it is not uncommon for

oppression,

to behave immorally while claiming to

people

God on their side.

have

approach to answering the question of

One

morality requires religion is to consider

whether

societies have become more or less

whether

as religiosity has declined. A common

moral

is that in contemporary societies

observation

religion has retreated, morality has

where

because social institutions and humanist

not,

have filled that space. Indeed, many

traditions

ideas have flourished despite fewer

moral

believing inGod. But this argument fails

people

distinguish causation from correlation; it may

to

be that a rising tide of economic wellbeing

well

the absence of religion, or the guidance

In

God, what systems might we have for

of

human behaviour? A few alternatives

guiding

One example is consequentialism,

apply.

asserts that it is the consequences of

which

conduct that form the basis for moral

one’s

causes a decline in religion and a

simultaneously

in a civic and humanist ethos, with no causal

rise

if belief in God is diminishing,

Even

can offer a moral imagination that

religion

supernatural but nonetheless relevant to

is

This is the idea of being religious

humanity.

to believe but to wonder. Religious fables,

not

and morals speak to how humankind

stories

and navigates the world, teaching

imagines

about us—covering such varied topics as

us

war, leadership, family, economics, lawmaking

food,

andpolitics.

ancestors acknowledged doubt while

“Our

faith. We moderns are drawn to

practicing

(a) To what extent are doubt and faith

1.

exclusive positions in

mutually

this mutual exclusivity apply in

Does

case of other AOKs?

the

What types of knowledge, across TOK,

2.

assumptions and acts of faith to

require

Is there a type of knowledge that is

3.

when questioned, and should

destroyed

protected against questioning? If so,

be

should be allowed to decide what

who

knowledge is, and what are the

that

for governance, human

implications

The emphasis on consequences

judgments.

that laws, guidelines and rules are

means

that is, they can be violated if the

secondary;

justify it. This is in contrast to

consequences

ethics which put rules, behaviour

deontological

duty as central. The moral philosopher

and

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

IV.2 Morality and religion

mechanism between the two.

evil—that takes religion.

(Weinberg 1999)

For discussion

What is the role of doubt in religious

knowledge and morality?

faith while practicing doubt.” (Gopnik 2015)


(b)

be valid?

rights and politics?

Box 6.2: Secular alternatives to religious ethics

163

IV. Ethics

Singer described consequentialism as

Peter

“start not with moral rules, but with goals,

to

assess actions by the extent to which they

[and]

those goals” (Singer 2010).

further

second path towards morality is freethought,

A

philosophy that asserts that science,

a

and reason are the basis for truth and

logic

as opposed to authority, tradition

opinion,

dogma. Freethinkers form their own ideas

or

opinions, unrestrained by deference to

and

social convention and tradition.

authority,

are thus frequently at odds with religious

They

Depending on where they live, this

authorities.

invite violent consequences.

can

third alternative held up to religious

A

is secular humanism, which asserts

ethics

human beings can be ethical and moral

that

religion or God, that humans are not

without

good or evil, nor superior to nature.

inherently

emphasizes human responsibility and the

It

theology emphasizes that social

Liberation

generally, and the liberation of the poor

justice

are important steps towards religious

specifically,

and that justice on Earth (and not just in

goals,

is a key part of this. It developed largely

Heaven)

the context of left-leaning Latin American

in

politics, but has had impacts globally,

Christian

South Africa to Palestine, India and the US

from

theology today closely intersects with

Liberation

politics of anti-colonialism, socialism and

the

and takes on localized anti-oppression

feminism,

in the different contexts where it

agendas

It grew in response to the subjugation

manifests.

forced “civilization” by missionaries of

and

peoples. It is therefore distinct and

colonized

to religious doctrines that value the

contrary

of religious knowledge, in that it

mass-spreading

the agency of the poor and marginalized

centres

For this reason it has been described as

identities.

Marxist approach to Christianity.

a

theology is notable from other

Liberation

justice paradigms in that its theologians

social

consideration of the consequences of

ethical

decisions, primarily through science

human

philosophy. Individuals must scrutinize

and

or religious ideologies, rather than

political

them based on faith, authority or

accept

tradition.

moral values discourse extends beyond,

The

example, gay marriage and abortion to

for

issue of who, or what, is the fundamental

the

of what is right and wrong. As

authority

is increasingly removed from schools,

religion

social news feeds and media complicate

and

relationship with evidence, are we

people’s

risk of being left with moral relativism?

at

polarization in some contexts has

Political

to hyper-religious and hyper-atheist

led

that is hard to make sense of. And

posturing

2020, if someone disagrees with you, they

in

increasingly seen as not just wrong, but

are

too.

immoral

frequently argued that suffering is the

have

as well as the result of oppression. Those

cause

or communities that exhibit violence,

individuals

or intolerance are said themselves to

aggression

suffering, because only suffering can explain

be

departure of humankind from its naturally

the

language has been used to justify

Religious

actions, such as war, in the name of

violent

and justice, good fighting evil.

righteousness

can obscure the complex causes of a conflict,

This

but not limited to access to resources

including

markets, matters of identity and failures

and

diplomacy. “Holy war” classifications of

of

conflict are particularly problematic

armed

sentiments of divine authority and

because

serve to reduce fighters’ restraint

righteousness

dehumanizing the enemy. This has led to gross

by

of human rights. Holy wars do not

violations

human limits, including the possibility

recognize

human leaders might be in error. Dissenters

that

attacked, and those asking for nuance are

are

as having sympathy for the enemy.

dismissed

6

IV.3 Liberation theology

compassionate state.

Civil Rights movement.

IV.4 Religion and violence

164

concept of “just war” traces back to a

The

idea of ethical war formulated by

1600-year-old

Augustine. This idea reconciled his Christian

St

ideals with what seemed to be necessary

ethical

Augustine’s five basic criteria of just

violence.

are as follows.

war

1. Do we have just cause?

2. Do we have the proper authority to carry

3. Is violence our last resort?

4. Does it have a reasonable chance of success?

Can we conduct war with proportionality, so

5.

the means justify the ends?

that

5, the principle of proportionality, requires

Point

civilian lives on both sides are protected, and

that

proved problematic for political and military

has

How many lost civilian lives are too

leaders.

It is an echo of the cost-benefit analysis

many?

we encounter in Chapters 7 and 8.

problem

idea of justice is often talked about in terms

The

seem opposed to the idea of peace. Justice

that

punishment, reparations and difficult

invokes

whereas peace invokes harmony,

changes,

and compassion. Instead of just war, John

balance

Lederach argues that we should understand

Paul

terms: onbeing Elshtain

Search

Orange Justice and

Lederach

Vietnam War started out withthe

The

of US ethicists and theologians,

endorsement

by 1971 even the US Catholic bishops had

but

their resolve. They declared that the means

lost

fighting the war could no longer justify its

of

Religious morality had run up against

goal.

Orange, a US Marine Corps veteran and

Michael

offers the perspective of a soldier in the

author,

War who came to believe that what he

Vietnam

doing was morally wrong. But he has also

was

“[t]hank God it was a morally ambiguous

said

Morally unambiguous wars “should scare

war”.

the idea of “just war” with Ahimsa,

Compare

translated as compassion or non-

variously

a key virtue in Buddhism, Jainism and

violence,

As a concept, Ahimsa recognizes the

Hinduism.

energy of all living beings and asserts

spiritual

to hurt another is to hurt oneself. Mahatma

that

famously channelled this belief into a

Gandhi

strategy in the Indian independence

political

against the British. It also influenced

movement

thinking and strategies of Martin Luther King

the

James Bevel in the American Civil Rights

and

How sits with the need for

movement.

self-defence is a tension explored in the

violent

Hindu texts

and Ramayana.

classical

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

and articulate the notion of a just peace.

IV.4.1 Moral ambiguity in war

just war

consequentialism, and lost.

all of us” (Orange quoted in Tippet 2001).

itout?

IV.4.2 Buddhist monks and military coups

Concepts such as truth, justice, and compassion cannot

be dismissed as trite when these are often the only

bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.

(Aung San Suu Kyi 1995)

165

IV. Ethics

1962, generals seized power in Myanmar

In

known as Burma) in a coup d’état that

(formerly

the beginning of decades of totalitarian

marked

rule. Initially, this regime sought to

military

a secular socialist state, but it could

establish

ignore the deeply entrenched cultural and

not

traditions centred around Buddhism,

religious

have been central to Burmese government

which

generals have had a tense and challenging

The

with the Buddhist monastic order,

relationship

as the sangha. They have donated money

known

monasteries and sought the endorsement

to

religious leaders, but they have also been

of

of periodically killing, imprisoning or

accused

monks and destroying monasteries.

torturing

monks have marched in defiance and

The

offerings, as they did in the September

refused

Saffron Revolution.

2007

that you have reached the end of this

Now

on religion and morality, consider the

section

(a) How would you describe the

1.

between religion and

relationship

is morality known in religion, and

How

whom? by

appears to be a simple

Patta-nikkujjana-kamma

with nothing obviously intimidating about it—it

act

monks simply overturning their bowls—

involves

to those who understand the implications it is

but

act of moral condemnation, of peaceful protest

an

ordinarily detached monks moved to seek

from

One of the tenets of Theravada Buddhism is

justice.

monks must live in relation with the rest of the

that

through alms, or donations of food and other

society

necessities.

is therefore a public

Patta-nikkujjana-kamma

that takes place in front of the oender,

protest

the message that “even if we were

communicating

starve, we would not accept your oerings”. The

to

grievances must be addressed before life can

moral

continue.

To what extent are the different religions

2.

or different in this regard?

similar

Have you ever noticed religion condone

3.

and/or unethical beliefs and

immoral

6

Non-violent moral protest: Pattanikkujjana-kamma

and culture for centuries.

For discussion and reflection

following questions.

actions? If so:

morality?

(a)

how did this dissonance occur

(b)

why was it condoned?

(b)

166

7 Natural

is grandeur in this view of life …,” writes Charles Darwin in the concluding sentence of

“There

the Origin of Species, and this chapter tunes into that sense of wonder of the natural world

On

seen through science, the collaborative enterprise by which we become knowledgeable about

as

planet, the universe and ourselves. In this chapter we will develop tools to critically examine

our

extent to which science has special reporting rights on nature. This chapter also explores and

the

science’s more mundane dimensions: the humble and persistent effort going into messy

recognizes

demanding scientific work. Finally, we aim to develop the sensitivity and capacity that informed

and

need to navigate an increasingly scientific policy landscape.

citizens’

is science, and what is not? Looking at

What

origin of the word—its etymology—does

the

as biology, chemistry, physics and the

it

subjects in group 4 of the IB Diploma

other

Science refers to a body of

Programme.

as well as a method for acquiring

knowledge

knowledge. The term’s origins in the

that

Western intellectual tradition, and its

modern

with knowledge to the exclusion of

conflation

knowledges, has sometimes been a source

other

trouble. Humans have long been asking

of

about the natural world and those

questions

practices started long before

knowledge-making

modernity. This chapter explores the

European

sciences

I . S C O P E

help us very much, as the Latin scientia

not

simply, knowledge. You might know

means,

167

recent human activity called science,

relatively

specific context of its origin, its global

the

its current challenges and the knowledge

reach,

it brings.

that

the natural sciences were described using the

If

of a map, we would see that it does not

metaphor

a fixed territory. Even a term such as “nature”

have

a domain of contestable boundaries. Sir Isaac

is

law of universal gravitation expanded

Newton’s

domain of nature by unifying the terrestrial

the

celestial realms, showing that the same forces

and

on apples on the ground and on the moon

act

the cosmos. More recently, astrobiology has

in

looking for life using eyes in the skies and

been

arms that probe worlds across our solar

robotic

Closer to home, the debate over the scope

system.

science touches on the problem of drawing a

of

between nature and culture—a debate

boundary

way to approximate the boundaries of

Another

science is to consider not what it applies

natural

is practically impossible to prove that a

It

statement is true because to do

universal

would require observing every possible

so

across space and time. It is

example

easy to show that a theory is

comparatively

true. Consider the statement “All swans

not

white”, which would require us to see all

are

in all possible spaces before we accept it

swans

obvious problem with this is that one

The

swan could be hiding somewhere.

black

if we observe millions of white swans,

Even

and perseveringly, the best we

meticulously

say is that the hypothesis is provisionally

can

In contrast, we can more easily prove

accepted.

“Not all swans are white”, by finding one

that

swan. Therefore scientists, according to

black

widely influential work, should focus

Popper’s

contradicting these universal laws, not on

on

but how science is and ought to be done. For

to,

one aim is to distinguish science from

example,

which is what Karl Popper called

pseudo-science,

demarcation problem (demarcation means to

the

a line between things). Popper proposed an

draw

to this problem, arguing that something

answer

scientific if it could be falsified; that is,

was

and proven false. This idea was called

tested

and has had a lasting effect on

falsificationism,

we think about certainty and the nature of

how

tells us that scientific facts and

Falsificationism

can only ever be proven false, not true,

theories

any claim to the contrary is more likely to

and

telemarketing than serious science. Scientific

be

after Popper is tentative, falsifiable

knowledge

replicable. Or is it? Later in this chapter we

and

the extent to which Popper’s definition is

explore

good or even viable way to define science.

a

even the theory “All swans are

However,

which we know to be untrue, is still

white”,

through empirical observation. This

testable

it an example of Popperian science,

makes

pseudo-science. A theory that “All swans

not

secretly communicating with each other

are

overthrowing humankind”, in contrast,

about

not falsifiable—the existence of this secret

is

cannot be proven false. Could

communication

in technology change this in

advancements

future? Advancements in technology and

the

do play a role in separating what is

methods

labelled the set of non-falsifiable claims

Popper

A surprisingly large set of

pseudo-science.

scholarship at the time of his writing,

accepted

as psychology and astronomy, fell under

such

category. Chapter8 explores where that

this

the human sciences. Later, this chapter

leaves

to what extent science actually

questions

through falsification.

progresses

7I. Scope

scientific knowledge.

relevant to the human sciences as well.

Box 7.1: More on falsificationism

as true.

science from what is not.

verifying them.

168

there are significant problems with

While

as a demarcation criterion, it

falsification

as important as ever to be able to tell the

remains

between science and pseudo-science.

difference

can do this activity working on your own,

You

a partner or in a small group. See if you

with

map out science, drawing its boundary

can

other domains of knowledge, such

with

culture, religion and politics. If you are

as

with others, each of you should make

working

own map. Then consider the following

your

questions.

Where does science overlap with the other

1.

domains?

2. What happens in the overlapping zones?

Where is the boundary particularly clear,

3.

dotted or blurry? Describe what

wiggly,

means and why you have drawn or

it

it this way.

imagined

you are doing this exercise with a partner

If

in a group, compare your maps and share

or

you identify as significant similarities and

what

between them.

differences

that you drew a map in the exercise

Supposing

where science is distinct from other ways

above

understanding the world. Consider: how is

of

knowledge different from other types

scientific

knowledge? Brainstorm a few claims you

of

make as answers to this question. Keep

can

mind that your claim should be something

in

can be disputed and argued with. An

that

would be, “Scientific knowledge is

example

reliable as compared with other types of

more

such as knowledge from personal

knowledge,

experience”.

else could we distinguish the methodology,

How

and body of knowledge of science? Why

history

science’s account of reality so often given

is

authority than other accounts?

greater

In your understanding, what makes

4.

knowledge different from other

scientific

How would you describe the relationship

5.

science and the unknown?

between

our map of science may look like,

Whatever

are always scientists working at the edge

there

that map, pushing the frontier. The 2018

of

“The Most Unknown” introduces

documentary

to nine frontier scientists from different

us

fields.

terms: Cheney The

Search

Unknown

Most

Is there something that makes all of the

6.

activities and inquiries in the

different

What did you notice about the ability of

7.

to talk about and understand each

scientists

How would you describe the scientists’

8.

towards knowing and not

attitudes

one of those claims, construct an

Choosing

in favour of your claim. For the

argument

above, a supporting argument

claim

say that the reliability of scientific

might

is due to the methods used to

knowledge

it. produce

your claim and argument with a partner.

Share

consider how you might improve

Together,

claims and arguments, and what are the

your

of a good argument.

characteristics

I. Scope

I. Scope


How would you map out the scope of

types of knowledge?

the natural sciences?

documentary “science”?

other’s work?

knowing?

Next, consider the following questions.

Practising skills: Constructing arguments

169

II. Perspectives

section explores the rich and varied role

This

perspective in the natural sciences. There are

of

perspectives about how science changes

different

time, and how it came to be what it is today.

over

how scientists manage disagreements, and

•

they tend to disagree about

what

how experts and non-experts engage in

•

controversies about science

public

critiques coming from perspectives on

•

that have a history of being excluded

science

knowledge has been instrumental

Scientific

enabling humanity, for better or worse,

in

dominate the planet. It has been said that

to

is power. But what kind of power

knowledge

it? To look more closely at this, we turn

is

the views of Francis Bacon, who is often

to

credited as having first said the words

wrongly

is power”. Although he did not

“knowledge

that word for word, it is likely he agreed

say

it. with

Bacon was an influential statesman and

Francis

in the 17th century who championed

scholar

use of experimentation as a way to gain

the

about the world. Specifically, he

knowledge

that scientific knowledge should

emphasized

gained through empirical observation of

be

in a systematic method that involved

nature,

scientists “exploring nature for

sceptical

truths”. Bacon was fond of metaphors

hidden

often described the natural world in

and

terms, portraying masculine

gendered

bravely venturing out and extracting

scientists

truths “locked in nature’s bosom”. These

the

have come under criticism from

writings

observers in recent years (see II.7 on

some

critiques of science). He also argued

feminist

called “armchair theorizing”—that had

be

widespread in Western scholarship since

been

time. His ideas are widely accepted

Aristotle’s

having contributed to the development

as

the scientific methodologies, and to the

of

of methodical systems of

development

7.1 Titl pag for Novum Organum Sintiarum, 1645, by

Figure

Baon (1561–1626)

Franis

metaphors indicated on the title page of his

The

Novum Organum Scientiarum are significant

work

7


Zooming in, this section looks at:

categorizing knowledge.

from the scientific practice and discourse.

II.1 Is knowledge power?

against the use of conjecture—what might

and revealing (Figure 7.1). The page shows the

170

of Hercules on each side of the Strait of

pillars

in the Mediterranean Sea. The pillars

Gibraltar

said to have been inscribed with the phrase

are

plus ultra, which translates from the Latin

ne

“go no further/nothing lies beyond”. The

to

one leaving and one returning, indicate

galleons,

act of venturing beyond the known limits of

the

of the ancient world. At the bottom,

knowledge

inscription of Biblical origin in Latin says

an

pertransibunt et augebitur scientia: “many

multi

go to and fro, and knowledge shall be

shall

increased”.

to the question of the power of

Returning

knowledge, Bacon would have

scientific

imagined humanity’s dominion over

probably

rather than our domination of it.

nature,

I would address one general admonition to all: that

…

consider what are the true ends of knowledge,

they

that they seek it not either for pleasure of the

and

or for contention, or for superiority to others, or

mind,

prot, or fame, or power, or any of these inferior

for

but for the benet and use of life; and that they

things:

does science change over time? The different

How

to this question reveal valuable insights

answers

practising scientists as well as those learning

for

make judgments about scientific claims. Our

to

of how modern science is done

understanding

challenged just a few decades ago, when

was

Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific

Thomas

in 1962, arguing that science proceeds

Revolutions,

periods of normalcy interrupted by

through

rather than in a linear way. Kuhn

revolutions,

the term “paradigm shift” to describe these

used

that produced new ways of thinking

revolutions

doing within scientific disciplines. He also

and

that science is not as objective as was

argued

is) commonly accepted, because scientific

(and

are in fact defined by what a community

truths

scientists agree to be true. This was vastly

of

from the prevailing view of science at the

different

often called the “Whig history” of science,

time,

a heroic march towards fundamental truths,

as

saw the success of science as self-evident

that

andinevitable.

history was a positivist philosophy of science

Whig

marching forward heroically, adding new truths to

as

existing and ever-growing stock of truths. Progress

an

seen as guaranteed by the scientic method and

was

did Kuhn dismiss scientific objectivity?

Why

understand this, we must understand how

To

described scientific change. He saw

Kuhn

as people who accepted a paradigm

scientists

accounted for accepted truths, concepts

that

investigative practices (that is, they had

and

enculturated into a scientific paradigm by a

been

community). A new idea or discovery

scientific

judged by how similar it was to the existing

was

and discoveries, and judgments

theories

similarity are fundamentally subjective,

about

to Kuhn.

according

might sound strange, especially because

This

clashes with the widespread belief that

it

is about objectively proving theories

science

(falsification). Remember, Popper

wrong

that a single reproducible anomaly (a

argued

inconsistent with a theory) is enough to

result

the theory. Kuhn is famous because he

reject

that science does not work that way,

showed

anomalies are more often “ignored or

because

away”. The case study below gives

explained

examples of this. Why do scientists

several

onto theories when results contradict

hold

Kuhn showed that it was only when

them?

really started to pile up and could

anomalies

longer be ignored, especially if a new theory

no

explain them, that a scientific theory

could

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Whig history

human ability.

perfect and govern it in charity.

(Bacon quoted in Sargent 1999)

II.2 Change over time: Two historical

perspectives on science

171

II. Perspectives

said to be in crisis. A new paradigm was

was

accepted or looked for—the scientific

then

part. How exactly this happened

revolution

from case to case, and could be

differed

by non-scientific factors such

influenced

money, fame, personalities and national

as

does Hacking’s view in the quote above

How

with Popper’s view of science?

compare

influential was Kuhn? Debates about this

How

for years after his book was published,

raged

his views have been influential. Before

but

presented his theory, we had ideals

Kuhn

what science aspires to do. From Kuhn,

about

have a perspective about what scientists

we

do. To understand and evaluate his

actually

we can examine case studies of paradigm

view

and analyse the hows and whys of

shifts,

theiroccurrence.

from the Western scientific tradition of

Examples

last few centuries include:

the

the Copernican revolution in 1542, which

•

that the Earth is not the centre of the

showed

Newton’s model of mechanics replacing

•

theories in 1687

Aristotle’s

the chemical revolution in 1783, in which

•

theories replaced the phlogiston

Lavoisier’s

Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection

•

1859 in

quantum mechanics replacing classical

•

in 1905

mechanics

the theory of electromagnetic radiation

•

1905 in

Einstein’s general relativity replacing

•

gravity in 1919.

Newton’s

on this list, natural science appears to have

Based

calm for over a century. Does that mean

been

are overdue for a revolution in the natural

we

Or could it be that the natural sciences

sciences?

become exceptionally good at dispelling

have

Or that revolutions are shorter, faster

anomalies?

some estimates, The Structure of Scientific

By

has sold around 1.5 million copies

Revolutions

attracting a readership well outside

worldwide,

history and philosophy of science. A work

the

such reputation is expected to attract some

of

One critical perspective, for example,

criticism.

that Kuhn’s theory was based on

asserts

and conceptual shifts in physics,

theoretical

should not be generalized to other

which

Another argues that revolutions in

disciplines.

are more common and less dramatic

science

Kuhn describes. Notable revolutions in

than

have had comparably minor elements

science

crisis or revisionism, such as the discovery of

of

structure of DNA. Yet, few would go back

the

defending the Whig view of science. As we

to

into the 21st century, with eScience,

continue

methodologies and blockchain

data-driven

we will need new theories of

workflows,

change beyond falsificationism and

scientific

shifts, that account for contemporary

paradigm

and insights.

challenges

7

theory

interest.

Normal science

• the germ theory of disease in 1880

Paradigm shift

Revolution

Kuhn cycle

Drift

Crisis

Figure 7.2

Th Kuhn yl

or less disruptive?

Normal science does not aim at novelty but at

clearing up the status quo. It tends to discover what it

expects to discover.

(Hacking 2012)

universe, but instead revolves around the sun

172

science, when new knowledge replaces old

“In

we can be confident that it is an

knowledge,

assumptions can you identify here about

What

science works and changes over time?

how

what Popper and Kuhn might say in

Consider

to this claim, and why.

response

the discovery of Uranus in 1781,

Following

quickly found that it did not

astronomers

also different meanings of

Consider

Is new knowledge an

“improvement”.

because it is more true,

improvement

because it is better able to explain

or

What is the difference between

phenomena?

two arguments?

these

the sun according to Newton’s laws of

orbit

This strange result was replicated

gravity.

times. Had the terms of falsification

numerous

applied strictly, Newton’s theory would

been

been compromised. But the astronomers

have

onto it. Could we say they had “faith”

held

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Figure 7.3 An illustration of th Ptolmai gontri systm by Portugus osmographr and artographr Bartolomu Vlho, 1568

Practising skills: Evaluating claims and arguments

improvement.”

Case study

What do Neptune, neutrinos and the

planet Vulcan have in common?

“Bad science”

173

II. Perspectives

Newton’s theory? Perhaps that would be

in

too far. But they were certainly not

going

what Popper says they should have

doing

doing.

been

astronomers postualted the existence

Instead,

a hidden planet that was pulling Uranus.

of

appeared to explain Uranus’s strange

This

and, if true, would also redeem

orbit

theory. But it was all rather

Newton’s

In 1846, the astrophysicist Urbain

outlandish.

Verrier even made a prediction about

Le

this hidden planet would be. Such

where

jarred with Popper’s views

stubbornness

good science, and indeed, the French

of

of the time were unwilling to

observatories

Le Verrier in his search for the hidden

assist

so he asked friends in Germany for

planet,

One night they set their telescopes in

help.

direction Le Verrier had predicted and,

the

a half hour, spotted another planet,

within

where it was supposed to be. Le

exactly

stubbornness led to the discovery of

Verrier’s

new planet, Neptune, and upheld Newton’s

a

laws of gravity.

universal

was a roaring success for Le Verrier

This

Newtonian physics. However, it was

and

the end of the story. For many years,

not

had known that Mercury’s

astronomers

was also off the course predicted

orbit

Newtonian physics. And so Le Verrier

by

the same trick, predicting in 1859

tried

another hidden planet, this time close

that

the sun, was pulling Mercury off the

to

course. That planet was called

predicted

and was to Mercury what Neptune

Vulcan,

been to Uranus—except Vulcan was

had

discovered. For decades, astronomers

never

for the planet, carrying expensive

hunted

telescopes around the world to be

powerful

the right place at the right time (during a

at

eclipse). They stopped trying in 1877

solar

Le Verrier’s death, but the conundrum

after

was a fundamental mismatch between

there

Newton’s physics predicted and what

what

observed. Yet, Newton’s physics was

was

falsified, at least not until Einstein‘s

not

theory was “verified” in 1919.

alternative

relativity went on to make sense of

General

strange orbit, along with many

Mercury’s

anomalies, that eventually led to the

other

has a bad reputation for

Verificationism

good reasons—proving a scientific

some

to be true is problematic, and

theory

scientists are better off focusing on

so

However, attempts at

falsification.

can help resolve a scientific

verification

by legitimizing a new theory and

crisis

a paradigm shift. This was

precipitating

case, for example, in May 1919, when

the

predictions were verified by

Einstein’s

Eddington using measurements

Arthur

during a solar eclipse. Eddington

taken

pictures of stars that appeared to be

took

of place; their position was predicted

out

general relativity, which said that light

by

curve due to the sun’s gravitational

rays

The quality of Eddington’s

field.

was questioned but

measurements

event still ushered in a paradigm

the

The news was published all over

shift.

world. Though anomalies against

the

physics had accumulated for

Newtonian

the theory was never falsified—

years,

to Popper’s scientific method—

contrary

Eddington “verified” general

until

So, while verification does not

relativity.

a theory is proven true, it can help

mean

accept that a theory is good

scientists

7

paradigm shift away from Newton’s physics.

Box 7.2: Should we rule out

verification?

enough for now.

persisted for decades: if Vulcan did not exist,

174

question for us is: in not rejecting

The

physics earlier, despite the

Newton’s

anomalies, were these scientists

mounting

“bad science”?

practising

the first example, their unwillingness to

In

a theory resulted in success—Neptune

reject

discovered, and Newton was vindicated.

was

the second example, this approach failed.

In

examples could be considered “bad

Both

according to the falsification criteria

science”

out by Popper, and both are more aligned

set

Kuhn’s view of science than Popper’s.

with

falsification continues to shape how we

Yet,

about scientific practice. Imagine an

think

timeline in which Einstein’s general

alternative

never came along, and astronomers

relativity

astrophysicists continued to believe an

and

planet Vulcan was responsible for

unseen

unexplainable orbit. How long and

Mercury’s

many more anomalies would it take for

how

to give up on Newton’s physics? More

them

what Vulcans like this exist today,

interestingly,

us to cling onto flawed paradigms?

allowing

history of science suggests that this is very

The

1930 Wolfgang Pauli wrote to a friend:

In

done a terrible thing, I have

“Ihave

a particle that cannot be detected”

postulated

in Sutton 1992). He was referring

(quoted

the neutrino, a tiny subatomic particle. It

to

“terrible” because science was supposed

was

be concerned with falsification, and

to

predictions that could not be tested.

not

things that might be true but

Postulating

be tested was considered bad science.

cannot

we saw how that approach succeeded in

But

discovery of Neptune. Why was Pauli in

the

wasn’t really. He may have suspected that

He

would eventually allow equipment

technology

Pauli was inspired by Le Verrier,

Perhaps

discovery of Neptune temporarily

whose

challenge: a fundamental principle of

similar

the conservation of energy, was being

physics,

because of anomalies detected in

questioned

decay. Energy was being “lost”

radioactive

but if Pauli could account for it,

somewhere,

might save the theory. He wrote: “I have hit

he

a desperate remedy to save the energy

upon

(quoted in Brown 1978).

theorem”

remedy seemed a preposterous

That

of a new particle with almost

prediction

mass and no electric charge, called the

zero

The best equipment of the time,

neutrino.

detectors, had no way of detecting

particle

a chargeless particle. It was like

such

Neptune, but knowing that no

proposing

alive could find it. Strangely, the physics

one

embraced Pauli’s hypothesis. It

community

take almost three decades for scientists

would

detect the neutrino, using new methods and

to

including a nuclear reactor—

technologies,

it turned out that neutrinos are literally

but

Does the result justify the means?

everywhere.

suggested something invisible to save

Pauli

theory. Le Verrier did the same. Knowing

a

how much do you think falsification

this,

observability matter as guides to “good

and

At what point can a theory be

science”?

falsified? What would happen if we

deemed

to the idealized version of science—or

stuck

this bad science necessary for scientific

was

to “progress”? These are of course

knowledge

questions, but they might affect

rhetorical

we think about string theory, the main

how

of which are currently unfalsifiable and

ideas

but hold promise of providing

undetectable,

grand unified theory of physics. Some

a

have even argued that we should

scientists

the importance of falsification to

reduce

string theory from the usual standards

protect

of science.

required

Popper’s falsification criterion,

Before

had another ideal: observability. The

science

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

much something to look out for.

Pauli and the neutrino

such despair?

The question of observability: Atoms

and electrons

to detect the neutrino.

controversy about atoms in the latter half of

saved Newtonian physics. Pauli faced a

175

II. Perspectives

19th century reveals the extent to which

the

ideal was held. Some scientists were

this

by the explanatory power of atomic

persuaded

But no one had detected atoms, no

theory.

at the time could detect them,

equipment

they solved no new puzzle. Hundreds of

and

smaller than light waves, atoms were

times

by even the most powerful

unobservable

Mach was a brilliant and influential

Ernst

and philosopher, whose critique

physicist

Newton’s physics may have later helped

of

postulate general relativity. However,

Einstein

went so far as to say “I don’t believe that

he

exist”, and that good science should not

atoms

examples above serve to explain how

The

on falsification and “good

perspectives

have changed over time. Falsification

science”

be too strict to use as an everyday rule.

may

scientists test Einstein’s theory using

When

and photographic plates, they are

telescopes

testing the focal theory, plus

simultaneously

theory of optics that goes into designing

the

2014, 178 of the world’s greatest minds—

In

thinkers, public intellectuals—

scientists,

the question: “What scientific idea

considered

ready for retirement?”

is

terms: Edge What

Search

idea is ready for

scientific

you read a few of their responses, you see

If

and complementing perspectives.

contradicting

idea was so influential that it caused

This

Kaufmann, a German physicist, to

Walter

what could have been the discovery of

ignore

in 1897: the particles he suspected

electrons

too small to observe, so he stayed

were

Months later J.J. Thomson, an English

silent.

suspected the same thing, called

physicist,

electrons, and went on to receive the

them

turns out that Pauli, the man who posited the

It

(one of the tiniest known subatomic

neutrino

via a desperate and unobservable

particles)

untestable “remedy”, had a famous

and

called Mach, the very same Mach who

uncle

proclaimed, “I don’t believe that

infamously

exist”. And thus we see why Pauli

atoms

his prediction of the existence of

described

mathematical analyses of the data, plus a

the

of other things that we take for granted in

lot

background. If there is a mismatch between

the

and observation, it is not enough to rule

theory

the theory immediately. A failure in one

out

the many related theories and assumptions

of

be to blame instead. Reproducible

might

tested under a variety of conditions

anomalies

may be happy, sad or surprised to see

You

“The Self” or “The Universe”

“Calculus”,

considered for retirement. In pairs, small

being

or as a class discuss the following

groups

What reasons are offered for qualifying a

1.

idea for retirement?

scientific

If the reasons sound compelling to you,

2.

do you think some of the ideas persist?

why

What does it mean for a scientific idea to be

3.

actually happens to it?

retired—what

7

microscopes of the time.

Nobel Prize.

be concerned with finding them.

neutrinos as a “terrible thing”.

the telescopes, plus the assumptions behind

are needed for falsification.

For discussion

Scientific ideas ready for retirement

questions.

retirement?

176

the previous section showed, there is a

As

of science that emphasizes the

perspective

nature of knowledge and the consensus

communal

by scientists. It is important to look at how

built

consensus is built and how disagreements are

this

with. Studying or paying close attention to

dealt

scientific controversies end gives us a sense

how

the different dimensions of scientific consensus

of

of what we call science, including scientific

Much

is uncontroversial. Once established,

practice,

facts become self-evident and their

scientific

begin to fade from memory or interest.

histories

become “black boxes”—a term that

They

things that are hard to open or not

describes

disagreements are often settled by

Public

facts used as evidence. But what counts

scientific

evidence when the scientific facts themselves

as

the controversy?

cause

allow us to look into black

Controversies

before they are closed, and therefore to

boxes

what it takes to make a fact and

understand

confidence in evidence. Consensus is the

have

of controversies and often requires

closure

of causation.

evidence

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

II.3 Scientific consensus and

disagreement

and disagreement.

Black box

input

output

explained, their inner workings unknown.

177

II. Perspectives

What are some scientific black boxes that

1.

not yet closed?

are

Which attempts to challenge the scientific

2.

can you think of?

consensus

would doubt that HIV causes AIDS? The

Who

has been accepted scientific wisdom for

link

how did it come to be accepted

decades—but

fact, and is the case entirely closed?

as

is the process of closing a black

Fact-making

and bringing closure to controversies.

box

a fact is made, the human elements of

Once

process—the interpretation, guessing,

that

and debating—and the

persuading

that did and still exist, fade from

uncertainties

From then on, it is harder to question the

view.

would have to “reopen” a black box

fact—you

such effort resisting the closing of a black

One

was led by Peter Duesberg, professor at

box

University of California Berkeley. Duesberg

the

a renowned and pioneering scientist,

was

of the first to discover retroviruses and

one

which are potentially cancer-

oncogenes,

genes. His professional isolation

causing

precipitated by his views disputing that

was

causes AIDS. Since the 1980s, in spite of

HIV

accepted evidence, he has continued

widely

advocate that AIDS is not caused by HIV,

to

that HIV is an opportunistic but harmless

and

scientific ideas, even well-established

Many

such as evolution by natural selection,

theories

opponents. There are sometimes highly

have

debates that do not get much public

technical

The case study below explores what

attention.

when a scientific controversy attracts

happens

is sometimes portrayed as a heretic,

Duesberg

against the establishment at great personal

going

Popular culture is fond of the archetypal

cost.

that confronts the establishment,

hero-scientist

sacrificing their life in the process,

sometimes

change the world. Galileo, for example, is

to

famous name; and to the AIDS denialists

a

is Galileo. You might have a neutral

Duesberg

positive view of scientific disagreement and

or

as healthy debate. However, scientific

scandal

especially in the public eye,

disagreement,

have far-reaching negative consequences.

can

there are life and death consequences

Sometimes

how disagreement is perceived by the public

for

was not alone in casting doubt

Duesberg

the HIV hypothesis but has been more

on

than most in persevering against the

successful

consensus and in attracting attention,

scientific

scorn, in the process. Is he a Galileo or

and

person with an irrational obsession? The

a

7

For ref lection

Consensus and closure

public attention.

Case study

HIV/AIDS denialism and the blackboxing

of a scientific fact

he became the leading scientic torchbearer for

the so-called AIDS dissidents who dispute that

HIV causes the immunodeciency disorder. To

the dissidents, Duesberg is Galileo, oppressed for

proclaiming scientic truth against biomedical

dogma. A far larger number of AIDS activists,

physicians and researchers, however, think

Duesberg has become a crank who refuses to

accept abundant proof that he is wrong. To them,

he is at best a nuisance and at worst a source of

dangerous disinformation on public health.

(Scientic American 2007).

(Epstein 1996).

and acted upon inpolicy.

virus. Why?

Even mentioning the name Peter Duesberg

inames strong feelings, both pro and con. After

gaining fame in 1970 as the virologist who rst

identied a cancer-causing gene, in the 1980s

178

cannot be answered without also

question

the extent and implications of the

considering

denialism that took hold in South Africa

AIDS

the 1990s and 2000s, where the denialists’

in

are implicated in the deaths of hundreds

views

thousands of people, as described in Box7.3

of

Max Essex, an AIDS expert, quoted in

below.

(2008), stated that history will judge

Lenzer

either as “a nut who is just a tease

Duesberg

the scientific community” or an “enabler to

to

murder” for the deaths of thousands of

mass

victims.

AIDS

was not isolated to South Africa or

Denialism

persists, rightly or wrongly, throughout

AIDS—it

world. It masquerades as scientic scepticism

the

is fuelled by the issues, tensions and

and

of the time and place. How do we protect

agendas

pluralism and the right to dissent, while

scientic

minimizing the fallout of bad science? What

also

should denialists such as Duesberg be

platform

Often the scientic facts in question are

given?

one component—as we see in Chapter 1:

just

may not be enough to change beliefs. TOK

facts

us with tools to balance these tensions,

equips

pluralism and dissent on the one hand,

between

scientic autonomy and responsibility on the

and

to make judgments about the veracity of

other,

claims and their implications.

scientic

questions in the “Practising skills” box

The

follows this case study can be applied to

that

dissidents and leakers everywhere.

denialists,

an example, AIDS denialism is recent

As

to resonate with us emotionally and

enough

but also just old enough to show

intellectually,

communities of scientists wrestle with

how

questions. The University of California,

these

opened an investigation into

Berkeley,

misconduct related to Duesberg’s

academic

but abandoned it in 2010, citing a lack

claims

evidence and that his work is protected by

of

to hold a tenured professorship

continues

Yet, Bruce Charlton, editor of the journal

there.

Hypotheses, which published his 2009

Medical

(when other journals had refused), was

article

largely for refusing to adopt a peerreview

sacked,

structure in response to the controversy.

early as 1996, Science magazine, one of the

As

top academic journals, published an

world’s

investigation into the “Duesberg

eight-page

phenomenon”.

terms: Special News

Search

The Duesberg

Report

in 1996 Richard Horton, editor of the

Also

medical journal The Lancet, and one

respected

the most established Duesberg critics of the

of

was compelled to come to his defence.

time,

deserves to be heard, and the ideological

Duesberg

that he has undergone will remain

assassination

embarrassing testament to the reactionary

an

of modern science. Irrespective of one’s

tendencies

about the validity of some of Duesberg’s

views

one is forced to ask: At a time when

arguments,

ideas and new paths of investigation are

fresh

desperately being sought, how can the AIDS

so

spirit may have compelled Bruce Charlton

That

publish Duesberg’s paper in 2009 and for

to

American to state the following in

Scientific

Pariahs Have Good Ideas” (2007).

“When

[may be] shocked to see Duesberg as an

Readers

in this month’s issue. He is not here because

author

have misgivings about the HIV-AIDS link. Rather

we

has also developed a novel theory about

Duesberg

origins of cancer … That concept is still on

the

fringe of cancer research, but laboratories are

the

it seriously. Thus, as wrong as Duesberg

investigating

is about HIV, there is at least a chance that he

surely

(Scientic American 2007)

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

phenomenon

Making connections

Denialism

community aord not to fund Duesberg’s research?

(Horton 1996)

is signicantly right about cancer.

the principle of academic freedom. Duesberg

179

II. Perspectives

of Duesberg’s papers was published

One

the journal Medical Hypotheses in 2009,

in

a major scandal. Medical Hypotheses

sparking

founded in 1975 by David Horrobin

was

counter the conservative adherence to

to

ideas that Horrobin saw in peer-

accepted

journals. His criteria for publishing

reviewed

was simple: they had to be interesting

articles

important, and plausible but not

and

“true” because, as he saw it:

necessarily

history of science has repeatedly

“the

that when hypotheses are

shown

it is impossible to predict

proposed

will turn out to be revolutionary

which

which ridiculous. The only safe

and

is to let all see the light and

approach

let all be discussed, experimented

to

vindicated or destroyed. I hope

upon,

journal will provide a new battlefield

the

to all on which ideas can be

open

and put through the fire.”

tested

1975)

(Horrobin

Vilayanur Ramachandran,

Neuroscientist

in 2011 as one of Time magazine’s

listed

most influential people in the world,

100

on the editorial board of the journal,

and

said, “there are ideas that may seem

similarly

but which are very important

implausible

explained his position to Science

Duesberg

in December 1994. “‘The one thing

magazine

doing here is almost destroying my own

I’m

by questioning whether HIV is the

reputation

of AIDS.’ … He insists that if he read a

cause

scientific article that suggested to him

single

was wrong, he would alter his views. ‘I’m

he

for that article,’ he says. ‘I would love

looking

published” (quoted in Enserink 2010).

them

Hypotheses was thus seen by some as

Medical

the consequences of AIDS denialism in

As

Africa make clear, there are inherent

South

to this freedom, and drawing a line

risks

legitimate scientific dissent and

between

denialism can be very

pseudo-scientific

In 2009 a group of scientists

difficult.

that the journal be removed from

requested

MEDLINE database because it lacked

the

and had legitimized AIDS denialism.

rigour

Nattrass, Director of the AIDS and

Nicoli

Research Unit at the University of

Society

Town, stated that the journal “has long

Cape

a source of concern in the scientific

been

… because the articles are not

community

and “had a disturbing

peer-reviewed”

record of publishing pseudo-science”

track

2009). When the journal’s current

(Nattrass

Bruce Charlton was asked to adopt

editor

peer-review structure to mitigate these

a

he refused, stating this went against

risks,

journal’s founding purpose and history.

the

was dismissed soon after. A majority

He

the journal’s editorial board protested

of

decision to change the editorial policies

the

finally, in 2010, a new editor was

but

and a hybrid peer-review structure

appointed

Duesberg saga makes us ponder when

The

in science is productive, versus

disagreement

We should be concerned

counterproductive.

asking the right questions so that we can

with

these tensions, for example between

balance

and disagreement, between

consensus

and autonomy, in order to best serve

pluralism

public interest.

the

7

Box 7.3: AIDS denialism—the role and responsibilities of scientific journals

a bastion of academic freedom and pluralism.

if true. This is the only place you can get

implemented.

to see it’” (Cohen 1994).

180

the example of Duesberg’s research

Suppose

HIV is being used to explore the value

on

disagreement in science. Consider the

of

following.

Are there different consequences to being

•

in the different scientific disciplines?

wrong

example, Galileo, who studied the sky,

For

have been wrong without causing the

could

What are the implications if a

•

scientist is able to

dissenting

their work, for example by

disseminate

it in journals?

publishing

What are the implications if dissenting

•

are silenced, for example by

scientists

stripped of their tenure and the

being

and platforms they need in

resources

Which criteria can be used to strike a

•

between the right to dissent and

balance

the public from damaging

protecting

pseudo-science?

suggests that denialists can delay, but

Cognition

prevent, a scientic consensus; but that they

not

the link to investigate the 2000 Durban

Follow

made in response to AIDS

Declaration,

terms: Durban

Search

AIDS Wiki

Declaration

in the mid-17th century, scientific

Beginning

have become the formal way for

journals

to share their findings and keep up to

scientists

with developments. The intention was that

date

would play a role in making science

journals

open, accountable and widely accessible.

more

articles published in scientific journals are

The

by practising scientists. The reputation

authored

a journal affects which articles appear in it and

of

many times they are cited in otherwork.

how

papers have a particular style and

Scientific

and include information about method

structure,

would help others repeat the experiment.

that

ensure quality and validity of the research, an

To

is reviewed by other scientists, in a process

article

peer-review.

called

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Practising skills: Drawing

implications

denialism, and signed by over 5,000 scientists.

II.4 Disseminating scientific

knowledge

death of hundreds of thousands of people.

order to fund and share their work?

Making connections

Politics and scientic denialism

What is the impact of individuals or groups who deny

scientic evidence? A 2019 article in the journal

can prevent the public from reaching consensus by

presenting the issue as an ongoing scientic debate.

This conclusion appears consistent with examples

over the last four decades, spanning tobacco, climate

change, vaccinations and genetically modied foods.

Denialism can lead to false balance. In Chapter 2

we examine the politicization of media reports on

scientic discourse, including the problem of false

balance caused by attempts to show “both sides of

the story”, through the example of climate change.

181

II. Perspectives

is a highly simplified description of the

This

publication environment. In reality,

scientific

are many challenges that affect the ability of

there

to share science in an accessible way. One

journals

is volume, with over 2.5 million scientific

issue

published annually, that is 280 every hour,

papers

the lack of transparency and accountability

•

the peer-review process

in

pressures on scientists to “publish or perish”,

•

implications for their wellbeing or

with

the technical jargon of scientific papers

•

makes them incomprehensible even to

that

journals are the preferred way

Scientific

sharing knowledge within the scientific

of

they can be prohibitively

community—but

and inaccessible for laypeople

expensive

even other scientists. The peer-review

and

has also been questioned for

process

conservatism and dogma, rejecting

fostering

ideas, and introducing a time

unconventional

between when research is done and when it

lag

communicated.

is

hopeful and surprisingly successful response

A

some of these issues is arXiv—an online

to

of preprints of scientific papers,

repository

in 1991 by physicist Paul Ginsparg.

started

was initially only trying to catalog

Ginsparg

100 papers, but he received a lot

about

than he expected—arXiv had more

more

1.5 million papers in February 2018,

than

by 10,000 per month. As arXiv

growing

growing into a powerful platform, it

began

considered some of the dimensions of

We

publishing in a real-world context

scientific

Box7.3 in the case study on HIV/AIDS.

in

III.6, discusses what has become

Chapter8,

as the replication crisis, where a

known

significant number of published

very

have failed to be replicated. The peerreview

results

process is also sometimes a source of

In a Science article from 2013,

controversy.

here, we get a behind-the-scenes story

linked

one scientist’s effort to expose unrigorous

of

by submitting a flawed article

journals

terms: Science magazine

Search

afraid of peer review?

Who’s

from outside the scientific

contributions

that were challenging to sort

community

arXiv’s categories, in the form of papers

into

appeared impossible to reasonably

that

as science. Both history and wisdom

qualify

that “out-of-the-box” and hard to

suggest

ideas can be valuable. But in order

classify

continue to serve the scientific community

to

offering research that is of interest,

by

and value, the arXiv team had

relevance

come up with a solution to a tricky and

to

philosophical question: what

important

linked article tells the full story of how

The

team behind arXiv negotiated this problem

the

volunteer moderators and a machine

using

algorithm. Specifically, the algorithm

learning

language to distinguish between

identified

and non-scientific ideas. Are arXiv’s

scientific

and computer filters effective at

human

through good but unorthodox ideas?

letting

is this changing the ways the scientific

How

shares and accesses knowledge?

community

terms: What counts

Search

science Nautilus arXiv

as

7

according to a report in 2015 (Ware, Mabe 2015).

There are concerns about:

incentives for misconduct

forpublication.

trained scientists from a different discipline.

Box 7.4: Democratizing the sharing of scientific knowledge

counts as science?

Preprints are full manuscripts of a scientic paper

made publicly available by the author(s) ahead

of review and publication in journals. This is a

new but rapidly growing form of open scholarly

communication.

Follow the link to find out.

also attracted a small number of very odd

182

huge amounts of scientific knowledge

With

paywalls or otherwise inaccessible

behind

to jargon, the question of public

due

takes on great significance.

communication

the aim of science is to find and promote

If

understanding of life, the world and the

an

an understanding that would be of

cosmos,

to all, should it be accessible to all?

interest

answer might be yes, but one issue is

The

need to reward scientific

“incentives“—the

and corporations that take risks by

pioneers

their time or money to do research.

investing

2019 the University of California made

In

for dropping its $10 million per year

headlines

to Elsevier, a publishing company

subscription

owns over 2,500 scientific journals

that

incidentally, the journal Medical

(including,

discussed in the Duesberg case

Hypotheses

The university’s argument was simple:

earlier).

should not cost that much. Indeed,

knowledge

scientists never get paid for their research,

most

the scientific publishing business maintains

but

of the highest profit margins in the

some

Follow the link to this article by Stephen

world.

for UK newspaper the Guardian: “Is

Buryani

staggeringly profitable business of scientific

the

terms: Buryani

Search

profitable business

Staggeringly

people agree on the benefit of cultivating a

Most

interest in science. One example is science

public

which can collect money to fund

museums,

and inspire people to pursue further

research,

study, careers or at the least to be more

scientific

to science and more sceptical of dogma.

open

festivals, museums, university open

Science

and various forms of media are all part of

days

science communication landscape for the

the

audience. Sociocultural context

non-scientist

a large role in determining the method

plays

objective of science communication. For

and

science communication during

example,

Cold War was very different from

the

about global warming, in terms

communication

who is communicating, what, to whom and

of

nature or details of thescience itself, and are

the

relevant toTOK.

particularly

to publicize and popularize science have

Efforts

in place since Victorian times. How this

been

is done has been transitioning

communication

of a “deficit model” to more participatory

out

Deficit models set out to educate an

models.

uninformed and distrustful public

assumedly

in a top-down way that emphasized the

audience

of scientific experts. It was also called

“authority”

push for “scientific literacy”, and the paradigm

a

communication in the 1980s and1990s.

for

recently, we have seen a change towards

More

the public with science, and even

engaging

science, a relatively new practice that in

citizen

ways marks a return to the idea of science

some

by nature-loving amateurs, like a more

done

version of the “gentleman scientists”

diverse

the 18th and 19th centuries. Citizen science

of

the boundaries between scientist and

blurs

and science enthusiasts have

non-scientist,

involved in many fields from classifying

been

case of the pioneering scientist-freedivers

The

are working to decode the communication

who

of whales, and who are in important

systems

outpacing marine biologists, is discussed in

ways

is common for science to be communicated

It

scientists, or on their behalf by science

by

in order to inspire enthusiasm

evangelists,

trust in science. Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was

and

for an entire generation and evokes

formative

even today. Sir David Attenborough’s

nostalgia

on the natural world is similarly

reporting

and iconic. Using the link here,

influential

can watch and hear both of them sing,

you

in the YouTube miracle that is the

autotuned,

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Science communication is the “organized, explicit,

and intended actions that aim to communicate

scientic knowledge, methodology, processes,

or practices in settings where nonscientists are a

recognized part of the audiences”. (Horst et al 2017)

publishing bad for science?” (27 June 2017).

of scientific publishing Guardian

galaxies to bird population surveys.

Chapter 4, III.3.

“Symphony of Science”.

for what purpose. These questions go beyond

183

II. Perspectives

terms: Symphony of

Search

playlist YouTube

Science

can assess the clip’s artistic status and

You

using tools from Chapter 10.

merit

science programming can run the risk

Popular

presenting an idealized image of science —

of

the heroic onward march, self-correcting

as

course, relentless in its mission of

its

the dark corners of the

illuminating

problematic narrative dealt

unknown—a

this idealized image, realistic

Against

of scientific practice can seem

coverage

suspicious and even

incongruous,

Public disagreement among

disenchanting.

can shatter the illusion that the

scientists

of truth through science naturally

pursuit

consensus. One of the hallmarks of

creates

post-truth public sphere, considered in

the

2, is diminished trust in scientific

Chapter

Discourses on statistical significance,

experts.

levels and tolerance intervals may

confidence

with an idealized narrative of certainty

clash

“proven” truths. All of these, alongside

and

but highly publicized instances of

rarer

fraud or malpractice, can erode the

scientific

image of science. Science, we must

public

decades of effort by governments and

After

scientific institutions, what progress

laudable

been made? Results vary around the globe,

has

into local stereotypes around race,

playing

and social status. In 1959, the author CP

gender

wrote the following.

Snow

this happen today? Snow and others

Would

the lack of interest and knowledge of

lamented

More recently, though, it is the humanities

science.

are being defunded at universities. Have the

that

turned, or is a different story playing out

tables

academia versus in the public discourse? What

in

of scientific ideas that are

Examples

to be ready for retirement were

considered

in II.3. This time, explore what 200

explored

minds from around the world think

bright

the question “What scientific term or

about

ought to be more widely known?”

concepts

terms: Edge 2017

Search

terms more widely

Scientific

a few of the entries and try to

Choose

why the contributors think those

understand

deserve better exposure. Work in a pair

ideas

small group, with each person presenting

or

argument about why the ideas you have

an

are not better known.

chosen

7

A good many times, I have been present at gatherings

of people who, by the standards of the traditional

culture, are thought highly educated and who have

with considerable gusto been expressing their

incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice

I have been provoked and have asked the company

how many of them could describe the Second Law

of Thermodynamics. The response was cold: it was

also negative. Yet I was asking something which is

the scientic equivalent of: Have you read a work of

Shakespeare’s?

(Snow 1959)

are theimplications?

For discussion

with earlier in this chapter.

Have you heard this?

known

remember, is a very human endeavour.

184

regards to the communication of science

With

the general public, consider two different

to

that the wide dissemination

perspectives:

scientific knowledge supports the public

of

of science, versus the view that

understanding

sciencenegatively affects scientific

popular

first perspective is fairly well established.

The

examples can you recall from your home

What

second perspective may appear more

The

An article published in

counter-intuitive.

journal Public Understanding of Science

the

that popular science communication is

argues

physicist Max Planck once said

Theoretical

thefollowing.

though, science is shaped less by

Perhaps

“series of funerals” than by rows of fresh

a

graduates. For more than 150 years

science

scientists have had to go through some

now,

of formal training, unlike the nature-loving

sort

amateurs of the Early Modern

gentlemen

Indeed, one of the most important tasks

period.

the scientific community at any given time

of

to educate and train the new generation of

is

and to do it well. But what does “well”

scientists,

This process, through which future

mean?

learn what science is and how it is

scientists

defines the character of science for the next

done,

It is also a deeply political task, with

generation.

such as what is included and excluded

questions

the curriculum, which values are passed

from

contributing to overconfidence among non-

in their ability to understand and

scientists

scientific claims, and more critical

evaluate

towards scientific experts (Sharrer et

views

2017). What examples and different kinds

al

evidence have you seen that support this

of

perspective?

exploration of different perspectives

The

central to TOK. Are the perspectives

is

above supported by well-chosen

described

well-explained examples from the real

and

What factors determined whether

world?

scientific communication had a positive

the

negativeeffect? Why is it that in issues of

or

sometimes one thing happens, and

knowledge

and what kind of outlook is cultivated with

on,

to science itself and its wider societal role.

regard

science classes are a way of socializing you

Your

the culture of the scientific community (that

into

enculturating you)—this is where you are

is,

the norms of good science, shown how

taught

properly perform various scientific skills, and

to

the story of how science came to be. Who

told

decided these things for you, and how can

has

exercise agency in the matter?

you

enculturation typically happens within

This

disciplines. You might be learning

scientific

to think like a physicist, biologist, chemist,

how

geographer and so on. Textbooks do

ecologist,

lot of this enculturation work, and they do

a

in part by telling the foundational stories of

it

discipline, about the people and events that

the

the discipline. Let’s look at one such

defined

central to biology classes and textbooks

story,

the world.

around

tension between simplicity and complexity in

The

appears repeatedly in this chapter, and we

science

it further in the context of reductionism

examine

III.5. As you read on, keep this tension in mind.

in

to connect what Mendel’s peas, laboratory

Try

and the relationships between

experiments

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Practising skills: Exploring perspectives

literacy.

context in support of this view?

at other times the opposite happens?

II.5 The student of science

A new scientic truth does not triumph by convincing

its opponents and making them see the light, but

rather because its opponents eventually die, and a

new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

(Planck, translated by Gaynor 1968)

organism and environment have in common.

185

II. Perspectives

origin story of genetics as a discipline

The

with Gregor Mendel’s experiments on

starts

plants in the mid-19th century. The humble

pea

triggered one of the greatest breakthroughs

pea

scientific history: the Mendelian laws of

in

and Mendel himself has been

inheritance,

Mendel’s 1865 article was not

However,

as important until many years after

recognized

death. It was rediscovered in 1902 and

his

ripples from Russia to the United States

sent

stoking controversy in how fundamental

by

such as variation, evolution, heredity,

concepts

and gene were defined, understood

mutation

work, and related to one another. In the

to

disputed Bateson’s claim that

Weldon

findings could be applied generally,

Mendel’s

Mendel’s experiments used purebred

because

plants especially designed to eliminate

pea

natural variability responsible for creating

the

In Weldon’s view, therefore, the

complexity.

were unrepresentative of real-world

plants

and it was more important to

conditions,

William Bateson (who coined

between

popularized the term “genetics”) and

and

former teacher, Walter Frank Raphael

his

Weldon and Bateson had very

Weldon.

reactions: Bateson was a champion of

different

inheritance, arguing that “factors”

Mendelian

he called them genes) determine “visible

(later

of organisms according to the

characteristics”

laws. Weldon remained sceptical

Mendelian

several accounts because when he tried to

on

Mendel’s experiments with peas, he

replicate

a much greater variety of characteristics,

found

much more of a continuum. His peas

along

not look as discretely different as Mendel

did

them looking—decidedly yellow or

describes

wrinkled or round.

green,

the environment. Weldon died four

with

into this controversy, without finding

years

answer for the complex interactions

an

genes and environment. In fact,

between

are only beginning to unravel

epigeneticists

now. Weldon was largely forgotten; while

this

smooth-sailed into textbook glory,

Mendel

Bateson at the helm, both celebrated for

with

7

Box 7.5: Mendel in the textbook

dubbed the “father of genetics”.

UK, it sparked a short but fiery public dispute

Figure 7.4

Takn

from Wldon’s artil

“Mndl’s Laws of

Altrnativ Inhritan

in Pas” (1902)

understand how natural variability interacts

discovering genetics.

186

tell Weldon’s story here? A Weldonian

Why

might have been less simple, but

genetics

applicable and more revealing about the

more

between genes and the environment.

interaction

direction of enquiry has gathered

This

only relatively recently.

momentum

about scientific disagreement are

Stories

because they reveal that the losing

important

was not necessarily or obviously wrong,

side

if we have learned anything it is to

and

our own fallibility, to caution against

beware

and to be curious about

oversimplification

arguments lost to history. The stories that

the

tells about itself can be misleading,

science

presenting a story in which developments

by

together neatly to produce fundamental

come

recognized today. This is the Whiggish

truths

discussed in II.2.

view

concepts learned early in science education

The

if oversimplified, support stubborn and

can,

misconceptions if students do not

dangerous

their education to the level where

continue

is added back to simplifications.

complexity

scientists and teachers have stated

Reputable

the currently taught genetics curriculum

that

too simplistic. Consider the following quote

is

Jenny Lewis, of the Genetics Pedagogies

by

that explored the effects of changing the

Project

helping students to develop their

“When

of basic genetic concepts,

understanding

can be useful to reduce complexity by

it

a traditional, linear view of

adopting

expression (one gene, one protein,

gene

characteristic) but there is a risk that

one

9 discusses the merits and demerits of

Chapter

how the course of history

counterfactuals—asking

genetics in which every characteristic

of

determined by a single gene. The

is

unexpectedly confirmed by the

reality,

Genome Project, is that there

Human

very few single gene characteristics

are

disorders in humans … . Rather, the

or

between the genome (the

relationship

DNA sequence), gene expression,

entire

the environment was shown to

and

considerably more complex than

be

The result is a move away

anticipated.

a focus on single genes (genetics,

from

narrowly) and towards a

understood

of the whole genome and its

consideration

with the environment, internal

interactions

external (genomics).” (Lewis 2011)

and

Radick has similarly argued that

Gregory

students should be taught a genetics

biology

If we teach them about Mendel, we

“

do so not to fill them with slack-

should

wonder at his foundational

jawed

but to help them to

achievement,

how even the most imaginative

appreciate

rigorous science ... bears the stamp of

and

historical circumstances of its making.

the

learn that lesson about past science is

To

bring a welcome level of self-awareness

to

critical self-reflection to the present.”

and

and Lewis work on the Genetics

Radick

Project, an experimental syllabus

Pedagogies

imagines what a Weldonian approach

that

genetics might have looked like and what

to

it makes for students to be

difference

to it.

exposed

have been aected if key events had occurred

might

Compare this with the value of asking the

dierently.

question in science. Is it more or less dicult to

same

alternative histories or alternative sciences?

imagine

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

curriculum fit for the 21st century.

genetics curriculum.

(Radick 2016)

this will result in a deterministic view

Making connections

“What if … ?” in history and in the natural sciences

What can we learn from such an exercise?

187

II. Perspectives

technical debates involving science, citizens

In

find themselves in a position of having

often

trust what they are being told by experts.

to

counts as an “expert” and how far their

Who

extends is something that is socially

expertise

requiring us to make judgments

negotiated,

science touches the public domain

When

attracts public attention, and its effects

it

be far-reaching and urgent. Whenever

can

gets enrolled in public debates on

science

controversial issues, its authority,

socially

the authority of those who speak on its

and

is tested. Air pollution, climate change

behalf,

vaccine hesitancy are among many

and

policy-making, scientists and nonscientists

In

have to comprehend the evolving

issues relating to policy, and find

scientific

language to communicate effectively in

the

ecosystem complicated by money, politics

an

competition. The context of democratic

and

on matters involving science

decision-making

questions about power and legitimacy,

raises

well as values and democracy. Who is able

as

speak from a place of authority on matters

to

the intersection of science and policy? How

at

the demands of participatory democracy

can

balanced with the need for scientific

be

autonomy?

2 explores “post-truth” and the causes and

Chapter

of an apparently diminished public

consequences

case study in II.3 described controversy

The

the scientific community over the fact

among

HIV is the cause of AIDS. However, this was

that

simply a scientific controversy occurring in

not

academic vacuum; it spread to the social and

an

realms. Explanations of the cause and

political

of AIDS were inevitably influenced by,

spread

influenced in turn, contemporary attitudes

and

beliefs about homosexuality, addiction and

and

freedom.

sexual

the other side of the debate about what

On

AIDS was the controversy about how to

causes

it. In the early days, the treatment of AIDS

treat

a scientific, pharmacological and medical

was

participation in which required a high

debate,

of technical expertise. At the same time,

level

were also involved and influential:

non-experts

who stood to profit from treatment; those

those

with reporting on the development of

tasked

and, of course, those for whom it

treatments;

a question of life and death. Epstein (1996)

was

the different actors in this controversy

describes

the United States, who varied in their

in

and interests.

motivations

were] the researchers hoping to hit

[There

breakthroughs in … AIDS research; the

on

and biotechnology companies whose

pharmaceutical

values might uctuate by millions of dollars,

stock

on the latest reports about the successes

depending

failures of their products; the medical professionals

or

must translate inconclusive and contradictory

who

ndings into workable, day-to-day clinical

research

the regulatory agencies and advisory

judgments;

that serve as ‘gatekeepers’, ruling on the

bodies

and ecacy of new therapies; the patients

safety

consume the drugs and populate the clinical

who

the reporters and journalists who interpret

trials;

research ndings to various segments of

scientic

public; and, of course, the activists who police the

the

process and oer their own interpretations of

whole

study of science and citizenship in

Epstein’s

AIDS epidemic shows, among other things,

the

non-scientists can acquire high levels of

how

knowledge even when they are

biomedical

by the current set-up of science

underserved

politics. AIDS activists were able not only to

and

and scrutinize biomedical claims, but

understand

to participate in shaping the methodologies

also

7

II.6 Science for citizenship

about their credibility.

contemporary examples.

Making connections

the methods and the outcomes.

Science, politics and public trust

(Epstein 1996)

trust in scientic expertise.

188

which knowledge about the treatment

through

AIDS was being produced. This type of citizen

of

blurs the lines between expert and

involvement

and redistributes the balances of

non-expert,

To what extent is it the responsibility of

1.

to understand and engage with

citizens

Often non-experts who get deeply involved

2.

scientific controversies do so through

in

personal effort. To what extent is this

great

failing of science and politics to inspire

a

are contextual, meaning they

Disagreements

embedded in the historical, cultural,

are

or economic issues of the time, and can

political

on an importance much larger than the

take

minutiae at stake. A profound

techno-scientific

of this was AIDS denialism that took

example

in South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s,

hold

story that was ably illustrated by Michael

a

writing in the New Yorker in

Specter,

2007.

March

terms: New Yorker

Search

The denialists

Specter

short version of the story is that a group of

The

sceptics in the 1990s, calling themselves

HIV

Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of

the

HIV/AIDS Hypothesis, put forward the

the

AIDS should not be treated with

•

drugs, which are poisons

antiretroviral

far worse side effects than the

with

itself.

disease

South Africa did not have an AIDS

•

Instead, too much recreational

epidemic.

these questions for discussion in mind, let’s

With

at an example of the power of politicians

look

bolster or undermine the credibility and

to

of science in the public, and what

authority

when science and politics clash on an

happens

of public health.

issue

and confidence in the knowledge

trust

they make?

claims

Think of a public controversy on a scientific

3.

relevant to your context currently

issue

recently. What determines whether

or

how the public can engage with the

and

sharing and evaluation of scientific

making,

claims?

knowledge

use, and too little nutrition and clean

drug

were killing its people.

water,

group included scientists such as Peter

The

whose ideas were introduced in

Duesberg,

The group’s scientific claims were seized

II.3.

by policy-makers and political leaders in

upon

Africa, in a discourse that was heavily

South

by the legacy of apartheid and

complicated

climate of widespread distrust towards

a

pharmaceutical companies. Other

Western

people were involved: a doctor

influential

entrepreneur who marketed vitamins

turned

an alternative to retroviral drugs; local

as

and healers who used herbal

entrepreneurs

and national leaders including

concoctions;

Thabo Mbeki and Health Minister

President

Tshabalala-Msimang who were deeply

Manto

of Western pharmaceuticals and

sceptical

doctors who prescribed them. All of this

the

to deny South Africans access to

conspired

best practice, as agreed upon by the

medical

scientific community. In the following

global

the death rate from AIDS in South Africa

years,

the Harvard AIDS initiative produced a

soared:

in 2008 that estimated 300,000 preventable

study

resulting from delayed AIDS treatment.

deaths

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

power, credibility and trust.

For discussion

Trust and credibility

scientific issues of public importance?

Box 7.6: Disagreement in the public eye

followingclaims.

• HIV does not cause AIDS.

189

II. Perspectives

far this section has been dealing with

So

and politics in terms of public policy,

science

political system and governance. In II.7 we

the

to the politics of knowledge, examining

turn

to science’s assumed neutrality, and

challenges

its position in a wider cultural and

exploring

encounter between modern Western

The

and other systems and bodies of

science

has a deep history. Feminist

knowledge

post-colonial thinkers have produced a

and

literature that explores how scientific

scholarly

and practice have been defined and

knowledge

to the exclusion of groups of people

shaped

gender, racial, sociopolitical and non-

along

intellectual lines. These ideas have

Western

attracted wider interest, including on

recently

campuses and online communities.

university

section does not aim to summarize

This

literature or examine the intersection

that

the natural sciences and every other

between

tradition. It aims to highlight

knowledge

of the tensions and what can be learned

some

in feminist theory as well as the

Developments

sociology and philosophy of science

history,

the 1960s formed the intellectual backdrop

in

the critical conversation regarding

for

and science that has been ongoing

gender

since. Many issues originally raised

ever

this conversation remain important and

in

Philosopher Sandra Harding has

unresolved.

writing about feminist critiques of science

been

decades. In the introduction to her book,

for

Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies

The

(2011), she summarizes the questions

Reader

are still grappling with, remarking for

we

that few women are managing or

instance

research today, while women are

designing

absent from the social structures of

almost

sciences. She also questions the role

modern

“sexist sciences” play in supporting and

that

the claim that women are inferior

spreading

in encouraging unfair practices. Harding

and

if schools’ curricula and education

asks

restrict women’s access to careers in

methods

and engineering. Finally, she considers

science

problems posed by the traditional methods

the

philosophy of science and technology,

and

their overwhelmingly masculine

with

the link to: “The Egg and the Sperm:

Follow

Science has Constructed a Romance Based

How

terms: Martin Egg and

Search

Sperm Chicago Journals

the

classic 1991 study by Emily Martin

This

the scientific myth of the passive egg

unravels

fertilized by an active sperm cell. This

being

persistent myth played into popular

surprisingly

about the romantic personalities of

stereotypes

and females.

males

feminist critique of science includes,

The

requires, the voices of anthropologists,

and

historians, philosophers, sociologists,

scientists,

and policy-makers looking at their

educators

through a “gender lens”. While significant

work

has been focused on the experience of

attention

in science, it would be incorrect to say

women

feminist critiques treat gender as another

that

for “woman”. Feminist scholarship

word

opened up the discourse to explore the

has

between science and power more

relationship

generally.

7

historical context.

II.7 Science and its others: Feminist

world view.

and post-colonial critiques

on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles”.

fromthem.

Making connections

Female scientists

Chapter 3 discusses female scientists whose

achievements are downplayed or erased from

history. You may have noticed that this chapter to a

large extent quotes male scientists from European

backgrounds. The visibility of female scientists and

technologists is both an issue of due credit, and an

issue of enabling a diverse set of STEM students to see

themselves reected in the professional community.

190

light of this, it is important to reveal and

In

the diversity that already exists

honour

the scientific community, and highlight

in

from diverse backgrounds. The

role-models

Nevertheless podcast celebrated women STEM

biologist and pioneering oceanographer

Marine

Earle has had an incredible career

Sylvia

science—just one of her remarkable

in

was becoming the first person to

achievements

on the ocean floor, untethered, 400

walk

under the surface. Hundreds of hours

metres

and their work in eight different

role-models

which you can find at the link.

languages,

terms: Nevertheless

Search

role models posters

STEM

have earned her the affectionate

underwater

“Her Deepness”.

nickname

a female scientist at the frontier of a

As

field in the 1960s, her work

male-dominated

much attention and predictable

attracted

questions.

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Figure 7.5a

Ma Jmison, astronaut and dotor, th rst

Afrian-Amrian woman in spa

Figure 7.5b

Cynthia Brazal, robotiist and pionr of

soiabl robots

Figure 7.5c

Rosalind Franklin, sintist instrumntal in disovring th

strutur of DNA

Box 7.7: Sylvia Sails Away With 70 Men

191

II. Perspectives

the kind of problems I

“Actually,

they were thinking of were

think

the kind of problems that were

not

at all. Our real problem was:

there

do you explore the ocean when

How

sitting on the deck of a ship,

you’re

the average depth of the ocean

and

two and a half miles, and we’re

is

there on the surface with these

right

little tools to try to sample

pathetic

can listen to Sylvia Earle’s

You

on a life exploring the

reflections

in conversation with Krista

ocean,

in the linked On Being

Tippett

terms: Sylvia

Search

Her Deepness

Earle

the 1970s and 1980s, the “gender lens” of

In

gave way to genders, feminisms

feminism

indeed lenses. At around the same time,

and

theory, the roots of which go

post-colonial

deeper, turned its critique to how science

even

being deployed globally. This critique is

was

of attempts to depoliticize modern

suspicious

science and present versions of it

Western

are decoupled from its colonial and

that

history. It would be impossible to

imperialist

the involvement of science in European

deny

and that far from playing merely

expansion,

unfortunate accompanying role, science

an

instrumental to the colonial project. This

was

reminds us that science cannot

discourse

move on from its “colonial moment”,

simply

needs to recover from it. This project of

it

has been picked up by decolonization

recovery

science studies challenge both the

Post-colonial

of a single valid explanation of the natural

idea

and the claim that modern Western

world

is the single valid way to arrive at

science

explanation. It questions the narrative of

that

as rational, objective and true, and the

science

of pre-modern and/or non-European

framing

traditions as irrational and false.

knowledge

today would argue this explicitly, but the

Few

is implicit in the claim that science

suggestion

in 17th-century Europe. Post-colonial

“began”

points out that this defines non-

scholarship

peoples as newcomers to science and

Western

a tradition that is only now embracing them

to

of diversity and inclusiveness. It also calls

out

attention to a history, little of which is

our

even today, of how Indigenous,

acknowledged

and local knowledges of astronomy,

traditional

navigation and herbalism became

medicine,

into the body of scientific

apppropriated

7

this huge expanse of living blue?”

podcast.

On Being

movements worldwide.

knowledge, with their origins forgotten.

192

7.6 Arabi sinti manusript from 615 ce, dsribing an astronomial modl that had widsprad impat in both Christian and

Figure

trritoris

Islami

II examined how disagreement and

Section

among scientists affect the making

consensus

unmaking of scientific facts, and how

and

is evaluated and used to support

evidence

This section looks at the processes

claims.

which scientific evidence is produced,

through

and observation. Earlier we

experimentation

attention to issues of trust and credibility.

paid

you read on, keep in mind the following

As

why should we trust the evidence that

questions:

from scientific methodologies? What is

comes

about how scientific claims are produced that

it


II. Perspectives


examine why some aspects of Indigenous knowledge

Making connections

have been appropriated and incorporated into science,

Indigenous knowledge

but not others. We also look at how dierent knowledge

In Chapter 5 we explore examples from traditional

traditions deal with concepts such as evidence, truth

ecological knowledge, ethnobotany and herbalism, and

and disciplinarity.


and considers specifically the methods of

gives them credibility?

193


the scientific repertoire in the 17th

Entering

observation and experimentation have

century,

the eighteenth and early nineteenth

Throughout

observation and experiment were understood

centuries,

work hand in hand: observation suggested conjectures

to

could be tested by experiment, which in turn gave

that

to new observations . . . . Observation discovered

rise

discerned; experiment tested and proved.

and

starting in the 1820s, prominent scientic writers

But

to oppose observation to experiment … . In

began

new scheme of things, experiment was active and

this

passive: whereas experiment demanded

observation

and ingenuity on the part of a creative researcher,

ideas

was reconceived as the mere registration

observation

stubborn and inaccurate claim that

The

is passive while experimentation

observation

active persisted for a very long time, but

is

was not always seen as the

experimentation

method. The relationship between

preferred

and experimentation turned a

observation

the concern about the influence of

Certainly,

on observation was not resolved in the

theory

As recently as 1950s, paleoanthropologist

1800s.

Leakey selected his young administrative

Louis

untrained in science, as the ideal

assistant,

to undertake an immersive study of

person

in the wild, the first of its kind. The

chimpanzees

woman possessed “a mind uncluttered

young

unbiased by theory” (Goodall 2000), with

and

she set out on a long-term research

which

in the Gombe Stream National Park

assignment

Tanzania. Her name was Jane Goodall, and her

in

work with primates revolutionized

pioneering

understanding of, and kinship with, other

our

This early part of Goodall’s prolific

animals.

is explored in the 2017 National Geographic

career

terms: National

Search

Jane movie

Geographic

long shared history. Historians of science

a

Daston and Elizabeth Lunbeck give us

Lorraine

assistants. The reasons for this shift . . .

untrained

complex, but prominent among them was the

were

that overly engaged scientists might contaminate

fear

with their own preferred theories. . . .

observation

program to deskill scientic observation was driven

[A]

anxieties about how more sophisticated researchers

by

be tempted … to ‘forge,’ ‘hoax,’ ‘trim,’ or ‘cook’ the

might

Although skilled, sophisticated observation was

data.

numerous mid-nineteenth-century scientists

praised,

that skill and sophistication might open the door

worried

Do you have different answers for

2.

disciplines? If so, why do you

different

looking at observation and

Before

in greater detail, let us

experimentation

the relationship between each of

consider

and theory. Can we separate theory

them

practice—that is, from observation and

from

As Daston and Lunbeck say

experimentation?

scientists have long been concerned

above,

“contaminating” their observations

about

theories, expectations and/or desires.

with

addition to this problem, there is the

In

of theorizing about non-observable

concern

As Box 7.8 shows, this raises a

phenomena.

7

III.1 Observation and experimentation

the following overview.

to subjectivity or even fraud.

(Daston, Lunbeck 2011)

of data, which could, some claimed, be safely left to

For ref lection

The relationship between

observation and experimentation

What would you say is the relationship

1.

observation and experimentation

between

number of times before the 19th century.

now?

think your answers vary?

documentary “Jane”, linked here.

few questions.

194

we relied on only our eyes, ears and nose

If

detect things in the universe, we would

to

have come very far. It seems an obvious

not

but the question of what is observable

point,

very real implications for how scientists

has

and believe they should do, science. If we

do,

that technology improves over time, we

accept

expect that our ability to observe things

can

equipment is also likely to improve over

using

Thus, theorizing about undetectable

time.

such as the photon (Einstein), neutrino

things,

and string theory (many contemporary

(Pauli)

does not seem like such a bad

physicists),

Indeed, the photon and neutrino were

idea.

within 30 years of their proponents’

discovered

Yet, four concerns emerge.

predictions.

first concern, regarding the examples

The

Neptune and the neutrino, is a form of

of

bias called survivorship bias: those

selection

are famous, but we neglect the

discoveries

less visible examples of dead-end

many

like the planet Vulcan. Would

theories,

be better off focusing strictly on the

science

It is a fascinating question, not

observable?

because how we would approach it is a

least

knowledge problem.

profound

second concern relates to how we define

A

in relation to existing

unobservable,

has not always been the

Experimentation

way to gain scientific knowledge, but

preferred

events and ideas known as “the scientific

the

firmly installed experiments near

revolution”

top of the methodological hierarchy. Even

the

pop culture visuals of what it means to

our

“doingscience” often invoke individuals

be

laboratory coats and handling test tubes

wearing

in the 17th century, “experiment”

Beginning

to be known as intervention using technical

came

and scientific theories. It is

technologies

theories and technologies that inform

these

preconceptions about what is, and is

our

observable. Could we invent a method

not,

ignore or hide from unobservable ideas,

to

and subconscious hunches? How can

theories

account for the shifting and blurring of this

we

over time?

boundary

this fixation on observed phenomena

Thirdly,

distract from the larger truth that a given

may

can lead to vastly different

phenomenon

in different theories. Even when

interpretations

phenomena are largely agreed upon,

observed

causes remain mired in controversy (the

their

disagreements over climate change

political

a case in point). Good “theorizing” is

are

while getting fixated on falsifiability

important,

observability can hold important science,

or

fourth concern relates to the assumption

The

technology will continue to improve.

that

everyone around us will attest that

Almost

has progressed tremendously

technology

their lifetimes and the living

throughout

of their parents and grandparents.

memories

can we, and should we, expect this to

Yet

This is dealt with more fully

continue?

their causes. Earlier in this chapter

reveal

encountered Bacon, who saw science as

we

nature’s secrets, by intentionally

unlocking

and mimicking nature in a

manipulating

a closer look, however, experiments

Taking

decidedly unnatural. Laboratory studies

are

the 1980s have shown that scientists go

since

great lengths to remove the messiness of

to

to control all variables but one in a

nature,

laboratory environment where “nature

purified

systematically excluded” (Sismondo 2010).

is

phenomena produced in the laboratory

However,

regularly, and uncontroversially, claimed

are

believed to stand in for natural phenomena.

and



Box 7.8: What is observable?

and policy, back.

inChapter 3.

III.2 The natural and the artificial

in experiments

controlled environment.

or microscopes.

instruments, to examine scientific objects and

195


unrecognized and often unstated simplicity

This

sanitization have important implications

and

theories arising from them, as the example

for

Mendelian genetics and the Bateson–Weldon

of

Sismondo, professor of philosophy and

Sergio

studies of science, provides a perspective

social

the social forces that lend legitimacy to

on

experiments.

scientific

articiality of experiments was one of the

The

that many natural philosophers of the

concerns

century had about them. … Particular

seventeenth

and spaces that served as laboratories

places

to the legitimacy of experiment—for

contributed

the location of laboratories within the

example,

describes the lengths that early

Sismondo

went to, to convince the public that

experimenters

experiments were not flukes. The concern is

their

of an old problem: how can we know if

indicative

experiment is working? Usually, we can test it

our

a known quantity and see whether it gives

with

correct answer. But what if we do not know

the

that answer is, not even remotely? How does

what

discern signal from noise? This challenge,

science

looking for answers with a tool that we cannot

of

sure is working, has been called the “problem

be

experimenters’ regress” by sociologist of

of

knowledge, Harry M. Collins (1981). It is

scientific

a trivial problem, but it is also not

not

In the article linked here is the

insurmountable.

story of a group of astrophysicists who

riveting

to incredible lengths to overcome this

went

in their search for gravitational

problem

terms: Nautilus Issue 42

Search

who faked it

Astrophysicists

attention to the discrepancies between

Paying

artificial purity of the laboratory and the

the

of the world can hold keys to new

messiness

An example from the history of

knowledge.

In the last years of the 19th century, Lord

here.

and Sir William Ramsey observed that

Rayleigh

extracted from chemical compounds

nitrogen

the laboratory was 0.5% lighter than nitrogen

in

from the atmosphere. It was a small

derived

difference to have been an artifact of

enough

experimental set-up, or anything else.

their

were curious, though, and their research

They

to the discovery of argon and other noble

led

and a Nobel Prize.

gases,

her book True Enough, Catherine Z.

In

(2017) argues that scientific facts and

Elgin

are never strictly speaking true,

theories

experiments and theories describe

because

simplified and controlled reality, not the

a

things around us.

natural

thus refers to science as a set of

Elgin

falsehoods”—falsehoods that

“felicitous

useful for helping us to understand the

are

but are not accurate descriptions of it.

world,

is a radically different conception of

This

truth and certainty, and more

scientific

with the simplified models used in

aligned

human sciences, discussed in Chapter 8.

the

is not just a junior assistant to

Observation

it is an astounding human

experimentation,

scientific activity deserving attention in its

and

right. own

as a scientific method has often

Observation

a collective dimension. Edmond

involved

1686 map of the trade winds is

Halley’s

one of the most successful early

considered

at collective observation. It was based

efforts

the accounts of seafarers, travellers and

on

as it was global, and therefore too

adventurers,

for any one person to observe.

big

7

debate (in II.5, Box 7.5) reveals.

For discussion

True enough? Science as “felicitous

falsehoods”

of English gentlemen helped establish

homes

… . trust

(Sismondo 2010)

III.3 Learning to see: Scientific

observation as method

waves.

the periodic table of elements is revealing

196

Figure 7.7 Map of th trad winds takn from Edmond Hally, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 16 (1686–92)

observations are repeatedly and

When

performed, errors can be spotted

systematically

corrected. Patterns emerge that can describe

and

explain more complex phenomena, such

and

the movement of the ocean’s currents or the

as

of celestial objects in the night sky.

paths

idea that despite our fallibility and our

This

powers of perception, if enough of

limited

look at nature carefully, enough times, an

us

image will emerge, can be a powerful

accurate

this discussion, you will be focusing on

In

(the science of finding, classifying

taxonomy

naming organisms). Modern biology rests

and

a foundation of the categories meticulously

on

for the purposes of classifying life

constructed

biodiversity.

and

To what extent do taxonomic categories

1.

an underlying order in nature?

reveal

What would count as evidence that

2.

categories accurately describe

taxonomic

evolutionary relationships between

the

and genera?

species

is demanding work—long and

Observation

hours, maintaining rigorous schedules,

odd

to remote places at personal risk and

travelling

handling strange things or ordinary things

cost,

strange ways. Despite this, observation is not

in

described as tedium but as exhilaration.

typically

is this most thrilling thing that we see

What

we observe nature? Would it be any less

when

if the image that emerges from scientific

thrilling

is not in fact revealed to us by nature

observation

but painstakingly co-constructed by both

itself,

and observer?

nature

What supports the argument that

3.

modern system of classification

the

a construct of human knowledge,

is

onto the messiness of the

superimposed



motivator to look at the world scientifically.

For discussion

Patterns and order

world in order to make sense of it?

197


has a number of different meanings

Objectivity

on the context. In the context of

depending

and scientific practice, the connotation

science

one of freedom from bias and value-

is

In other words, it is the principle

neutrality.

separation between scientist and science,

of

that observers and experimenters do not

such

descriptions of their observation or

influence

knowledge is what Thomas Nagel

Objective

“the view from nowhere” (1986) and what

calls

calls “knowledge without a knower”

Popper

Is such perspective-less knowledge

(1979).

in science, or indeed at all? To what

possible

does the scientific method protect against

extent

perspectives and fallibility? The feminist

human

post-colonial perspectives we explored in

and

suggest that scientific knowledge always

II.7

the mark of its producers and the context

bears

its production, while III.1 examined the

of

of theory on observation. Does nature

influence

is a second sense in which objectivity finds

There

in science, a way for scientists to make

expression

irrelevant to the process and product

themselves

science. This is the ideal of formal objectivity,

of

procedures are perfectly followed by

where

The removal of subjectivity from

scientists.

happens through the standardization,

science

indeed universalization of units, tools

and

even laboratory organisms. If human

and

are unable to restrain themselves

researchers

influencing the outcomes of scientific

from

machines might. For instance, scientific

methods,

has widely replaced scientific

photography

that was once widely popular in

illustration

But can technology produced by human

botany.

be free of human perspective? We explore

beings

idea of the neutrality of technology in

this

3. Chapter

lengths to which scientists go to be objective

The

for incredible stories. Consider, for example,

make

we know the length of 1 metre. It involves

how

expedition that first measured and established

an

length of a metre as a one ten-millionth of

the

distance between the equator and the North

the

Two centuries later it was discovered that

Pole.

result was accurate to less than the width

the

a human hair. It may be surprising that how

of

agree about measurements of length, mass

we

time are linked to the events and values of

and

French Revolution. The units established

the

were envisioned to be “for all time, for

then

people”, a goal no doubt influenced by the

all

ideals and movements of the period.

political

meter has since been pegged to constant (the

The

of light in a vacuum), which is truly for

speed

time, as opposed to transient phenomena—

all

recently as 2018 the kilogram underwent a

As

process. It is currently defined in terms of

similar

special metal cylinder called Le GrandeK, the

a

of which are kept deep underground in

copies

rooms secured with three locks. By the time

two

read this, the kilogram will be tied to the

you

7

III.4 Objectivity: For all people,

for all time

interpretations of their results.

including even the Earth.

speak for itself? Can we, and do we, let it?

Figure 7.8 Kibbl balan at th National Instituts of Standards

and Thnology, USA, that idntis th wight of 1 kilogram basd

on th Plank onstant

198

constant, possibly forever. Follow this link

Planck

a story exploring the process and implications

to

replacing Le Grand K with a fascinating shiny

of

and an immutablevalue.

machine

terms: Vox world just

Search

the kilogram

redefined

ago Galileo proclaimed,

Centuries

can see through my telescope”,

“Anyone

not only that the observer is

suggesting

but also that churches

interchangeable,

monarchs no longer had the exclusive

and

to speak about nature. That process of

rights

continues today. Very soon we

democratization

no longer rely on the International Bureau

will

Weights and Measures, as anyone with a

of

balance will be able to tell the weight of

watt

III.2 we explored Elgin’s argument about

In

science, that certain complexities

experimental

be, and indeed must be, ignored. Often these

can

concern the relationship between

complexities

we think of as parts and wholes in science.

what

example, think about how the whole of the

For

body is constituted by various systems.

human

system is made up of various organs and

Each

which are in turn made up of cells,

tissues,

atoms and so on.

molecules,

an organism be separated from its

Can

and understood as a whole?

environment

biologists maintained this

Evolutionary

for decades, looking at genes

separation

the environment as two different sets of

and

However, more recent breakthroughs in

factors.

study of how the environment

epigenetics—the

the expression of genes—blurred the

affects

between these two domains. We are

boundaries

only beginning to understand the effects of

also

microbiome—the collective genetic material

the

all the micro-organisms that are resident in the

of

body, particularly in the large intestine,

human

which we have about as many as we have

of

cells. The complexity of relationships

human

organisms and their external and

between

attention, with important implications

growing

TOK. for

8 looks at the problem of separating

Chapter

organism from the environment. Here the

the

is: how far can we go simplifying and

question

complexity in the natural sciences?

reducing

extract below considers the limits of

The

branch of science concerned

endocrinology—the

students, Nathan Leopold, 19, and Richard

graduate

18, lured, abducted, and murdered Loeb’s

Loeb,

cousin Bobby Franks by clubbing and

14-year-old

The duo fancied themselves as master

asphyxiation.

beyond the law—they planned to play a

criminals

game with the victim’s family … and get away

ransom

murder. But the body was discovered before the

with

could be collected, and because Leopold lost

ransom

rare fashionable glasses at the crime scene, the

his

traced the two young men in no time.

police

Leopold and Loeb case … was unique in the

The

of 1920s violence. The widespread eugenic

annals

of the time was that crimes were committed

thinking

individuals of low hereditary intelligence.

by

poverty and urban tenements. In either case,

class

killed over money, territory, and credibility

criminals

Leopold and Loeb were dierent and their case

But

explosive consequences. It put the very idea of

had

will and responsibility on trial. People weren’t

free

blame for their crimes because they were at the

to

duo’s attorney, Clarence Darrow, knew the jury

The

accept an insanity defense. Not only did

wouldn’t

young men know right from wrong, they had

the

followed the wrong … . They freely

consciously

their careful planning to the police,

confessed

themselves as amoral criminal masterminds.

regarding

scandalously, they showed no remorse. … The

Most

Robert Crowe, was calling for the death

prosecutor,

So instead of claiming insanity, Darrow

penalty.

to a new medical specialty to justify his

appealed

deed: endocrinology, the science of glands

clients’

their secretions.

and



with hormones.

May of 1924, the city of Chicago was shocked by a

In

murder. Two precocious University of Chicago

brutal

akilogram.

III.5 Reductionism, emergence and

complexity

on the other hand, saw gangsters as

Reformers,

products of environmental factors like working

the

… . There was no clinical mystery to their behavior.

mercy of their individual biology. Science said so. …

(Tenner 2015)

internal environments has been receiving

199


the link to the whole article, “The

Follow

Natural Born Killers”.

Original

terms: Tenner Original

Search

born killers Nautilus

natural

crime committed almost one hundred

That

ago presents perennial TOK questions

years

reductionism, the nature of scientific

about

and the human interpretation of facts.

certainty

is easy for us to look back into history and

It

people for their naivete in believing the

mock

and flawed, scientific theories

avant-garde,

their time. The more interesting concern is

of

we are vulnerable to the same mistake.

whether

can we protect ourselves against it? Is

How

anything to suggest that we have learned

there

be wiser and more intellectuallyhumble?

to

article recounts how endocrinology “was

The

powerful among medical elites as

extremely

as the laity—it appeared to hold the keys to

well

health, vitality, and actions” (Tenner 2015).

human

killers’ defence was based on the idea that

The

behaviour was determined by defects in their

their

their brain was influenced by unusual

physiology:

of hormones, in this case. This was a

amounts

assumption, underpinned by beliefs

reductionist

nature can be broken down into smaller parts,

that

know now that human behaviour is

We

more complicated than hormones, but

much

approaches are still widespread.

reductionist

reductionism is certainly not

Scientific

in itself, but it is important to notice

problematic

reductionist approaches and arguments

when

used, and to consider when they are useful

are

when misused.

and

Crick, one of the discoverers of DNA,

Francis

the following in his book Astonishing

asserted

which focused on explaining

Hypothesis,

Perhaps he was being deliberately

consciousness.

and pro vocative in this statement;

rhetorical

exactly in his words rings untrue

what

considering reductionist analyses, it is

When

looking at how boundaries are formed

worth

the upper and lower levels of analysis. For

at

when considering human behaviour we

example,

at a spectrum of levels, from DNA to neurons

look

neurochemicals all the way up to psychology,

and

and economics. Investigating outside

sociology

this range is not useful. We can speculate that

of

the atoms and molecules that made

studying

the Chicago killers’ bodies will probably not

up

anything about their actions, whereas the

reveal

in their brains, and the potential

neurochemicals

of pharmacological compounds, might.

presence

awareness of the higher levels, from what

An

be called a zoomed-out perspective,

might

reveal important information—their

can

context, their family background,

socioeconomic

books they were reading and so on—that can

the

how we understand them. Clearly, some

inform

phenomena are emergent; that is,

behavioural

come from a higher, more zoomed-out level

they

the subject in question. A mob, for example,

than

affect the behaviour of an individual in ways

can

we might not be able to predict from studying

that

would we know if we have reduced

How

too far? It can be very revealing to

something

the reductionist approach, to a point. The

follow

is of following it too far down or in the

danger

context. One can lose sight of the forest

wrong

the trees. It may well be a human impulse to

in

things to their lowest level, all the way

simplify

to an elementary force, a grand “theory

down

everything”, a quantum mechanics, that has

of

captured the attention of modern science, or

so

a God, that has so captured humankind for

of

Even the phrase “to think deeply”

millennia.

something suggests diving into its more

about

constituent parts.

fundamental

taking reductionist approaches too far, one

By

losing sight of emergent phenomena.

risks

7

‘You’, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and

your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and

free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast

assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.

(Crick 1995)

and those smaller parts can explain the whole.

only their brain.

orincomplete?

200

Causality

science, sociology,

Political

economics

is obvious that not everything needs to be

It

down to be understood; what might be

broken

obvious is that some phenomena become

less

or unpredictable the closer you look.

invisible

his 1997 work, The Fabric of Reality, physicist

In

Deutsch describes this alternative

David

as “emergence”. The only reason

scenario

high-level sciences can be studied and

that

at all, he suggests, is because,

understood

the right circumstances, particles come

under

in a way that makes sense and can

together

analyzed, allowing us to access knowledge

be

is usually beyond comprehension. Thus

which

simplicity ‘emerges’ from low-level

“high-level

assumes that higher levels of

Reductionism

do not influence the lower levels,

organization

rather that the lower levels explain the

but

levels. This is a question of causality,

higher

reductionist logic asserts that causality

and

from small to big, as shown in Figure7.9

flows

Emergence refers to cases where it is the

below.

way around, or at least not flowing in this

other

way, but influenced instead by

straightforward

complexity.

important counterexample stems from the

An

of 18th-century naturalist Alexander von

work

(1769–1859), an incredible figure in

Humboldt

history of science. Despite the fact that more

the

in the world are named after him than

things

anyone else in the world, his full life

probably

has only recently started emerging out of

story

obscurity. Part of the renewed interest in

relative

flows from his visionary ideas about

Humboldt

interconnections and complexity in

relationships,

more progressive contemporaries

Humboldt’s

already accepting the idea that, unlike a

were

that could be taken apart into pieces

machine

reassembled, ecosystems could not be

and

this way. The relationships that

understood

whole organisms could not be broken

constituted

into parts. Humbolt took this thinking to a

up

global level: to him the one great whole of

new,

natural world was unified and everything

the

it was connected. He dedicated his life to

in

those connections, always keeping

illuminating

whole in sight, exploring the world to look

the

patterns and make observations where no

for

else had done so. Remember that it would

one

another 150 years before anyone would see

be

whole Earth for the first time. The iconic

the

Marble” image from the 1972 Apollo 17

“Blue

would go on to galvanize the modern

mission



Reductionism: the thesis that reality is hierarchical and that

there is no downward causation

Higher level,

zoomed-out

perspectives

Chemistry, geology, biology

the natural world.

Thermodynamics

Classical mechanics

Quantum mechanics

Lower level,

zoomed-in

The unified theory of everything (if it exists)

perspectives

A simplid modl of rdutionism

Figure 7.9

environmentalmovement.

complexity.”

Figure 7.10

“Th Blu Marbl” imag takn by th rw of

Apollo 17 (1972)

201

IV. Ethics

was the wartime head of the Los

Oppenheimer

Laboratory and a key contributor to the

Alamos

bomb, a development that has captured

atomic

ethical imagination of humankind. The

the

power that comes with and through

obvious

necessitates robust ethics. This is

science

true when modern science deals with

especially

visible ethical dilemmas as those presented

such

genetic manipulation, nuclear power and life

by

to name but a few. Consider also the

extension,

questions that arise from humankind’s

moral

on Earth in the Anthropocene, as outlined

impact

is not concerned with discerning right

TOK

wrong within science, but rather in the

from

issues involved in ethical claims. For

knowledge

whether scientists should be allowed

instance,

experiment on animals is an important ethical

to

but the TOK questions embedded into

question,

question are different: can human beings

that

interpret, compare and/or quantify the

detect,

of an animal? What tools and theories

suffering

our ability to do so, who came up with

enable

can we trust those people and what was

them,

agenda? Can the benefits to testing be

their

to this suffering? How will we know

compared

we have enough evidence to make a

when

These questions necessarily involve the

decision?

of science, but they are also inherently

practice

of knowledge, and require a different

questions

not right from wrong, but how

focus—answering

know right from wrong. In answering them, we

to

confidence that we know right from wrong.

gain

common challenge within TOK is ethical

A

the idea that ethical standards vary

relativism,

contexts because different peoples, nations

across

cultures often do not agree. Further, and

and

within science, this disagreement is

especially

by their competing strategic and

influenced

interests. Science as a tool towards

political

can be used toward those interests; and

power

have seen throughout history that when the

we

are high, the ends are somehow made to

stakes

the means. It is imperative that we are

justify

of the conceptual and quantitative tools,

aware

their shortcomings, that are used to make

and

ethical justifications.

such

ethics of science as an area of knowledge

The

be explored in two main areas: the pursuit

can

scientific knowledge and the application of

of

knowledge. Chapter 11 deals with

scientific

similar dichotomy, between research and

a

in mathematics.

application

has established traditions of integrity

Science

the practice such that “doing good

within

is nearly synonymous with “doing

science”

science”. In theory this is underpinned by:

ethical

adherence to best practice standards

•

experimental design and procedure,

of

review committees that approve or

including

research projects on ethical grounds.

deny

7

I V. E T H I C S

In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no

humour, no overstatements can quite extinguish, the

physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge

which they cannot lose.

(Oppenheimer 1947)

IV.1 Ethics in scientific methodology

in Chapter 8.

• attention to detail

• sincere attempts at impartiality

202

are expected to explain their

Scientists

so that others can seek to

methodology

the experiment and verify the results.

replicate

process of peer review, explained in II.4,

The

plays a role in monitoring and enforcing

also

standards and in establishing scientific

these

so that we can trust the results of

credibility,

An ethical breach may apply to any

science.

of these steps, though perhaps more often

one

falsifying or selectively interpreting data.

in

careers and millions of dollars at stake,

With

practice of science should be expected to be

the

more or less honest than any other human

no

Or should it? That was a knowledge

pursuit.

exactly does TOK come in here? We

Where

start with looking for weaknesses in the

could

safeguards themselves: grant approval,

ethical

review and experimental replicability.

peer

recent years, these have been able to detect

In

cases of malpractice or misconduct

individual

varying levels. They are less effective at

to

against wider, more systematic

safeguarding

violations that appear acceptable to a

ethical

at a given time, driven by an “ends-

community

logic, but in hindsight are

justifies-the-means”

For instance, there is a gruesome

problematic.

sadly long list of experiments done on

and

subjects without their consent, typically

human

“othered’ peoples—slaves, prisoners, the

on

or mentally disabled. J. Marion Sims,

poor

to as the founder of gynaecology, was

referred

of the most famous surgeons of the 19th

one

with statues installed in his honour,

century

he openly acknowledged experimenting

but

African-American slave women without

on

His statue was recently removed

anesthesia.

Nuremberg Code was established in 1949 in

The

to experiments by Nazi researchers on

response

camp subjects. Even after the code

concentration

established, the US Public Health Service

was

with the now-infamous Tuskegee

persevered

experiment, conducted on 399 mostly

syphilis

black men, who were denied treatment and

poor

as their disease progressed, infecting

observed

examples are included here to introduce

These

question: should we expect science, and

the

to abide by the social and political

scientists,

of their time, or to strive to do better?

standards

we saw in the case study in II.3, safeguards

As

foster a scientific conservatism that, in the

can

of Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet,

words

to Duesberg’s silencing and “ideological

led

The journal Medical Hypotheses,

assassination”.

in Box 7.3, was founded on values

featured

academic freedom and pluralism, to avoid

of

the type of conservatism and group-

exactly

that peer-review systems can foster.

think

the journal has been accused of

However,

dangerous pseudo-science in the

promoting

denialism debate.

AIDS

Ethics in the application of

IV.2

knowledge

scientific

started this chapter with Oppenheimer’s

We

about how physicists working on the

quote

bomb have known sin. The nuclear bomb

nuclear

humankind’s imagination for decades

captured

the Second World War and the Cold

following

and continues to be a familiar example in

War,

concerns around scientific innovation.

ethical

engineering is another such issue. With

Genetic

to research and innovation, should we

regards

should we not? is a perennial question that

or

may never stop asking. A more

humankind

question for us is how we arrive at the

relevant

to that question. The approach for many

answer

nuclear power and genetic

issues—including

usually invoke appeals to

engineering—will

and universal laws, utilitarian cost-

morality

analyses, concerns about unintended

benefit

effects, comparisons to any alternatives and

side

of best and worst case scenarios. Each

analyses

these in turn should be explored for problems

of

knowledge. Let’s consider the commonly

of

cost-benefit analysis, the tool of choice for

used

decision-makers who are often

practical-minded

removed from the consequences of their

far

It may seem a cold-hearted logic to tally

decisions.

the costs and benefits of massive applications

up

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

How could science do better?

claim about the ethics of science.

from New York City.

many of their wives and children.

of destructive power, but the cost-benefit analysis

203

IV. Ethics

an essential, imperfect and widely used tool in

is

across many fields.

decision-making

cost-benefit framework rests on the

The

assumption that relevant costs and

fundamental

are knowable and, crucially, quantifiable,

benefits

an extent that allows for comparing the sum

to

of each. For example, environmental

totals

assessments, pharmaceutical research and

impact

innovation projects need to know

technological

advantages and disadvantages of their work.

the

this requires comparing impacts on

Frequently

lives in the present and the future. When

human

think about policies designed to prevent climate

we

we need to know first the value of various

change,

and then the costs of the disruption

ecosystems,

these ecosystems, versus the costs of mitigating

to

change. A third step is comparing how

climate

of this mitigation work balances against the

all

costs and benefits of adapting to it. And

relative

if all that is not challenging enough, we must

as

tolerances for uncertainty into the analyses,

build

placeholders for the known and unknown

leaving

This is a deeply complex cost-benefit

unknowns.

that requires international organizations

analysis

governments to agree on things that are

and

hard to measure, and we can see why

inherently

has been so challenging for them to come to an

it

Climate change has been described as a

agreement.

fascinating example of unpredictability is

A

the site of an unmitigated nuclear

Chernobyl,

in 1986. It was expected to be a

catastrophe

for centuries but, as it turns out, the

wasteland

there is thriving. In 2015, one article

ecosystem

that “[t]he biodiversity is higher there

stated

before the accident” (Hopkin 2015), and

than

the potential for ecotourism to the

mentioned

Other estimates suggest there are seven

area.

more wolves inside the exclusion zone

times

due to the meltdown) than outside

(created

The example of Chernobyl shows how

it.

it can be to predict the complex

challenging

emergent phenomena associated with

and

impacts, and perhaps, to end on

environmental

more hopeful note, the resilience of our natural

a

logical entry point into cost-benefit analyses

A

climate change is to quantify the social

about

of emitting carbon. How is this social cost

cost

Consider the following, published on

known?

an exercise, try a cost-benefit analysis on a

As

of your choosing, using the best available

topic

analyses are frequently used and

Cost-benefit

without due concern for their limitations,

invoked

with quantitative approximations and

and

that sometimes more closely reflect

assumptions

7

IV.3 The cost-benefit analysis

Stanford University’s website in 2015.

[A] U.S. government study concluded, based on the

results of three widely used economic impact models,

that an additional ton of carbon dioxide emitted in

2015 would cause $37 worth of economic damages.

These damages are expected to take various forms,

including decreased agricultural yields, harm to

human health and lower worker productivity, all

related to climate change. But according to a new

study, published online this week in the journal

Nature Climate Change, the actual cost could be much

higher. ‘We estimate that the social cost of carbon is

not $37 per ton, as previously estimated, but $220

per ton,’ said study co-author Frances Moore, at

Stanford’s School of Earth Sciences.

(Than 2015)

Making connections

Knowledge and politics

We should note there is no confusion about the fact

of anthropogenic climate change, or the fact that it is

already disrupting lives and ecosystems. The point

is that experts, even as of January 2020, disagree

“perfect moral storm”, as we see in Chapter 8.

the numbers in one of the most important costbenet

about

analysis of our time, and disagree by a large

That margin can be lled by the opinions,

margin.

and ideologies of competing interests,

assumptions

and is one reason why a scientic discourse

has become so heavily politicized. Rening the

cost-benet analysis, using better data and

measurement, is one route to diminishing the space

available for this politicization.

information online, to see how far you get.

environments in the face of human degradation.

204

intentions and beliefs of their estimators

the

reality. It is the uncritical acceptance of such

than

that is problematic. Also problematic,

analyses

is the disdain for, or distrust in, experts

however,

attempt cost-benefit analyses to the best of

who

ability, and the dismissal of their results in

their

11, IV.2, shows that quantitative

Chapter

for decisions, opinions and policies

justifications

carry an aura of authority that is accepted too

can

As we see in that chapter, people have

quickly.

wrongfully convicted of crimes on the basis

been

faulty statistics. The old adage, widely cited

of

often misattributed to Mark Twain, says

and

are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies,

“There

is the inherent danger of scientific ethics:

Therein

claims to speak for the world and, in so

science

seems to be either all good or all bad. For some,

Science

is a crusading knight beset by simple-minded

science

… . For others it is science which is the enemy;

mystics

gentle planet, our feel for the just, the poetic and the

our

are assailed by a technological bureaucracy—

beautiful,

antithesis of culture—controlled by capitalists with

the

concern but for prot. For some, science gives us

no

self-suciency, cures for the crippled, and

agricultural

global network of communication; for others it gives

a

weapons of war, a school teacher’s ery death as the

us

shuttle falls from grace, and the silent, deceiving,

space

Chernobyl.

bone-poisoning

these ideas of science are wrong and dangerous.

Both

personality of science is neither that of a chivalrous

The

Chapter 4 we explore the power of metaphor

In

understanding complex ideas. Metaphors

for

values and assumptions of the cultures

carry

intellectual traditions that use them.

and

through this textbook and the TOK

Woven

is the map metaphor of knowledge, and

course

also shapes it. All of us should be aware

doing,

the knowledge issues inherent to ethical

of

claims and justifications. Every time

scientific

read something that quantifies costs and

you

or estimates that X number of dollars

benefits,

be saved or lost, remember how wrong

will

US government was, as recently as 2015, in

the

the social cost of carbon, one of the

estimating

opened this chapter with Bacon’s metaphors

We

pushing past the limits of knowledge

for

the metaphorical end of the world. Now

and

consider a more recent metaphor from

let’s

M. Collins and Trevor Pinch. They liken

Harry

scientific enterprise to a creature from

the

nor that of a pitiless juggernaut. What, then, is

knight

Science is a golem.

science?

a humanoid made by man from clay and water, with

…

and spells. It is powerful. It grows a little more

incantations

every day. It will follow orders, do your work,

powerful

protect you from the ever threatening enemy. But it

and

clumsy and dangerous. Without control, a golem may

is

its masters . . . .

destroy

is also worth noting that in the mediaeval tradition

[I]t

creature of clay was animated by having the

the

‘EMETH’, meaning truth, inscribed on its

Hebrew

is truth that drives it on. But this does not

forehead—it

it understands the truth—far from it.

mean

Pinch 2012)

(Collins,

metaphor too is not neutral. In Chapter 1

that

briefly discuss the importance of varying

we

metaphors to gain a more nuanced and

our

understanding of knowledge.

deeper

light of this, what can you say about the

In

role or power of the golem as a

usefulness,

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

the “post-truth” public sphere.

most important numbers of our time.

IV.4 The golem that is science

and statistics”.

Jewishmythology.

For discussion

The power of metaphor

metaphor for science?

205

8

Human sciences

chapter is about the scientific answers to questions about what it is to be human, what human

This

and differences mean, what forces shape our social reality, and what responsibilities we

similarities

towards making a better world. There is no single authoritative source or discipline that answers

have

questions, but the human sciences do manage to piece together some answers. There is certainly

these

at stake. As a result, this chapter pays particular attention to the consequences of agreement

much

disagreement in the human sciences.

and

is not surprising that, of all the AOKs, the

It

sciences have perhaps the most porous

human

disputed boundaries. Humanity is complex

and

ever-changing, and even if we focus on

and

social and cultural aspects of human life,

the

a boundary around this AOK is difficult

drawing

the interconnection of our social and physical

•

environments

the kinship and similarities among humans

•

other animals.

and

the boundaries of the human sciences

Within

are many varied disciplines: psychology,

there

anthropology, political science and so

economics,

with an even greater number of overlapping

on,

behavioural psychology,

sub-disciplines:

economics, political anthropology,

behavioural

and ethnomusicology, human

ethnobotany

and so the list continues.

geography,

I . S C O P E

because of:

• the entanglement of culture and nature

206

people realise that psychologists also take a vow,

Few

that at some point in their professional

promising

they will publish a book, a chapter or at least an

lives

that contains the sentence: ‘The human being

article

the only animal that ... ’. We are allowed to nish

is

sentence any way we like, but it has to start with

the

of us wait until relatively late in our careers to

Most

this solemn obligation because we know that

full

generations of psychologists will ignore

successive

the other words that we managed to pack into a

all

of well-intentioned scholarship and remember

lifetime

mainly for how we nished The Sentence.

us

also know that the worse we do, the better

We

will be remembered. For instance, those

we

who nished The Sentence with ‘can

psychologists

language’ were particularly well remembered

use

chimpanzees were taught to communicate

when

hand signs.

with

when researchers discovered that chimps in the

And

used sticks to extract tasty termites from their

wild

(and to bash each other over the head now

mounds

again), the world suddenly remembered the full

and

it is with good reason that most psychologists

So

o completing The Sentence for as long as they

put

hoping that if they wait long enough, they might

can,

die in time to avoid being publicly humiliated by

just

Gilbert’s words may seem comical,

Daniel

they point out the problem with defining

but

human activities: monkeys do

distinctly

whales sing, birds use fire, honeybees

business,

complex social behaviour, trees

exhibit

and share resources with each

communicate

With each discovery the list gets longer,

other.

the arguments for human exceptionalism

and

so. In fact, it is a struggle to think of any

less

that show non-humans being less

studies

than previously thought. How

sophisticated

can we justify the status of the human

then

is the body of scientific knowledge about

Why

considered by TOK to be at least as

humankind

as our knowledge about the rest of

important

natural world combined?

the

in response to these questions, Joanna

Writing

says that the distinction between the

Bourke

and the animal is not only contested,

human

“policed with demonic precision”.

but

ideas, values and practices used to justify the

…

of a particular understanding of ‘the

sovereignty

over the rest of sentient life are what create

human’

and social life. Perhaps the very concept

society

‘culture’ is an attempt to dierentiate ourselves

of

our ‘creatureliness’, our eshly vulnerability …

from

those territories not only involves violence,

Delimiting

inspires it.

but

knowledge questions arising from the

The

sciences are also significant because of

human

power of this AOK to inform policy, social

the

individual action and choice.

movements,

body of knowledge shapes the realities,

This

and behaviours it studies. In

phenomena

evidence-based decisions about how

making

organize our societies and lead our lives,

to

make significant use of knowledge from

we

AOK. We look, for example, to cultural

this

to make sense of our similarities

anthropology

differences in an increasingly interconnected

and

and to economics to guide decisionmaking

world,

in a world of finite resources, time

information. For these reasons, we must

and

attention to theory building and concept

pay

in the human sciences—and consider

formation

what extent they reflect, versus shape, the

to

the aim of the human sciences primarily to

Is

and explain patterns of human activity,

describe

make predictions about outcomes in society,

to

guide interventions and inform action, or

to

I. Scope

I. Scope

those eight words.

(Bourke 2011)

and mailing address of every psychologist

name

ever nished The Sentence with the words

who

‘uses tools’.

a monkey.

(Gilbert 2007)

reality of human experience.

something else entirely?

sciences as a separate AOK?

207

I. Scope

of an idea or theory coming from any

Think

of the human sciences that describes or

one

an important part of the human

explains

one that you have

experience—perhaps

which words you would use to

Consider

the power of this idea or theory.

describe

you say it determined, defined, shaped,

Would

or influenced aspects of the world?

affected

your answer with a partner or in a class

Share

Together or individually consider

discussion.

is called the human sciences in TOK is

What

referred to as social sciences outside of

usually

course. Both terms appear interchangeably in

this

chapter but perhaps the difference is that one

this

its starting point the human individual,

makes

other the collective society. Whichever

the

point is used, the great diversity of

starting

within the human sciences challenges

disciplines

coherence and cohesion of this AOK. Is

the

more that distinguishes rather than unifies

there

human science disciplines? Do they have

the

in common than not? Does it even make

more

to refer to them collectively as the human

sense

To explore those questions, this chapter

sciences?

at their historical origins, methodological

looks

conceptual frameworks and

approaches,

in the real world, that may justify

applications

to them collectively.

referring

quest for scientific answers, in the narrow

The

of the term, to fundamentally social and

sense

questions dates back to the Enlightenment

human

of the 18th century. What was then called

thinkers

moral sciences set out to advance freedom

the

humanity. The aim of Enlightenment thinkers

and

to produce knowledge about humans and

was

societies based on disinterested and value-free

our

To what extent does knowledge in the

1.

sciences derive its value from its

human

If knowledge in the human sciences has

3.

consequences on the world, in

material

the concepts of value, neutrality and

Keep

in mind, and trace how they come up

power

this chapter, and in the production,

throughout

and application of knowledge in

acquisition

of the main objectives of the TOK course

One

to interrogate the extent to which knowledge

is

be disinterested and value-free. Refer to the

can

debate between Hobbes and Boyle,

17th-century

the relationship between knowledge and

about

with which we open Chapter 2. It would

politics,

be until the intellectual debates of the 20th

not

that the human sciences, as the social and

century

theorist Peter Wagner argues, gained

political

independent status to provide knowledge

enough

was considered valid and useful. These

that

about the big questions of humanity

debates

sociology, psychology, anthropology and

shaped

into the disciplines we recognize today.

economics

brought doubts about the value of the

They

sciences to the surface, to be acknowledged

human

grappled with. And there was, even then, a

and

group “inclined to entirely abandon

significant

attempt to render the social world intelligible

any

the face of its complexity and lack of evident

in

(Wagner 2001). And therefore we see that

order”

starting assumption of the human sciences is

the

chapter explores some of the attempts,

This

and failures of the human sciences to

successes

with the messiness of human nature and

engage

reality.

social

8

For reflection and discussion

Explanations, neutrality and power in

the human sciences

potential for application?

Can you think of an idea or theory in the

2.

sciences that has value, but no effect

human

on the world?

encountered in your studies.

what sense can it be neutral?

Which words did you choose and why?

the human sciences.

the following questions.

that humans are knowable to themselves.

evaluation and analysis of empirical evidence.

208

case study below considers the example of

The

economics—for better or worse—has strived

how

is sometimes proclaimed the most

Economics

among the human sciences, at least

rigorous

economists. The issue of the supposed

by

of economics is our entry point into the

rigour

about the contestable boundaries

discussion

the natural and human sciences,

between

the exchange between both of them and

and

mathematics.

who believe in the rigour of economics

Some

it reflects a natural order of social reality.

think

might think this false, even bizarre,

Others

the discipline’s repeated failure to predict

given

prevent economic crises. Critics point out

and

this chasing of rigour has led to an over-

that

on abstract mathematical models,

reliance

rather than producing predictions about

which,

couple of decades. Could mathematics help

past

human sciences navigate and make sense of

the

And critics have been saying

methodology.

for several decades, but change has been

this

The 2009 global recession that wiped out

slow.

of dollars of savings, and precipitated

millions

debt crisis in Southern Europe, came just six

a

after a leading economist had proclaimed

years

the “central problem of depressionprevention

that

has been solved” (Lucas quoted in

2009). Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman,

Krugman

of the most trenchant critics among the

one

economists, has summed up as follows:

leading

economics profession went astray because

“the

as a group, mistook beauty, clad

economists,

impressive-looking mathematics, for truth”

in

2009). Why were they impressed by

(Krugman

mathematics?

as a term was devised by Paul

“Mathiness”

an Economics Nobel Laureate, who

Romer,

used it to describe a style of work

originally

“lets academic politics masquerade

that

science” (Romer 2015) by camouflaging

as

arguments in an ambiguous mix

political

words and symbols, natural and formal

of

and theoretical and empirical

language,

He argues that mathiness makes it

content.

to access and critique the economics

difficult

and gives the work an unearned

discourse,

of authority. Both of these—access and

sense

to Krugman, there are strong

According

and business incentives that propel

political

idealized vision of economies composed

an

fully rational agents—despite plenty

of

evidence to the contrary—and “fancy

of

have obscured these less-tenable

equations”

assumptions in both academia and

model

To make his long argument short,

policy.

asserts that mathiness is used

Krugman

defend faulty economics, including the

to

I. Scope

I. Scope

the complexity of the world?

to maintain its legitimacy and authority in the

Case study

Mathiness and physics envy in the

human sciences

There is an implicit pecking order among the

social sciences, and it seems to be dominated

by economics. For starters, economists see

themselves at or near the top of the disciplinary

hierarchy. In a survey conducted in the early

2000s, [David] Colander found that 77 per cent of

economics graduate students in elite programs

agree with the statement that “economics is the

most scientic of the social sciences”. Some fteen

years ago, Richard Freeman speculated on the

origins of this conviction. His assessment was

candid: ‘sociologists and political scientists have

less powerful analytical tools and know less than

we do, or so we believe. By scores on the Graduate

Record Examination and other criteria, our eld

attracts students stronger than theirs, and our

courses are more mathematically demanding’.

(Fourcade et al 2015)

authority—are significant knowledge issues.

the future, actually obscure a pseudo-scientific

neoliberal paradigm.

209

I. Scope

central cause of the profession’s failure was

The

desire for an all-encompassing, intellectually

the

Krugman and Romer have said that

Both

can conceal political arguments

mathiness

naturalistic or empirical clothing. This is

in

problematic because, in the words

especially

John Rapley, a political economist at the

of

of Cambridge, “scientists are

University

to reach their conclusions after doing

supposed

and weighing the evidence but, in

research

conclusions can come first, with

economics,

gravitating towards a thesis that

economists

their moral worldview” (Rapley 2018).

fits

these theories with mathiness can

Dressing

them more convincing, or at least more

make

to critique.

difficult

is there evidence for the claim that

But

lends the human sciences an aura

mathematics

authority, deserved or otherwise? Consider,

of

a minute, the pseudo-scientific claims,

for

by statistics, that are regularly

supported

in everything from advertising

invoked

political debates. One is reminded how

to

Thomson, a renowned 19th-century

William

known for his work on the laws

scientist

thermodynamics, had stated. “When you

of

measure what you are speaking about and

can

it in numbers you know something

express

it; but when you cannot measure it … in

about

your knowledge is of a meagre and

numbers,

implications of measurement are explored

The

section III. The success of physics and

in

in explaining our world may have

chemistry

to a perception that mathematical

contributed

have an authoritative force. Within

formulas

human sciences there is even a term for

the

“physics envy”, used to criticize the

this,

of complicated mathematics to appear

overuse

can guarantee the semblance

Mathematics

science, and sometimes that is enough

of

which a community organises its production.

by

not accidental that Adam Smith, whose work

It’s

Wealth of Nations (1776) is often seen as

The

founding text of economics, was a moral

the

Yet ever after, it was the holy grail of

philosopher.

to make their art into a science, using

economists

to uncover the codes supposedly buried in their

it

of human existence. They experimented

heart

mathematics and pondered Charles Darwin’s

with

in biology, but it would be the late

revolution

century before economics nally found a

19th

for itself. It found it in physics. But … the

model

very term ‘social science’ is probably best

the

as an oxymoron … in the 1970s, the Nobel

seen

Wassily Leontief warned against the drift

laureate

had begun in economics towards what was

that

and Romer have applied the

Krugman

critique to their community of

mathiness

economists, but it has been

professional

in other disciplines in the human

invoked

too. Steven Pinker’s book The

sciences,

Angels of Our Nature (2011) used a vast

Better

analysis to argue that the present is

statistical

most peaceful time in human history, and

the

a wide global audience including,

impressed

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates

apparently,

the philosopher Peter Singer. However,

and

methods were publicly criticized by

Pinker’s

Taleb, an outspoken statistician, author

Nassim

professor at New York University. To what

and

could a layperson access and critique

extent

methods? How would we know

Pinker’s

Taleb is right? For those of us who are

whether

non-experts, it can be difficult

mathematical

judge who is right and wrong, when both

to

appear to hold heavy-weight academic

sides

8

to convince laypeople and academics alike.

approach that also gave economists a

elegant

to show o their mathematical prowess.

chance

(Krugman 2009)

has always been an ethical and social

Economics

its purpose being to produce the rules

exercise,

nature of human beings makes any laws

social

behaviour tentative and contextual. In fact,

of

subsequently called ‘physics envy’.

(Rapley 2018)

unsatisfactory kind.”

more rigorous.

210

But an even bigger danger would

credentials.

to throw our hands up in defeat.

be

would also be dangerous to disregard the

It

of mathematical reasoning and clearly

benefits

balance needs to be struck in the human

a

Romer states the following.

sciences.

other side of the discussion should not

The

neglected. There are disciplines such

be

econophysics and social physics that

as

blur the boundaries between

effectively

natural and human sciences, using

the

tools inspired by physics to

mathematical

and explain human behaviour

understand

interactions in crowds, markets and

and

complex social systems. The term

other

was introduced by H. Eugene

“econophysics”

following his observation that a very

Stanley,

number of papers on stock markets were

large

of Income & Wealth Distributions. His

Econophysics

not a one-o example; the list of physics-trained

is

the arrival of “big data”, social scientists

With

hoping that analyses of huge market

are

powered by statistical tools and

datasets,

learning, will reveal insights about

machine

behaviour. Whether these insights

human

generalized into human laws remains to

canbe

example, financial economics has been

For

particular focus for quantitative research

a

by physics, but behavioural economics

inspired

not. Some of the criticisms voiced by

has

and Krugman allude to the fact that

Romer

methods may have spread too far,

quantitative

quickly and without enough consideration,

too

may well be a reflection of their success,

which

failure. It would also be a mistake to

not

economics as too “mathy” or anything

describe

because, as we have seen, it is not a

else

discipline but a field consisting

monolithic

varied subdisciplines with considerable

of

of methodology.

differences

I. Scope

I. Scope

Counter-claim

A number of disciplines have wholeheartedly

embraced mathematical tools and applied models

Making connections

from physics to economic problems.

For example, the physicist Bikas Chakrabarti

Understanding statistics as a layperson

The opaqueness of the statistics behind knowledge

has applied the kinetic theory of gas to models

of markets, and co-authored a book entitled

claims becomes an ethical issue when these claims

are made in law, health or other domains of human

decision-making with signicant consequences.

Chapter 11 explores knowledge issues with the use

economists is too long to provide here, and includes

luminaries such as Jan Tinbergen, the rst ever

of statistics in section IV.

recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and widely

considered one of the most inuential economists

of the 20th century.

If the participants in a discussion are committed

to science, mathematical theory can encourage a

unique clarity and precision in both reasoning and

be seen.

communication. It would be a serious setback for

our discipline if economists lose their commitment

to careful mathematical reasoning.

(Romer 2015)

written by physicists.

211

I. Scope

idea of describing society using the laws

The

physics and biology is not new. Henri de

of

1803 book, Lettres d’un habitant

Saint-Simon’s

Genève à ses contemporains, did just that.

de

student and collaborator was

Saint-Simon’s

Comte, the philosopher widely

Auguste

as the founder of sociology, who

regarded

social physics as “that science which

defined

itself with social phenomena,

occupies

in the same light as astronomical,

considered

chemical, and physiological

physical,

that is to say as being subject to natural and invariable laws, the discovery of which

phenomena,

Saint-Simon and Comte, it was statistician Adolphe Quetelet who, in 1835, wrote a book

After

Essay on Social Physics: Man and the Development of his Faculties, which describes using

entitled

probability to model society. A commonly told (and possibly apocryphal) story has

mathematical

that Comte invented the term “sociologie” (sociology) in response to Quetelet’s appropriation of

it

20th-century researchers including the geographer Reino Ajo and astrophysicist John Q.

Later,

used gravity models to show the distribution of social interactions. There is also the

Stewart,

model of trade, which builds a model of bilateral trading relations on the laws of gravity.

gravity

would seem a curious proposition to equate the trading behaviour of people in different

It

to the relationship between massive objects. However, the gravity model of trade is

countries

considered an empirical success, accurately predicting trade flows between countries

generally

we see that mathematics in the human sciences is neither a recent nor necessarily problematic

So

But in the past 20 years, a very large number of social science papers have used

invention.

mathematics. Contemporary academics have written books on the subject,

physics-inspired

the simply named Social Physics, by MIT professor Alex Pentland, and The Social Atom,

including

are coming to realize that human

“We

is determined as much by the

behaviour

of our culture as by rational,

patterns

thinking. These patterns can

individual

described mathematically, and used to

be

accurate predictions.” (www.endor.

make

assertion is that knowledge about

Pentland’s

behaviour can be used to describe,

human

and predict phenomena. To what extent

explain

you agree? What are the strengths and

do

of the different human sciences

weaknesses

this?

towards

8

Box 8.1: Applying natural laws to human behaviour

is the special object of its researches” (Comte quoted in Iggers 1959).

the term “social physics”, because Comte did not agree with his statistics.

for many goods andservices.

by Mark Buchanan, editor of Nature magazine.

For discussion

Knowledge used to describe, explain or predict

Alex Pentland, a professor at MIT, writes:

com/social-physics)

212

human sciences grapple with questions

The

have profound social implications. These

that

are based on facts and assumptions

disciplines

the ways in which all humans are the

about

about our set of shared characteristics, and

same,

essential uniformity underlying all human

the

This is not a stable set, and over time

variation.

have been added to and taken off the list.

items

the assumption of human sameness on

Without

fundamental level, could there be a legitimate

a

for the human sciences to make universal

basis

about human nature? Based on this

claims

of human sameness, psychologists

assumption

economists make claims that apply to all

or

about how memory works or how we

humans

choices.

make

it is not uncommon for the set of

Interestingly,

similarities to be described as human

human

women animals?” This was the title of a

“Are

published in 1872, by an author we know

letter

by the name she signed off with: “An

only

Englishwoman”. She was protesting

Earnest

unequal treatment of women under British

the

women were not seen as fully human and

law;

not equal to nor part of “mankind”.

therefore

a few decades earlier, the legal system had

Just

protections for animals’ from cruelty,

increased

the same protections were not in place for

but

The Earnest Englishwoman’s plea was

women.

raise the status of women by subsuming

to

in the legislation protecting animals

them

fromcruelty.

letter was satirical, of course, but draws

The

attention to how scientific claims about

our

influence ideas about political

humanness

and equality. The boundary

personhood

the concepts “human” and “animal”

between

been affected by political as well as scientific

has

whereas the set of human differences is

biology,

described as human culture. Why do you

often

thinkers and researchers have insisted

Recently,

nature versus culture is a false dichotomy.

that

have been mostly unsuccessful at

Scientists

nature and culture, whether by

disentangling

nature from ideology and politics, or

extracting

guarding culture from claims about genes

by

neurotransmitters. Donna Haraway offers

and

term “natureculture”, signalling that these

the

domains, and therefore our knowledge

two

them, are inseparable. Box 8.2 explores

about

interconnected worlds of biology, culture,

the

and politics.

history

Earnest Englishwoman wrote at the

The

of one such debate, with Charles

height

“Expression of the Emotions in Man

Darwin’s

Animals” appearing in the same year.

and

(the capacity to feel) was receiving

Sentience

as a demarcation criterion for the

attention

question. The belief at the

human-animal

that not all humans are equally capable

time

suffering was influenced by the idea of a

of

chain of being”, a hierarchy ranking

“great

matter and life forms from highest to

all

which had been very influential for

lowest,

millennia of Western thought. The “chain

two

feeling” inspired by it was much shorter,

of

placed “civilized men” at the high end,

and

“savages slaves, and animals” at the

and

end. Before we continue with this story,

low

to keep in mind how these ideas

remember

theories were constructed, and what we

and

do to guard against believing modern-day

can

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives


think this is the case?

Box 8.2: An unnatural history of the politics and science of pain

falsehoods.

ideas and debates.

213

who had been placed at the ‘lower’ end of the Chain of Feeling paid an extremely

“People

price for prejudices about their ‘inability’ to feel … slaves and ‘savages’, for instance,

high

routinely depicted as possessing a limited capacity to experience pain, a biological ‘fact’

were

conveniently diminished any culpability among their so-called superiors for acts of abuse

that

voyeuristic curiosity, travellers and explorers often commented on what they regarded

With

exotic responses to pain by indigenous peoples. …

as

sciences placed great emphasis on the development and complexity of the brain and

Racial

As the author of Pain and Sympathy (1907) concluded, attempting to explain why the

nerves.

could ‘bear physical torture without shrinking’: the ‘higher the life, the keener is the

‘savage’

of pain’.” (Bourke 2014)

sense

terms: Bourke

Search

won’t hurt a bit

This

logic did not progress very far. The label of

This

applied to non-European peoples for

inferiority

insensitive bodies could also be applied to

their

for exactly the opposite reason: extreme

women

that women occupied the highest place

believe

the hierarchy. To resolve the contradiction, a

in

between pain perception and pain

distinction

emerged. It explained that “hysterical”

reaction

exaggerated response to pain was

women’s

evidence of inferiority.

further

offers two examples from the clinical

Bourke

of the time, showing how prejudices

literature

into analyses that were supposedly

crept

value-free.

does not always follow that because a patient bears what appears to be a great amount

“It

pain with remarkable fortitude, that that individual is more deserving of credit or shows

of

self-control than the one who does not; for it is a well-established fact that pain is not

greater

to the same degree by all individuals alike.” (Finney quoted in Bourke 2014)

felt

8II. Perspectives

inflicted on them. …

Follow the link to read the whole article.

New Statesman

sensitivity. And certainly, no one wanted to

214

savage probably suffers less than a civilised man from any given injury, and hence may

“[A]

more fortitude. An hysterical woman probably does not suffer more than one with a

display

healthy nervous system, but she complains more loudly, for she has her feelings in all

more

less under control. Race appears to exercise an influence in pain; some of the native races

things

India appear to suffer far less than Europeans under surgical operations of a similar kind.”

of

“The Science and Art of Surgery” 1884, quoted in Bourke 2014)

(Treatise:

thus, the science of pain placed

And

men firmly at the top of the great

European

of being. The gender, race and level of

chain

of people both decided and was

“civilization”

issue of under-treatment for pain among

The

and minority groups continues to affect

women

today, almost 150 years after the Earnest

patients

letter. That is almost exactly as

Englishwoman’s

as we have known about endometriosis,

long

example, a painful condition affecting 10% of

for

Given its history, is it possible to approach

1.

as a purely scientific question?

pain

What kinds of knowledge about pain, science

2.

politics are necessary to find a way

and

What examples can you think of that show

3.

politics and history affect theories in the

how

of the central enquiries in the human

One

has been to make sense of our

sciences

human variation, and to sort our

astounding

and differences into meaningful

similarities

Much of theory-building and

categories.

formation in this AOK has been

concept

towards explaining phenomena

directed

on a spectrum of human similarity and

found

In turn, scientific claims about their

logic.

of sentience affected whether they would

level

considered full members in the category

be

beings”, with huge political and social

“human

Emile Durkheim, who was among

difference.

first academic sociologists, argued that: “[to

the

a complete understanding of any social

gain]

we have to understand why it

phenomenon

into existence in the first place (its causes

came

origins) and the reason it goes on existing

and

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

determined by their position in fool-proof

consequences.

For ref lection

Treatment of pain

women that is still poorly diagnosed.

Consider these questions.

forward?

human sciences today?

(its effects or functions)” (Durkheim 1895).

215

explore perspectives on the existence and

We

of various phenomena, from evil to

persistence

to money, in the remainder of this

adolescence

section.

societies and human sciences over time

Different

placed, moved and removed definitions

have

what is considered normal behaviour

about

what is seen as unacceptable, undesirable

and

deviant behaviour. One challenge with

or

“normal” has been that no established

defining

for determining the normal ranges exist

criteria

many sociological phenomena, unlike in

for

study of disease. Researchers in the human

the

have used statistical distributions to

sciences

imprecise lines where normal behaviours

draw

and abnormal, deviant or pathological

end

begin. Others, following Durkheim’s

ones

have focused on social norms to

example,

the distribution of traits and behaviours.

explain

this view, normal is seen as conformity

In

a conventional standard that arises when

to

and “average” behaviours become

repeated

for members of the group to strive

desirable

Another view simply says that normal

towards.

and characteristics are those that humans

traits

evolved through natural selection. When

have

encounter claims made about normal and

we

behaviour, traits or acts, we should keep

deviant

mind that they are made against a backdrop

in

deep disagreement among experts and

of

ideas about normalcy and deviance, however

Yet,

continue to play significant roles in our

tentative,

lives, used to guide our own behaviours

daily

judge those of others. A moral equivalence

or

“normal” with “good” means that the labels

of

“deviant” or “pathological” can

“abnormal”,

stigmatizing and marginalizing effects.

have

how they have been applied in the

Consider

of neurological diversity or sexual

context

orientation.

explore the making of claims regarding

To

let’s look at an example from the

normalcy,

of the Second World War about the

aftermath

capacity to do evil and be evil. What

human

of this capacity is normal for people? Can

level

get better at identifying and predicting for

we

human trait? Events of the war cast serious

this

on many previous beliefs, and researchers

doubts

many disciplines focused on these questions

in

again. Among them was Hannah Arendt

once

based on the war crimes trial of Adolf

who,

coined the term “the banality of

Eichmann,

She, like the rest of the world, may have

evil”.

Eichmann to be a confronting picture of

expected

pathology, but found that rather than

individual

in any obvious way sadistic, demonic or

being

he appeared and acted “terrifyingly

monstrous,

(Arendt 2006).

normal”

about the same time that Arendt wrote these

At

psychologist Stanley Milgram carried

words,

what became the foremost study on how

out

to authority can motivate behaviour

obedience

to one’s personal conscience. It was the

contrary

to Arendt’s eloquent description of evil.

evidence

findings were harrowing: 65% of participants,

The

that they were assisting an experiment on

believing

administered a lethal electrical shock to

learning,

“learner” when instructed to do so by a figure

the

authority. The “learners” in the experiments

of

actors, and were of course unharmed, but the

were

1971 another psychologist, Philip Zimbardo,

In

his famous Stanford Prison experiment,

with

to the evidence for the claim that evil is

added

by larger societal forces, rather than an

unleashed

studies by Milgram and Zimbardo would

The

on to become two of the most famous

go

in psychology. Suspicion stalks

experiments

so these experiments have been subject

fame,

scrutiny for decades, and largely withstood

to

probes into their methods and results.

sceptical

the opening of archives and the

However,

of new material in the past couple of

surfacing

especially regarding the Stanford Prison

years,

have caused new doubts and raised

experiment,

8II. Perspectives

II.1 The trouble with normality

results sent shocks out into the world.

constantly shifting standards.

individual’s wicked heart.

new questions about these conclusions.

1960s. A deep questioning was underway in the

216

Figure 8.1 “Guards” and their “prisoners” during the experiment conducted at Stanford University

prison experiment was described

Zimbardo’s

Twitter as “antiscientific” by psychology

on

Simine Vazire, after new evidence

professor

that the experimental design and

revealed

may have been quite poor and

execution

by investigator bias. The

compromised

has lost some of its landmark

experiment

and its legacy poses familiar questions,

status,

was referring to an article by Ben Blum, which

Vazire

excellent TOK reading.

is

What is an appropriate response when

•

knowledge is shown to be

established

How do we best separate the personality and

•

of the researcher from the research?

reputation

What is the responsibility of professors and

•

in the process of knowledge sharing

teachers

terms: Blum

Search

lifespan of a lie

The

the link to read the article and then discuss the following questions with a partner, in a

Follow

group or as a class.

small

1. How might the beliefs, interests and experiences of researchers affect their research?

2. What kinds of checks are necessary to ensure the integrity of the results and conclusions of

3. How should we guard against being too quick to accept scientific theories that align with the

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

controversial?

and transfer?

such as the following.

For discussion

Integrity in research

research?

cultural climate of the time?

217

II. Perspectives

allegations of scientific misconduct in

The

Stanford Prison experiment, and the

the

concerns about Milgram’s

methodological

experiments, are part of a big

obedience

of the reliability of psychology’s

re-evaluation

findings. We explore more of

best-known

in III.6. It may come to be known as the

this

scientific controversy of the 2010s, but

biggest

at this scale in a discipline is

self-questioning

unprecedented. As II.2 below explains,

hardly

about a quarter of a century a debate ragedin

for

that spilled beyond academia to

anthropology

Mead was the most famous

Margaret

of the 20th century. Indeed,

anthropologist

the time of her death in 1978 she had

by

synonymous with the field of cultural

become

She was the “Mother to the

anthropology.

according to Time magazine (1969), and

World”

of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,

recipient

highest civilian honour in the United

the

Taking visible positions in society and

States.

civil rights, gender equality and

championing

justice, she went beyond the call

environmental

academic duty to become a public icon. Mead

of

the standards for what it means to be a public

set

and was widely considered as

anthropologist

of the greats of the discipline already during

one

lifetime. Then there was controversy, as

her

it was major news in 1983, ve years after her

…

when Derek Freeman, a New Zealand-born

death,

published Margaret Mead and Samoa:

anthropologist,

Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological

The

a slashing attack criticizing Mead’s near-iconic

Myth,

as deeply awed if not deliberately distorted

study

promote ideas that had as much to do with her own

to

on sex and with American culture of the 1920s

views

the publication of Freeman’s book, an

Before

appeared on the front page of the New

article

taking an interest in the controversies of

media

narrow academic field. The episode became

a

divisive and exposed ideological fault

deeply

in academic anthropology as well as in

lines

Could it be that the power of culture

society.

shape human behaviour had been hugely

to

Figure 8.2 Margaret Mead dressed in traditional clothing during

attack on Mead’s anthropology also

Freeman’s

the liberalism and feminism of her

threatened

work. To understand why, we need a basic

civic

of the conflicting knowledge

understanding

that were made. Mead’s Coming of Age

claims

Samoa (1928) was a key development in the

in

debate. It claimed that while

nature-nurture

puberty was universal, the turmoil

biological

adolescence often said to accompany it was

of

product of culture. Mead offered a range

a

evidence for this, but there was one major

of

for many, and especially for Freeman.

concern

described Samoa as a sexually liberal

Mead

and claimed that this made puberty

culture

harmonious for young Samoans as

more

to their rebellious American peers.

compared

8

overstated for half acentury?

attract intense public interest foryears.

II.2 Of heroines and heretics

her time in Samoa

explained by anthropologist Paul Shankman:

as with adolescence in Polynesia.

(Shankman 2009)

York Times anticipating it, which showed mass

Freeman challenged this description of Samoan

218

the evidence it was based on and

culture,

conclusions drawn from it. His critique

the

severe on both Mead’s methodology

was

integrity: he painted her as a young

and

fundamentally misunderstanding

ethnographer

of the culture she was studying, selecting

aspects

that suited her and generalizing her

evidence

too far. He also claimed that Mead

conclusions

tricked into believing stories of sexual

was

by her female informants, who were

escapades

fact joking. Of course, Margaret Mead was not

in

to respond.

around

debate raged for years. Some were and

The

convinced by Freeman, and even

remained

refer to the episode as an exposé and

today

necessary corrective of the anthropological

a

that cautions us against inflating

record

reputations of iconic intellectuals. The

the

of anthropology was confronted with

field

disagreements about standards of

deep

thesovereignty of analysis, the

evidence,

of interpretation and the

disinterestedness

of contested methodological rigour and

Issues

integrity are explored in different

professional

throughout this chapter. What is

contexts

about this example is that it draws our

important

also to the dynamics of the encounters

attention

Western researchers and colonized

between

Indigenous Peoples. This is what makes

and

episode relevant today beyond the topic of

this

history. A lot has been said about

anthropological

and Freeman, but what of the Samoans

Mead

launched these anthropologists’ careers?

who

the controversy scrutinized what we know

While

human culture and biology, and how we

about

it, the Samoans at the centre were largely

know

anthropological literature is riddled with

The

of representation. In some ways it is

problems

central problem of the discipline. If Mead

the

right that culture so powerfully shapes

was

then we must pay special attention to

societies,

cultures of academic and other knowledge-

the

institutions. We see this influence

producing

students start sounding like the people

when

that echoing in our voices are the

anthropology

of our ancestors. To honour the diverse

voices

in which anthropology is being practised

ways

projects such as the Decanonizing

globally,

syllabus offer neglected but

anthropology

alternatives to mainstream texts.

deserving

this might be of particular interest to

While

of anthropology, the lesson for TOK

students

terms: site: footnotesblog.

Search

Decanonizing

com

learners and knowers, we are personally

As

for the knowledge we have

responsible

do not have, as we move on to II.3,

and

the acquisition of knowledge in the

exploring

about one discipline in the human

Think

that you study.

sciences

Who are the influential thinkers that have

1.

the discipline?

shaped

whether and how your

Consider

of this discipline has been

understanding

by the particular set of thinkers or

shaped

you have been given access to.

ideas

(a) Do you have a responsibility to seek

2.

historically underrepresented

out

What value, for your own knowledge

(b)

this discipline, do you see in such

of

If you were to seek out historically underrepresented

3.

perspectives, where would

start, and what questions would

you

ask? you

expand on this issue in III.1 with an

We

of who the humans are in the

examination

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

humansciences.

For reflection

Who is represented by the human

validity of conclusions.

sciences?

perspectives?

left out of the conversation.

an exercise?

human sciences.

they study. It is, after all, one of the lessons of

219

we look at the simplifications that are

Here

necessary in the teaching of disiplinary

often

to students or the general public.

knowledge

their early encounters with new disciplines

In

receive simplified explanations of the

students

causes, origins, effects and functions

complex

phenomena and concepts. The idea is that

of

extended study, the nuance will appear

through

the complexity will emerge. This is not

and

to the human sciences, and we explore

unique

a world without money. How would

Imagine

exchange things and get what they

humans

You might imagine people trading things

need?

different things: four eggs for a bottle of

for

two cows for a horse. Pursue it further and

milk;

we find that this system of exchange,

quickly

barter, is inefficient and inconvenient;

called

example, when you need to exchange half

for

horse for a donkey, without killing the horse.

a

or later someone, somewhere, so the

Sooner

goes, has the idea of money. Given this

story

money might even seem inevitable.

story,

has been a feature of economics

Barter

since the advent of the modern

textbooks

right up to the present day, usually

discipline

as the way of things in “simple, early

described

until someone invented money

economies”

1999). We checked a number of IB and

(Randall

economics textbooks and found

undergraduate

every one of them described barter in early

that

societies. The story of barter has

pre-modern

told and retold for a long time, perhaps

been

it neatly presents pre-money economic

because

as problematic.

exchanges

Smith described it as “higgling,

Adam

swapping, dickering”—so eventually

haggling,

came along to free us from these

money

problems.

this story about barter is a myth.

However,

example of a barter economy, pure and

“No

in Chapter 7, II.5. Unacknowledged

genetics,

uncorrected simplifications can lead to

and

example below refers to how, in explaining

The

complex origins of money, textbooks

the

us to an economic fairy tale of “simpler

refer

of the past. We invite healthy

societies”

whenever simple societies are

scepticism

as the key to understanding complex

presented

Keep in mind whether there is a

phenomena.

between simplicity and accuracy, and

trade-off

this may affect the acquisition and transfer

how

knowledge.

of

has ever been described, let alone

simple,

emergence from it of money,” wrote

the

Humphrey, anthropology professor

Caroline

Cambridge University, decades ago (1985).

at

sociologists, anthropologists and

Numerous

economists agree: the ethnographic

political

does not support the story. When there

record

a record, barter almost exclusively occurs

is

strangers or enemies (that is, between

between

who share no relationship); or, later,

people

people who were accustomed to

between

but could not use it for some reason,

money

as hyperinflation or shortage. What is

such

not only is there no evidence for the

more,

of barter, there is plenty of evidence

myth

it. David Graeber, anthropology

against

at the London School of Economics,

professor

as follows.

writes

fact, our standard account of monetary

“In

is precisely backwards. We did not

history

8II. Perspectives

II.3 Simplicity and accuracy: The

textbook problem

significant problems of knowledge.

an example from natural sciences, in Mendel’s

Box 8.3: The myth of barter, the inevitability of money and our moral imagination

220

with barter, discover money, and

begin

eventually develop credit systems.

then

happened precisely the other way

It

The reason that economic

around.…

now begin with imaginary

textbooks

is because it has been impossible

villages

talk about real ones. Even some

to

have been forced to admit

economists

Smith’s Land of Barter doesn’t really

that

The question is why the myth is

exist.

has this myth been perpetuated for

Why

long? The issue before us presents a rich

so

of knowledge claims, questions and

study

Does the myth of barter support

implications.

myths, mainly the inevitability of money?

other

assuredly, it displaces the important

More

of gift and casual credit economies.

histories

the nature and popular understanding

Indeed,

tells how one day, after coming home hungry

Freuchen

an unsuccessful walrus-hunting expedition, he

from

one of the successful hunters dropping off several

found

pounds of meat. He thanked him profusely.

hundred

man objected indignantly: ‘Up in our country we

The

human!’ said the hunter. ‘And since we are human

are

help each other. We don’t like to hear anybody say

we

for that. What I get today you may get tomorrow.

thanks

here we say that by gifts one makes slaves and by

Up

one makes dogs.’

whips

last line is something of an anthropological

The

and similar statements about the refusal to

classic,

barter myth naturalizes a calculating,

The

pro quo version of human nature,

quid

“it possible to imagine a world that

making

nothing more than a series of cold-blooded

is

says Graeber (2011). The risk is

calculations”,

alternative systems of exchange slowly

that

it would be an absurd mistake to

But

the ills of our economic systems

attribute

the impersonal, acontextual, intertemporal

towards

logic of money; bought and soldby

and investors far-removed from the

traders

enforced by watertight legal contracts

debtors,

asset-seizure, and almost never, ever

and

forgiven.

may not be a coincidence that the governing

It

of many economic models

assumptions

hold onto the myth of the rational

similarly

maximizing their profits and benefits.

human,

is a very different understanding and

This

of debt, and human life, than what

reality

not very long ago. Let’s contrast this

existed

a story provided by Graeber, recounting

with

Freuchen’s encounter with an Inuit

Peter

from Greenland. Whether lyrical

hunter

literal, the story reveals another form of

or

that is entirely different from the

exchange

credits and debits can be found throughout

calculate

anthropological literature on egalitarian hunting

the

It’s not that [the hunter], like untold millions

societies.

similar egalitarian spirits throughout history, was

of

that humans have a propensity to calculate.

unaware

he wasn’t aware of it, he could not have said what

If

did. Of course we have a propensity to calculate.

he

have all sorts of propensities. In any real-life

We

we have propensities that drive us in several

situation,

contradictory directions simultaneously… .

different

real question is which we take as the foundation

The

our humanity, and therefore, make the basis of our

of

the supposed misguided acceptance of

to

and money, and to lament our lost and

barter

past. The point being made here

romanticized

that the way things are is not the way they

is

to be, that by examining the building

have

of our knowledge, and undoing the

blocks

and taken-for-granted falsehoods, we

myths

imagine a different future, and begin to

can

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

perpetuated anyway.” (Graeber 2011)

“quid pro quo” of barter.

of credit, and debt, has shifted over time

civilization.” (Graeber 2011)

disappear from our perceived possibilities.

work towards it.

221

II. Perspectives


8.3 shows one of the foundational stories of

Box

being disputed by other disciplines

economics

To what extent is this kind of disagreement

1.

different disciplines desirable?

between

Which factors determine whether it

2.

unproductive?

becomes

following words of wisdom and warning

The

Wade Davis conclude this section.

from

we drift towards [a] blandly amorphous generic

as

view not only would we see the entire range

world

about human nature and societies

Explanations

come from the human sciences tend to be

that

as having authority and legitimacy. This is

seen

we believe there is something about the

because

through which they are produced

methodology

warrants it. This section takes a closer

that

at the knowledge production practices,

look

methods and tools used by the different

the

and their associated challenges

disciplines,

strengths.

and

human sciences study human phenomena

The

the goals of understanding and

towards

Would you say it is useful for students

3.

critically explore and understand the

to

assumptions of a discipline before

founding

on to acquire knowledge in that

going

Does having more knowledge in a

4.

make it easier or harder to

discipline

the assumptions on which it

question

built? was

and preserving a plurality of

Cultivating

in the human sciences keeps alive

perspectives

kind of moral imagination. Davis warns that

a

is being impoverished by the promotion

this

narrow and singular interpretations of

of

nature.

human

patterns of activity, making

explaining

about outcomes and guiding policy

predictions

As an AOK, this study can

interventions.

impact human life in the present and

profoundly

However, in the last decade there has

future.

a growing awareness, particularly within

been

behavioural sciences, that only a very small

the

of humankind is being systematically

section

a 2003–07 study “of the top psychology

studied:

found that 96% of subjects were from

journals

industrialized countries—which house

Western

12% of the world’s population” (Henrich

just

al 2010a). There is even a WEIRD acronym for

et

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and

it:

As well as forming the acronym,

Democratic.

authors contend that “weird” is an accurate

the

8

For ref lection

Critical explorations

discipline?

in the human sciences.

the human imagination reduced to a more narrow

of

of thought … we would wake from a dream

modality

day having forgotten there were even other

one

possibilities.

(Davis2003)


III.1 Who are the humans in the human

sciences?

222

: “WEIRD societies … are some of the

description

psychologically unusual people on Earth”

most

et al 2010b). Why did so many scientists

(Henrich

WEIRD was normal?

assume

8.2 shows the distribution of the studies

Figure

in Psychological Science in 2017: 93%

published

2003 and 2007, 96 per cent of experimental

Between

in the leading psychology journals were

volunteers

68 per cent of papers relied exclusively on US

WEIRD;

and in the prestigious Journal of Personality and

subjects;

Psychology, 67 per cent of total subjects were US

Social

students. ‘Many elds have a model organism

psychology

they study … A lot of medicine is done with mice, a

that

of genetics is done with fruit ies. And in psychology,

lot

studies of children and development are from

Most

‘with the time, resources and motivation to

families

human sciences are predicated on the

The

that people are similar enough

assumption

allow for generalizations about human

to

But how similar are we? What are the

behaviour.

of generalizing and universalizing

implications

results of these studies, based on the

the

of US undergraduate students, to the

behaviour

of humankind? Fortunately, this is not just a

rest

from countries coloured blue on the map.

came

blue shows the United States; the mid-

Dark

shade shows Anglophone colonies with a

blue

majority; light blue is used

European-descent

Western Europe. The regions are sized by

for

(data from Hruschka 2018).

population

their infant to participate in a development

bring

at a university laboratory’, as Anne Fernald

study

Stanford University wrote in her response to the

of

paper. These are, she pointed out, ‘even less

WEIRD

than the college students who predominate

diverse

studies with adults’. At the 2010 International

in

on Infant Studies, less than one per cent

Conference

the 1,000 presentations included participants from

of

families, even though they make up

disadvantaged

per cent of children in the US.

20–40

that the answer is “No, WEIRD is weird

evidence

and in fact may “represent the worst

indeed”,

on which to base our understanding

population

homo sapiens” (Henrich et al 2015).

of

results based on this subset to

Extrapolating

populations around the world is not only

other

suspect, it can also have damaging

scientifically

consequences, as discussed in III.2.

real-world



Figure 8.3

Distribution of studies published in Psychological Science in 2017. The map is distorted to reect relative population sizes.

Source Hruschka (2018).

the model organism is the American undergraduate. …’

(Colvile 2016)

rhetorical knowledge question because we have

223


lack of diversity in these studies is

The

because Western scientists have

surprising

for centuries how the environment

wondered

behaviour. John Locke’s “tabula

influences

question—that human beings are a “blank

rasa”

at birth and develop almost exclusively

slate”

environmental influences—was posed way

from

in 1690. Victorian polymath Francis Galton

back

added to that question with nature

famously

nurture, a debate that influenced human

versus

well into the 20th century. If the idea of

scientists

has been examined for so long, how did

nurture

answer requires looking closely at how

The

is produced. Research is constrained

knowledge

funding, and the easiest, cheapest and most

by

volunteer subjects tend to be campus

willing

Repeating a study in the

undergraduates.

world is expensive and more difficult to

real

and academic life is highly competitive,

control;

those who publish frequently, quickly,

rewarding

generalizable findings. In contrast, crosscountry

with

studies can take years.

The temptation is to generalise and

undergraduate.

… I don’t think it’s necessarily a problem

universalise

study the American undergrad, to the extent

to

you limit your conclusions to the American

that

The problem is when we don’t limit our

undergrad.

and start saying: ‘This behaviour is

conclusions,

of human nature, and evolved on the African

part

millions of years ago.’ And that’s where

savannah

WEIRD issue is embedded in a wider

The

that includes the replicability crisis,

context

in III.4, in which scientists “have

discussed

uncomfortably aware that many

become

results do not hold up: not just in other

flagship

but full stop” (Colvile 2016). There

cultures,

a need for larger sample sizes and more

is

studies, which in turn requires even

repeat

subjects, of which the WEIRD campus

more

is certainly the most convenient.

undergraduate

may explain why, even though attention

This

first drawn to the WEIRD bias in 2008,

was

situation as of 2020 has not significantly

the

Many studies still do not even include

improved.

about which nation or region

information

participants are from, or, if the subjects

the

US undergraduate students, their ethnic

are

A 2018 analysis revealed not a

backgrounds.

study sampled people from Africa, the

single

East or Latin America, concluding “the

Middle

of cultural diversity in psychological science

lack

well established … however … therehas been

is

are also wider, more ideological thrusts

There

the WEIRD bias that do not point to

to

or carelessness as the main cause.

arrogance

gave us the idea that

TheEnlightenment

can be “one great big brotherhood

humankind

man”, while the fallout from eugenics and

of

violence committed in the

racially-motivated

century may have made Western academic

20th

and institutions less inclined to

traditions

human differences, and more inclined

explore

focus on (and assume) human similarities.

to

there is the broader 20th-century

Finally,

within the sciences to seek simplicity—

trend

rules, theories of everything—

fundamental

from the perceived surface-level

distilled

of the cosmos. That complexity may

complexity

from across the human sciences

Scientists

found considerable variation both within

have

populations and between them. It

human

generally misleading and patronizing to

is

groups of people “as” something—

stereotype

risk averse, as honest, as cooperative, for

as

whatever that characteristic is. Is it

example—

better, however, to assume that different

any

are highly similar? Experimental

populations

have found population-level

findings

in diverse domains such as visual

differences

ideas of fairness, cooperation,

perception,

8

scientists forget to program it into their research?

little action in response” (Rad etal 2018).

get publicity, and tenure, for fascinating truths

You

the human condition, not about the US

about

be more than skin deep.

III.2 Implications of WEIRD research

we’re making a really big leap.

(Colvile 2016)

224

reasoning, moral reasoning and the

spatial

of IQ (Henrich 2010). Have uncritical

heritability

about human sameness enabled

assumptions

universalization of results based on WEIRD

the

theory is an influential theory

Attachment

the study of infant behaviour and

in

with its most important tenet

development,

that an infant needs a secure relationship

being

at least one primary caregiver to properly

with

social and emotional competence.

develop

simply, it is a theory on how to raise

Stated

When ideas about what is and is

children.

good parenting acquire universality, they

not

become the basis of moral judgment. A

can

about developmental psychology

question

becomes an ethical question: being a

therefore

parent becomes equivalent to being a bad

bad

and entire groups of people have been

person;

attachment theory applies in

Whether

cultures has been debated for

different

its proponents argue that the

decades;

differences are relatively minor, and

cultural

research shows the three fundamental

that

of attachment theory are universal

assertions

on Mesman et al 2008). These assertions

(based

as follows.

are

Healthy attachment is influenced most by

•

(specifically maternal) sensitivity.

parental

Infants and children with secure

•

are more socially and

attachment

case study presents two opposing expert

This

Consider the following questions

perspectives.

(a) When experts disagree, which criteria

1.

we use to decide who is right, what

do

implications of this? We explore some

the

selected to provoke critical reflection

examples,

assumptions of sameness and difference

about

theimplications of the WEIRD bias in

and

Keeping in mind that we do not make

(b)

decisions entirely independently

the

a social vacuum, which factors

orin

them?

affect

2. Consider attachment theory.

To what extent are you able to form

(a)

judgment about the universality of

a

What enables or hinders your

(b)

and why?

judgment,

first expert is Heidi Keller, professor of

Our

at Osnabrück University, who has

psychology

strongly critical of the universalization of

been

theory.

attachment

terms: Keller

Search

claim of

Universality

main argument is that because infant

Keller’s

and development is adaptive to

behaviour

environment, and because environments

the

tremendously across cultures, a standard

vary

of infant emotional expression,

model

and development cannot and

regulation

contrasts the interactional style and

Keller

of WEIRD families with other

environment

around the world. For example,

families

states that WEIRD infant interaction is

she

one to one, between mother and

primarily

and father and child, with conversations

child,

primarily the senses of sight and

(using

that focus “on the cognitions,

hearing)

wishes, and preferences of the

emotions,

baby” (Keller 2018). She adds that

individual



population groups? What may have been

behavioural research.

Case study

Is good parenting universal?

attachment theory?

stereotyped as “bad parents”.

attachment theory

• Secure attachment is the most healthy.

should not be assumed to apply worldwide.

emotionally competent in later life.

as you read on.

to believe and whom to trust?

225


sensitivity—the ability to notice,

parental

and respond to an infant’s signals

interpret

needs correctly—is an indicator of

and

parenting based on normative ideas of

good

warmth and emotionality, as

expressiveness,

as on the assumption that the autonomous

well

takes the lead in their interactions. This

child

a style described as “first you speak

involves

I listen, then I speak and you listen”.

and

argues that none of this is universal.

Keller

many cultures have households

Instead,

a significantly larger number

comprising

people than the WEIRD nuclear family,

of

a child’s distributed attention, and

requiring

interactional style consisting of more body

an

“often rhythmical and in synchrony”

contact,

2018) with multiple caregivers. Fathers

(Keller

play a much smaller role; grandmothers

may

older siblings a much larger one. Good

and

implies taking the lead in organizing

parenting

child’s activity, with “almost constant

the

contact and bodily sensitivity” (Keller

body

and practices in the majority of the world

values

Evaluating one system with the standards of

…

ignores dierent realities and dierent

another

systems.

value

common practice of large-scale interventions

The

rural subsistence-based contexts promoting

in

parenting strategies without knowing

Western-style

local culture positions a false understanding

the

scientic evidence against cultural knowledge.

of

practice is unethical. Diversity needs to

This

recognized as the human condition, and the

be

of diversity is an obligation for better

recognition

as well as for improving people’s lives.

science

researchers’ understanding and

Attachment

of universality is both a description

promotion

parenting and subsequent children’s

of

regulation and, at the same time, is

socioemotional

moral statement. It denes what a good mother

a

and what she should do to support her child’s

is

development.

healthy

Children are often held facing outwards,

2018).

other people, rather than inwards

towards

their parent. The idea of childhood may

towards

very different, too: “[t]he idea that the child

be

to be instructed, directed, and guided

needs

hand-in-hand with the view of the child

goes

an apprentice” (Keller 2018) which is less

as

norm in the WEIRD samples. Yet, despite

the

this, attachment theory is claimed to be

all

Keller considers this a contradiction.

universal.

a last example, consider the concept of

As

anxiety”, a cornerstone of attachment

“stranger

regarded as biologically based and

theory

universal. Psychologists interpret

therefore

display of infant emotions in strange

the

to be indicative of attachment

situations

for example when a ch ild expresses

quality,

during separation, and relief and joy

distress

reunion with their mother. Is this a

during

indicator across cultures? How would

reliable

know? As shown in her comments below,

we

strongly disagrees.

Keller

the behavioral repertoire of an infant at about 8

in

of age, when the emotional bond with the

months

caregiver is developing. Confrontation with

primary

stranger in the strange situation is assumed to

a

distress in an infant so that attachment

generate

(proximity seeking) are displayed.

behaviours

cultural evidence e.g., from sub-Saharan

However,

such as the Ivorian Beng or the

communities

Nso clearly indicates that stranger

Cameroonian

is not part of the behavioral repertoire of

anxiety

traditional farming communities in the

Close-knit

world are usually not a target for visits

non-Western

strangers, so that families do not see potential

of

On the other hand it is vital for families

dangers.

familiarize infants with the multiple caregivers

to

with distributed workloads and

associated

Cameroonian Nso children in farming villages

Most

not afraid of an approaching strange woman

are

8

theory represents the Western

Attachment

perspective, ignoring the caregiving

middle-class

Western textbooks (based on WEIRD

In

stranger anxiety is assumed to appear

psychology)

the developing child in these agrarian cultures… .

responsibilities.

(Keller 2018)

226

picks them up and moves away from the

who

with them. They display neutral facial

mother

and the level of the stress hormone

expressions,

(as indicated in the saliva) declines …

cortisol

like these clearly indicate that assessment

Results

relying on Western values and

procedures

of behavior are inappropriate outside

standards

cultural territory.

their

a source of counterclaims to Keller, consider

As

arguments put forth by Mesman et al

the

The authors start with the point that it

(2008).

in 1950s Uganda, not one of the WEIRD

was

that developmental-psychologist

countries,

Ainsworth “laid the foundations” for

Mary

In how many countries and cultures

1.

a pattern of behaviour and

must

occur before we can call

interrelationship

universal?

it

In some research, the aim is to interpret

2.

of behaviour in different

patterns

(a) Is it possible for researchers to achieve

(b) What would qualify researchers to

3. Consider assessing humans.

Is it easier to assume human

(a)

or sameness?

difference

Which of these approaches is safer,

(b)

in what contexts?

and

concerns arise in the context of the

Similar

accepted claim, and cliché, that teenagers

widely

prone to risky behaviour. The linked article is

are

of many that attributes this to a combination

one

authors review a range of childbearing

The

in ethnographic evidence spanning

practices

!Kung San of Botswana, Efé of the Ituri

the

in Zambia, Hadza of Tanzania, Bofi

forest

the Central African Republic and Hausa

in

Nigeria. They also offer standardized

in

of attachment and sensitivity in

observations

of Kenya, Dogon subsistence farmers

Gusii

Mali, and mothers in South Africa, China,

in

New Guinea, Taiwan, Japan, South

Papua

Indonesia, Chile, Colombia, Peru,

Korea,

and Israel. Clearly this is not a

Mexico

list of the world’s countries,

comprehensive

could we conclude it is not enough? What

but

information or expertise would you

additional

to form a judgment about the issue? If

need

remain, which assumptions are safer

doubts

make? to

citing neuroscientific studies using fMRI

control,

scans that support the claim.

brain

terms: Psychology

Search

brains risk-taking

Teen

widely-cited 2006 study boldly asserts that

A

behaviour “is biologically driven … and

such

to be remedied through educational

unlikely

designed to change adolescents’

interventions

appraisal, or understanding of

perception,

and that our understanding and policy

risk”,

“should begin from the premise

interventions

adolescents are inherently more likely than

that

are deeply assertive claims about

These

behaviour and biology. Similar studies

teenage

pointed towards a higher incidence of

have

emotional challenges and irresponsible

anxiety,

among teens because of biological

behaviour

Such claims verge on biological

reasons.

and biological reductionism. They

determinism

also rarely if ever accompanied with the

are

“American teenagers …” even

qualification

the cited literature almost exclusively

though



(Keller 2018)

important contributions to attachment theory.

For ref lection

Behavioural research across cultures

cultures, in a way that reveals the truth.

this?

do this?

adults to take risks” (Steinberg 2006).

of reward-seeking and less-developed impulse

studies this group. Earlier in this chapter we

227


Margaret Mead’s anthropological

encountered

that Samoan adolescents’ experience

argument

puberty was markedly different from their

of

counterparts’. Next we encounter new

American

Epstein, former editor-in-chief of

Robert

Today, wrote the following in

Psychology

assuming that the brain

“Automatically

behavior is problematic because

causes

know that an individual’s genes and

we

history—and even his

environmental

her own behavior—mold the brain

or

time. There is clear evidence that

over

unique features that may exist in

any

brains of teens—to the limited extent

the

such features exist—are the result of

that

influences rather than the cause of

social

argument confronts us with

Epstein’s

classic problem of establishing

the

whether it is brain biology or the

causation:

that determines behaviour.

environment

there is disagreement among the

When

TOK helps us to evaluate the claims

experts,

counterclaims. Consider the following

and

then discuss your answers with a

questions,

What would constitute sufficient and

1.

evidence that the source or

compelling

of the set of “teenage” behaviours

cause

biological? What would convince you

is

How would this evidence need to be

2.

in order to be reliable?

produced

3. On what grounds can such evidence be

should examine whether the idea of

We

is more of a social construct

“teenagehood”

idea in II.2 in the context of the Mead-

this

controversy. Epstein argues that

Freeman

idea of teenagehood stems from the 1904

the

Adolescence by psychologist G. Stanley

book

written in the context of the industrial

Hall,

mass immigration and rapid

revolution,

of US cities. Hall paid much less

urbanization

to teenagers from other contexts but

attention

ideas have nonetheless become entrenched

his

a popular imagination of teenagers. A

in

review of research on teens in 186 lessindustrialized

1991

societies found that:

percent had no word for ‘adolescence’, that

60

spent almost all their time with adults, that

teens

showed almost no signs of psychopathology,

they

that antisocial behavior in young males was

and

absent in more than half these cultures

completely

extremely mild in cultures in which it did occur.

and

on Epstein’s comments, you might

Based

that teenagehood is a WEIRD construct.

conclude

would such a far-reaching conclusion be

But

There is an important difference

justified?

questioning ideas and casting them

between

outentirely.

more signicant, a series of long-term studies

Even

in motion in the 1980s by anthropologists

set

Whiting and John Whiting of Harvard

Beatrice

suggest that teen trouble begins to

University

in other cultures soon after the introduction

appear

certain Western inuences, especially Western-

of

schooling, television programs and movies …

style

with these modern observations, many

Consistent

note that through most of recorded human

historians

the teen years were a relatively peaceful time

history

transition to adulthood. Teens were not trying to

of

away from adults; rather they were learning

break

become adults. Some historians … suggest that

to

tumultuous period we call adolescence is a very

the

phenomenon—not much more than a

recent

old. century

8

perspectives on this theme.

For reflection

Problems of causation in teenage

risk-seeking behaviour

Scientific American

teen turmoil.” (Epstein 2007)

(Epstein 2007)

peer, in a small group or as a class.

of Epstein’s argument?

challenged?

(Epstein 2007)

than a fact of human biology. We explored

228

the description and explanation of the

In

phenomenon of teenagehood over

observed

psychologists, anthropologists and

time,

each draw on their own set of

historians

tools. The methods used in

methodological

research, and the knowledge it

ethnographic

method of ethnographic fieldwork is primarily

The

with anthropology, beginning in the first

associated

of the 20th century. The “field” in anthropology

half

been described as being wherever people

has

and so we have anthropological accounts

are,

only of Indigenous societies, but increasingly

not

professional communities, schools, urban

of

even of space stations in orbit. An

environments,

engaged in fieldwork is tasked with

anthropologist

describing and constructing a credible

observing,

of the context, culture and community

account

studied. There are some knowledge issues

being

the practice of ethnographic fieldwork, and

with

knowledge produced through it, and these

the

terms: Doing

Search

YouTube

anthropology

this short video to hear directly from three

Watch

from the Massachusetts Institute

anthropologists

Technology (MIT) about their work. They

of

fieldwork methods to understand issues as

use

as how citizenship issues manifest among

diverse

refugees in the Greater Boston Area, the

Haitian

of expertise in artisanal cheese-making, and

role

processes by which marine biologists produce

the

will notice in the video that anthropologists

You

part in activities in the field beyond just

take

and having conversations. They

observing

information through direct engagement

gather

the processes they are studying, working

with

the people whose culture, actions and

alongside

they seek to understand. This is

worldviews

in the field of anthropology—it is a

intentional

how a deep involvement of

Consider

might affect the knowledge they

researchers

about the phenomenon or culture

produce

are studying.

they

In terms of the TOK course concepts,

1.

is the knowledge produced through

how

observation affected by the

participant

engaging closely with the

researcher

To what extent, and under what conditions,

2.

the personal, first-hand experience

does

the researcher contribute or take away

of

the objectivity of his or her account?

from

It has been documented that the very

3.

of the researcher in the field may

presence

the behaviour of the participants. If

alter

very act of observing can influence

the

phenomenon being observed, in

the

ways do you think the research is

which

affected when the researcher also

further

participates?

what extent can we observe and describe

To

This is a fundamental question

objectively?

TOK across the human and natural

in

sciences.

the difficulty of this task vary depending

Does

what is being observed; for example, a

on

ritual, a rock formation, patterns of

religious

activity or animal behaviour?

economic



For discussion

The ethnographer inside the

research

produces, are explored further below.

III.3 Neutrality and objectivity in

fieldwork and ethnographic methods

community being studied?

issues are explored below.

Making connections

History and observation

In Chapter 9 we encounter E.H. Carr’s advice to his

students to “study the historian before you study

[their] facts”. A similar concern is prevalent in the

human sciences, and particularly so in anthropology,

about the extent to which observation is inuenced

by the observer.

authoritative knowledge about the ocean world.

method called participant observation.

229


their presence in the field,

Despite

observations are conspicuously

ethnographers’

from their otherwise detailed accounts

absent

what happened. Writing about the work of

of

Evans-Pritchard among the Nuer in South

E.E.

anthropologist Richard Fox notices

Sudan,

artfully Evans-Pritchard first personified

“how

among the Nuer and then ‘disappeared’

himself

in favor of a scientific omniscience

himself

the remainder of his text” (Fox 1991). A

for

example came about in 1967, when

problematic

Diary in the Strict Sense of the Word, Bronislaw

A

private diary from his fieldwork

Malinowski’s

New Guinea, was published posthumously

in

his widow. Intensely personal, the diary

by

most likely never meant for publication.

was

was and remains among the most

Malinowski

and influential anthropologists, and yet

famous

diary reveals “a crabbed, self-preoccupied,

his

narcissist, whose fellow-

hypochondriacal

for the people he lived with was limited

feeling

the extreme” (Geertz 1967). In his diary, the

in

Trobrianders are stereotyped as savages,

local

yet “in his ethnographic works they are,

and

a mysterious transformation wrought

through

science, among the most intelligent, dignified,

by

conscientious natives in the whole of

and

literature” (Geertz 1967). What

anthropological

explain this apparent contradiction?

might

affect how we think about other

Doesit

a researcher be so simultaneously detached

Can

involved as to hold views of intense

and

prejudice, but still be able to construct

personal

value-neutral account? When can we separate

a

knowledge from the values of the person

the

produced it, and when does this become

who

Anthropology continues to ask

impossible?

questions, and Malinowski’s diary has

these

a classic in the history of the discipline

become

providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into

for

making of anthropological knowledge.

the

a method where researchers

Autoethnography,

experience in the field, has been

subjective

to respond to this problem. This

oneway

is suspicious of the ability of scientific

method

and description to produce

observation

knowledge. Instead, the values of the

objective

their position in a given context and

researchers,

relationship with their subject also become

their

of the analysis. In this view, the subjectivity

part

the research is not a barrier to knowledge, but

of

the only intellectually and politically

possibly

has also grappled with the

Anthropology

of the “ethnographic present”,

phenomenon

term referring to the idealized context

a

by an ethnographer’s description of

created

timeless cultural life of Indigenous Peoples,

the

by outside influence and unaffected

untainted

contact. Malinowski has written about the

by

magic, by which he is able to

“ethnographer’s

the real spirit of the natives, the true

invoke

of tribal life” (1922). This problematic,

spirit

account requires the reader

hyper-romanticized

see the encounter between “the natives”

to

the ethnographer as taking place outside

and

history. of

8

honest pathway towards it.

Making connections

Presence and the present in art and history

ethnographic works?

Autoethnography nds use outside the eld of

anthropology. For example, this method is explored

in the context of political theatre in Chapter 10.

Autoethnography has an element of closing the

distance between the producer of knowledge and the

knowledge produced. To what extent is this distance

greater between science and scientist as compared

to art and artist?

The idea of coexistence in time between a

globalized modern culture and local and Indigenous

communities arises in Chapter 5 and Chapter 9. How

does knowledge from these disciplines promote or

undermine our understanding of epistemic diversity?

foreground their presence and embrace their

230

a range of issues, from economic and

On

policy to teachers’ salaries and

environmental

reform, measurable things inform

curriculum

data-driven decision-making as well as

both

and explicit value judgments. Without

implicit

there can be no data, no data-

measurement

goal-setting or evaluation, and no

informed

analyses—all elements that

cost-benefit-style

expression in the methodology of many

find

science disciplines.

human

knowledge associated with measurement

The

a huge effect on the world, for example

has

inform action in the world as well as to

to

evaluateit.

is, therefore, very important to consider what

It

can and cannot measure: what gets left

we

of the picture, what we assume to fill the

out

and what has disproportionate influence

gap

because it is readily measurable. That

simply

is more measurable and quantifiable

which

as business profit, students’ grades and

(such

growth) may be perceived to be more

economic

or come to guide decisions and actions

important

The phrase “assessment drives

regardless.

for instance, is widely used and heard

learning”

education. It posits that students and teachers

in

focus on what they are tested on, especially

will

the consequences of assessment are significant,

if

the detriment of important things that are not

to

This is important because while content

assessed.

quite easily assessed, skills and habits of mind

is

not. are

2005 and 2007, researchers at

Between

Medical School of the University

StGeorge’s

London found that when the weighting

of

anatomy in the curriculum was increased,

of

showed dramatically increased

students

to learn anatomy; motivation was

motivation

and learning in medicine may be

Teaching

assessment-driven due to the high

particularly

and consequences of passing or failing

difficulty

school.

medical

IB TOK teachers are known to

Anecdotally,

this at workshops and conferences, and

lament

speculate what would happen if their subject

to

worth more than 1.5 points out of 45.

was

would be short-sighted and a cliché to

It

the ills of summative assessment in

exaggerate

It exists for good reason, within the

education.

context and constraints of education

particular

worldwide. Claims that “assessment

systems

killing creativity” are sensationalistic and

is

benefit from more scrutiny, and nuance.

would

it is also worth considering what

However,

systems tend to assess, what is

education

and the implications of this for

assessable,

now to examples from government

Turning

consider the Human Development

policy,

(HDI), a people-centred measure of

Index

development. Reflecting on the

economic

of the HDI, Nobel Laurate Amartya Sen

origins

a conversation with fellow economist

recalls



III.4 What we measure matters

powerfully affected by weighting.

What we measure aects what we do, and better

measurement will lead to better decisions, or at least

dierent decisions.

(Stiglitz quoted in Gertner 2010)

teaching, learning and knowledge.

MahbubulHaq.

231


told Mahbub, ‘Look, you are a sophisticated enough

I

to know that to capture complex reality in one

guy

is just vulgar, like [gross domestic product]

number

… And he called me back later and said,

GDP’

you’re quite right. The Human Development

‘Amartya,

will be vulgar. I want you to help me to do an

Index

which is just as vulgar as GDP, except it will

index

for better things’.

stand

single most widely used economic policy

The

of the last century, the GDP growth rate

metric

embedded in a paradigm that considers longterm

is

growth in output and consumption as

for human betterment, despite the

necessary

resources of the planet. GDP as a measure of

finite

output was conceived between the Great

national

and the Second World War to estimate

Depression

March 1968, Robert Kennedy took aim at what he

in

as idolatrous respect for GDP, which measures

saw

and jails but does not capture ‘the beauty

advertising

our poetry or the strength of our marriages’.

of

(conomist brieng 2016)

aside, GDP (and its most widely

Marriages

form, GDP per capita) fails to measure

used

of income, the quality of output

distribution

or the environmental impact of

produced

it, or any of the important indicators

producing

living standards such as healthcare,

of

gender equality and political

education,

According to Steve Landefeld,

freedom.

of the Bureau of Economic Analysis,

Director

United States experimented with “green”

the

measurements in the early 1990s, using

GDP

charges to account for natural

depletion

depletion, but abandoned the initiative

resource

political reasons after pressure from

for

first Green GDP report in China, in 2004,

the

substantial losses caused by pollution

showed

reported in an article in the China Daily

(as

19 April 2007) and efforts at green

newspaper,

one of the pioneers of GDP measurement

Indeed,

the 1930s, Simon Kuznets, specifically warned

in

“the welfare of a nation can scarcely be

that

from a measure of national income”

inferred

in Coyle 2014). Kuznets wanted to

(quoted

expenses relating to war and financial

subtract

and other things that “do not

speculation

represent net services to the individuals

really

the nation but are, from their

comprising

an evil necessary in order to be

viewpoint,

to make a living” (Coyle 2014). With the

able

of the Second World War, Kuznets lost the

start

it was more important to measure

argument:

not wellbeing.

output,

its limitations, GDP has grown to

Despite

political and economic discourse,

dominate

in newspapers and used by state

featured

to define their strategy and objectives.

leaders

course, economists have worried about

Of

for almost a century, and the HDI was

this

by Haq and Sen in response to the

developed

of GDP. As recently as 2009 a report

“vulgarity”

by the French government

commissioned

written by Stiglitz and Sen, two Nobel

and

winning economists, called for an end to

prize

in favour of better measures

“GDPfetishism”

welfare. Yet GDP continues to

ofhuman

policy, and its ease of measurement

dominate

are a number of concerns that arise when

There

knowledge we use to act in the world, or

the

guide policy objectives, is defined by what

to

can measure. It is important to examine the

we

of measures that carry over to become

limitations

of the knowledge based on them.

limitations

measure fails to capture something, and

Each

which is omitted risks becoming ignored or

that

A measure can miscalculate, overvalue

neglected.

undervalue some factors. GDP has failed to

or

for the environment and depleted future

account

stocks of natural capital, and very

generations'

8

GDP were subsequently dropped.

(Sen 2010)

the manufacturing capacity of war-time goods.

measure created when survival was at stake

A

little notice of things such as depreciation of

took

or pollution of the environment, let alone

assets,

human accomplishments. In a famous speech

ner

surely has something to do with that.

mining companies (Wagner 2004). Similarly,

possibly their quality of life.

232

the political will to measure something

Once

the measures themselves can be improved

exists,

until then, raw data can be used,

iteratively;

example on carbon footprints or species

for

care should be taken to ensure measures

Finally,

not obscure important details. GDP per

do

reveals nothing about the distribution

capita

gains from growth and can provide an

of

sense of prosperity. An important case

illusory

point is the difference between averages

in

medians, which may go unnoticed by

and

Forexample, looking at median

laypeople.

instead of simple averages very

incomes

revealsimportant information about

quickly

of values. Average incomes have

thedistribution

sharply in many countries over the last

risen

years, but median incomes have stagnated,

30

in the United States and the UK.

especially

1989 and 2011, median incomes in the

Between

States fell by 1% but average incomes

United

8.3 shows the divergence in average

Figure

median US family incomes beginning in

and

measurements better indicate what

Median

to a “typical” person, in the exact

happens

of a distribution. Averages appear to

middle

intuitive sense but reveal comparatively

make

If economic policies targeted growth

little.

median GDP per capita, instead of average

in

per capita, they might look very

GDP

differentindeed.



Making connections

Measurement, policy and the political discourse

In Chapter 7, IV.3, we explore the limitations of

environmental cost-benet analyses, and why

climate change has been called the perfect moral

storm. Part of the challenge is in measuring, and

quantifying, the things that matter.

“We can put monetary values on mineral

stocks, sheries and even forests, perhaps,

but it’s hard to put a monetary value on

alteration of the climate system, loss of

species and the consequences that might

come from those.” (Heal quoted in

Gertner 2010)

Measuring directly relevant indicators of

rose by 33%. Why is this difference important?

health, education, environment, crime and civic

participation, and providing this information to the

public can help to shift political discourse away from

opinions and values towards more evidence-based

about1955.

discussions of specic policies.

extinction.

Figure 8.4 The mean versus the median of family income (2015)

233


Y. Thinley, addressing the United Nations

Jigmi

Prime Minister of Bhutan, 2012, stated the

as

GDP-led development model that compels

The

growth on a planet with limited resources

boundless

longer makes economic sense … . Mankind is like

no

meteor, blazing toward self-annihilation along with

a

other innocent life forms. But this course can be

all

if we act now.

changed

of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Bhutan

(Oce

2012)

are regularly exposed to various measures

We

indicators of health, education, economic

and

What is it that we understand about a

2.

when we can express it

phenomenon

Think about the aspects of human life and

3.

that are not measurable. Do we

culture

Does it limit the ways we can act on a

4.

if we cannot quantify it?

problem

to the United Nations World

According

Report (2019), a certain amount of

Happiness

seems to be a necessary precondition

income

a satisfactory standard of living, and so

for

countries tend to have happier people.

wealthier

in this claim are measurements about

Contained

wealth and happiness, and a direction for

both

relationship between the two. It is a claim

the

can be contested on multiple counts, but

that

we look specifically at the measure of

here

we can measure happiness at all,

Assuming

we measure it rigorously enough for the

can

of policy? This is the challenge that

purpose

took on when the country pivoted

Bhutan

from GDP as a proxy for the country’s

away

Bhutan wanted to target policy

development.

such as time for leisure and family,

outcomes

in healthcare and education, and

improvements

in neighbours and government. The focus

trust

happiness for Bhutan was not to be a general

on

or broad direction. Happiness was to

aspiration

measured with precision and thoroughness,

be

the measure of gross national happiness

and

formed the basis for the knowledge

(GNH)

several decades following its introduction

For

1972, many dismissed GNH as a vague,

in

idealistic and impractical idea.

hopelessly

however, it has come to be viewed,

Recently

some circles at least, as rather forwardlooking,

in

with the concept being endorsed by

experts at the United Nations.

development

is not to say, of course, that Bhutan

That

economic growth entirely, but the

discarded

on GNH was formally incorporated into

focus

constitution, which mandates the state to

the

GNH by screening every major project

pursue

policy to ensure alignment with GNH. The

and

Commission is one of the highest levels

GNH

government, consisting of secretaries from

of

ministry and the prime minister.

every

five years the Centre for Bhutan Studies

Every

GNH Research leads a survey of 8,000

and

selected households to construct

randomly

GNH index. Sabina Alkire, Director of the

a

Poverty and Human Development

Oxford

(OPHI), has described this index

Initiative

“an instrument of public imagination

an

of policy [that] can capture a great deal

and

interconnected information”. The survey

of

300 questions, so participants

contains

compensated one day’s income. The

are

cover psychological wellbeing,

categories

time use,education, cultural diversity

health,

resilience,good governance, community

and

ecological diversity and resilience, and

vitality,

standards. The survey aims to go beyond

living

8

III.4.1 Knowing otherwise by measuring

differently

following.

required to guide and evaluate national policies.

For reflection

Measurement and knowledge

life and so on.

Can we say that these numbers constitute

1.

is an additional level of

knowledge—or

interpretation necessary?

as a number?

know less about these aspects?

happiness.

material wellbeing. Questions are posed

234

how often people meditate, how much

asking

they lose, how much they argue with

sleep

family, and how often they feel anger or

their

disappointment.

has many critics; for example, the Yale

GNH

William Nordhaus has described

economist

statistics as “absurd“. In 2004, the

happiness

stated that “the Himalayan kingdom

Economist

Bhutan is not in fact an idyll in a fairy tale. It is

of

to perhaps 900,000 people most of whom

home

in grinding poverty”. Itis unclear whether

live

mean to say that Bhutan should abandon

critics

in favour of the more conventional GDP.

GNH

has also been criticized for violating

Bhutan

rights of ethnic minorities in the name of

human

culture”,and the country is dealing

“preserving

high youth unemployment. Observers

with

pointedly noted that it ranked 95th on

have

2019World Happiness Report. There is an

the

irony about the World Happiness

interesting

rankings: to what extent can different

Report

compare their respective happiness

countries

Are measurements of happiness

rankings?

generalizable?

should certainly not paint a romantic or

We

picture, as many have made the mistake

idyllic

doing, and many of Bhutan’s leaders will

of

make clear. Bhutanese Prime Minister

carefully

said in an address to the United Nations

Thinley

“Bhutan is not a country that has attained

(2012):

… . Like most developing nations, we

GNH

struggling with the challenge of fulfilling

are

basic needs of our people” (Office of the

the

Minister and Cabinet 2012). But with a

Prime

approach guided by GNH, Bhutan has

policy

significant progress on key development

made

including life expectancy, child

indicators

education and poverty reduction.

mortality,

has achieved most of the Millennium

It

Goal targets, is the only carbon

Development

carbon than it emits) and maintains 72%

more

cover, said Lyonpo Damcho Dorji, Foreign

forest

of Bhutan in 2015. Ironically, between

Minister

and 2018, GDP in Bhutan more than tripled.

2008

Bhutan, New Zealand has gone the

After

in defining a policy stance measured

furthest

wellbeing as opposed to economic growth.

by

May 2019 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

In

a budget that put social wellbeing

unveiled

ahead of economic growth in policy

indicators

All new spending must be directed

decisions.

one of five objectives: improving

towards

health, reducing child poverty and

mental

child wellbeing, supporting

improving

Peoples, transitioning to a lowcarbon

Indigenous

sustainable economy and thriving in a

age. To measure progress toward these

digital

New Zealand is using 61 indicators, from

goals,

to trust in government institutions to

loneliness

quality. Grant Robertson, New Zealand

water

have knowledge about how a country is

To

whether it is doing better or worse than

doing,

and whether efforts to move it in a

before,

direction are working, measurement

particular

necessary. What we can and cannot measure,

is

how we choose to measure it, are issues

and

knowledge that have powerful real-life

of

To explore the ethical dimensions

consequences.

producing and applying knowledge based on

of

see section IV.

measurements,



New Zealand’s prosperity is about much more

than GDP growth. . . . If we’ve got this so-called

rockstar economy, how is it that we have the worst

homelessness in the OECD? How is it that you can’t

swim in most of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes?

How is it that child poverty had grown to the extent

it has? The answer, in my view, was because the

government wasn’t suciently valuing those things.

And if it wasn’t being valued properly, it wasn’t being

measured, and if it wasn’t being measured, it wasn’t

being done.

(quoted in Roy 2019)

finance minister, says:

negative country in the world (offsetting 12 times

Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on

forever in a nite world is either a madman or

an economist.

(Boulding 1973)

235


is the scope for experimentation in the

What

sciences? Psychology is somewhat

human

among the human sciences in this

unique

An often heard lament about the lack

regard.

predictive power of disciplines such as

of

and political science is based on the

economics

or impossibility of doing controlled

difficulty

Is there special value in knowledge

experiments.

helps to accurately predict the outcomes of

that

and reforms?

policies

there is value in experiments, as

Certainly

and behavioural economics

psychology

shown, with the success of randomized

have

trials. However, one challenge with

controlled

evidence is that it is liable to

experimental

and can provide a false sense

misinterpretation

certainty. Section I discussed the fallout

of

economics’ overreliance on mathematical

of

and physics envy. This section has

models

the problems of knowledge that

highlighted

arise from sampling, such as the WEIRD

can

(see III.1). Next we consider the limitations

bias

experiments, and experimental results, in

of

human sciences. But first, a cautionary tale

the

terms: Hari Addiction

Search

YouTube

the linked video, Johann Hari

In

to show that everything we know about

tries

is wrong. The topic of fallibility—the

addiction

capacity to be wrong, and the realization

human

being wrong—is a key issue in TOK. It is a

of

knowledge to develop and self-correct,

wayfor

watching the video on the original

After

studies done on caged rats as well

addiction

the 1970s “rat park” experiments, consider

as

following questions.

the

What were the shortfalls of the rat cage

1.

and how do we protect against

studies,

At what point do you think scientists

2.

enough data to make a policy

have

Which criteria should the knowledge

3.

by scientists satisfy?

produced

How can scientists protect against being

4.

and recommending something

wrong

Alexander’s “rat park” study helped

Bruce

pivot the narrative of addiction away from

to

moral and mental failings of addicts, and

the

addiction as an adaptation to social

towards

The study went unnoticed for many

dislocation.

whilst governments around the world

years,

to pursue a “war on drugs”. Criticism

continued

this expensive, aggressive and ultimately

of

policy, which often involves

unsuccessful

has grown and so has interest in

incarceration,

study. There is now a widespread—

Alexander’s

not universal—understanding that more

though

is needed for people struggling with

compassion

addiction.

discarding the important impact of

Without

park study and wildly popular TED

therat

should acknowledge that efforts to

talk,we

the experimental results have been

replicate

There are also significant concerns

inconclusive.

the experiment. One of the design flaws,

about

example, seems to be that in the original

for

male and female rats were separated,

studies

in the rat park study they were

whereas

together. The main question, though,

mixed

8

III.5 Experimentation in the human


sciences

Knowing about and acting on

addiction

repeating them in the future?

recommendation?

harmful?

5. What is the role of the public?

about rats, drugs and parks.

but it can also shake our confidence.

236

about ourability to generalize results about

is

to humans. Consider this critique from

rats

that what we are aiming for is not a

Assuming

free of addicted rats, but rather a world free

world

addicted people. Our environment, unlike the

of

created for the rats in Rat Heaven is far

environment

stress free. Worse still, as far as I can tell, we

from

for the foreseeable future, be unable to create

will,

a Utopia for most people on earth. If this is so,

such

is little doubt that some of the people aected

there

negative circumstances, traumatic experiences,

by

biological disturbances will be led down the path

or

struggles with drugs and such … I am fully

towards

board with making sure that the treatment system

on

use does not exacerbate the problems that stress

we

trauma bring about, but I think that the picture

and

TED talk and the related book presents is far too

this

to be as helpful as we want it to be.

simplied

our exploration of the dangers of

Recall

earlier in the chapter. Is it

simplification

that the rat park story has been

conceivable

uncritically for the following reasons?

received

It successfully cast doubt on previously

•

(and flawed) dogma.

accepted

back to II.1 and the 1971 Stanford Prison

Think

which seems to have resonated

experiment,

the cultural climate at the time. In

with

one simplification have we embraced

debunking

discarding evidence such as heritable

another,

factors for addiction, or the histories of

risk

communities devastated by alcohol

Indigenous

by early settlers?

brought

already popular TED talk on addiction

Hari’s

animated by Kurzgesagt, an educational

was

channel with close to 9 million

YouTube

Kurzgesagt videos are meant to

subscribers.

factual overviews of anything from

deliver

to vaccines, to the European Union.

loneliness,

video “Addiction” is the most

Kurzgesagt’s

to date, even though Kurzgesagt has

watched

it from the channel. Removing it was

removed

by viewers’ criticism, and the self-

motivated

of having simplified a topic to the

realization

of misrepresentation. Taking seriously the

point

of having misinformed 18 million

possibility

on a serious issue, Kurzgesagt published

viewers

follow-up video, explaining the responsibilities

a

communicating scientific research to a

of

audience on the internet. Animated in

general

channel’s signature style, “Can You Trust

the

videos?” promises an update

Kurzgesagt

explainer on addiction … but only once

video

terms: trust Kurzgesagt videos?

Search

YouTube

refers to the closeness of the

Reproducibility

when a study is repeated using the same

results

replicability refers to the extent that

methodology;

researchers can achieve the same

independent

similar results under different

or

and methodological

experimental

Both are considered

conditions.

be cornerstones of the scientific

to

as results that are not reproducible and

method,

can be considered suspect. Over the

replicable

decade, a growing body of literature has

last

that many research findings in the

suggested

sciences, particularly in psychology, are

human

replicable, leading to claims of an academic

not

recent years, it has become painfully clear that

In

is facing a “reproducibility crisis,” in

psychology

even famous, long-established phenomena—

which

stu of textbooks and TED Talks—might not

the

real. There’s social priming, where subliminal

be

can inuence our behavior. And ego

exposures

the idea that we have a limited supply

depletion,

willpower that can be exhausted. And the facial-

of

hypothesis, which simply says that smiling

feedback

us feel happier.

makes

by one, researchers have tried to repeat the

One

experiments behind these well-known

classic

failed. And whenever psychologists

eects—and

large projects, like Many Labs 2, in which

undertake

replicate past experiments en masse, they

they

succeed, on average, half of the time.

typically



psychologist Adi Jaffe.

Kurzgesagt is confident about its research.

III.6 Replicability and reproducibility

(Jae, 2015)

• There was a desire to reject that dogma.

crisis.

237


significant criticism is that there have been

A

too few replication attempts, which

generally

have contributed to premature and overenthusiastic

may

acceptance of what should have

provisional findings. Researchers may

been

less inclined to pursue replication studies

be

they bring less recognition and reward,

because

thus some have argued that the interests of

and

are at odds with the interests of the

professionals

profession.

Academic publishers have displayed

•

preference for original research over

a

which are less likely to be viewed

replications,

significant contributions to the field.

as

Replications can be time-consuming and

•

especially when many original

difficult,

do not publish raw data or detailed

studies

methodology.

second criticism centres around a broader

A

or perish” culture, that is said to

“publish

academics to publish work rapidly and

pressure

to advance their careers, possibly

continuously

the risk of questionable research

increasing

This culture may also incentivize the

practices.

of headline-grabbing findings at the

pursuit

of rigorous scholarship, and reduce the

expense

and effort that professors give to teaching.

time

teaching is rarely rewarded as highly

Excellent

excellent research, with the implication being

as

future scholars may be less competent as

that

result. This is certainly not isolated to the

a

sciences, and also not necessarily true

human

academic institutions and cultures around

of

world, but it has been raised as an issue by

the

in particular have responded with

Psychologists

efforts to investigate the replicability

concerted

results in their discipline. Many Labs 2 is

of

such example, conducting comprehensive

one

of 28 classic and contemporary

replications

findings, with protocols that were peer

published

in advance. Results were replicated

reviewed

50% of the time. A second group called the

about

Science Collaboration brought together 280

Open

authors and 86 volunteers to repeat 100

original

studies published in major academic

psychology

The results were published in 2015 and

journals.

that 36% of studies were replicated. Both

showed

were massive collaborative undertakings

efforts

have set the stage for further such work.

that

economics, a smaller 2016 study reported

Within

Science found that 11 out of 18 experimental

in

from top journals were replicated

studies

are the implications of this for knowledge

What

the human sciences? It would be premature to

in

on the basis of the replication crisis that

conclude

beings are fundamentally inconsistent

human

exhibiting few behavioural patterns—

creatures

to conclude that methodologies in psychology

or

these opposing claims regarding

Consider

severe the problem is regarding

how

Gilbert, a psychologist at Harvard

Daniel

stated in 2016, “Our analysis

University,

invalidates the pessimistic

completely

that many have drawn from

conclusions

landmark study,” referring to the Open

this

Collaboration project. “The number

Science

studies that actually did fail to replicate

of

about the number you would expect to

is

8

Ironically enough, it seems that one of the most

reliable ndings in psychology is that only half of

psychological studies can be successfully repeated.

(Yong 2018)

successfully.

We can really use it to improve the situation rather

than just lament the situation. The mere fact that

that collaboration happened at such a large scale

suggests that scientists are willing to move in the

direction of improving.

(Ioannidis quoted in Baker 2015)

are fundamentally flawed.

For discussion

Just how bad is it anyway?

experimental results in the human sciences.

professional academics in the United States.

fail to replicate by chance alone—even if all

238

original studies had shown true effects”

the

in Baker 2016).

(quoted

the other hand, Brian Nosek, leader of

On

Open Science Collaboration project,

the

that Gilbert’s “optimistic

responded

is limited by statistical

assessment

encounter disagreements between experts

We

this chapter and Chapter 7.

throughout

recurring question for TOK is what to

A

about it. If someone is not sufficiently

do

in statistics how should they

competent

Nosek’s versus Gilbert’s arguments?

evaluate

authors of a study are the people most

The

familiar with the weaknesses and

closely

to their own findings. Sometimes,

limitations

are the foremost experts in their sub-

they

and may be the first to come across

disciplines,

that undermines their confidence

evidence

the results that propelled their careers.

in

it remains rare for academics to publicly

Yet,

back their work, so replications remain

take

next best way to find out about suspect

the

A timely response to the replication

findings.

is the Loss of Confidence Project: the

issue

organized, institutional platform for

first

to declare a loss of confidence in their

authors

research. The Loss of Confidence project

own

of a voluntary nature and researchers can

is

submit loss of confidence for their own

only

If a researcher has lost confidence

research.

their findings, why not retract the study?

in

loss of confidence a soft alternative to

Is

Retractions are not necessarily

retraction?

journal can also retract a

voluntary—a

replication problem within human sciences

The

and psychology specifically, is an ongoing

generally,

as of 2020 but there is a consensus

controversy

around the view that a significant problem

forming

Some have lamented that the tenor of

exists.

discourse is divisive and antagonistic, and

the

and popular science outlets are accused

newspapers

reporting it with sensational headlines equivalent

of

“Psychology is dead”. Whether we call it a

to

a crisis, a disagreement or an opportunity,

problem,

episode has caused both students and

the

to examine more closely how academic

researchers

is produced in the human sciences,

knowledge

terms of the incentives, institutional structures,

in

and practical constraints within

assumptions

This is something to be welcomed.

academia.

any rate, initiatives such as Retraction

At

and the Loss of Confidence project

Watch

questionable or discarded findings easier

make

track. These initiatives are mechanisms

to

keeping the body of scientific knowledge

for

and up to date. Essentially, they raise

reliable

of professional ethical conduct

questions

transparency, and those issues take us to

and

submission to the project came from

One

Dana Carney, who came to

psychologist

the findings of her 2010 paper on

refute

poses’, co-authored with Amy Cuddy.

‘power

study centred on the idea that adopting a

The

pose could be beneficial in stressful

powerful

Although the pair’s work on

situations.

poses had gained a lot of attention—

power

Cuddy’s associated TED talk remains

and

of the most watched—in 2016 Carney

one

compelled to admit that she no

felt

believed in the conclusions of her

longer



misconceptions” (quoted in Baker 2016).

Box 8.4: Destigmatizing loss of confidence

section IV.

original study.

published article on the basis of error or fraud.

239


IV. Ethics

7 describes how the material and

Chapter

power of scientific knowledge—to

narrative

as well as tell stories about the natural

influence

a robust ethics. This chapter

world—necessitates

shown that the human sciences describes as

has

as shapes our social reality in a similarly

well

way, affecting how we understand,

powerful

or disagree about human nature, morality

agree

justice, what is fundamental to all people,

and

what is different. Challenging issues can

and

political with comparatively few, if any,

become

truths to draw on. We have seen that

empirical

we do not know, and therefore what we

what

assume, can deeply influence knowledge

must

practical outcomes. The ethics of the human

and

must take into account power, influence,

sciences

gives us the power to make

Knowledge

an impact on the planet that some have

such

to name the present geologic era,

proposed

Anthropocene, after us. Amid mounting

the

that human activity is altering

evidence

and Earth systems, the concept of the

social

the past few years. If you are unsure about

in

the concept means, follow the link to

what

comprehensive explainer video that is an

a

introduction to the topic. In the video

excellent

Anthropocene is described and justified in

the

of the impact of humans on the planet.

terms

terms:

Search

the age

Anthropocene

the Anthropocene may require

Knowing

trans-disciplinary modes of knowledge

new

and sharing that current institutions

production

not allow for. If the following sections sound

do

Earth science and you are wondering

like

they are here, keep that thought in

why

alongside the concept of natureculture

mind,

section II. Consider also the problem of

from

the observer from the observation

removing

the modeller from the model in the name of

or

Given the scale and depth of human

objectivity.

on the planet, is it even possible to speak

impact

nature without speaking about humans at

about

same time?

the

8

Figure 8.5a

The two low-power poses used in the study.

Figure 8.5b

The two high-power poses used in the study.

Participants in this condition were posed in contractive

Participants in this condition were posed in expansive

positions with closed limbs.

positions with open limbs.

I V. E T H I C S

of mankind YouTube

responsibility and fairness.

Anthropocene has been intensively theorized

240

the human sciences we often need to

Within

assumptions before attempting a cost-

make

type analysis which, as outlined in

benefit

of this chapter, and IV.3 of Chapter 7, is

III.4

with knowledge issues. Let’s revisit

fraught

topic of climate change we briefly touch on

the

Chapter 7, IV.3. Recall that there was, and

in

2020 continues to be, disagreement about

into

social cost of carbon per tonne. In 2015 the

the

government came up with a number of

US

worth of economic damages but, shortly

$37

the Stanford scientists argued it

afterwards,

$220. A more recent study in Nature Climate

was

put forward a global social cost of

Change

of $417 per tonne, with widely different

carbon

for different countries (Rickeetal2018).

costs

ranges reflect difficulties in modelling

These

quantifying climate change, and the impact

and

assumptions made by different groups of

of

and stakeholders. Clearly this does

scientists

mean we abandon efforts to quantify the

not

of reduction needed; the task of experts

scale

to negotiate a consensus and arrive at a

is

number.

it is empirically-based, the carbon pricing

As

is more tangible than the philosophical

task

ethical questions and knowledge claims

and

in the climate justice debate. For

embedded

to occur in the race to respond to

progress

climate crisis, nations around the world

the

to work together, and that requires some

need

agreement about ethical issues relating

minimum

responsibility and fairness. And fairness is

to

deeply complicated concept: the 2018 article

a

Ricke et al finds that India, for instance,

by

only 6% of emissions but will bear

contributes

20% of the global economic burden of

over

change. What forms of knowledge will be

climate

to accomplish such an unprecedented

necessary

Are our modes of knowledge production

task?

dissemination appropriate for navigating

and

urgent challenges?

these

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

T

N

A

H

P

R

O

O

C

E

E

N

241

IV. Ethics

change … brings together three major

Climate

to ethical action in a mutually reinforcing

challenges

The rst challenge stems from the fact that climate

way.

is a truly global phenomenon. Once emitted,

change

gas emissions can have climate eects

greenhouse

on the planet, regardless of their source.

anywhere

is often said to result in a prisoner’s dilemma or

This

of the commons structure played out between

tragedy

states: although collectively all countries would

nation

to limit global emissions so as to reduce the

prefer

of severe or catastrophic impacts, when acting

risk

each still prefers to continue emitting

individually,

At the same time, there are skewed

unimpeded.

at least in the short- to medium-term,

vulnerabilities:

of the most vulnerable countries and people

many

those who have emitted the least historically, and

are

emissions levels continue to be relatively low.

whose

appears to be seriously unfair and casts a notable

This

over both practical and theoretical eorts to

shadow

global cooperation.

secure

second challenge is that current emissions have

The

intergenerational eects. Emissions of

profoundly

most prominent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide,

the

persist in the atmosphere for a long time,

typically

to the global and intertemporal

Responding

posed by the climate crisis could

challenges

an awareness and understanding of

require

different peoples, nations and cultures

how

about fairness, responsibility and

think

Some countries, such as Canada

cooperation.

even millennia. This too seems unfair, especially if

or

negative impacts are severe and cumulative.

future

addition, the temporal diusion of climate change

In

rise to an ethical collective action problem that

gives

even more challenging than the traditional tragedy

is

the commons both in its shape and because normal

of

of cooperation do not seem to be possible across

kinds

generations.

third challenge to ethical action is that our

The

tools are underdeveloped in many of

theoretical

relevant areas, such as international justice,

the

ethics, scientic uncertainty, and

intergenerational

appropriate relationship between humans and

the

rest of nature. For example, climate change raises

the

about the (moral) value of nonhuman

questions

such as whether we have obligations to protect

nature,

animals, unique places, or nature as a

nonhuman

and what form such obligations take if we do.

whole,

addition, the presence of scientic uncertainty and

In

potential for catastrophic outcomes put internal

the

on the standard economic approach to

pressure

problems, and play a role in arguments

environmental

a precautionary approach in environmental law and

for

that some see as an alternative.

policy

(Ricke et al 2018). Should rich and poor

change

contribute equally to reduce emissions,

nations

should rich nations compensate the poor

or

At every level, issues of knowledge

nations?

ethics are woven into the discourse on

and

warming and climate justice.

global

radical argument calls for compensation for less-developed countries, which have contributed

A

to the problem and yet are already being impacted by it, having been made vulnerable to it

little

1. What are the knowledge claims and assumptions implicitly and explicitly made in this

2. On what basis, using what assumptions, should decisions about possible compensation be

8

Climate justice: The perfect moral storm

(Gardiner, Hartzell-Nicholls 2012)

contributing to negative climate impacts for centuries,

and Russia, may well benefit from climate

For discussion

Who pays?

through colonization.

argument?

made?

242

the fundamental question of how we compare the future with the present, a question

Consider

intergenerational ethics: how much effort should be made in the present, and at what cost, to

of

people in the future? The more relevant question for TOK is: what do you need to know to

benefit

that question?

answer

Referring to the questions above, do we expect different cultures around the world, with their

3.

religious and spiritual beliefs, to have comparable answers?

diverse

4. How might we bridge the differences in responses?

humankind is to have any chance of managing

If

change, of reaching a consensus and

climate

an international effort, we would

coordinating

from understanding how different

benefit

nations and cultures answer these ethical

people,

The alert reader will have noticed the

questions.

embedded in the above sentence.

assumptions

completely different outcome is also possible:

A

technology bails humanity out, allowing

that

to avoid these existential ethical challenges.

us

there are other global issues requiring

However,

collaboration and consensus

coordination,

may inspire confidence to know that questions

It

knowledge and ethics are being asked

about

discussed outside of TOK classrooms, that

and

are grappling with the political and ethical

others

the clip from 4:50–8:15 in the video,

In

Lucht talks about what it would

Wolfgang

to build an integrated Earth model

take

includes physical, ecological and social

that

based on our current knowledge.

systems,

of the limitations to this holistic model-

One

exercise is that the nature of

building

we have about those systems

knowledge

very different. How could we move our

is

knowledges into a

discipline-bound

are tuned into the kinds of questions that are

you

in TOK, you might start noticing them in

asked

all around you. Follow the link to

conversations

to a conversation between two experts from

listen

human sciences, pondering the essential TOK

the

of the limits of knowledge in the context

topic

the Anthropocene. Consider the kinds of

of

that guide their discussion.

questions

terms: Anthropocene

Search

“Limits of

Campus

How can we make any authoritative claims

1.

the whole world, if our knowledge is

about

made up of ill-fitting pieces with

essentially

gaps between them?

significant

17:00, Lucht speaks about the balance

At

needs to be struck between intellectual

that

and the responsibility to act when we

humility

reasonably confident in our predictions.

are

Is there any point at which intellectual

2.

stops being a virtue and becomes

humility

excuse for inaction? If so, how and

an

would you draw the line?

where

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

knowledge”

among different peoples and their knowledges.

When it comes to the abundant scope and breadth of

IV.1 Limits to growth and the limits of

human knowledge

the Anthropocene and its concerns, one can ask: what

are the limits of observation, accuracy, measurement,

and calculation? What are the limits of descriptive

accounts and written representations? How can one

deal with uncertainty, ignorance, or risk?

challenges of human knowledge and action. Once

(www.anthropocene-curriculum.org 2014)

For ref lection

The unity of knowledge and trusting

our knowledge

unified model?

243

last example brings together ideas from

The

this chapter: the role of quantification,

throughout

problems of measurement and the implications

the

applying simple knowledge to complex

of

At its core, the Anthropocene might

phenomena.

a problem of growth. The United Nations

be

on Sustainable Development in 2012

Conference

with the video linked here, tracing how

opened

growth of humanity became a force that shapes

the

state of the world, especially since the 1950s.

the

this reason, we zoom in on knowledge issues

For

growth—what do we know about it, what kinds

of

responsibilities rest with that knowledge, and

of

kind of action can we take based on it?

what

terms: “Welcome to the

Search

on Vimeo

Anthropocene”

knowledge in the

Predictive

Anthropocene

the context of the Anthropocene, we often

In

estimates and approximations of how

hear

time we have to act on various issues

much

it is too late. Predictions and fears of

before

and ecological collapse are certainly

economic

new. In 1972, systems scientists at MIT

not

predicted that ecosystems would

famously

by the mid-21st century. Their report,

collapse

to Growth”, was criticized and

“Limits

as disaster fantasy, for simplistic

ridiculed

pessimistic simulations that assumed

and

technological progress, and for having

little

8IV. Ethics

Making connections

Knowledge and language

The language of growth

language used to describe growth has changed as

The

knowledge about environmental impact and natural

our

depletion has grown. What started out as

resource

growth evolved into sustainable growth and

economic

now split, with the dominant concept being green

has

while an increasingly audible academic and

growth,

political minority advocate for a post-growth paradigm.

Figure 8.6 A koala perishes in the Australian bush res of 2020

the past seven decades, GDP growth has stood as

For

primary economic objective of European nations.

the

We are now exceeding the safe operating space

…

humanity on this planet, and there is no sign that

for

activity is being decoupled from resource use

economic

pollution at anything like the scale required. Today,

or

social problems within European nations does

solving

require more growth. It requires a fairer distribution

not

of income and wealth that we already have.

(ICTA 2018)

For discussion

an anti-growth agenda. Well before them,

244

1798, Thomas Malthus argued that human

in

would end in misery because of unchecked

life

growth. His logic seemed

consumption

resources were finite, while needs

inescapable:

wants were growing quickly—but then

and

technology.

came

sets of predictions are yet to come

Both

the “Limits to Growth” thesis has

true—but

much more popular in the 21st century.

become

groups of scientists have observed

Independent

contemporary data suggest we are on the

that

predicted by the MIT team. How do

trajectory

know this? It is possible of course, to look

they

the details of their methodology but, for the

at

else can we do to measure and move towards

What

matters in the Anthropocene? To begin with,

what

can identify and agree on the things that matter,

we

find ways to measure them. Ecological impact,

and

can be asked about the power and

questions

of predictive knowledge.

validity

1. What counts as evidence for the accuracy of

If experts suggest different courses of

2.

based on different predictions, which

action

Given the complexity of the calculations

3.

predictive knowledge about the

underlying

of the world, what is the role of trust in

state

this knowledge?

communicating

Does predictive knowledge bestow

4.

responsibilities on those who

special

and the living standards of typical

wellbeing,

have all been put forward as important

people

that are more feasible than they might

indicators

seem.

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

a prediction?

can we use to judge which one is

criteria

reliable?

more

purposes of analysis in TOK, more general

produce it?

Figure 8.7

The planetary

boundaries (www.anthropocene.info)

245

to show it how it was.” This was th propr aim of history and th historian, aording

“Simply

Lopold von Rank (1909), onsidrd th pionr of th modrn disiplin. Our xploration in

to

important storis aout past vnts and prsonalitis, and TOK invits us to larn aout this

th

human ndavour that produs and prsrvs knowldg aout th past. W xplor

inrdil

and prati of history, you will

knowldg

multipl prsptivs on what history

nountr

and is not, how it is and ought to don,

is

what its purpos might . Th historian

and

Elton is known for Th Practice of

Goffry

(1967), a manifsto on studying, writing

History

tahing history. H latr summarizd ths

and

as follows.

prinipls

this haptr will show that nothing is so simpl aout this AOK. History invits our uriosity to

what guids historians and non-historians among us in th study of history.

History

9

. S C O P I E

of ody th of xploration your Throughout

History provides the laboratory in which human

experience is analysed, distilled and bottled for use.

The so-called lessons of history do not teach you

to do this or that now; they teach you to think more

deeply, more completely, and on the basis of an

enormously enlarged experience about what it may

be possible or desirable to do now.

(Elton 1991)

246

of telling us that certain conditions

Instead

be shown, from past experience, to lead to

can

assured consequences, history for ever

certain

the unexpectedness of the event,

demonstrates

so instils a proper scepticism in the face of all

and

vast and universal claims. A knowledge of the

those

should arm a man against surrendering to the

past

peddled by too many myth-makers … .

panaceas

I will burden the historian with preserving

Thus

freedom, freedom of thought and action.

human

som tim onsidring th dpr

Spnd

of Elton’s words, in partiular what h

maning

aout th kind of knowldg w produ

says

aquir in this AOK.

and

is widly said and oftn livd that

It

rpats itslf, and that thos who do

history

What do you intrprt from Elton’s words

1.

whthr h thinks pattrns in

aout

How dos th assumption aout pattrns

2.

history afft th prditiv powr of

in

Elton dsris knowldg of history as a

3.

of intlltual slf-dfn. Dos this

form

with you? Rflt on a tim you

rsonat

usd your knowldg of history in

hav

There is the past and there

I.1

history is

is not th past, ut th study of th past

History

th ody of knowldg that rsults from that

and

Thr ar many ovrlapping, imprftly

study.

trms hr: th writtn rord, th

synonymous

rord, historial narrativs, writtn

historial

rordd history, historial aount

sour,

so on. Through th work of historians,

and

historial past is produd, onsisting of

a

fats, whih is diffrnt from th past

historial

Fw will hallng this distintion, ut

itslf.

dos not man that th rlationship twn

that

happnd in th past, and what w know

what

it through history, is straightforward or

aout

unompliatd.

numr of knowldg issus aris from th

A

that historians ar not tim travllrs ut

fat

lik intrprtrs of th tras of th past.

rathr

dos it man thn for a historian’s aount

What

rflt th past auratly? If w apt that

to

nvr ass th past as it was, thn

historians

an thr hks on thir work that ar

how

hks? What or who is th final aritr,

“ral”

authority on what atually happnd? Th

th

answr is that thr is non. This haptr

short

th ways historians and non-historians

xplors

and to an xtnt ovrom, this

nountr,

W onsidr xatly what rmains of

prolm.

past, how historians ass it and how thy

th

I. Scope

I. Scope

history xist?

historial knowldg?

this way.

(Elton 1991)

For ref lection

Historical knowledge

onstrut thir aounts.

not larn from history ar doomd to rpat it.

247

I. Scope

7 raises the question of whether science

Chapter

special reporting rights on nature—whether,

has

the methods and tools available, scientists

through

speak for nature or listen to nature speaking for

can

Consider how this relates to AOK history. Do

itself.

have special reporting rights on the past?

historians

they, through the methods and tools available to

Are

able to speak for the past or allow the past to

them,

through and speak for itself? What alternate

come

traditions or tools might help us to know

disciplines,

or in a small group, onsidr how

Individually

viw th distintion twn th past and

you

Try to map out this distintion, for

history.

through a Vnn diagram, to xprss

xampl

What happns in th aras of offst (that

1.

whr th past and history do not

is,

Why don’t th past and history ovrlap in

2.

aras?

ths

If you ar working in a group, ompar

3.

diagrams and shar what you

your

as signifiant similaritis and

idntify

diffrns.

Considr, for xampl, th rols of sin

4.

thnology for making nw mthods of

or

th past availal. What would

studying

say ar othr fors that nlarg th

you

Considr th aras in your map that do

5.

ovrlap. What ar th onsquns of

not

offst for th kind of knowldg w

this

in history?

produ

Th IB rquirs a 10-yar ooling priod

6.

vnts taking pla and th first

twn

aounts of thm. Why is this

historial

or dsiral?

rquird

go ak to th ginning. In th ontxt

Lt’s

history, oth th whn and whr of “th

of

ar traditionally attahd to th

ginning”

of litray. In this viw, vrything

dvlopmnt

suh a tim is dsignatd as prhistorial,

for

domain of myths and traditions, and as suh

th

th ralm of history. Th first writtn

outsid

dat ak to around th 4th millnnium

rords

in plas suh as Egypt, Msopotamia

bce,

China. Som mark this as th ginning of

and

vn though th first historians will not

history,

for many nturis, no arlir than th

appar

ntury bce. This gap twn th advnt of

5th

and th writings of th first historians—a

litray

rfrrd to as protohistory—varis gratly

priod

diffrnt soitis. Evn within litrat

among

th inonsistnt rat of adoption

soitis,

litray mant that som sgmnts of th

of

wr xludd from ontriuting to

population

historial rord for muh longr.

th

unvn ginnings of litray, omind

Th

gloal moility during th “Ag of

with

produ a priod during whih

Disovry”,

and protohistory aquir a prolmati

prhistory

Litrat soitis, whih had rahd

dimnsion.

stag whr history was said to gin, wr

a

and oming into ontat with

“disovring”

(and thrfor y this dfinition

pr-litrat

popls, and produing th first

prhistori)

rords and historial narrativs aout

writtn

What was prolmati is that in many

thm.

this nountr happnd in th ontxt

plas

olonialism. Historians Ptr Shmidt and

of

Mrozowski dsri this as follows.

Stphn

9

Making connections

Reporting rights

the past or learn lessons from it?

I.2 Literacy and discovery

For discussion

Mapping the offset between the

past and history

th rlationship twn th past and history.

ovrlap)?

sop of history?

248

the eighteenth century, the concept of prehistory

Since

exported by colonialism to far parts of the globe

was

applied to populations lacking written records.

and

in these settings came to represent primitive

Prehistory

still living in a state without civilization and its

people

index, literacy. Yet, many societies outside

foremost

Western world had developed complex methods

the

history making and documentation, including epic

of

lal “prhistorial” and th Europan

Th

of olonizd popls hav

protohistoris

What dos it man to xlud a popl’s

1.

of thir past from history asd

knowldg

is not a nutral trm mrly

“Prhistory”

to a priod dfind y illitray,

rfrring

othr ritria. Its onnotations,

among

th ontxt of olonialism,

aquirdin

its ontinud us today.

prolmatizs

an xampl, onsidr historian and

As

Shmidt’s aounts from

arhaologistPtr

arr in Tanzania, whih rvald

hisarly

him “how our usag of takn-for-grantd

to

an offnd snsiilitis whr

onpts

usof suh trops arris th stigma of

th

nford invisiility of loal

rasurand

onsigns thir knowldg to a ralm of

•

ultur

frams that ultur as primitiv, at a stag

•

dvlopmnt for history an said

of

srvs to dny thir xistn as our

•

ontmporaris.

and the use of physical and mental mnemonic

poetry

Even so, the deeply engrained concept of

devices.

entrenched in European minds up

prehistory—deeply

the beginning of the twenty-rst century—continues

to

deny history and historical identity to peoples

to

the world.

throughout

Whn our historial knowldg of a popl

2.

from an outsid prsptiv, how

oms

this afft th omprhnsivnss and

dos

of historial knowldg?

validity

Dos history, whn tthrd stritly to

3.

lav too muh outsid its sop

litray,

onsidrd th st way of knowing

to

past? What altrnativs xist?

th

ths issus, th way history trats its

Byond

has impliations for thir prsonhood.

“othrs”

Tuhiwai Smith rflts on th influn

Linda

Grman philosophr Hgl, who onsidrd

of

as thos who ould “rat” thir

humankind

history, popl apal of rflting on

own

and thir past—only thy wr

thmslvs

as fully human. Othrs wr rgardd as

sn

arhaologists, anthropologists

Historians,

othr ultural sholars in th past oupl

and

dads hav n produing ritial

of

on prhistory. Dos th trm

sholarship

hav any usfulnss today?

“prhistory”

onlud that th trm has visitd too

Ifthy

harm on Indignous Popls and its

muh

us is unaptal, is disarding

ontinud

nough? Shmidt and Mrozowski xplain

it

th politis of knowldg and languag

that

I. Scope

I. Scope

(Schmidt, Mrozowski 2014)

For reflection

The whole of history

signifiant impliations for knowldg.

on th ritrion of litray?

Box 9.1: History and its “others” coexisting in time

non-human or prhistori.

history” (Shmidt, Mrozowski 2014).

Th trm “prhistori”, whn applid to popls:

to gin

ar not simpl in this as.

249

I. Scope

is more than a matter of political

“This

for when the prehistory

correctness,

is used and offends, then it must be

trope

as a device that disenfranchises

recognized

cultures and regions, writing

whole

out of history. Simultaneously,

them

recognize that not all contexts are

we

and that the use of the prehistory

similar

in Europe, for example, may have

trope

and less negative implications

different

The problem arose, and continues, in

…

instances when Western-trained

those

look to the Indigenous

archaeologists

of colonial-era Ireland,

populations

North America, or Australia

Africa,

useful analogues for Palaeolithic or

as

Europeans. Our stance here

Neolithic

one of political action that seeks to

is

our language about how we

change

histories that have been

re-represent

truncated, and distorted through

affected,

use of tropes like prehistory.

active

histories are not repaired or

Truncated

by the use of alternative

recuperated

(protohistoric, ethnohistoric,

tropes

entanglements—all are mere

contact,

while also acting as politically

substitutes

speech) … Complete avoidance of

correct

term is not sufficient because active

the

is required.” (Schmidt,

renunciation

9

Mrozowski 2014)

Making connections

missionary was killed in an attempt to contact the

voluntarily isolated tribe on North Sentinel Island in the

Language and voluntarily isolated tribes

Indian Ocean. Some of the media coverage invoked the

This debate spills over into the question of how we

old, damaging tropes of lost tribes, Stone Age people

describe the few remaining tribes around the world

and prehistoric humans. Chapter 5 discusses the topic

living in voluntary isolation. For example, in 2018 a

of uncontacted tribes.

Figure 9.1

Bonda women on their way to a market in the eastern Indian state of Odisha

250

stion nds with th aknowldgmnt

This

th sop of history is not stati. History

that

hangd in rspons to th hallngs and

has

dsrid hr, and through nw

prssur

in TOK, dos history qualify as an AOK

Why,

it is ordinarily a part of IB Diploma

whn

group 3? Us th following

Programm

as prompts for your disussion.

qustions

Is history an AOK aus of th sop

1.

its sujt mattr or aus knowing

of

is of spial importan to th

history

individual?

ida of prsptivs taks on multipl

Th

in history. Thr ar th high-lvl

manings

w xplor in vry

prsptivs—whih

what, in this as, history is and

AOK—on

to . On this topi, historians rflt

ought

thir osrvations and hops for thir own

on

Thn thr ar prsptivs on

disiplin.

history as oth a disiplin and a ody of

how

has hangd ovr tim, prsptivs

knowldg

om from not only historians ut also

that

a rsult, historial mthods hav volvd to

As

with a widr rang of sours, allowing nw

dal

to ntr into and nlarg th sop

prsptivs

inquiry. W xplor this in th nxt stion.

of

Is it th mthods of history that st it apart

2.

th knowldg produd in th othr

from

3. Why dos it mattr that history is an AOK?

ths qustions will xpos diffrnt

Disussing

and giv you an opportunity

prsptivs

pratis onstruting your own informd

to

answrs.

thorists and ritis who study

philosophrs,

dvlopmnt of knowldg and idas.

th

thr ar prsptivs on how historial

Finally,

is rivd and privd mor

knowldg

in soity, and prhaps this shows us

widly

grat plurality of prsptivs in this AOK.

th

fw popl would laim valu in having a

Whil

mathmatis or sin, many an and

prsonal

insist on thir prsonal and group historis.

do

osrvrs thus argu it is nssary to

Som

what is mant y history to knowldg

limit

y aadmi and profssional

produd

If so, w would hav to aount for

historians.

omissions and rasurs that om with that

th

partiularly in light of th rol of litray

laim,

history. in

nwomrs to th disiplin of history,

As

ar oftn initiatd with prisly

studnts

II. Perspectives

I. Scope

II. Perspectives

thnologis and intrdisiplinary ollaorations.

For discussion

Why is history an AOK?

AOKs?


Our picture of Greece in the fth century B.C. is

defective not primarily because so many of the bits

have been accidentally lost, but because it is, by and

large, the picture formed by a tiny group of people in

the city of Athens.

(E.H. Carr quoted in H. Carr 2019)

251

II. Perspectives

qustion w xplord in stion I: what is

th

and what do historians do? Typially

history

nountr two shools of thought,

studnts

y two txtooks—Goffry Elton’s

xmplifid

Practice of History and E.H. Carr’s What is

The

Ths txts ar sn to typify th two

History?

and Carr hav not movd far from th

Elton

rading lists of history studnts for

rquird

dads, though svral historians, suh

many

Kith Jnkins (1995), hav suggstd that

as

various rasons this approah is “no longr

for

nough”.

good

xplor th Elton-Carr dat in III.2,

W

should not first that oth Elton and Carr

ut

British historians, and it is important

wr

onsidr how th issus of divrsity and

to

find xprssion in th historial

rprsntation

in your ontxt.

ommunity

2018 two rports ommissiond y

In

Royal Historial Soity (RHS) wr

th

on fousing on gndr, and th

pulishd,

on raial and thni quality within th

othr

In th sam yar, Olivtt Otl om

fild.

first vr fmal lak profssor of history

th

th UK (w rpat for mphasis: it was

in

Follow th link low to har why that

2018).

a point of onrn for th disiplin, through

is

voi.

Otl’s

hr is a onvrsation with Otl and

Linkd

Qurshi, who was involvd with th

Sadiah

trms: Divrsity in

Sarh

HistoryExtra

history

from thir onvrsation and findings

Exrpts

th rport ar providd low, and rais

from

Only 11% of undrgraduat studnts in

•

UK om from lak, minority and

th

akgrounds, as ompard with

thni

in undrgraduat programms

24%

Thr ar multipl rasons for

ovrall.

disrpany. In som plas, it has

this

do with th ontnt of th history

to

whih may not dsignd

urriulum,

rlvant to a lassroom of thnially

to

studnts. But aross th oard,

divrs

is a onrn aout th divrsity

thr

history tahrs. “Thr is this ida

of

9

Box 9.2: Gender and ethnic diversity in

the British historical profession

RHS rport.

“A New Patriotic Song” from a collection of material

Figure 9.2

relating to the fear of a French invasion (1803) British Library

signifiant qustions for TOK.

traditional approahs to historiography.

Historiography is the study of the methods that

historians use; the writing of history.

that who tahs you mattrs as muh

252

what is taught”, says Otl. It is a

as

of rprsntation and rlvan.

qustion

nd to s thmslvs in thir

Studnts

and hav tahrs who spak

tahrs,

Th RHS rport found vidn of an

•

gap in trms of th numr

attainmnt

studnts of olour who graduat

of

th highst distintion. “Studnts

with

vry lar that th sujt nds

wr

mad mor rlvant to thm …

to

ar ompltly and uttrly put off

thy

th urriulum whih thy s as

y

dominatd y Eurontrism and

havily

in vry, vry damaging ways.”

whitnss

Qurshi alls it “asolutly shoking”

•

“a national disgra” that it took

and

2018 for th first fmal lak

until

of history to appointd

profssor

th UK, following Hakim Ali who

in

2015am th first lak history

in

Qurshi argus that “for

profssor.

of history that hav

moststudnts

this sujt at univrsity,

vrrad

hav nvrn taught y a lak

thy

… or a profssor of olor”. To

profssor

why Qurshi mphasizs

undrstand

hr, ovr gndr, onsidr thatin

ra

UK th first fmal profssor of any

th

was appointd 100 yars ago,

sujt

th first lak fmal profssor

whras

any sujt was appointd only

of

ago.

20yars

disussion fouss on th rol of idntity

This

th aquisition of historial knowldg.

in

of argumnts that support th

Think

aout idntity that follows, thn

statmnt

of argumnts that ontradit it. If you

think

working with a partnr, on of you ould

ar

th othr “against”. If you ar in a

and

split into two opposing tams for this.

group,

plays a diffrnt rol in history as

“Idntity

to th othr AOKs.”

ompard

Th onvrsation twn Olivtt Otl

1.

Sadiah Qurshi lavs us with th

and

that divrsity in history is

imprssion

than in othr filds on avrag.

wors

fators afft whthr a givn

Whih

is ttr al to addrss issus

disiplin

Ar th impliations of a lak of divrsity

2.

for th various AOKs?

diffrnt

issus of divrsity and quity ar

Whil

to all ommunitis, profssional

important

ing no xption, divrsity has

historians

impliations for history as a ody of

rursiv

As stion III will show, historians

knowldg.

sk out divrs sours in

intntionally

historial aounts. How thn is th

onstruting

of history srvd y a lak of divrsity

ojtivity

profssional historians? To xplor this

among

w turn to th idas of E.H. Carr,

qustion,

to us y his grat-granddaughtr Hln

rought

who tras th volution of his thinking

Carr,

ojtivity. Carr was onrnd with how

aout

historian frquntly draws not on ojtiv fat

a

History of Soviet Russia was a bold attempt

A

and meticulously to collect all the facts

carefully

and in doing so, [E.H. Carr] articulated

available,

impressively objective approach to Russian

an

… In the lengthy process of writing A History

history.

Soviet Russia he … was initially optimistic; ‘it is

of

to maintain that objective truth exists’, yet

possible

1950 he concluded: ‘objectivity does not exist’.

by

historians believed in objective

Nineteenth-century

… Carr rejected this outdated approach,

history

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

aout a history that mattrs to thm.

of divrsity?

II.1 Diversity and histories

ut on thir xprin.

For discussion

The role of identity

describing it as a ‘preposterous fallacy’.

(Carr 2019)

prsnt a as arguing “for” th statmnt

253

was not alon in rflting dply aout

Carr

in th sond half of th 20th

ojtivity

Aftr th First World War and Sond

ntury.

War thr was partiular intrst in

World

and th fors that shap it, and a

history

of dmoratization of th prati

priod

history. Whthr or not historiographrs

of

with Carr, or th dmoratization

agr

th disiplin, thy agr that ths

of

wr promptd y th ris of

ronsidrations

history and opnd up th disiplin to

soial

and othr formrly xludd groups. It

womn

promptd an introsption of widsprad

also

assumptions aout ojtivity

historiographial

th link to a short lip, ntitld “A Brif

Follow

that rounts th huml and rav

Hrstory”,

of th Lsian Hrstory Arhivs and

ginnings

prsn today. What an this tah us aout

its

fforts to divrsify and ontriut to

grassroots

history?

trms: Lsian

Sarh

Arhivs Vimo

Hrstory

Lsian Hrstory Arhivs ar a milston

Th

th ongoing dmoratization of history and

in

th sns of soial onntdnss that

rval

whn a ommunity onstruts its own

ariss

is not just us, in TOK, who dwll on ths

It

whil historians gt on with thir

qustions

Th intlltual movmnt of postmodrnism

work.

hallngd history with dp

(singular, monolithi) to historis

history

Considr th following qustions for

(plural).

that ontinu to shap th disiplin

history

this pross.

through

history gets told? In whose name? For what

Whose

Post-modernism is about histories not

purpose?

retold, untold. History as it never was. Histories

told,

hidden, invisible, considered unimportant,

forgotten,

eradicated. It’s about the refusal to see

changed,

as linear, as leading straight up to today in

history

recognisable pattern—all set for us to make

some

of. It’s about chance. It’s about power. It’s about

sense

how knowldg in history hangs

Compar

tim as ompard to how it hangs in

ovr

1. What happns to disardd knowldg?

2. What is th status of urrnt knowldg?

maks history? W tnd to har this in

Who

ontxt of “(nam of prson) mad history”

th

a lot of tim this happns “today”. Stats

and

mak history y passing lgislation,

an

athlts an do so y raking

xtraordinary

groups of organizd itizns an

rords,

y disoying authority and

makhistory

on.In this ommon-sns viw, history

so

mad y individual or olltiv

apparsto

in th prsnt. Howvr, thr ar som

ation

standards that govrn whn somthing

impliit

from ing on of many vnts in th

gos

ing signifiant nough to join th

past,to

rord.

historial

9II. Perspectives

information.

and nutral truths.

(Marshall 1992)

For discussion

Knowledge in history changing

over time

th natural sins.

II.2 Making history and thresholds

of significance

narrativ of its past.

qustions and ushrd in th opning of

254

an xampl, prhaps an artil or an

Find

that shows somon “making history”.

vnt,

you ar rady, with a partnr or in a

Whn

group, shar your ritria.

small

1. What ar signifiant similaritis and

If you shar your idas as a lass, whih

2.

rgularly mrg as markrs of

things

Draw on your impliit shard

3.

to onsidr th following.

undrstanding

What dos it man for somthing to

(a)

for history?

mattr

Whih groups of popl or kinds of

(b)

ar lss likly to qualify?

vnts

w ar givn th opportunity

Oasionally,

mak history too, at last hypothtially

to

th ontxt of thought xprimnts. For

in

in 2015, th New York Times magazin

xampl,

a pollntitld: “Dar radr: Could you

ran

a ayHitlr?” A snapshot of th rsults

kill

23Otor 2015 showd that 42% of

on

“ys”, 30% answrd

rspondntsanswrd

tak that disussion into th domain of TOK

To

nd to xplor th justifiations hind

w

answrs. It sounds lik an this qustion

th

it is not quit so, rathr it rvals how w

ut

that history is mad: whthr vnts ar

liv

or ontingnt, and th importan

invital

hros, villains, monarhs and shmrs. As

of

Onion puts it, answring th qustion

Ra

killing ay Hitlr rquirs you to think

aout

aout: “your own lifs aout th

dply

of progrss, th inhrnt ontingny of

natur

and th influn of individuals—vn

vnts,

harismati ons—on th flow of historial

vry

(Onion 2015).

hang”

qustions ar fundamntal to how w ah

Ths

aout history, and thought xprimnts

think

tim travlling mak thm mor assil.

aout

if …?” qustions ar xplord whn

“What

ountrfatuals latr in this haptr.

disussing

if you ar still wondring aout th this of

And

trms: Atlanti Ethis

Sarh

killing ay Hitlr

of

stritr dfinition of history ss it as mad

A

historians whn thy study and writ aout

y

vnts. To study what w all “making

past

in vryday languag, historians

history”

th auss of historial vnts. Elton

onsidr

faturd in stion I) was dply onrnd

(who

th qustion of human agny in history.

with

insistd that what drivs history is th will,

H

and ations of popl, and not astrat

hois

struturs and pattrns in soity. Ths

fors,

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

For discussion

What matters?

What ritria did you us to dfin this?

diffrns?

historial signifian?

Figure 9.3 Adolf Hitler as a baby

killing ay Hitlr, follow th link.

“no” and 28% wr not sur.

“astrations” ould usful for dsriing

255

II. Perspectives

historial ontxt, ut not for xplaining th

a

of historial vnts. Aording to Elton,

auss

should want to xplain th past and

historians

thy hav a rsponsiility to rogniz th

so

fouss on human auss in history as

Elton

to strutural auss. Considr, though,

opposd

argumnt that som individuals and groups

th

mor likly to rognizd as drivrs of

ar

Decolonizing Methodologies (1999), Linda

In

Smith xplains that history, in Elton’s

Tuhiwai

Allrook, Managing Dirtor of

Malolm

Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB),

th

th ADB’s vision to inlud th

xplains

of “signifiant and rprsntativ”

iographis

from a “ross-stion of Australian

sujts

This ollag of iographis was to tll

soity”.

history of Australia and srv as a kind of

th

od of Australian idntity.

sour

Figure 9.4 Woollarawarre Bennelong (c. 1764–1813),

th first two volums, pulishd in 1966 and

In

only ight out of th 1182 iographis

1967,

of Aoriginal popl. In th nxt 15 or

wr

yars, th siz of th ADB quadrupld. But

so

svn of th nw ntris wr Aoriginal

only

Torrs Strait Islandr iographis. As of

and

gan with industrialization. Laving

viw,

th day-to-day livs of ordinary popl,

asid

womn, and popl who didn’t

partiularly

to a rtain lass and ra (in lin with

long

historians of his tim), h onsidrd

th

history was mad y thos who hlpd

that

th modrn stat and rought aout

uild

hang. Th onomists, philosophrs,

soial

and othr sussful ntrprnurs

sintists

th only rational individuals apal of

wr

Aoriginal iographis onsist of aout

2017,

of all ntris in th ADB. What ar th

1.5%

of this for knowldg, this

impliations

andinlusion?

addrss this issu, Allrook xplains: “[a]

To

party mad up of Aoriginal and

working

sholars from ah stat and trritory

Islandr

now prparing an Indignous Australian

is

of Biography with narly 200 nw

Ditionary

(Allrook 2017).

iographis”

nw ntris will addd to th

Ths

ut also pulishd as a standalon

ADB

ADB. Commnting on th pross,

Indignous

says that: “aus this is a largly

Allrook

pross, it is likly that

ommunity-drivn

markrs of ‘signifian’ will mrg,

nw

prhaps not so muh y suss

dtrmind

standing on national, stat or loal stags,

or

y what thy rought to ommunity and

as

lif” (Allrook 2017).

family

omittd lif storis of Aoriginal popl

Th

not th only onrn with th ADB. Som

ar

impliatd in atroitis against

olonists,

popl, ar dsrid in vry

Aoriginal

trms, inluding and spially

positiv

thir supposd humanitarian ations

rgarding

Indignous Popls. Frank Bongiorno,

towards

hads th history dpartmnt at th

who

9

impat of human ativity andagny.

history than othrs.

shaping th nw industrializd ra.

Box 9.3: Changing markers of significance and correcting omissions

a Wangal-born warrior and a peacemaker

256

that produs th ADB, pointd out

univrsity

following.

th

whn you’v n running

“Invitaly

60 yars, … th arlist work will

for

out of dat, and spially

somtims

in rlation to th Indignous xprin

so

dispossssion and violn … [th ADB

of

is dolonising a projt whos

tam]

li in an ra for most whit

origins

wr prpard to fa what thy

Australians

thir anstors had don to Aoriginal

and

(Bongiorno quotd in Daly 2019)

popl.”

task of updating th ADB has larly

Th

lmnts of historial rvisionism.

rognizal

th anthropologist Mary Douglas

Howvr,

has argud that ‘history’ is mrly a

(1986)

of th past, as sn through th lns of

rfltion

prsnt. Oftn, Douglas suggsts, th pross

th

rvisionism says mor aout th prsnt than

of

dos aout th past.

it

on whn and whthr rvisionism is

Prsptivs

suspt, valual or futil ar xplord

nssary,

yars sin th mid-20th ntury hav

Th

markd y th aftrmath of war as wll

n

gloal transformations. During

asprofound

th writing and tahing of history has

thistim

wovn togthr with pa-uilding, nation-

n

and roniliation fforts. Amid this

uilding

th rol and approahs tohistorial

akdrop,

hav hangd dramatially, spially

knowldg

trms of its us for intrnational undrstanding

in

duating forpa.

and

has n oth a sholarly as wll as a

This

projt, for th way w know th

politial

has impliations for th shard futur. In

past

ontxt of national shool systms, shool

th

txtooks hav a wid and authoritativ

history

and ar instrumnts of olltiv idntity-

rah

Espially in puli shool systms,

uilding.

txtooks dfin vnts of national prid,

history

th ADB will rquir mor than

Dolonizing

gndr and thni divrsity to th ntry

adding

Th projt of updating prolmati

pool.

ntris is qually if not mor

xisting

ut prsnts signifiant hallngs

important,

intrsting TOK impliations) for th

(with

To find out mor, follow th link to an

tam.

y Paul Daly.

artil

trms: Australian

Sarh

of Biography

Ditionary

vitimhood and historial rlations of

olltiv

and hostility.

rivalry

haptr will hav mad lar that history

This

invitaly slt, omit, rarrang,

txtooks

and simplify from th tras w hav

intrprt

of th past. Whn ths txtooks ar stat-

lft

in national shool systms, thir

santiond

sltions, omissions, arrangmnts,

partiular

and simplifiations om

intrprtations

for most—not dissimilar to th

authoritativ

oxs” w nountr in Chaptr 7.

“lak

or opprssd groups within th stat or

Minority

stats may s ths aounts as iasd and

othr

For ths rasons, history txtooks

manipulativ.

n at th ntr of ontrovrsis—and

hav

historians and politiians alik

duators,

thir potntial to promot pa, as wll

rogniz

prptuat, or vn provok, onflit.

as

thr is muh to larnd from

Thrfor,

losly at ilatral or multilatral txtook

looking

projts in onflit and post-onflit

rvision

spially for pa- and frindship-

ontxts,

Suh projts ar oftn ondutd in th

uilding.

of raking down prjudi and inspiring

spirit

undrstanding twn formr or urrnt

mutual

or nmis. Th tahing of history

hostils

a tool for intrnational undrstanding

oms

paful futur rlations.

and

of this inlud powrful historial

Exampls

suh as th nd of aparthid in

vnts

Afria and th work of th Truth and

South

Commission; th rsptiv

Roniliation

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

history for th forgottn

low.

II.3 International understanding and

the revision of history textbooks

257

of Yugoslavia and th Sovit Union;

rak-ups

th Frano-Grman history rvision projt

and

simply “History”

(“Histoir-Gshiht”,

in oth Frnh and Grman). Ths

writtn

st a luprint for rvision projts

xampls

ton down or liminat historial hostility in

to

ountry's rsptiv txtooks, to instad

ah

a narrativ that supports paful

promot

Ths fforts go ak half a ntury.

oxistn.

instan, in 1950 a Grman nwspapr

For

to “dtoxifiation squads” onsisting

rfrrd

British and Grman historians and tahrs

of

aimd to rmov th “poisonous sds

who

y nationalisti hat ampaigns in shool

sown

(Stör quotd in Korostlina, Lässig

txtooks”

Frnh and Danish history tahrs also

2013).

joind th projt, to th point whr

vntually

sam nwspapr followd up th projt a

th

latr with an artil spulating whthr

yar

was going to a “Europan” history

thr

were meeting … with the intention to

They

and discuss each other’s national history

review

in order to eliminate ‘untrue accounts and

textbooks

descriptions of the other nation’ and ‘to

deprecating

an immortalization of nationalistic tensions’

prevent

‘glorications of war’.

or

th following xtrat from th 1937

Considr

of Nations Declaration Regarding the

Lagu

th projt almost xdd

Indd,

to rah th furthr stag of a

rvisionism

transnational txtook. It is on thing

shard

nationstats to hallng ah othr’s

for

history and ooprat in rvising

narrativsof

it is anothr thing ntirly to transnd

thm;

ut aross national divisions and hav a

or

txtook.

ommon

is on suh projt, a shard

Histoir-Gshiht

for oth Frnh and Grman studnts.

history

was proposd y th Frnh-GrmanYouth

It

in 2003 and takn upy th Grman

Parliamnt

for Forign Affairs and th Frnh

Dpartmnt

of Eduation, and finally launhd

Ministry

2008 in th town of Pronn, th sit of th

in

attls of th First World War.

loodist

projts of history txtook rvision

Earlir

hampiond y “intrnationally-

wr

tahrs. For a priod, in th 1920s

mindd”

1930s, vn th Lagu of Nations, th

and

ofth Unitd Nations, pikd up

prdssor

issu. Ths fforts fousd on omparativ

th

toidntify and rvis ssntial

analyss

and misundrstandings of

misrprsntations

of History (Revision of School Text-Books),

Teaching

th prinipls for ahiving intrnational

listing

a. … assigning as large a place as possible to the history of other nations;

b. … giving prominence, in the teaching of world history, to facts calculated to bring about a realisation of

It is desirable that every Government should endeavor to ascertain by what means, … especially in connection with

2.

choice of school-books, … allegations and interpretations as might arouse unjust prejudices against other nations.

the

9II. Perspectives

txtook. Profssor Gorg Stör writs:

othr nations.

(Stöber quoted in Korostelina, Lässig 2013)

For discussion

Perspectives and legitimacy

undrstanding.

1. “It is desirable that the attention of the competent authorities in every country, and of authors of school textbooks,

should be drawn to …

the interdependence of nations.

258

It is desirable that in every country a committee composed of members of the teaching profession, including

3.

teachers, should be set up by the National Committee on Intellectual Co-Operation… .” (League of

history

(a) Whos prsptivs influn what

1.

fats ar taught in shools?

historial

th rol of th govrnmnts,

Considr

history tahrs’ unions,

national

tahrs’ assoiations,

intrnational

ivi organizations,

domsti

non-govrnmntal

transnational

and othrs.

organizations

(b) How should this influn hkd

2. What ar th impliations whn:

xprts from anothr stat ar allowd

(a)

influn how history is taught in a

to

tim, th sop of ths projts has

Ovr

from ilatral to rgional and gloal

shiftd

with th rsult that thir produt is

fforts,

aout national “ompromis narrativs”

lss

allow for alignd ut sparat historis,

whih

mor aout a “ommon” shard history.

and

prsptivs ar gaind or lost in a shard

What

txtook vrsus a national history

history

Whr do your history txtooks fit

txtook?

shm?

inthis

did th moral imprativs and standards

How

ths projts aris? Or, as Simon Lässig

for

“Who initiatd, inspird and arrid out

asks,

projts? … what is th natur of th tnsion

th

intervention and empowerment with rgard

twn

history duation rform …?” (Korostlina,

to

2013). Lässig uss th word “mpowrmnt”

Lässig

to dsri loal ownrship of th outoms of

hr

projts, of th popl whos history is ing

ths

in thos projts. Th alan twn

rwrittn

xprts from anothr stat ar not

(b)

to influn how history is

allowd

and th stat has a monopoly on

taught

gts taught in th national history

what

(a) In trms of th history urriulum,

3.

what irumstans should

undr

historian and history tahrs'

th

limitd?

autonomy

Dos th tahing of history rquir

(b)

or diffrnt ontrols to th

additional

mpowrmnt and xtrnal intrvntion

loal

influns whthr th projt will

ultimatly

would suss look lik? If th mtri is

What

it rsults in a txtook that is offiially

whthr

and shard y two or mor ountris,

santiond

w hav rlativly fw suss storis, and

thn

oms mor ompliatd whn

This

projts ar initiatd, fundd or

rvisionist

y third partis, suh as othr

supportd

stakholdrs and NGOs. For

intrnational

th Southast Europan Joint

xampl,

Projt produd a st of “altrnativ

History

matrials”, and on projt in

duational

East Asia rsultd in txtooks that

North

not offiially santiond ut wr usd to

wr

national txtooks in China, South

omplmnt

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Nations 1937)

Disuss th following qustions.

urriulum?

and ontrolld?

tahing of othr sujts?

givn national duation systm

“sussful”.

Histoir-Gshiht is among thm.

Kora and Japan.

259

II. Perspectives

or indpndnt shools oftn hav th

Privat

to hoos to us txtooks othr than

frdom

What ar th advantags and

1.

of this?

disadvantags

Hav you nountrd diffrnt aounts

2.

“your” history?

of

Hav you xprind or osrvd a

3.

twn th historial narrativs

lash

to your parnts or grandparnts’

known

vrsus th aounts taught

gnrations

you today in national or intrnational

to

duation systms? How hav

English

rspondd? Shar and ompar your

you

in your lass.

answrs

Chapter 7 we encounter Thomas Nagel’s

In

of objectivity as “the view from

description

To what extent is this the goal of

nowhere”.

education systems in general, and of

international

history textbooks in particular? To what extent

their

this goal possible and desirable?

is

has your acquisition of knowledge, in history

How

other AOKs, been shaped by the compromises

and

have been made to make knowledge objective

that

neutral? or

of th ontxtual fators to onsidr

Som

whthr ths projts ar ondutd in

ar

or ongoing onflit thatrs, and

post-onflit

thy spill ovr national oundaris.

whthr

an important fator is whthr

Additionally,

mrg within post-olonial or prsnt-day

thy

olonial stats, suh as India and Canada

sttlr

rsptivly.

used to think that the profession of history, unlike

I

of, say, nuclear physics, could at least do no

that

rvision projts rquir thos involvd

Txtook

agr not mrly on th fats of dats and

to

of vnts, ut on th auss, signifian

plas

impat of vnts, and how ths vnts

and

xampls rval a politial dimnsion

Ths

onsnsus and disagrmnt in history.

to

projts ar asd on th ida of tahing

Many

through multipl prsptivs, with

history

ojtiv ing to giv spa to diffrnt

th

inluding onfliting viws. This

vois,

gaind popularity in Wstrn and

approah

Europ in th 1970s, and movd th

Northrn

of historial knowldg from th ontnt

fous

txtooks—th “fats”—to th aility to

of

sours and prsptivs.

valuatmultipl

is this approah to history appropriat on a

But

xtnt to whih “th us of multipl

Th

and ontrovrsy" is univrsally

prsptivs

is an opn qustion. Lässig dsris this

usful

as nssarily a Wstrn onption of

approah

there situations in which dierent source

Are

and historiographical interpretations

statements

place too high demands on pupils and

simply

in which both rather require a ‘usable past’

teachers,

9

For reflection

Common textbooks and

Now I know it can. . . . We have a responsibility

harm.

historical facts in general, and for criticizing the

to

politico-ideological abuse of history in particular.

(Hobsbawm 1993)

“compromise narratives”

th approvd stat duational matrials.

onstrut th national narrativ.

gloal sal?

Making connections

History, objectivity and the knower

historial instrution, and asks th following.

with a master narrative that provides direction …?

(Lässig in Korostelina, Lässig 2013)

260

th multipl-prsptivs approah

Finally,

dissminating historial knowldg will

to

ompliatd y issus of powr

invitaly

idology. Th US/USSR Txtook Study

and

spannd ovr a dad from th 1980s

Projt

ultimatly faild for politial rasons.

and

many points of divrgn in this as

Whil

hav n fixd y giving voi to

ould

othr’s prsptiv, othr issus, suh as

th

and xplanations of th idologial

dsriptions

of politial and onomi systms,

dimnsions

irronilal. On of th rports on th

provd

onludd: “Txtooks will ontinu

projt

writtn from th prsptivs of ah

to

This nd not impd aurat txtook

soity.

(Mhlingr in Eklof 1993).

tratmnt”

is mant y “aurat” hr, and in history

What

an AOK? Dos it man fatually orrt,

as

doing history, what dos th historian hav

In

to? This qustion has for nturis

ass

th mthods and tools of historians who,

shapd

y trial and rror, or laps of insight,

whthr

dvlopd a prati that urrntly aims to

hav

and valuat sours, intrprt th vidn,

find

ronstrut a truthful narrativ of th past.

thn

that this viw of history, in th prding

Not

involvs a omposit of two knowldg

sntn,

first, that th prati of history shaps

laims:

mthod; and sond, that history is aout

its

truths of th past. Nithr should

disovring

for grantd. What altrnativ laims xist?

takn

would you valuat ths laims? This

How

of history ar wll aquaintd with th

Studnts

twn th past (th st of vnts),

diffrns

in trms of rprsntation, fair in trms

aland

dsription of diffrnt idologis?

of

hav disussd projts twn

W

of rlativly similar powr—

stakholdrs

and Grmany, th Unitd Stats and

Fran

USSR. th

(a) What diffrns mrg whn thr

1.

an imalan of powr twn

is

What kinds of hks and alans an

(b)

put into pla to safguard against

knowable past (th sust of vnts for whih

th

hav assil rords), and history, whih

w

shall oniv of as a formalizd narrativ

w

intrprtation of th knowal past.

and

valuation, ojtivity, truth,

Intrprtation,

fat and rord ar fundamntal onpts

ass,

th prati and thory of history as an

within

as wll as within TOK. History is thus,

AOK,

mor than any othr AOK, losst in its

prhaps

to TOK, to th limitd xtnt that suh a

prati

historial rord is typially a writtn history

A

narrativ form, although oral historis,

in

and film ar inrasingly aptd

photographs

part of th rord. Th rord inluds a

as

varity of aounts, from intndd fatual

hug

to lyrial, mtaphorial, mythial

doumnts

artisti rprsntations of th past. Until

and

rntly, writtn languag was th prsrv

vry

a powrful and privilgd minority, among

of

thos who sought to writ history and

oth


II. Perspectives


For ref lection

Power imbalances in historial revision

thpartis?

auss of powr in ths ass?


Historians, when practising their craft, must not be

vulnerable to the chauvinism of their discipline, or of

method, identity and ideology.

(Guha 2019)

omparison an mad.

III.1 What remains of the past?

stion will your guid.

261


with an intrst in rading it. What ar th

thos

of this for th historial rord?

impliations

was rordd, for whatvr rason, in

Whatvr

form, w hav only a small fration of

whatvr

lft—tras floating through tim. Historians

it

always ask: whr do ths tras om

must

Who wrot thm, or allowd thm to rah

from?

or may hav faild to stop thm rahing us?

us,

important as ths tras ar, historians must

As

onsidr th asn of tras, th parts of

also

that thy annot s. Historians thrfor

history

to imagin (ys, you rad that right)

attmpt

thy annot s, what might missing

what

th rord, why it is missing, and what it

from

hav shown thm. Post-modrn ritiisms

ould

history argu that this is impossil, and

of

that history is fundamntally prolmati

indd

it is asd on sujtiv intrprtations

aus

this ritiism, Garill Spigl, a historian

To

profssor, and formr Prsidnt of th

and

Historial Assoiation, has rspondd

Amrian

“if txts—doumnts, litrary works,

that:

not transparntly rflt rality,

whatvr—do

only othr txts, thn historial study an

ut

distinguishd from litrary study,

sarly

th ‘past’ dissolvs into litratur” (Spigl

and

How hav historians addrssd this

1992).

This haptr has outlind a fw suh

prolm?

Dmoratizing th disiplin y inviting

fforts.

multipliity of prsptivs, for xampl from

a

notd in I.2, languag and spifially

As

hav playd an minnt rol givn

litray

disiplin’s rlian on th writtn rord.

th

ailitis to undrstand and translat

Thrfor,

hav rstritd ass to th historial

languag

among thos who sought to ontriut

rord,

wll as thos trying to gain knowldg

as

fromit.

Vitorian historian and philosophr, Thomas

Th

is attriutd with th phras: “[t]h

Carlyl,

of th world is ut th iography of grat

history

a lihé oftn satirizd y ontmporary

mn”,

ommntators, ut also rvaling of an

soial

onrn with historial knowldg:

important

individuals in th past hav had oth th

whih

and influn to hav historial rords

intrst

How should w trat ths rords?

writtn?

w s that th mthods of valuation and

Thus

driv dirtly from th natur of

intrprtation

historial rord.

th

II xplord what historial knowldg

Stion

giv to (and tak away from) individuals,

an

and nations—spially in trms of

popls

and idntity. How do w rogniz,

powr

and grasp ths tras of history? Who

find

ass to history and who an ontrol that

has

Th impliations of ass ar profound

ass?

idntity and powr. Ass an lokd

for

ovious ways—onfidntial govrnmnt fils

in

srtiv rligious ladrs that inma gors

and

wll aquaintd with—as wll as in mor

ar

and strutural ways. W hav sn

fundamntal

th mthod and tools usd in history (th

that

in whih it is rordd) an shap what

ways

as history, and who has th han to

ounts

it. rord

instan, only in th past fw dads hav

For

historis n widly rognizd, rordd

oral

inorporatd into historial rords,

and

though Oral Traditions hav n th

vn

mans of intrgnrational knowldg

primary

and transfr for a vast numr

prsrvation

popls around th glo. What might

of

impliations of this for suh ommunitis,

th

trms of thir rprsntation and influn

in

onomi, politial and ultural lif in a

in

9

of tras of th past.

gloalizd world?

non-writtn sours, is on suh xampl.

262

hr 1999 ook, Decolonizing Methodologies,

In

Tuhiwai Smith xplains how many

Linda

that valu oral ways of approahing th

systms

hav n “rlassifid as oral traditions

world

than historis”. This lassifiation suggsts

rathr

th storis and aounts whih ar an

that

part of th fari of ths Indignous

ssntial

and ar mddd in th land,

ommunitis

within popl’s nams and gnalogis

wovn

xprssd through art and raft, do not

and

a valid mthod of aquiring or

onstitut

knowldg.

transmitting

histories, along with generally labelled

Oral

artefacts”, have played an

“material-cultural

role in carrying and communicating the

important

systems of many peoples around the

knowledge

both for themselves and outsiders. For this

world,

the modern practice of taking and storing

reason,

artefacts in museums in the large cities of

such

industrialized nations has significant

advanced

for access to knowledge and ethics—

implications

it is historical, religious or artistic. This is

whether

for example, someone’s battle shield ends up

how,

the prehistoric or artistic exhibit of a museum,

in

when it belongs to a people or culture

even

is very much in the present. What are the

that

of this practice, for history as well as

implications

areas of knowledge? To what extent should

other

return these artefacts to their people, even if

we

means dismantling museums’ collections?

that

explore this issue in more depth in

We

10, II.4.

Chapter

in th futur may wll hav a vry

Historians

prolm, aus prsnt-day ultur

diffrnt

argumnt within history is that its mthods,

On

qustions, ar prnnial: thy apply to

and

lif always and forvr. Lt’s pursu this

human

to s whr it lads.

ida

you ar a historian in 2120, trying to

Imagin

th narrativ of human lif in 2020.

ronstrut

1. What rords do you hav of 2020?

Who mad ths rords, why, and in

2.

form?

what

What, and who, might missing from

3.

rords?

ths

How do th answrs to qustions 1–3

4.

your intrprtation of th rord,

afft

the historian before you begin to study the

Study

The facts … are like sh on the shmonger’s

facts.

The historian collects them, takes them home

slab.

cooks and serves them.

and

ontinu with th mtaphor of tras of

Lt’s

past floating through tim, and assum now

th

w hav a historian willing and al to

that

thm. Th qustion for us is whthr

grasp

historian an “s” ths tras as thy

our

ojtiv rmnants of th past—or

ar—as

th historian nssarily has a sujtiv

whthr

Th kn osrvr will raliz

intrprtation.

thr is anothr, mor fundamntal qustion:

that

an w disrn twn sujtiv and

how

intrprtations of th knowal past?

ojtiv

do w rogniz ojtivity and sujtivity

How



For reflection

Interpreting the historical record

Making connections

Art, museums and ethics

and your narrativ of human lif in 2020?

III.2 The historian’s role

(Carr 1961)

lavs suh a vast matrial and digital footprint.

whn w s thm?

263


historian, journalist and diplomat E.H.

Th

ngagd with this sujt intnsly in

Carr

what w all “historial fats”, as

qustiond

y his grat-granddaughtr, Hln

xplaind

an hangd or manipulatd to nfit thos rlaying thm, somthing w ar autly

“Fats

of today. During Carr’s liftim, Stalin’s rgim dstroyd doumnts, altrd vidn

awar

distortd history ... It is th ontinud misrprsntation and misus of fat, dlirat or

and

that Carr intrrogats in What is History? H nourags any studnt of history to

aidntal,

disrning: “What is a historial fat? This is a ruial qustion into whih w must look a

mor losly.” (Carr 2019)

littl

of E.H. Carr’s ky points was that, aus

On

th vast amount of information availal to

of

th fats, thy invitaly nd up hoosing

of

“fats” to mak us of.

whih

is a historial fat? … Aording to th ommonsns viw, thr ar rtain asi fats

“What

ar th sam for all historians and whih form, so to spak, th akon of history—

whih

fat, for xampl, that th Battl of Hastings was fought in 1066. But this viw alls for

th

osrvations. In th first pla, it is not with fats lik ths that th historian is primarily

two

It is no dout important to know that th grat attl was fought in 1066 and not

onrnd.

or 1067 … . Th historian must not gt ths things wrong. But whn points of this kind

1065

raisd, I am rmindd of Housman’s rmark that ‘auray is a duty, not a virtu’. To prais

ar

historian for his auray is lik praising an arhitt for using wll-sasond timr. … It is

a

nssary ondition of his work, ut not his ssntial funtion. … It usd to said that fats

a

for thmslvs. This is, of ours, untru. Th fats spak only whn th historian alls on

spak

it is h who dids to whih fats to giv th floor, and in what ordr or ontxt. … Th

thm:

rason why w ar intrstd to know that th attl was fought at Hastings in 1066 is that

only

rgard it as a major historial vnt. It is th historian who has didd for his own

historians

that Casar’s rossing of that ptty stram, th Ruion, is a fat of history, whras

rasons

rossings of th Ruion y millions of othr popl for or sin intrsts noody at

th

… Th historian is nssarily sltiv. Th lif in a hard or of historial fats xisting

all.

and indpndntly of th historian is a prpostrous fallay, ut on whih it is vry

ojtivly

to radiat.” (Carr 1990)

hard

Carr’s viw, it was vry lar: th historian

In

for th past aus th past annot

spaks

for itslf. Carr thus advisd his studnts

spak

study th historian for studying thir

to

Th impliation for historial knowldg

fats.

to xamin th rol of th intrprtr and

was

might influn thm. Carr was only

what

among many that grappld with ths

on

Collingwood was a pionr of sujtiv

R.G.

arguing a fw dads for Carr

historiism,

historians “ronstrut” history asd

that

a omination of th availal rord and

on

imagination of th thought prosss of

an

in th past. Considr what his all to

popl

mans for nutrality, authntiity

imagination

truth in history.

and

9

Box 9.4: Does the past speak for itself?

his influntial 1961 ook What is History? Carr

Carr (introdud in II.1).

historians, and thir sujtiv intrprtation

qustions of truth and ojtivity in history.

264

did not go as far as Collingwood; his

Carr

is somwhr in th middl of a

position

twn th mpirial approah

sptrum

y Lopold von Rank and th

spousd

of Collingwood. Rank is famous

idalism

th saying that opnd this haptr:

for

to show how it was”—arguing for

“simply

mpirial history asd on a st of “tru

an

As w hav sn, Carr’s stan was

fats”.

this was impossil: historians hoos

that

fats ar important and, furthr,

whih

fats thmslvs ould lad historians

th

hang thir viws, in a sort of irular

to

that h alld “an unnding dialogu

dan

How would you artiulat th diffrn

1.

th thr viws on history

twn

What ar th diffrns in thir

2.

for truth and ojtivity in

impliations

viw, although midway twn

Carr’s

was still ontrovrsial and promptd

xtrms,

sris of rsponss. In 1962, th stmd

a

and historian of idas, Isaiah Brlin,

philosophr

Carr’s work and ritiizd th ntral

rviwd

raisd. Brlin argud that ojtivity was

issus

if a historian usd an appropriat

otainal

But what would suh a mthod look

mthod.

Elton offrd his mthod in The Practice

lik?

History (1967), writtn largly in rspons to

of

idas. Elton r-mphasizd th rol of

Carr’s

historian as disovrr of truth, asting a nt

th

nough to gathr mpirial vidn and

wid

analysing that vidn. This was

ojtivly

dfn of th traditional mpirial-sintifi

a

of history assoiatd with Rank. Elton

shool

ojtivity as rupral, and truth as

saw

providd th right mthod was

disovral,

whih h dsrid as a mirror of th

usd,

mthod: “historians must ommittd

sintifi

th vidn” (Elton quotd in Rorts

from

lik th dutiful sintist who dos not

1998),

thir hypothsis or thoris to influn

allow

osrvations.

thir

may wondring: what is th purpos of

You

historian, and history, aording to Carr, if

th

is impossil? His position was that

ojtivity

ttr historians hoos th right fats, th

th

fats, to rah a los approximation

important

th truth. To do this thy nd to ris aov

to

own ontxt in history and omprhnd

thir

influns thm—using a dply slf-awar

what

Can you dsri th diffrn in thir

1.

on historial fats?

viws

2. How would thy dfin truth in history?

How would thy know whthr thir

3.

had ahivd truth in history?

work

To what xtnt do thir viws mirror th

4.

undrstanding of sin?

popular

How would Carr dsri an idal

5.

of history?

prati

asid th issus of fats and truth, and

Laving

and valuation, what ls maks

intrprtation

good history? Thr ar a fw gnrally

for

guidlins worth noting. If a larg

agrd

of independent sours agr on a vrsion

numr

vnts, studnts of history should favour that

of



For ref lection

Three views on history

twn th past and prsnt”.

As a studnt of TOK, onsidr ths qustions.

outlind aov?

analysis and judgmnt.

historial knowldg?

For discussion

History and truth

Think aout th viws of Elton and Carr.

to allowing intrprtations of th past to mrg

265


instad of othr vrsions. On th mattr

vrsion

sours, a alan of primary and sondary

of

should sought, to provid y-witnss

sours

as wll as mor-rmovd, and possily

aounts

ig-pitur prsptivs. How

lss-snsational,

historians judg th indpndn of a sour

do

dtt vstd intrsts? Studnts of history

and

familiar with th “OPVL” mthod,

may

xamins th origins, purposs, valu

whih

limitations of a sour. Clarly, th prson

and

judgmnts aout ths ritria is a ky

making

and studnts would do wll to rmmr

fator,

advi to study th historian for you

Carr’s

thir fats.

study

contrasting views of the historian’s role and

These

have had implications for how the discipline of

method

ts vis-à-vis the sciences and the arts. It may be

history

that the empirical traditionalists would rmly

obvious

history among the social sciences, claiming that

place

like social scientists, sought to ll gaps

historians,

their knowledge and reach generalizations that

in

their understanding of the subject. Carr and

broadened

agreed. Collingwood's limited denition

Collingwood

science as “any organized body of knowledge”

of

et al 1999) was suciently vague to

(Collingwood

this—but made a clear dierentiation between

allow

natural sciences and history. Collingwood argued

the

scientists could know “real” things about the

that

world in the present, whereas historians had

physical

imagine the thoughts and motivations of actors in the

to

Hugh Trevor-Roper, yet another late-20th century

past.

historian, took Collingwood’s ideas further and

Oxford

that history should be understood as an art

argued

because of this need for and reliance on

precisely

of th rol of th historian is to ovrom

Part

just limitations in trms of availal sours,

not

also in trms of thir own and othrs’

ut

falliility. Hindsight ias affts history

human

partiular; it rfrs to th tndny for popl

in

priv vnts that hav alrady ourrd as

to

for th vnts took pla. This has n

wr

to tru vn whn th vnts in qustion

shown

popl in ral tim. Anothr framing of

surprisd

ias is that whn popl larn th outom

this

vnts, thy tnd to ovrstimat thir aility

of

hav prditd it, or th xtnt to whih it was

to

Th study of hindsight ias and many

invital.

iass was pionrd y psyhologists in

othr

1970s, and a larg ody of aadmi litratur

th

th xistn and impliations of ths

doumnts

Nik Chatr, a profssor of havioural

iass.

disusss som of th impliations for

sin,

bias raises a question about how we think

Hindsight

history. Looking back into the past, we often

about

we can understand how things really were—like

think

caused the 2008 nancial crisis, the collapse

what

communism, or the rst world war—because we

of

how things turned out. But now we know about

know

bias we should be suspicious of this ‘feeling

hindsight

understanding’. The idea we can look back on history

of

hav found that hindsight ias is

Psyhologists

to thr fators.

du

Mmory distortion, whn you forgt what

•

thought for an vnt and annot

you

ak without it ing ontaminatd

look

your prsnt opinions. For xampl, “I

y

how ad things smd whn I

rmmr

ommunist Russia”.

visitd

Popl liv in th invitaility of vnts.

•

xampl, “ommunism was ound to

For

Forsaility—th xtnt to whih you

•

you an fors things—is typially

think

For xampl, “I always knw

ovrstatd.

wouldn’t last”.

ommunism

rounts a study in whih rsarhrs

Chatr

an osur attl in history, and ask

dsri

groups of popl who was most

two

to win asd on th information givn.

likly

9

history and historians.

Making connections

History as art or science?

and understand it should be viewed with scepticism.

(Chater 2015)

imagination.

ollaps soonr or latr”.

Howvr, th sond group alrady knw who

having n mor prdital than thy atually

266

won th attl. Whil popl in th

atually

group on avrag ould not tll, and had

first

ida who would win, thos from th sond

no

said it was ovious from th start who

group

win. “Yt th two groups had xatly th

would

information, xpt for this on fat: how

sam

What would an xampl of how a

1.

aount is afftd y hindsight

historial

2. Rfr to your xampl of hindsight ias.

To what xtnt ar historians

(a)

to this ias?

susptil

How might historians, through th

(b)

of th tools and mthods in thir

us

ontrol and ovrom

disiplin,

ias?

hindsight

as th study of th mthods

Historiography,

historians us, is a usful ntry point

that

studnts sking to idntify knowldg

for

and issus within history as an

laims

For xampl, th historiography of

AOK.

rvals how historians hav studid

olonialism

inluding th diffrnt sours,

olonialism,

thniqus and ontrovrsis, and an

mthods,

what inflund historians in thir work

rval

olonialism.

on

haptr has prsntd svral of th viws

This

ontriutions to historiography of British

and

primarily at th univrsitis of Oxford

mn,

Camridg. It is worth noting th arlir

and

mad y writrs from othr parts

ontriutions

th world, though this vry rif history of

of

annot do justi to th many divrs and

history

historial traditions around th world.

important

aadmi and ultural ontxts hav

Diffrnt

diffrnt approahs to studying

pursud

many of whih hav ulminatd in

history,

of history w hav today. Th

thpratis

Msopotamia, ut th

fromAnintEgyptand

narrativ rords y idntifial authors,

first

to inform futur gnrations aout

writtn

om from China and Gr, mrging

vnts,

th 5th ntury bce. Hrodotus is

around

rfrrd to as th foundr of history

somtims

is among th first on rord to attmpt to

and

twn mor and lss rlial sours,

judg

also to hav produd writtn aounts

and

diffrnt ulturs y travlling widly. His

of

attriutd an important rol to th gods in

work

vnts. It was Thuydids, writing

dtrmining

fw gnrations latr, who stalishd a mor

a

approah y rmoving divin

rationalisti

from his aount of th war twn

ausality

and Sparta, whih st a prdnt for

Athns

Christian and Islami historiography

Early

gav importan to writtn as opposd

oth

oral sours, whih had n prfrrd y

to

historians in Gr and Rom. This

lassial

a prdnt that would last millnnia.

st

history was an important task among

Writing



it turnd out” (Chatr 2015).

For ref lection

Overcoming the hindsight bias

ias?

futur historians.

III.3 A very brief history of history

arlist historis on rord ar hronologis

267


monks and lrgy in th Middl

Christian

who oftn rordd vnts yar y yar

Ags,

hronils. Early Islami historial writings

in

th 7th ntury, on th othr hand, had to

from

with numrous onfliting narrativs

ontnd

ompting sours aout th Propht

from

lif, and th writrs dvlopd

Muhammad’s

suh as Ilm al-Rijãl (th sin

mthodologis

narration) to distinguish authnti hadiths,

of

oth histori and rligious knowldg.

using

Ara historian and historiographr In

Th

writing in th 14th ntury, is rgardd

Khaldun,

som as a pionr of historiography and th

y

of history, produing th first dtaild

philosophy

and ritiqus of historial mthods. His

studis

ook, Muqaddimah, st out a framwork for

1377

osrvations of systmati ias in history.

making

many historial works, th ook ontains

Lik

that w know to wrong today, as

lmnts

as xpliit raism, ut has n nonthlss

wll

and praisd as a sminal work. Franz

idntifid

sholar and profssor at Yal, has notd

Rosnthal,

Islami sholars suh as Khaldun “ahivd

that

dfinit advan yond prvious historial

a

in th soiologial undrstanding of

writing

and th systmatisation of historiography”

history

1952). Mor rntly, Mark Zukrrg

(Rosnthal

Muqaddimah as rommndd rading in

inludd

famous Enlightnmnt-ra philosophr

Th

had a signifiant influn on th

Voltair

of historiography, rjting for

dvlopmnt

suprnatural fors and rligious

instan

and fousing lss on kings, “grat

intolran,

and wars. His approah would prov

mn”

influntial to futur historial writing.

dply

Gion, a British historian writing

Edward

fw yars aftr Voltair, would add to this

a

a havy rlian on primary sours for

styl

six-volum History of the Decline and Fall of

his

Roman Empire, pulishd in 1776, that also

the

modrn historians. Latr th Annals

inflund

of history, prhaps dirtly inspird y

shool

was influntial in pivoting th fous

Voltair,

Frnh historial rsarh towards long-trm

of

historis, paying attntion to onomis,

soial

and soiology, rathr than th

gography

(and snsational) mphasis on war,

traditional

and diplomay pratisd y 19th and

politis

ntury historians. Yt this was not a

arly-20th

trnd; Elton, as shown arlir, plad

dfinitiv

mphasis on th rol of individual agny

grat

history, avoiding th mphasis on soial trnds.

in

in th 20th ntury saw a ris in th

Latr

of soial history, in th tradition

popularity

th Annals. Although onrnd with th

of

of ordinary popl, soial historians

xprins

lss rliant on narrativ, and mor on

wr

sins and quantitativ tools. This trnd

soial

to a dgr towards th nd of th 20th

rvrsd

whn narrativ forms mad a omak.

ntury,

Marx inspird Marxist historiography that

Karl

soial and onomi onditions,

mphasizd

lass onflit and intrations,

partiularly

dtrmining historial outoms. Marxist

as

was strikingly diffrnt in

historiography

th importan of human

d-mphasizing

and idas. It was known as historial

agndas

aus of th ntral rol of

matrialism

onditions in dtrmining history.

matrial

historians am known for writing

Marxist

from low”, also alld popl’s

“history

that onsistd of narrativs from th

history,

of ommon popl—partiularly th

prsptiv

th opprssd and th nononformists or

poor,

mor rnt hangs in th prati and

Th

of history hav n drivn y gndr

thory

post-olonial historians and

historians,

th lattr qustioning

post-modrnists—with

9

his 2015 yar of ooks.

outsidrs, rathr than ladrs.

whthr history an truthful at all.

268

ak through th rif ovrviw of

Look

aov.

history

What has n th alan twn dirt

1.

ontxtual auss of history?

and

How would you haratriz th mthods

2.

and prsptivs in, this ovrviw?

of,

At the frontier of conventional

III.4

historiography

th following xampls will show, history

As

not th isolatd disiplin that you might

is

it to , writtn y lonly historians,

imagin

through arhivs and sitting with thir

ploughing

Rathr, history shars porous oundaris

fats.

othr disiplins—psyhology, onomis,

with

politial sin and gography—and

soiology,

avnus of intrdisiplinary rsarh.

xiting

Klly Knowls has usd augmntd

Ann

gography to xamin th disastrous

historial

of Gttysurg during th Amrian

Battl

CivilWar.

trms: Smithsonian

Sarh

of Gttysurg Rort

Battl

Knowls usd nhand mapping

Partiularly,

y softwar usd in th dfn and

aidd

gam industris to simulat what

vido

L and Gnral Longstrt would

Gnral

sn during th attl. Knowls likns

hav

to looking at th past through augmntd

this

glasss. It rvals what may hav ausd

3D

gnrals to mak th disions that rsultd

th

thousands of asualtis, qustions that hav

in

Civil War historians vr sin.

apturd

onsidring Gnral L's vantag

Whn

from th top of th Luthran Sminary,

point

mthodologis ar dply rlvant to TOK

Suh

th sparation of disiplins, inluding

aus

roadr sparation of aras of knowldg, is

th

in th first pla.

ontstal

rmains of th past was xplord in

What

Hr, in Box 9.5, w onsidr how Ann

III.1.

Knowls usd advand mapping and

Klly

asd on satllit imagry and

modlling,

softwar, to simulat th Battl of

military

and xamin what may hav

Gttysurg

Gnral L and Gnral Longstrt to

ausd

th disions thy did. This is an ovious

mak

of how thnology has oth rast

xampl

historial qustions and providd

traditional

tools to answr thm. It has also rought

nw

opportunitis to ring disiplins togthr,

nw

as historial gography, a rih and ativ

suh

in its own right. Thnology also has

disiplin

inrasing rol in intrativ transmission

an

historial knowldg, for xampl in virtual

of

that draw on psyhology, ognitiv

xhiitions

and history.

sin

vn fators in th xtra inhs of

Knowls

affordd y L’s oots. “W an’t

sightlin

for th haz and smok of attl in

aount

though in thory you ould with gaming

GIS,

hav long datd L’s disions at

Historians

Gttysurg.

ould suh an xptional

“How

xprt in rading trrain,

ommandr,

to rogniz th attak would a

fail

Th traditional xplanation,

disastr?

in partiular y L admirrs,

favord

that his undrling, Gn. Jams

is

faild to proprly xut

Longstrt,

ordrs.” (Horowitz 2012)

L’s

analysis, asd on modlling what

Knowls’

mn ould s, shows that L ouldn’t

oth

what Longstrt was doing or what thir

s

(th Union) was doing. Manwhil,

nmy

saw what L ould not: Union

Longstrt

rady on th othr sid of opn trrain

troops



For reflection

Review the overview

Box 9.5: The Battle of Gettysburg in 3D

softwar” sh says (quotd in Horowitz 2012).

E L

269


h had n ordrd to marh aross.

that

of xposing his troops, Longstrt

Instad

a muh longr ut shildd marh

hos

launhing th assault. Th dlay

for

th Union offirs to ttr lin

allowd

thir dfn—and Knowls’ mapping

up

thy had a muh ttr viw of th

shows

attlfild.

to Knowls, this rsarh hlps

Aording

Longstrt and rvals th diffiultis

vindiat

fad in ovrsing th attl, ut also

L

qustions rathr than providing

raiss

was th psyhologial fft on

“What

of sing all that arnag? H’s n

L

in ommand for, ut h sms a

ool

unhingd on th night of th sond

it

of attl, and th nxt day h ordrs

day

disastrous] Piktt’s Charg. Mapping

[th

xplor th vision of history as a full human

Lt’s

applying quantitativ and modlling

sin,

that pross larg sts of data to tst

thniqus

and yild gnralizd onlusions.

hypothss

vision has om undr attak rpatdly.

This

“historiist” ida that th study of th past

Th

usd to shd light on ontmporary issus

an

to prdit vnts in th futur has widly n

or

trms: Natur Human

Sarh

History as sin

yls

is namd aftr Clio, th anint

Cliodynamis

mus of history, and is th rainhild of

Grk

Turhin, who applid mathmatial and

Ptr

thniqus to idntify and modl th

sintifi

fors that, h says, shap history. But

soial

is viwd with grat sptiism

Cliodynamis

illgitimat in historial irls. Howvr,

judgd

xampl is xplord low. Cliodynamis is

on

intrdisiplinary program ridging history,

an

and politial sin with quantitativ

soiology

in an attmpt to oth undrstand

mthods

past and prdit th futur. As you rad

th

onsidr why this approah has not n

on,

mor nthusiastially y historians.

mrad

most historians, who hav rsistd th

y

that history oprats on pattrns, or that

idas

pattrns ar knowal and an usd

ths

prdit th futur. Instad, thy s history

to

a omplx stw of han, individual

“as

and on-of-a-kind situations that no

foils

‘sin of history’ will vr

road-rush

(Spinny 2012).

aptur”

Darnton, a ultural historian at Harvard

Rort

statd: “Aftr a ntury of grand

Univrsity

9

dfinitiv answrs.

h ould s hlps us ask qustions

what

havn’t n askd muh for.”

that

(Horowitz 2012)

Figure 9.5 Map of the Battle of Gettysburg published in 1863.

The Union Forces are shown in blue and the Confederate States

Army in red.

Case study

Using history to predict the future

thory, from Marxism and soial Darwinism

270

Number of violent events per 5 years

struturalism and postmodrnism, most

to

hav aandond th lif in

historians

Turhin is dtrmind to show that “history

Yt,

not ‘just on damn thing aftr anothr’”

is

in Spinny 2012). His tam stats that

(quotd

tools allow thm to rvisit th gnral laws,

nw

simulations of individual intrations and

using

dataass of historial information.

massiv

is nw is not thir sarh for pattrns—

What

hav long orrlatd politial instaility

sholars

onomi and dmographi varials—ut

with

sal of analysis, whih spans nturis

th

plots millions of intrations. Thy fous

and

four paramtrs of long-trm soial trnds:

on

numrs, soial strutur, stat

population

and politial instaility. Eah is

strngth

using svral indiators. For xampl,

masurd

strutur masurs halth inquality and

soial

work omplmnts rsarh ing don

This

othr quantitativ soial sintists, suh

y

Claudio Cioffi-Rvilla, whos tam uss

as

modls to undrstand th ffts

omputr

migration pattrns and thni allians

Sasonal

onsidrd y th tam’s modls, and thy

ar

vntually to prdit flows of rfugs and

hop

onflit hotspots. Cliodynamis ould

potntial

thir modl y providing pattrns

strngthn

from historial data.

xtratd

Goldston, Dirtor of th Cntr for

Jak

Poliy at Gorg Mason Univrsity and

Gloal

mmr of th Politial Instaility Task For,

a

y th CIA to forast vnts outsid

fundd

Unitd Stats, also wloms Cliodynamis

th

h autions that it is usful only for looking

ut

some aspects of history, a scientic or

For

approach is suitable, natural and fruitful.

cliodynamic

example,] when we map the frequency versus

[For

of an event — deaths in various battles

magnitude

a war, casualties in natural disasters, years to

in

a state — we nd that there is a consistent

rebuild

of higher frequencies at low magnitudes, and

pattern

frequencies at high magnitudes, that follows a

lower



Cycles of violence

The motivating issues vary, but episodes

of violent political upheaval in the United

States are surprisingly regular.

1920

80

Racial tensions, unrest among workers

60

40

20

1870

class and political

Racial,

peaked during

tensions

after the Civil War.

and

anticommunist feeling surged in

and

aftermath of the First World War.

the

1970

civil rights movement, social change

The

opposition to the Vietnam War

and

the tumultuous 1960s.

marked

Political

or economic

Labour

Racially motivated

Vigilante

0

1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Figure 9.6 Pattern of violent events in the United States, 1800–2000

gnral laws” (quotd in Spinny 2012).

at road trnds.

walth inquality.

precise mathematical formula.

(Goldstone quoted in Spinney 2012)

of limat hang and drought in East Afria.

271


would naiv, though, to attmpt to

It

uniqu vnts asd on suh analyss.

prdit

main waknss of prditions asd on

Th

is th lak of historial data. Many

trnds

ar dstroyd or prsrvd y han.

rords

knowldg tnds to aumulat around

Also,

sujt aras. Danil Szhi adds th

narrow

following.

Brlin mad th following ommnts

Isaiah

pattrn disovry in 1969.

aout

in mind th xampl of Cliodynamis

Kp

wll as Isaiah Brlin’s ommnts aout

as

of th futur may not hav this

Historians

For now, Cliodynamis has mad no

prolm.

rakthroughs nor n aandond as

major

ara of study.

an

1. To what xtnt dos Brlin’s warning

What has hangd, and what has

(a)

th sam, sin h mad th

stayd

and intrdisiplinary invstigation

Thnology

how w ass and study tras of th

afft

How this hangs th natur of historial

past.

or th haratr of historial inquiry,

knowldg,

an opn qustion for us in TOK. Anothr

rmains

qustion, not aus it is a nw ida ut

opn

it touhs on fundamntal issus in

aus

is that of ountrfatuals.

history,

ar th “might-hav-ns

Countrfatuals

history”, a tool mployd fondly y som

of

(and dridd as a “parlour gam” y

historians

to xplor th importan of historial

othrs)

and individuals. Proponnts of

inidnts

history argu that it an larify

ountrfatual

undrstanding of aus and fft, and

our

th dtrminism that oftn rps

rdu

historial narrativs, with nfiial

into

for historial knowldg. What

impliations

th Sovits had suumd to th Nazis

if

th Sond World War during Opration

in

Th qustion ould, on might

Bararossa?

larify th aility of th othr Allid

argu,

9

We can tell you in great detail what the grain prices

were in a few towns in southern England in the Middle

Ages. But we can’t tell you how most ordinary people

lived their lives.

(Szechi quoted in Spinney 2012)

apply today?

The notion that one can discover large patterns or

ommnts quotd aov?

in the procession of historical events is

regularities

attractive to those who are impressed by

naturally

success of the natural sciences in classifying,

the

and above all predicting. This they

correlating,

in the service of an imaginary science; and,

do

the astrologers and soothsayers whom they

like

succeeded, cast up their eyes to the clouds,

have

speak in immense, unsubstantiated images

and

similes, in deeply misleading metaphors and

and

On ould say that a lot has hangd

(b)

1969, ut an w say that

sin

has hangd? What ritria

nough

you us to judg?

would

allegories, and make use of hypnotic formulae with

little regard for experience, or rational argument,

or tests of proven reliability. Thereby they throw

dust in their own eyes as well as in ours, obstruct

our vision of the real world, and further confuse an

already suciently bewildered public about the

relations of morality to politics, and about the nature

and methods of the natural sciences and historical

studies alike.

(Berlin 1969)

For ref lection

Looking for patterns

pattrn disovry.

powrs to win th war vntually.

272

ommon ritiism of ountrfatual history

A

that it rinfors th xaggratd influn

is

kings and attls—of politial, military

of

diplomati vnts—th snsationalist

and

shwd y many modrn historians.

historis

th “right” ountrfatuals, in light

Choosing

th mthodologial and thial knowldg

of

disussd in this haptr, ould go som

issus

to solving this. Howvr, th prati of

way

is ntangld with th qustion of

ountrfatuals

is onsidrd a historial vnt in th first

what

whih is why it intrsts us in TOK. Th

pla,

if… ?” qustion is only worth asking aout

“What

of ausal signifian that “mad” history.

vnts

giv us a lu aout what

Countrfatuals

onsidrd of onsqun to history. Th

is

prolm is not inhrnt to

kings-and-attls

ut stms from th issu of

ountrfatuals,

haptr has alrady xplord a numr of

This

onrns within history as an AOK. Ths

thial

th impliations of knowldg issus,

inlud

as what ounts as history, and who gts

suh

rad and writ it, as wll as th fundamntal

to

aout th rol of th historian and

assumptions

natur of historial fats. This stion xamins

th

qustions as thy rlat to knowldg in

thial

dtail. As othr haptrs show, TOK is not so

mor

onrnd with disrning right from wrong,

muh

in xploring th knowldg issus involvd

as

laims of right and wrong. Yt, th powr that

in

ritis ar unonvind, arguing that

Som

ar altogthr a wast of tim. In

ountrfatuals

to th puli ountrfatual disours in

rspons

annivrsary ommmorations of th First World

th

Rihard Evans, profssor of history at th

War,

of Camridg, said th following in 2014.

Univrsity

if … ? What

Whih fators influn th valu of

1.

What dos a rigorous ountrfatual

2.

look lik?

prati

What an w larn from a rigorous

3.

prati?

ountrfatual

Ar som vnts too omplx for

4.

analysis?

ountrfatual

If you onludd “ys” aftr disussing

5.

4: might th prolm

qustion

with history, and through history, thially

oms

th knowr to onsidr thir valus and

mandats

in any xris that dals with this

rsponsiilitis

An xampl might to onsidr, in th

AOK.

of intlltual humility, what onstituts

fram

nough aout a givn historial vnt

knowing

priod to form or artiulat an opinion aout

or

aus and fft of that vnt or priod. What

th

th impliations, for xampl, of tlling othr

ar

storis, spially whn prolmati

popl’s

dynamis ar involvd? Th qustion is

powr

dissimilar to th issu of appropriation w

not

IV. Ethics


IV. Ethics

This kind of fantasising is now all the rage, and

threatens to overwhelm our perceptions of what

really happened in the past, pushing aside our

attempts to explain it in favour of a futile and

misguided attempt to decide whether the decisions

taken in August 1914 were right or wrong.

(Evans 2014)

For discussion

ountrfatuals as historial knowldg?

thrsholds of signifian disussd in stion II.

ovrom, and if so how?

I V. E T H I C S

273

IV. Ethics

in Chaptr 5. Grgory Younging, author

nountr

Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing

of

and About Indigenous Peoples, assrts that oth

By

styl and pross with whih w writ aout

th

Popls ontain politis that w must

Indignous

snsitiv to.

th prati and thory of history as an

Within

how do w know right from wrong? Lt’s

AOK,

with a fundamntal assumption aout

start

itslf: should it “” somthing?

history

might we address a ‘should’ question in

How

How do we decide what we ‘ought’

historiography?

research and communicate?… Why question the

to

people make about history making and

assumptions

nature of history? Questioning assumptions can be,

the

an ethical activity: that is, it may help us to better

rst,

out what history should be, who should make it

gure

how it might guide our actions now and in the future.

and

may even prompt us to wonder… whether history

It

is unethical and ought to come to an end.

making

rnt dads, som historians hav argud

In

history should mra an thial agnda to

that

a rstitutiv for, to do justi to thos whos

has long n hiddn.

suffring

of this argumnt is asd on th assrtion,

Part

nountrd in this haptr, that an

alrady

history is impossil, and so whatvr

ojtiv

w “rat” should moilizd

history

thial nds. William Gallois nots that

towards

siln, or lindnss, as h alls it, on

history’s

qustion so far has ld it ”to ommit and

this

injustis towards its sujts”.

prptuat

… has chosen to remain blind to the manner

History

which it constitutes knowledge and deaf to those

in

criticise the consequences which emanate from

who

work and its logic.

historical

an xampl of thial historiography, Gallois

As

Rort Young’s White Mythologies: History

its

and the West, whih ritiizs modrn

Writing

for failing to omprhnd how thir

historians

“undrpinnd wstrn imprialism”. Gallois

work

upon history to “do justi to th olonisd”,

alls

sualtrn historis hav sought to do and Mik

as

dos in Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño

Davis

and the Making of the Third World. Davis

Famines

th task of rstitutiv history sriously,

taks

how th politial, onomi and

showing

powr of olonialists am togthr in

intlltual

xploitation of “natural disastrs”, going so far

th

to lal ths disastrs gnoid.

as

rstitutiv history is also supportd y Linda

A

Smith (1999) who nots that most

Tuhiwai

aounts faild not only to do justi to

historial

popls, ut wr ssntial (not just

sujugatd

to th imprialist projt. Aording

ompliit)

hr, historis of imprialism mphasizd

to

rang of xplanations, most famously as a

a

of suring onomi xpansion to nw

systm

and rsours, drivn y th “nds”

markts

Europans. Som historians argud that

of

th onomi, politial and military

yond

imprialism was an idology,

ramifiations,

y th Ag of Enlightnmnt, whih

inspird

a dp transformation of lif in Europ

promptd

a ultural, intlltual and thnial lvl. In

on

tlling, “imprialism oms an intgral

this

of th dvlopmnt of th modrn stat,

part

sin, of idas and of th ‘modrn’ human

of

point is that most historis of

Smith’s

and olonialism do not do justi

imprialism

th olonizd popls, as hr xampls aov

to

Young and Smith ar among many who

show.

argud for an thial history. In rnt

hav

thr hav n numrous fforts y

dads

historians, post-olonial sholars and

fminist

historians to ritiqu and

post-struturalist

thir fild. For studnts this prsnts

rimagin

rlativly nw hallng: w hav long n

a

that nutrality is a virtu, and to alrt

taught

distortions of history. Ths ritiqus assrt

to

nutrality is impossil, or simply not

that

goodnough.

9

IV.1 Should history “be” something?

(Hughes-Warrington 2015)

means restoring rights, restoring to a

Restitutive

state or compensating for loss or injury.

previous

prson”.

(Gallois 2012)

274

To what xtnt do historians hav to

1.

that history is nutral?

nsur

2. How ould nutrality ahivd?

How would you wigh th as for

3.

against th as for an “thial”

nutrality

in The Baer Adolf Reed describes the 2016

Writing

Birth of a Nation as an example in this movement

lm

prioritizes uplifting narratives, to correct for the

that

of the past, over historical accuracy. Reed

wrongs

Kenneth Warren as speculating that for Nate

quotes

the director of the lm: “the point of history

Parker,

not so much to gure out what really happened

is

rather to enable reparative and redemptive

but

… history, for him, must remain

mythmaking

conduit for inspiration or therapy, for

narrow—a

legacies, or for purveying information or

bequeathing

to the present—and not much more.”

misinformation

Gallois said that "historis of

William

hav oftn onivd of thmslvs

disaility

ing narrativs of mpowrmnt and

as

of omating injusti. For many

mods

and support groups, th history of

ativist

suh as prosthsis, war wounds or

filds

is not solly aout and for th

thalidomid,

ut an ngagmnt in politial and

past,

attls in our prsnt” (Gallois quotd

thial

Dunn, Fair2012).

in

th quots on this pag aout

Considr

film Birth of a Nation and th historis

th

disaility, thn, disuss th following

of

qustions.

Is th primary rol of history to tru to

1.

past or to inform th prsnt? Is thr

th

Can srving th prsnt at odds with

2.

tru to th past?

staying

(a) To what xtnt would you agr that

3.

should srv th nds of th

history

Who gts to did what ths

(b)

ndsar?

to th position that history should striv

Cntral

somthing, is th assumption that history

to

know what it is; or, as E.H. Carr might

an

said, that th historians an ris aov

hav

An thial history prsupposs a slfawar

thmslvs.

history. But onsidr th as prsntd

of Vitorian historians who thought thy

low,

xmplifying th st pratis of nutrality

wr

wr, it turnd out, unknowingly smuggling

ut

thir moral valus. How an w know if w

in

doing any ttr? This qustion oms

ar

rlvant in th idologially and

spially

hargd nvironmnt of th urrnt

politially

as Galloisxplains.

ra,

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

For discussion

For reflection

History as activism

Neutrality

Considr th issu of nutrality in history.

and/or rstitutiv history?

Making connections

Historical art to uplift

a diffrn?

prsnt?

(Warren quoted in Reed 2016)

IV.2 Can history know itself?

275

IV. Ethics

is filld with xtraordinary figurs who

History

onsidrd grat y th standards of thir

wr

ut whos gratnss has not agd wll.

tim,

y th fforts of thial historians, in

Promptd

last fw dads thr hav n a numr

th

rvisd judgmnts that ast on-grat

of

figurs into a ngativ light. That list

historial

asualtis, or rprhnsil popl, dpnding

of

your politis, inluds Winston Churhill,

on

Rhods and many othrs on a long list of

Cil

whit mn. By ontmporary standards

mostly

figurs would judgd untnaly raist

ths

sxist—that is rarly opn to qustion—

or

th dat raiss som vry important

ut

qustions. What ar th impliations

knowldg

judging popl in th past y th prsnt?

of

do w diffrntiat twn individual and

How

rsponsiility?

olltiv

9

IV.3 Judging the past by the standards

Empirical historians had long seen a central aw

in their nineteenth-century forebears’ method as

of the present

being their desire to promote certain moral and

ideological causes in the course of the production

of history. The classic example of this entanglement

came in Whig histories of nineteenth-century Britain

in which valorisations of parliamentary democracy

and modern progress were also understood to be

coded references to the moral superiority of the

modern West and the place of Britain at the apex of

this benecent civilisation. It was, however, only the

retrospective judgement of subsequent generations

of historians which saw the Whigs cast in this light,

for the Victorians themselves had viewed their

practices as exemplifying the traditions of neutrality

which emerged with the empirical method. If the

Whigs were thus blinded as to the moral values they

smuggled into their histories, were later historians

any more self-aware, especially given the charged

political environments of the twentieth century and

the adoption of Marxist, conservative, feminist and

other ideological positions and methods?

(Gallois quoted in Dunn, Faire 2012)

Figure 9.7

Following pressure by the “Rhodes Must Fall” movement, the Cecil Rhodes statue is removed at the University of Cape Town,

South Africa, in 2015

276

aout th rlationship twn

Assumptions

and thir soial nvironmnt play

individuals

rol in how w judg popl in th past.

a

us th word “assumptions” aus th

W

sins ar yt to rval a lar answr

human

this qustion. If, for xampl, w assum

to

individuals hav a signifiant dgr

that

autonomy and indpndn, w may

of

mor harshly dspit th standards

judgthm

thir tim. On th othr hand, som argu

of

popl ar not ntirly, or vn mostly, frthinkrs,

that

ut rathr dply inflund y thir

nvironmnt? Th philosophr Julian

soial

has argud that th truth is somwhr

Baggini

th middl. W ar apal of thinking

in

ourslvs, ut w ar also shapd y our

for

in ways that w might not

nvironmnt

onsidr.

vn

trms: “Why sxist

Sarh

raist philosophrs

and

1. To what xtnt do you agr with Baggini’s

Baggini’s viw, two prolmati idas onspir

In

in historial judgmnt.

togthr

Th lous of moral rsponsiility is th

•

individual.

Individuals mddd in an immoral systm

•

ris aov that systm.

an

thn should w judg individuals in th

How

Is this viw not in itslf an argumnt in

past?

of a hoplss moral rlativism? Baggini

favour

on Edith Hall’s dfn of Aristotl’s

draws

as a way out: judg him not y

misogyny

standards, ut ask whthr his

ontmporary

would lad to th sam prjudi today.

thinking

rquirs th sort of historial imagination

This

arlir in th haptr, for whih fw,

nountrd

any, ojtiv truths will guid us.

if

2. Dos h rsolv th moral rlativism

What assumptions dos h mak aout

3.

natur, th past and our aility to

human

What ar th risks and potntial nfits of

4.

his argumnt?

following

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics


How do we judge the past?

qustion?

Rad th artil y Julian Baggini linkd hr.

know th past?

might still admiral”

argumnt?

277

10

chapter explores the human encounter with art, including the practices through which we

This

it and the experience of being profoundly affected by it. We will examine the idea and

produce

of the art world, and the various roles of people and communities of knowers within it. At

workings

where the arts intersect with culture, politics, religion, technology, language or science, we ask

points

so doing, we critically reflect on who gets to decide what art is and is not, what makes for “good

In

what it is worth, and how those decision-makers acquire and keep their power.

art”,

history of art reveals that almost every time

The

art critic, historian or philosopher has come

an

with a definition of art, an artist or an entire

up

movement has challenged that definition,

art

successfully. Let’s consider the case

sometimes

Marcel Duchamp; you may have heard about

of

urinal that shook the art world. Fountain was

the

to the Society of Independent Artists

submitted

New York for an exhibition in 1917. All artists

in

$6 were told that they could exhibit their

paying

was the only one rejected. The rejection

Fountain

Duchamp’s resignation from the

provoked

had submitted Fountain in secret,

Duchamp

the pseudonym “Richard Mutt”.

using

argued positions from both sides of

Passionately

debate surfaced in response to what became

the

as “the Richard Mutt Case” and the art

known

it belonged to, Dada. “’Fountain’

movement

The arts

what gets included and excluded from the domain of art, and why.

I . S C O P E

Society, and a flurry ofreactions.

may be a very useful object in its place, but its

work and yet, of over 2000 submitted works,

278

is not an art exhibition, and it is by no

place

a work of art” wrote the committee

definition,

York Herald, 14 April 1917). Critics of the

(New

questioned long-standing assumptions

decision

what art is, how it is produced and how

about

way in which it is presented affects its status

the

value. Fountain posed many important

and

among them: in order to be considered

questions,

terms: Duchamp

Search

MoMa YouTube

Readymades

the linked video, Museum of Modern Art

In

Ann Temkin explains how Duchamp’s

curator

challenged common beliefs:

“Readymades”

art has to be beautiful, that being an artist

that

skillful technique, or indeed that

requires

art needs to be seen.

visual

or can anything be re-contextualized

intention,

re-conceptualized as art?

and

we may think today about the artistic

Whatever

and value of Fountain, the events on the

merit

of its centennial in 2017 testify to its

occasion

influence. Given the ripples it sent

profound

the art world, could one reasonably

through

Fountain as a work of art?

dismiss

Is the popularity of Fountain relevant in

1.

it is afforded artistic status?

whether

We can speculate that had Duchamp, a

2.

artist, submitted the work in

respected

own name it may have been exhibited.

his

would be the implications of this?

What

Is art unique in being able to evolve and

3.

over time to include things that

expand

entirely outside or opposed to its

were

definition?

I. Scope

I. Scope

artwork, must an object be produced with artistic

Figure 10.1 Fountain by Marcel Duchamp (1917)

For discussion

How to see “Readymades”

279

I. Scope

the historical development of the natural

Compare

with the changing boundaries of art over

sciences

What can we say about the dierences and

time.

between new movements in art and

similarities

to what extent knowledge is discarded,

Consider

or rendered obsolete in the historical

replaced

of the arts. How do these processes

development

to the other AOKs?

compare

conventions were set aside, it seemed

Once

anything could become art and that art

that

a statement about itself. The past century

became

art of ordinary things, such as dance

produced

the movement of pedestrians and music of

of

noise. It even produced art of the

everyday

of things, such as blank canvases

absence

visual art and silence as music, as in John

as

4’33”. And while the intention may have

Cage’s

to liberate art and make it synonymous

been

life, so that we may “hear music in the

with

silences”, the strange fact is that we can

everyday

and cheaply purchase Cage’s track called

easily

and listen to that particular silence.

4’33”

we as an audience engage with art can

How

out of sync with the art world’s multiple,

be

evolving ideas about what art is or

competing,

to be. Our experiences with art and the

ought

we derive from it reveal questions

meanings

differences in how we engage with artistic

and

his 1972 series Ways of Seeing, the artist and

In

John Berger interrogates the elitism of

critic

connoisseurship and the snobberies of high

art

culture. Ways of Seeing is an invitation to

art

our encounter with art, not just

democratize

consumers but as active and curious agents

as

the production and reproduction of

examining

its presentation and its power to both shape

art,

most ground-breaking thing we did was address

The

public in a way that was non-elitist, equal, really

the

into their eyes. There’s one point at which I

looking

something like, ‘Question now what I’m saying,

say

about it, disagree if you want to’. That voice—

think

a little conspiratorial—was the most

companionable,

terms: Berger Ways of

Search

episode 1 YouTube

seeing

of Seeing also invites our scrutiny of

Ways

evaluations of the value and meaning of

formal

“The relation between what we see

artworks.

what we know is never settled”, Berger says

and

in the 1970s, Ways of Seeing responded

Broadcast

a historical moment that saw great artworks

to

as popular and readily available images

reproduced

various media. Today’s digital culture brings about

in

ways of accessing, producing and engaging with

new

We explore whether new ways of seeing may be

art.

in the digital age of art and culture, and

necessary

we can learn from Berger, in Chapter 4.

what

the powerful 20th-century

Despite

of art, there are still institutions

democratization

conventions that maintain the boundaries of

and

in such a way that privileges certain practices,

art

and traditions. A few examples of this

processes

work are examined below.

boundary

10

Making connections

Art movements and paradigm shifts in science

important thing.

paradigm shifts in science?

(Berger quoted in Abbott 2012)

(1972). Follow the link to episode 1 to learn more.

Making connections

Digital ways of seeing

knowledge and practices.

and reflect the world.

280

there a difference between art and craft? It

Is

not unusual for an art show or exhibition to

is

“no craft or functional art”. Even if you

specify

not agree with this kind of cultural labelling,

do

blurring of this boundary requires active

the

and one cannot simply ignore or wish the

work,

away. First, let’s consider the reasons

distinction

this distinction and its implications for

behind

this video, Laura Morelli traces the origins

In

the distinction between art and craft in the

of

terms: Morelli art and

Search

TEDEd

craft

big claim is that the distinction between

Moreli’s

and craft, more than anything essential or

art

is historically contingent. Cultural

fundamental,

art historians will evaluate the specific

and

that led to elevating certain types of

conditions

work (and not others) to the dignity of

creative

What is of special interest to us in TOK is

art.

defining art to the exclusion of craft, and

how

power to maintain this distinction, is a way

the

remove artistic status from, or reward it to,

to

communities. This had the effect, still felt

specific

of underpresented or absent perspectives

today,

the body of knowledge and practices of

from

For example, calling one site of knowledge

art.

a “workshop” and another site a

production

has implications for the status and

“studio”

of the knowledge possessed by the people

value

that space, and the knowledge resulting from

in

between

Distinguishing

and craft across cultures

art

on the implications of applying a

Reflect

between art and craft cross-

distinction

Some cultures maintain this

culturally.

in different places, while others

boundary

Can we understand what is art and what

1.

craft in different cultures?

is

What kind of knowledge is required to

2.

the distinction between art and

apply

What kind of claims are made about other

3.

in the process of drawing this

cultures

I. Scope

I. Scope

I.1 Artists and artisans

their work.

knowledge.

For ref lection

Western intellectual tradition.

may not draw it at all.

craft across cultures?

boundary between art and craft?

281

I. Scope

has the status of women artists and

How

feminine art forms changed

traditionally

the past century? Peaking in 1910 in

over

the Arts and Crafts movement was

Europe,

aesthetic and labour response to the

an

Revolution, spreading from the

Industrial

Kingdom to North America, Japan

United

Australia. It raised the question of the

and

of handmade versus mass-produced

quality

and the value of traditional artisanry

objects,

craftsmanship versus mechanical

and

It concerned objects of high

manufacturing.

value that were nonetheless functional,

artistic

drew attention to ideas of design and

and

movement valued the intimacy of work,

The

opposed to the alienation of people from

as

under industrialism, and elevated this

work

form of creative work to the dignity

particular

of this should have resulted in elevating

All

status of women creatives, but alas that

the

not to be. The role of women in the

was

and Crafts movement was ultimately a

Arts

on the one hand, it invited women

paradox;

produce and be paid for artistic handicrafts

to

homemade goods, but on the other, despite

and

significant involvement, women remained

their

and the most celebrated

underrecognized,

influential figures associated with the

and

“her-stories” of the Arts and Crafts

Several

have been published in the last

movement

decades to rectify the narrative of this

few

episode in art history. The Arts

particular

Craft movement had the potential to

and

women’s artistic work. But what do

elevate

know about the status and prominence

we

women in art today? In 1971, art historian

of

Nochlin wrote an essay posing the

Linda

“Why Have There Been No Great

question

Artists?” More than half a century

Women

the Arts and Crafts movement, this was

after

a valid question. Art historians argue that

still

was the Feminist Art movement, starting

it

the 1960s, that really began to elevate the

in

of women artists, women’s artwork,

status

creative knowledge and the female

their

in the art world.

perspective

10

Box 10.1: Artwork, artisanry and women creatives

movement are men.

aesthetics.

of fine art.

The feminist activist art collective, Guerilla Girls, periodically tallies the number of women artists and female nudes on

Figure 10.2

exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. This poster, Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?, is from 2012.

282

artists actively promoted the use

Feminist

historically feminine materials, skills and

of

thereby enriching and widening the

artforms,

of the “fine arts”. An example is

perspective

Chicago’s significant and controversial

Judy

installation The Dinner Party. Produced

1979

over 5 years by over 400 artists,

collaboratively

installation consists of 39 seats at a dinner

the

each place celebrating a famous woman

table,

history. In addition, there are names of

from

998 noteworthy women from history

another

in gold on heritage floor tiles. Each

inscribed

setting is unique, featuring forms of art such

table

china painting, pottery, embroidery, weaving

as

so on, and was meant to draw attention to

and

knowledge of these art forms, and their value

the

fine or high art, being exhibited in reputable

as

institutions. The installation has toured six

art

for all its success, and despite being

But

as a triumph for women artists and

hailed

art, The Dinner Party has also received

feminist

around questions of inclusion and

criticism

of historical women figures.

representation

forms of art, and which women, were

Which

enough to be included? What is

significant

and lost by the presence or erasure

gained

certain perspectives? These questions of

of

inclusion and significance, as

representation,

as the central question of what counts as

well

are woven throughout this book

knowledge,

will be important to engage with in your

and

TOK exhibition as part of the internal

own

The choices you make will have

assessment.

Consider the implications of

implications.

books, tattoos and advertisement are

Comic

the creative processes and products

among

have had their artistic status questioned.

that

factors influence whether these can be

What

example above alerts us to the fact that

The

or blurring distinctions does not erase

erasing

underlying power relations; the powers

the

simply decided how far the boundary

have

shift and maintain it through various

will

and processes.

institutions

TOK course itself is not outside the

The

of influence of the intellectual tradition

sphere

drew boundaries between art and craft,

that

industries and cultural aesthetic

creative

Making the arts a mandatory AOK

practices.

the value and relevance of this body

signals

knowledge and validates the importance

of

the knowledge community that produces

of

However, the membership of potters,

it.

embroiderers and other craftspeople

weavers,

this community is not uncomplicated or

in

This book, and the TOK

uncontroversial.

does not have a chapter on craft:

course,

the implications and possible reasons

consider

excluding the combined knowledge of

for

from the theory of knowledge.

craftspeople

a role: for example, some tattoo artists

plays

by that title, whereas others prefer to call

go

tatooists. To what extent would you

themselves

a boundary between art and other

maintain

pursuits? How would you define this

creative

boundary?

I. Scope

I. Scope

The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago

Figure 10.3

continents and had over 15 million visitors.

Chicago’s decisions for The Dinner Party

For reflection

The “borderline” cases of art

considered examples of art? Language also

283

I. Scope

Truth and knowledge in art: Two

I.2

perspectives

2009, Jeremy Deller acquired the rusty

In

of a taxicab that had been destroyed

remains

a suicide bomb in Baghdad two years

in

He towed it on a road trip across

previously.

cities from New York to Los Angeles,

14

it in public places, college campuses

exhibiting

eventually art museums. Accompanying

and

were Iraqi artist Esam Pasha and enlisted

him

soldier Jonathan Harvey. The art project,

US

It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq,

called

art critic writing for the New York

An

Ken Johnson, praised the project’s

Times,

presence” but chose not to call

“sculptural

art, using the term “artefact” instead.

it

insisted on the project’s educational

Johnson

its potential to raise consciousness and

value,

10.2 features an artwork of disputed status

Box

allows important questions to be asked

that

to create space for audiences to engage

aimed

the two experts. It was Deller’s stated

with

to present the project “neutrally” and

intention

the conversation open-ended. His project

keep

much social engagement and many

sparked

drawing a diverse audience.

conversations,

this project at the intersection of art and

Yet,

had a mixed reception among art critics

politics

calling it art would not be doing it

that

reminding viewers that by naming

justice,

project It Is What It Is, Jeremy Deller did

the

necessarily have such artistic pretentions

not

it was deemed by critics as too obvious

While

be art, activists argued that it was too

to

10

about the knowledge people gain from art.

Box 10.2: It is what it is, but is it art?

and activists.

but rather sought to prompt conversation.

possible therapeutic virtues but maintained

284

to provoke any meaningful action. Art

vague

and curator Nato Thompson’s view is

activist

many involved in the arts, an

“For

must remain opaque enough to

artwork

a proper amount of speculation

invite

guesswork … An artwork easily

and

Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq invites

It

to consider what counts as art, the purpose

us

1. Are there some kinds of truths that:

can know, and only know,

we

art?

through

prescribed essay title from May 2011

A

the claim: “Art is a lie that brings us

included

to the truth” (Pablo Picasso). Evaluate

nearer

claim in relation to a specific art form (for

this

the various perspectives that exist

Consider

the arts.

within

What kind of arguments can you make in

1.

to this claim, based on examples

response

How can you explain the diversity of

2.

on this claim within the arts?

perspectives

(a) Based on your exploration of

3.

what kind of conclusion

perspectives,

you draw in relation to this claim?

can

there strong support for the claim,

Is

your conclusion to (a) is that it

If

on the art form, then what

depends

from instrumentalization—

freedom

an agenda—and allows a viewer to

from

speculation and consideration.

experience

activism, though, clarity is celebrated,

In

a cogent message can reach a wide

and

and can serve as a weapon. The

audience

ends of this dynamic … have long

two

irreconcilable.” (Thompson 2015)

proven

between the clarity of activism and

tension

ambiguity of art. Next we explore art’s

the

In producing artworks, how does an artist

2.

“creative license” whilehonouring

maintain

Does the pluralism of interpretations in

3.

our ability to gain knowledge

artaffect

I tell my students,

Poetry,

idiosyncratic. Poetry

is

where we are ourselves

is

Sterling Brown said

(though

‘I’ is a dramatic ‘I’”),

“Every

in the clam flats

digging

the shell that snaps,

for

the proverbial pocketbook.

emptying

is what you find

Poetry

the dirt in the corner,

in

on the bus, God

overhear

the details, the only way

in

get from here to there.

to

(and now my voice is rising)

Poetry

not all love, love, love,

is

I’m sorry the dog died.

and

(here I hear myself loudest)

Poetry

the human voice,

is

from American Sublime

Taken

2005)

(Alexander

I. Scope

I. Scope

as follows.

open to interpretation provides a certain

relationship to truth and accuracy.

and role of art for social change, and the

For reflection

Art and truth

their commitment to thetruth?

(a)

(b)

we cannot know through art?

from it?


“Ars Poetica #100: I Believe”

example, visual arts, literature or theatre).

of different art forms?

or strong rebuttal?

(b)

and are we not of interest to each other?

(more specifically) does it depend on?

285

I. Scope

terms: Elizabeth

Search

Desire to know

Alexander

by Krista Tippett on the Becoming

Interviewed

podcast, Elizabeth Alexander explores the

Wise

between truth, power, language and

relationship

in poetry.

knowledge

crave truth tellers. We crave real truth … People

We

ask me when they read poems that have

sometimes

‘I’ in them that seems to be autobiographical

an

Oh, did that really happen to you? Is that from

…

What I try to explain is, even if I am drawing on

you?

experience, the truth of a poem is actually

personal

deeper than whether or not something really

much

What matters is an undergirding truth that

happened.

think that the truth of that poem is not about true

I

or things that happened, but rather in the

things

are we not of interest to each other? … Are

question,

human beings who are in community, do we call

we

each other? Do we heed each other? Do we want to

to

each other? To reach across what can be a huge

know

between human beings. I look at my children

void

I think, as deeply as I know you I do not know

and

inside your heads. But I crave knowing them

what’s

deeply … And if we don’t do that with language

that

very, very, very precise—not prissy, but

that’s

are we knowing each other truly?

precise—then

does Alexander’s poetry and reflection

What

us about how art enlarges what is possible

tell

think and know? This section opened with art

to

speaks to the question “what is art?” From

that

we have a poem about poetry. To

Alexander,

extent do we learn about art from art? In

what

ways is this self-referential knowledge—

what

art, about art—different from art that

from

these words by Ursula Le Guin

Consider

the power of poetry and science to

about

is the human language that can

“Poetry

to say what a tree or a rock or a river

try

that is, to speak humanly for it … . A

is,

can do so by relating the quality

poem

an individual human relationship to

of

thing, a rock or river or tree, or simply

a

describing the thing as truthfully as

by

possible.

describes accurately from

Science

poetry describes accurately from

outside,

… . We need the languages of

inside

science and poetry to save us from

both

stockpiling endless ‘information’

merely

fails to inform our ignorance or our

that

the meanings of accuracy and truth

Consider

the arts. in

What would you say is the relationship

1.

accuracy and truth in

between

How does this differ from the relationship

2.

accuracy and truth in science?

between

10

For reflection

Description in poetry and science

eachother

speak truths in different languages.

I think is the power of poetry. …

(Alexander quoted in Tippett 2016)

responsibility.” (Le Guin 2016)

descriptions coming from art?

focuses on phenomena in the world?

286

have seen how conventions in art have

We

challenged from within, giving way to a

been

of perspectives. In fact, the disciplines

pluralism

art—across theatre, dance, visual arts, music

in

literature, to name a few large categories—

and

so richly varied that one might ask what

are

them. Do disciplines in art diverge more

unites

in other areas of knowledge? We turn now

than

explore the implications of pluralism in art.

to

knowledge issues arise from this pluralism

What

disciplines and the pluralism of tastes and

of

within each of them?

judgments

following case study sheds light on the

The

knowledge claims about art made by

different

1937, Abraham Bredius, famed art

In

and expert on 17th-century

historian

Johannes Vermeer, was approached

master

authenticate the painting shown in

to

10.4. He published the following in

Figure

Burlington Magazine, the foremost art

the

is a wonderful moment in the

“It

of a lover of art when he finds

life

suddenly confronted with a

himself

unknown painting by a great

hitherto

untouched, on the original

master,

and without any restoration,

canvas,

as it left the painter’s studio. And

just

a picture! … we have here—I

what

inclined to say—the masterpiece

am

Johannes Vermeer of Delft.”

of

occupying roles of various contested

people

status. We encounter the issues of

artistic

and ownership that echo throughout

authorship

chapter. The messy business of how and

the

we value art, beyond the purposes of

why

and buying it, is similarly fundamental

selling

this AOK. Remember to consider what these

to

to do with knowledge. Maintaining a

have

on knowledge when speaking about art

focus

be difficult but fascinating. Consider what

can

is gained from understanding the

knowledge

cultural and historical context in which a

social,

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives


work is produced, shared or becomesprominent.

Case study

Han van Meegeren: artist, traitor

and hero

publication at the time.

(Bredius1937)

Figure 10.4

The Supper at Emmaus

287

II. Perspectives

by Vermeer were rare—he

Paintings

only around 35 in all—and

produced

a new one surfaced there was

whenever

frenetic race among interested buyers.

a

quickly, the Museum Boijmans van

Acting

in Rotterdam acquired this newly

Beuningen

masterpiece for a record sum.

discovered

more art museums and collectors

Many

May 1945, shortly after the liberation of

“In

two officers arrived at the studio

Holland,

Han van Meegeren, then just a littleknown

of

Dutch painter and art dealer. The

from the Allied Art Commission,

officers,

responsible for repatriating works of art

were

by the Nazis. They had come about a

looted

discovered among the collection of

painting

Göring: a hitherto unknown canvas

Hermann

the great Johannes Vermeer … Since the

by

had kept detailed records, it had been

Nazis

to trace the sale of the painting back to

easy

Meegeren. Now, they wanted only the

van

of the original owner so that they might

name

his priceless masterpiece. When van

return

refused to name the owner, they

Meegeren

him and charged him with treason. If

arrested

guilty, he faced the death penalty.

found

interchangeably refers to

Wynne

in relation to both artwork

“originality”

artist. Consider the following

and

about originality and knowledge

questions

What is the difference between

1.

as a virtue of the artist (one

originality

them self-proclaimed art expert and

among

second-most powerful man in Nazi

the

Hermann Göring.Frank Wynne,

Germany,

of I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the

author

Century’s Greatest Forger, gives us

Twentieth

rest of this extraordinary story of the most

the

art controversy of the century. The

riveting

is also a rich source of knowledge issues

story

artist was entirely innocent of the charges

The

him, a fact he could easily have

against

But in doing so, he would have to

proved.

to a series of crimes which he had

confess

for decades and which, in five short

plotted

had earned him the equivalent of $60

years

loathed modern art—he thought it

He

and decadent, a passing fad for

childish

which would soon fade. For years

ugliness

had eked out a living painting gloomy

he

of rich patrons in a faux-Rembrandt

portraits

and had winced as he heard his work

style

by his peers. A prominent critic

ridiculed

van Meegeren’s second solo

reviewing

wrote, ‘A gifted technician who

exhibition

made a sort of composite facsimile of

has

Renaissance school, he has every virtue

the

originality’.” (Wynne 2006)

except

van Meegeren was said not to

that

and as a quality of the artwork

possess)

Does originality affect the way we gain

2.

from art?

knowledge

In which ways does the knowledge we

3.

from engaging with an original

gain

differ from engaging with the

work

of an original artist?

work

10

stayed on the market waiting for a Vermeer,

and questions, as explored below.

million. Han van Meegeren was a forger.

For reflection

Problems with originality

(not a copy or reproduction)?

in art.

288

time had come, van Meegeren felt, to

“The

himself on his critics. He devised a

revenge

to paint a perfect Vermeer—neither a

plan

nor a pastiche, but an original work—

copy,

when it had been authenticated by

and,

art experts, acquired by a major

leading

exhibited and acclaimed, he would

museum,

his hoax to the world.

announce

first step was concocting an ingenious

His

of pigments that ‘would pass the

mixture

tests which any genuine 17th-century

five

must pass’. Now he had only to

painting

Supper at Emmaus was unlike any

The

Vermeer painting. Van

acknowledged

true to his perversely moral

Meegeren,

painted it in his own style, adding

scheme,

subtle allusions to works by the Dutch

only

before signing it with the requisite

master,

He had it submitted to Abraham

flourish.

the most eminent authority on

Bredius,

consider how objectivity complicates

Let’s

story and the field of art more generally.

this

What does it mean to say that a piece of

1.

is objectively good or objectively bad?

art

2. On what basis can objectivity be:

(a) claimed

less than six years, van Meegeren would

“In

a further six ‘Vermeers’, earning the

paint

of $60 million. With money, came

equivalent

… . vice

van Meegeren’s addictions to alcohol and

As

took hold, and the standard of his

morphine

plummeted, still experts accepted

forgeries

as genuine. He discovered that, regardless

them

how incompetent his painting, how crude

of

anatomy, how uncertain the provenance,

his

baroque art of his day, and the critic

Dutch

the bait … .

took

the world was at van Meegeren’s

Suddenly

The Supper at Emmaus was bought by the

feet.

Boijmans Gallery in Rotterdam for

prestigious

equivalent of $6 million. More importantly

the

van Meegeren, it was advertised as

for

centrepiece, the crowning glory of the

the

exhibition, 400 Years of European

gallery’s

Art.

the exhibition, van Meegeren would

During

proclaim the painting a forgery,

loudly

crude pastiche, and listen as the finest

a

of his generation persuaded him that

minds

painting was a genuine Vermeer. His

his

was now complete. He had only to

triumph

what he had promised himself: to stand

do

and claim the work for himself, thereby

up

fools of his critics. Instead, within a

making

he was working on a new forgery.”

month,

(b) disputed?

Are there certain claims in art—about an

3.

origin, meaning, quality, value

artwork’s

so on—that can be objective, and

and

that cannot?

others

What are the implications of claiming

4.

objectivity is impossible in art?

that

most erudite Vermeer critics were prepared

the

sanctify his work. His one mistake had been

to

allow one of his paintings to fall into enemy

to

Germany) hands.

(Nazi

expert eye discovered van Meegeren’s

No

He was unmasked only because,

forgery.

six weeks in prison, he cracked: ‘Fools!’

after

roared at his jailers. ‘You think I sold a

he

Vermeer to Göring? There was no

priceless

painted it myself.’

Vermeer—I

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

paint a masterpiece.

(Wynne 2006)

For discussion

Objectivity

289

II. Perspectives

was one thing van Meegeren had not

There

on: no one believed his confession. It

counted

one of the officers who naively suggested

was

if van Meegeren had painted Göring’s

that

he could paint a copy from memory.

Vermeer,

Meegeren arrogantly refused. ‘To paint

Van

copy is no proof of artistic talent. In all my

a

I have never painted a copy! But I shall

career

a pair or small group consider the

In

questions.

following

On what basis can van Meegeren’s

1.

be doubted?

claims

been denounced by the press as a

“Having

a ‘Dutch Nazi artist’, van Meegeren

traitor,

now a folk hero—the man who had

was

Göring. The Reichsmarschall was

swindled

that his beloved Vermeer was a forgery

told

awaiting execution in Nuremberg.

while

to a contemporary account:

According

looked as if for the first time he

‘[Göring]

the wake of his confession and the

In

it caused, van Meegeren truly

scandal

the fame he had craved. The trial,

knew

it came, was a three-ring circus.

when

tripped over each other to

Experts

themselves. Van Meegeren—

exculpate

than the prosecuting counsel—was

more

that he should be found

determined

of committing these ‘masterpieces’,

guilty

even now, experts conspired against

but

arguing that at least one of his

him,

might be genuine.

forgeries

this video produced by Museum Boijmans,

In

Wessles offers a quick summary of the

Hans

Meergen affair, using news clips and

van

from van Meegeren’s trial.

footage

you a new Vermeer. I shall paint you a

paint

masterpiece.’

so, surrounded by reporters and courtappointed

And

witnesses, and supplied with liberal

of alcohol and morphine, he worked

quantities

six weeks painting one final ‘Vermeer’, in

for

desperate attempt to prove himself guilty.”

a

2006)

(Wynne

Can it be proved that he was or was not

3.

the truth, and how?

telling

the end, however, van Meegeren got his

In

on November 12, 1947 he was found

wish:

of obtaining money by deception

guilty

sentenced to one year’s imprisonment.

and

he would never serve a day of his

But

While prosecution and defence

sentence.

to secure a full public pardon

wrangled

the Queen, the forger—long a

from

hypochondriac—finally

consummate

to angina. He was hospitalised

succumbed

the day before he was scheduled to

on

his sentence and died some weeks

serve

van Meegeren’s greatest gift to the

Han

world is doubt. If forgers throughout

art

ages have taught us anything, it is to

the

why we love what we love,

re-examine

overcome our obsession with simple

to

and appreciate the work for

authenticity

terms: “Van Meegeren’s

Search

Vermeers” YouTube

fake

10

For discussion

Disbelief, proof and evidence

What would count as sufficient

2.

of his claims?

evidence

had discovered there was evil in the world.’

later.

itself.” (Wynne 2006)

290

van Meegeren case study illuminates

The

challenges of expertise in the arts, but

some

experts continue to play central roles

nonetheless

authenticating the origin or appraising the

in

of artworks. We turn now to consider what

value

when experts disagree and whoshould

happens

authentication can involve disagreements and

Art

and sometimes a good deal of drama,

controversy,

Processes by which knowledge communities

too.

disagreements and arrive at consensus are

settle

interest to us in all AOKs, and in art they shed

of

on what counts as evidence, how expert

light

are evaluated, how trust and suspicion

opinions

and whether certainty can be achieved.

work,

example, how would we verify whether a

For

newly surfaced on the art market, is an

painting,

and formerly unknown work of one of

authentic

great masters? Experts in the fields of art

the

and sometimes forensic science work to

history

this question. In 2016, a drawing believed

answer

be an original sketch by Leonardo da Vinci

to

in Paris. Within a few months,

appeared

was forming around its authenticity

consensus

it was valued at 15million euros. There are

and

about 20 original “Leonardos” in the world

only

so experts at the French Ministry of Culture

and

that this rediscovered masterpiece was

declared

national treasure. With that status came an

a

ban, to give French museums 30 months

export

raise money to match the asking price so that

to

could keep the drawing. To dig deeper into

they

riveting story, follow the link.

this

terms: Charney Is it

Search

a Leonardo?

really

process of authenticating artworks is

The

and is influenced by the supposed

meticulous,

and potential value of the work. Experts

artist

a range of variables and factors with

consider

judgment.

practised

technique

The

analysed to

is

whether

determine

artwork is

an

with the

consistent

period and the

time

specific style.

artist’s

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Figure 10.5 A forgery of Dirck van Baburen’s The Procuress by Han van Meegeren’s

have the last word on questions of art authenticity.

II.1 Expertise and aesthetic judgment

291

II. Perspectives

are found in the brushstrokes, ink blobs,

Clues

and any writing on the canvas.

shadows

authenticity is judged by small details.

Sometimes

imagine that an expert, or multiple experts,

But

that the ink on a drawing is pooling

conclude

a way that is unmistakably Leonardo. Is this

in

convincing, or would an art collector

sufficiently

to hear more to be convinced to spend $15

need

Who can disagree with expert aesthetic

million?

In art, questions of authenticity and

judgments?

are often the exclusive domain of experts

value

highly specialized knowledge. It raises the

with

of whether non-experts are confined to

question

legitimate claims about matters of taste,

making

experts may have considerable training

Art

experience, but even the best among

and

have been fooled by forgers. Partly, this

them

explained by their fallible human senses

is

the question: to what extent is

Consider

possible in the arts?

certainty

What argument, in relation to art, can you

1.

to answer this question?

construct

What evidence or examples can you offer in

2.

of your argument?

support

Try to incorporate the van Meegeren

3.

from the case study above into

example

evaluation, either as further support

your

as a counterexample. How does it fit into

or

this book we consider the

Throughout

decisions, structures and

judgments,

that influence access to knowledge.

communities

the arts, how is access to artistic knowledge

In

enabled or obstructed? By looking at

facilitated,

in art, what would you conclude about

access

the greatest art piece or performance

Consider

have experienced. How was it made

you

perception; and partly by the high stakes

of

of big money, which pit art experts

incentives

expert forgers. Forensic science has

against

used to resolve disputes among art experts

been

the authenticity of an artwork. Forensic

about

may suggest the work is more recent

evidence

is claimed, through carbon dating or the

than

in the pigments. Forensic science

compounds

thus assist art experts, especially in falsifying

can

to authenticity, as opposed to verifying

claims

as we discuss in Chapter 7. But forensic

them,

should not be considered foolproof.

methods

terms of discerning the particular technique,

In

or intent of an artist, scientific tools are not

style

a substitute for the trained, if fallible, and

yet

if subjective, aesthetic judgments

experienced,

art experts. In the art market, these

of

are the basis for decisions to spend

judgments

may be tempting to tailor your evidence or

It

your examples in such a way that more

present

supports your argument. Remember,

directly

that the world of knowledge is messy

however,

complex, with many nuances and caveats,

and

that prove the rule, examples that

exceptions

the pattern and things that are not what

break

seem. It will strengthen your essay if

they

can invite compelling examples into your

you

and especially if you can demonstrate

analysis,

awareness of their real-world

nuanced

complexity.

to you? Was access easy and open, or

accessible

to the few? And what does that reveal

afforded

your ability to access “great” art? Is there

about

about knowledge in art that is about

something

and status? Is there something in it that

power

about privilege? This is a commonly invoked

is

but points towards an important

stereotype,

about access to art, which has been

concern

in recent years by rising economic

affected

inequality.

10

and not matters of fact

millions of dollars every year.

Practising skills: Constructing arguments and analysing claims

your analysis?

II.2 Art and access

whom knowledge in art is for?

292

terms: Guardian

Search

my Picasso

Mind

on what you know about

Depending

and exclusive art collections,

billionaires

might be surprised to learn

you

many famous works of fine

that

are housed on superyachts,

art

floating mansions of the

the

rich. Some of these

extremely

have made the news

artworks

surprising reasons, such as

for

Jean-Michel Basquiat painting

a

was damaged by breakfast

that

after an unnamed

cereal

children threw

billionaire’s

at it “because they

cornflakes

it was scary” (Mather-

thought

quoted in Neate 2019).

Lees

we do not know exactly

While

painting it was, a Basquiat

which

of a crazed skull-shaped

painting

sold at auction for

face

million in 2017. The

$110.5

crew made the damage

yachts’

when they tried to wipe

worse

the cornflakes.

off

to Pandora Mather-

According

an art historian and

Lees,

some of these

conservator,

have “better

superyachts

than some national

collections

and the owners “want

museums”,

of art is a complex topic, and

Ownership

can perform a variety of roles including

owners

protector, benefactor and investor of

steward,

artworks. Part of that complexity is

significant

guests come on board” (Mather-Lees

when

in Neate 2019). However, yachts may

quoted

less secure than museums and, even if they

be

not, private collectors are free to do what

are

please with works of art. A painting by the

they

artist Takashi Murakami, for example,

modern

reportedly cut into three pieces on the

was

of its owner to make it fit

request

to the jet skis at the back of the

next

yacht.

Mansour bin Zayed

Sheikh

owner of the UK’s

al-Nahyan,

City Football Club

Manchester

of 2020) and Deputy Prime

(as

of the United Arab

Minister

is known to have several

Emirates,

works of art on his

hundred

million superyacht Topaz.

$440

To what extent should access to

1.

cultural and artistic heritage

the

humanity be guaranteed for

of

everyone?

What is lost when great

2.

that are privately

artworks

Who should be accountable for

3.

loss, and to whom?

the

Loew by Gustav Klimt

Gerta

is reportedly held on board the Aviva, a

(1902)

includes paintings such as Triptych 1974–1977

it

Francis Bacon and works by Matisse and

by

for people earning an average income

expensive

afford to own the kinds of prized artworks

to

trade at auction. Perhaps financial and

that

innovations could partly solve this

technological

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives


Superyacht art collections

superyachtart

owned get damaged?

Figure 10.6

$250 million super yacht owned by the billionaire

Joe Lewis. Lewis describes his onboard

collection as one of the largest in the world, and

Picasso.

to show off their art collection

problem.

the issue of access to ownership, as it can be too

293

II. Perspectives

terms: CNN Business

Search

Singapore Owing a

Innovate:

Singapore-based start-up is using

A

technology to enable individuals

blockchain

buy “shares” in an artwork. This could

to

artists to maintain partial ownership

allow

their work, and enable smaller investors

of

would be unable to afford an entire

who

The shares can be bought and sold by

work.

more easily, which may allow the

investors

to realize the true value of a work

market

efficiently. Fractional ownership enables

more

to own parts of an artwork just like

people

of corporations. While this opens up

parts

to art ownership, it does not directly

access

access to art in general. In fact, it

improve

even reduce access to art, if the multiple

may

cannot agree to display it publicly they

owners

decide to store it in a secure, restricted

may

away from the public.

area

can access art in various ways, as an

We

as students, as owners and so on.

audience,

related concern is access to platforms for

A

Which art forms are considered art,

artists.

specifically good art, valued enough to be

and

Clues to the answer are found at

exhibited?

do you respond to the phenomenon of

How

that sells for millions of dollars? What

artwork

would you use to define the monetary

criteria

and price tag, of art?

value,

Danto, the philosopher and art

Arthur

challenged aesthetics and art price

critic,

in his influential 1964 essay “The

valuations

which suggested an answer to

Artworld”,

eternal question of “what is art”. Andy

the

had just created an exhibition of

Warhol

Brillo Boxes, which were replicas of ordinary

For the purpose of knowledge, what kind

1.

access to art is more important—as an

of

To whom should the benefits of the value of

2.

artwork accrue?

an

Apart from using blockchains, how can

3.

retain partial ownership of their

artists

of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)

Portrait

David Hockney broke records in 2018 when it sold for

by

complicated intersection between the art

the

and the art market. Below, we consider

world

role of art institutions in deciding art status

the

art value, in the context of our present

and

moment, described by some as late

cultural

stagecapitalism.

cartons of soap, stacked high as

supermarket

in a warehouse. Interested readers can look

if

Warhol’s intentions and explanations of

up

exhibition. Here we are concerned with

his

interrogation of this phenomena, of

Danto’s

objects that could be conceived of

ordinary

art. He concluded that “what in the end

as

the difference between a Brillo box

makes

a work of art consisting of a Brillo box

and

a certain theory of art” (Danto 1964). More

is

10


Bitcoin art

audience or as owners?

Warhol

work?

Figure 10.7

$90 million. None of the money from that sale went to

Hockney, as he had sold the original in 1972 for $18,000.

Box 10.3: The artworld and the art market

specifically, Danto argued that art is what

294

artists, and art institutions, define as

select

The philosopher George Dickie expanded

art.

this idea by defining supplementary

upon

roles such as critic, teacher, director

artworld

curator, among others. But, as Dr Sarah

and

argues, Dickie and Danto failed to

Hegenbart

for the massive influence that the art

account

and wealth, was asserting onthe art

market,

Increasingly, key artworks are being

world.

as investments, raising eye-watering

seen

in specialist sales and sitting in the

prices

and bank vaults of the super-rich. This

homes

of “art as investment” has the potential

view

redefine what art is and what it is for.

to

do we decide on the “value” of an

How

when art institutions and experts

artwork

it differently from the market? What

value

it mean to label those art institutions

would

are trying to resist higher valuations

that

“conservative”? What would it mean to

as

economic theory, the free market, in the

In

of state intervention and market

absence

arrives at the “right” price for a given

failures,

If the art market appears to be failing in

good.

What are some of the tensions between

1.

members in the art world

different

artists, art critics, curators, art

(audiences,

art teachers and students, art

historians,

art uniquely well placed to express the

Is

and unspeakable? Can it be thought

unspoken

as a language that does what other languages

of

cannot?

function, why might this be, and what

that

for valuing art exist? Some

alternatives

have cautioned, for example, that

observers

art is used to transfer money out of

expensive

without paying tax, a practice

countries

as money laundering. This is greatly

known

by the anonymity of art work

facilitated

and the inherent difficulties of

transactions

art as opposed to, for example, a

valuing

Follow the link for one analysis by the

house.

terms: Has art market

Search

partner in crime

unwitting

(2019) suggests that curators, being

Hegenbart

removed from the “capitalist spectacle”

more

high art (as opposed to artists, dealers and

of

institutions), function as more neutral or

art

gatekeepers, ensuring that works are

objective

for artistic, rather than monetary,

displayed

By virtue of their position as curators

value.

may also be better placed to influence,

they

than merely reflect, the financial and

rather

values of their time.

artistic

art communities and so on) with

digital

to access to art?

regards

Whose perspective has weight and should

2.

on the value of art? How would you

matter

What are the different responsibilities of

3.

members of the art world with

different

have an abundance of artworks produced in

We

context of a problematic past. The painter

the

sculptor Titus Kaphar works at the

and

of art and history, reclaiming

intersection

into new narratives. In the linked

artworks

talk, Kaphar paints over a replica of a

TED

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

New York Times

NYTimes

describe the art market as “commodified”?

For ref lection

The art world as a knowledge

community

decide?

dealers, gallery owners, art magazines,

respect to knowledge?

II.3 Art as unspoken and unspeakable

truths

17th-century painting that invokes the racial

295

II. Perspectives

of the time, to draw attention to

dynamics

that it intentionally downplays.

elements

art is an amendment to history; he does

Kaphar’s

erase or replace problematic historical

not

and representations, but invites us to

narratives

at them anew, paying attention to the

look

the overlooked characters, as a way of

margins,

to terms with the unspoken truths of a

coming

terms: Can art amend

Search

Kaphar TED

history?

about how this reframing and shifting of

Think

in art could be done in your context.

attention

should art speak to history, and what

How

it say? Below, we consider how art today

should

helping to lift the shadows cast by colonialism

is

centuries of African history, including

over

2019 exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments

The

Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across

in

Saharan Africa sought to reinstate

Medieval

Africa’s global legacy. West Africa was not

West

by colonists, as is frequently heard,

“discovered”

rather was a thriving, globally significant

but

centre in the medieval period,

commercial

the 8th and 16th centuries, connected

between

trade networks with other regions as far

through

China and the Alps.

as

is a very different legacy from the one

This

in most art and history museums even

presented

The arts of Africa are usually “positioned

today.

having been discovered … and folded into

as

Western art movements for the first time

major

the late 19th and early 20th centuries” (Sandy

in

But the Caravans of Gold exhibition uses

2019).

history to shed light on “the story of the

art

African cities and empires that were

thriving

to the global medieval world”

foundational

quoted in Sandy 2019). Fragments

(Berzock

these ancient art works include Chinese

of

found in Mali and a lost-wax cast made

porcelain

Alpine copper found in Nigeria.

of

10

past of slavery and racism.

art history.

Tada seated gure, Nigeria, late 13th–14th century,

Figure 10.8a Virgin and child, France, circa 1275–1300,

Figure 10.8b

made of copper

made of African ivory

296

Chapter 9 we see how history has been revised in

In

songs and other artistic narratives as a form of

lm,

Consider whether art is better suited for this

uplift.

than other areas of knowledge.

purpose

addition to its progressive role of

In

unspoken truths about the past

illuminating

present, art has also played subversive or

or

roles, expressing the unspeakable

transgressive

or hiding it in plain sight. From the

loudly

Decadent poets of the late 19th century,

French

rallied behind art to “épater la bourgeoisie”,

who

is, “shock the upper/middle classes”, to the

that

obscenity charges against hip-hop artists

1990s

reached the US Supreme Court, subversive

that

has a long history with no shortage of

art

These transgressions have been

controversies.

with appeals to freedom of expression

met

freedom of speech, as well as calls for

and

often simultaneously from opposing

censorship,

of the political spectrum.

sides

encounter tricky intersections when

We

art touches religious belief or

subversive

accepted societal norms. It can be

widely

as liberatory or dangerously disruptive,

seen

on one’s perspective. Would you

depending

that we tend to celebrate subversive art

agree

oppressive times, but condemn transgressive

in

in presumably progressive times? This is

art

by what may be a tendency to view

complicated

past, or geographically distant contexts—

the

elsewheres and elsewhens—as oppressive;

the

our present—our here and now, no

whereas

where we are—is more frequently

matter

as progressive.

perceived

reading what the curators said about their

Before

consider how a collective label such

collections,

“feminist art” may be similar to or different

as

“Renaissance art” or “Indigenous art”.

from

Did the artists think of themselves as

1.

work in a particular genre,

producing

a particular purpose or a specific

for

audience?

If you think the answer to question 1 is

2.

when do labels applied after a work

“no”,

created meaningfully bring artists and

is

together

artworks

sorts of strange things happen when the

All

and artefacts of another culture are

artworks

and protected”, which could be a modern

“taken

for “stolen and exhibited”. It is

euphemism

enough when this is done in the name of

complex

and aesthetic exchange involving an open

cultural

but many cases involve artworks or

dialogue,

that have been stolen, misappropriated,

artefacts

are home to millions of artworks and

Museums

artifacts. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

cultural

holds two million objects. The Hermitage has

alone

million. The British Museum eight million.

three

of these objects have made their way to these

Some

through unjust means. Some were stolen

institutions

plundered, others acquired through coerced or

or

transactions. Should these injustices be

exploitative

of these things that belong to our people in Australia—

All

don’t tell a story about the Queen of England, do

they

No way. … They tell stories about the people that

they?

them and used them—that’s our people here in

made

We don’t have the Queen’s crown jewels. And we

Australia.

want them. But what we do want is to get our things

don’t

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

Making connections

History, art and uplift

II.4 Patrimony, repatriation and

redistribution of art

misunderstood and misrepresented.

rectied, and if so, how?

(Matthes 2017)

For discussion

back from the British Museum. We want them back.

(Murray quoted in Daly 2015)

Labels in art

297

II. Perspectives

the last few hundred years artwork from

Over

the world, created by a multitude

around

cultures and peoples, has slowly been

of

in a small number of primarily

concentrated

galleries, museums and private

Western

The processes through which this has

collections.

have been documented by cultural and

happened

historians, and derive from major forces of the

art

1897 the British Imperial Navy launched

In

punitive expedition against the Kingdom

a

Benin, completely destroying Benin City

of

looting the artwork of the Royal Palace.

and

the loot were hundreds, and perhaps

Among

a thousand, intricate bronze, brass and

over

sculptures that over the ensuing decades

ivory

become known as the Benin Bronzes.

would

were held in collections across Europe,

They

the profile of African art. The resulting

raising

of the Benin Bronzes tells us an

exposure

story, in the words of Professor

interesting

the looted Benin art treasures

“Initially,

treated with some kind of curiosity.

were

as the wonderful quality of

However,

ivory carvings and bronzes became

the

and this was reflected in

appreciated

prices they fetched in

ever-increasing

art auction rooms of the world, the

the

Office sold considerable quantities

Foreign

ethical issues relating to the appropriation,

The

and stewardship of artwork, as

ownership

relate to TOK, are discussed in section

they

Here we examine the implications of this

IV.

of artistic knowledge in the

concentration

context of material cultural artefacts

broader

been globally displaced. As knowledge

having

embedded in material culture and practice,

is

ability to stitch together coherent narratives

our

the arts (and in other AOKs) is improved by

in

understanding of the ownership, provenance

an

context of artwork, and much can be learned

and

placing and studying art in its historical

from

cultural context. The idea of ownership,

and

onto art knowledge, feels like

transplanted

cultural heritage to copyright. Yet, it

reducing

matters where art is from: let’s consider

deeply

case of the Benin Bronzes.

the

defray the costs of the expedition.…

to

presence of Benin Bronzes in Europe

The

the United States exposed the high

and

of workmanship expended on

quality

Familiarity with these works would

them.

revolutionize western views of

eventually

art, and transform the designation

African

these from ‘primitive’ to just simply

of

it was not as simple as that. For at

However,

time, following several hundred years of

the

“the African people as well as their art

slavery,

held in abject contempt by the Europeans

were

stole them” (Konde 2014). Ernst Grosse

who

asserted in 1894, for example,

confidently

“[t]he sentiments of [African] primitive

that

are narrower and cruder, its material

art

its forms simpler” (Grosse quoted in

poorer,

1968). About prevailing attitudes and

Bodrogi

towards African art, Carl Einstein

judgments

the following.

observed

10

modern age such as colonialism and globalization.

Box 10.4: The Benin Bronzes

‘art’.” (Konde 2014)

Emmanuel Konde.

298

is hardly any art that is approached

“There

Europeans with so much distrust as

by

of Africa. They are disinclined to

that

it as art and regard the contrast

recognize

its products and the accustomed

between

concepts with a contempt and

continental

that have actually created a special

scorn

of rebuttal.” (Einstein quoted

terminology

is quite easy to imagine the cognitive

It

of European admirers of the Benin

dissonance

Konde offers two anecdotes as to

Bronzes.

this dissonance was overcome. Initially

how

British soldiers, upon looting the bronzes

the

realizing their merit, “concocted the tale

and

the sculptures they had stolen must have

that

made by the Portuguese, the Egyptians,

been

the lost tribes of Israel” (Konde 2014). The

or

brought on by the First World War,

changes

are hundreds of thousands of works

There

art such as the Benin Bronzes still held in

of

collections around the world, and

colonial-era

repatriation back to their “homeland” is

their

issue that has gathered momentum over the

an

five decades, with the independence of

past

formerly colonized nations. Apart from a

many

instances, particularly from museums based

few

the United States, this has not yet happened

in

any meaningful scale. One reason appears

on

practical—up to 85–90% of “classical

entirely

certain other types of artifacts on the

and

do not have a documented provenance”

market

2013)—but museums and trustees

(Franzen

have a conflict of interest to investigate the

may

of works already in their collection.

provenance

if the provenance can be traced, it may

Even

be traceable to a contemporary national or

not

Davis, a lawyer with the Antiquities

Tess

praised the Cleveland Museum of

Coalition,

for voluntarily returning the Hanuman

Art

but argued that it should never have been

statue,

reassessment of African art. By 1926, the

a

Ernst Vatter would write: “…

ethnologist

art as well as the hitherto similarly

primitive

prehistoric and medieval European

neglected

constitute nowadays an integral part of

art

as a whole” (Vatter 1926). Note his use

art

the term “prehistoric”, which, as outlined

of

Chapter 9, carries some problematic

in

only took 30 years for the Benin Bronzes to

It

a significant effect on the understanding

have

art in the European paradigm. Today

of

largest collection of Benin Bronzes is in

the

with the vast majority held between

London,

and Germany. Between 1951 and 1972,

England

British Museum sold over 30 “redundant”

the

“back” to Nigeria, because they were

bronzes

specimens. In late 2018, the British

duplicate

agreed to loan a selection of the

Museum

have historically claimed that a

Collectors

belongs to them because they “found” it,

work

it or were the first to recognize its value.

“saved”

some objects acquire artistic status in the

Indeed,

of being collected and exhibited, while

process

other cases, functional objects (such as a table)

in

become culturally displaced works of art in

can

museum halfway around the world. The fact

a

that objects, artworks and artefacts that

remains

been stolen, acquired, or found and later

have

are identified as being of value, even if

exhibited

originally did not have artistic status “back

they

Once this value is identified, if a claim to

home”.

work is made, why is it not honoured?

a

United Nations convention of 1970

The

a framework for the legal export or

provides

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

in Bodrogi 1969)

assumptions.

however, transformed (or coincided with)

bronzes temporarily to Nigeria.

II.4.1 Why has repatriation not happened?

The Hanuman rst surfaced on the market while

Cambodia was in the midst of a war and facing

genocide. How could anyone not know this was

stolen property? The only answer is that no one

wanted to know.

(Davis quoted in Tharoor 2015)

cultural group.

repatriation of art and archeological materials

allowed to enter the collection in the first place.

299

II. Perspectives

after that date, but for anything

discovered

before that, no meaningful multilateral

acquired

exists. Museums and collectors

cooperation

avoided repatriation by appeals to the idea

have

stewardship: even if the provenance of an

of

can be clearly traced to a contemporary

artwork

nation or culture, they claim to be

people,

best custodians of the work, whether that

the

due to their technological apparatus (for

is

temperature and humidity controlled

example,

systems), security, or social and

preservation

stability. What do you think about

political

growing and widespread recognition of

With

political, cultural and economic value of

the

claimants to the ownership of an artwork,

art,

iconic art, have been very willing to

especially

the required investments in protecting

make

work. Even where they cannot intervene,

the

choose not to, do other peoples, nations or

or

have a right to intervene?

organizations

the most ideological argument against

Perhaps

hinges on the idea of a universal

repatriation

belonging to all of humankind, “that

collection,

by juxtaposition in global centres can we

only

for repatriation can be difficult to

Claims

if the ownership of the artwork

reconcile

artefact in question is not traceable to a

or

owner. Is it possible for a work to

present-day

to a culture? What would that mean in

belong

terms? Claims of cultural ownership have

legal

used as the basis of nationalistic claims to

been

and artefacts.

artwork

being human” (Joy 2019). The argument is that

of

if colonial-era collections are an accident of

even

they are still the best place, now, for us

history,

understand and appreciate art in a pluralistic,

to

sentiment is upheld by the headline

The

have no borders, they have a

“Museums

on the website of the International

network”

of Museums, that seems to ignore issues

Council

national and sovereign embeddedness. At

of

given time, the large museums display

any

a fraction of their collection, with the

only

put in storage. As Charlotte Joy, lecturer

rest

anthropology at Goldsmiths, University

of

London, puts it, “to date, the logic of the

of

is not one of access and display but

museum

acquisition and retention” (Joy 2019). It is

of

to imagine an alternative: replicas could

possible

sent to these global centres and the originals

be

“cultural property” refers to

However,

that, rather than belonging to a

materials

territory or state, belong instead to a

family,

collectivity. This could be dispersed

cultural

Peoples for instance. As Janna

Indigenous

puts it, cultural property can

Thompson

understood as property that “plays an

be

role in the religious, cultural or

important

10

cosmopolitan sense.

Works of art have not adhered to modern political

borders. They have always sought connection

elsewhere to strange and wonderful things.

(Tharoor 2015)

these claims?

The ongoing destruction of ancient sites in the

Middle East by the Islamic State has galvanised the

case for the universal museum, with advocates such

as Gary Vikan, the former Director of the Walters Art

Museum in Baltimore, arguing that only institutions

in the West can preserve the world’s cultural

heritage.

(Tharoor 2015)

repatriated.

The idea of the ‘universal museum’, for all its

Enlightenment virtues and educational potential,

is at its core a Western imperial project, and

museums that acquired sacred objects in earlier

times absolutely must rethink their display, their

function and their narrative.

(Farago 2015)

truly make sense of global art and the experience

Box 10.5: What is cultural property? Who belongs to a culture?

300

life of people of the collectivity”

political

2003).

(Thompson

an item of cultural property is very

When

linked to the identity of an existing

closely

it may be referred to as “cultural

collectivity,

According to James Cuno, this

patrimony”.

not something owned by a people, but

“is

of them, a part of their defining

something

identity” (Cuno 2001). The more

collective

the item, the more likely it is to pass

important

who counts as a member of a cultural

However,

It might be pointless to argue about a

group?

owning property if the members of that

culture

cannot be identified. But this should

culture

be used as an easy excuse to dismiss claims

not

patrimony. Kwame Anthony Appiah points

to

as an issue, is much more tangible

Ownership,

the issue of appropriation, which can have

than

for the authenticity of a work, and

implications

rewards accruing to it. In its technically

the

form, appropriation is recognized as a

legitimate

of artistically recontextualizing something

means

to create a new work. There are at least

borrowed

categories of dubious appropriation: the

two

obvious is the appropriation of economic

most

material value, as many such artworks can

or

invaluable. The Koh-i-Noor, for example, one

be

the largest diamonds in the world, was taken

of

Punjab in 1849 and subsequently worn

from

Queen Victoria in a brooch. It is currently

by

of the British Crown Jewels. Less obvious

part

the appropriation of cultural, artistic and/or

is

we have the appropriation of narratives,

First,

told without the participation of

as

groups to whom an artwork’s

contemporary

and/or significance can be traced.

provenance

the last century, Indigenous Peoples’

Over

has been interpreted, studied, exhibited

art

Nigerians claim a Nok sculpture

“When

part of their patrimony, they are

as

for a nation whose boundaries

claiming

less than a century old, the works of a

are

more than two millennia ago,

civilization

by a people that no longer exists,

created

whose descendants we know nothing

and

(Appiah 2006)

about.”

corollary of this problem is how we can

The

for instance, that an artwork or artefact

know,

taken (or given) unjustly in the first place:

was

is allowed to give something on behalf of

who

cultural group? Is it their kings, leaders or

a

Is consensus required?

elders?

systems of property rights may be

Legal

by these concepts, but progress

challenged

required, especially given the many cases

is

cultural continuity to a contemporary

where

appropriated innumerable times without

and

participation. Painfully, cultural work

their

Indigenous People was often “treated as

by

history, to be filed away with rocks and

natural

carcasses, rather than treated as a vital

bird

in its own right” (Farago 2015). This is

culture

an ethical as well as knowledge

simultaneously

to what extent can we understand the

issue:

and more broadly the material

artworks,

immaterial culture, without the active

and

of the subject group? In light of

participation

we have encountered in this chapter so far,

what

you say that this art can speak for itself,

would

be spoken for by outsiders?

or

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

beyond the category of property.

out the following.

group—the “moral descendents”—is traceable.

II.4.2 Appropriation

In Paris, for example, pre-Columbian sculptures have

migrated over and over: from the Louvre and the

Musée Guimet in the early-to-mid-19th Century, where

historical narratives.

they were exhibited as antiquities; to the ethnographic

Trocadéro in the late 19th Century, where aesthetics

were irrelevant; and now to the Musée du Quai Branly,

which proudly calls itself an art museum.

(Farago 2015)

301

II. Perspectives

have been examples of progress: in

There

United States, the Association of Art

the

Directors, the main authority for

Museum

museums, instructs its members to work

US

Indigenous groups on display and

with

The Australian Museum in

interpretation.

has been acknowledged for collaborating

Sydney

indigenous communities to improve its

“with

and cultural artefacts are said to contain

Art

knowledge, from the context and

encoded

of their creation. Sometimes the work

culture

artistically inseparable from that context—

is

for example, props and artwork used

consider,

ritualistic performance, such as masks and

in

Hakananai’a (“lost or stolen friend”) is an

Hoa

basalt statue that was taken from

eight-foot

Island in 1868, and has been kept at

Easter

British Museum ever since. In November

the

the governor of Easter Island urged the

2018,

to return it, saying its keepers have

museum

can these masks be comprehended by

extent

foreign audience, without the context of the

a

How much context is enough for the

dance?

or sharing of knowledge to an artwork?

transfer

art forms are more prone to this

Some

than others; film, for example, is

predicament

to be more readily transferable than

perceived

iconography or fine art. It is the sharing

religious

transfer of art across social, cultural or linguistic

or

that generally causes this problem. Even

borders

recent decades, attempts to understand or

in

artwork out of its cultural context,

appreciate

example art that has been geographically

for

temporally displaced, has carried the risk of

or

exoticizing or further othering the

trivializing,

and the subject culture to which it belongs.

object

terms: You have our

Search

Easter Island

soul

Alarcón Rapu, Governor of Easter Island,

Tarita

asked the British Museum to lend the

recently

it is the right time to maybe send us

“And

(the statue) for a while, so our sons

back

see it as I can see it. You have kept him

can

150 years, just give us some months.”

for

British Museum released a statement to

The

that described a “warm, friendly and

CNN

conversation” with the Easter Island

open

adding the following.

delegation,

was very helpful to gain a better

“It

of Hoa Hakananani’a’s

understanding

for the people of Rapa

significance

today … . The museum is keen

Nui

work collaboratively with partners

to

communities across the globe and

and

discussions around future joint

welcomes

with Rapa Nui … . We believe that

projects

is great value in presenting objects

there

across the world, alongside the stories

from

other cultures at the British Museum.

of

museum is one of the world’s leading

The

10

interpretive displays” (Farago 2015).

costumes used in ceremonial dance. To what

Box 10.6: “You have our soul”: Easter Island pleads with British for statue’s return

statue back to Easter Island temporarily.

the “soul” of the Easter Island people.

(Rapu quoted in Holland 2018)

302

and the trustees will always

lenders

loan requests subject to usual

consider

the claim made by Tarita Rapu,

Regarding

the statue is a part of her people’s soul,

that

(a) To what extent are you able to

1.

this claim?

comprehend

factors affect your ability to

What

doso?

especially have long embraced the

Museums

that “cultural products are contributions to

idea

culture of all humankind” (Matthes 2017).

the

Hague Convention of 1954 includes the

The

1982 UNESCO Convention argues similarly

The

artefacts from World Heritage sites.

for

addition, a 2016 declaration by the United

In

Human Rights Council suggests

Nations

access to universal human heritage is a

that

right.

human

What do you make of the British Museum’s

2.

that there is “great value in

response,

objects from across the world

presenting

… other cultures at the British

alongside

(a) Given your answers to questions 1

3.

2, what would you suggest is the

and

place for the statue, in terms of

best

and in terms of ethics?

knowledge

additional information would you

What

to more effectively answer this

need

ideas have been used to argue in favour

These

foreign intervention to “protect” culture,

of

to support universal collections, against

and

of cultural property.

repatriation

may be an inherent tension between

There

and collective interests when it comes

individual

cultural property, such as art. Janna Thompson

to

the following.

wrote

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

conditions.” (Holland 2018)

Museum?”

consider the following questions.

(b)

(b)

question?

II.4.3 The role of museums: Does all culture

“Convinced that damage to cultural heritage, both

belong to all humankind?

tangible and intangible, of any people constitutes

damage to the cultural heritage of humanity as a

whole; Noting that the destruction of or damage

to cultural heritage may have a detrimental and

irreversible impact on the enjoyment of cultural

rights, in particular the right of everyone to take part

following declaration.

in cultural life, including the ability to access and

enjoy cultural heritage.”

“Damage to cultural property belonging to any people

(UNHRC 2016)

whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of

all mankind, since each people makes its contribution

to the culture of the world.”

(UNESCO 1954)

“Their value cannot be conned to one nation or to

one people, but is there to be shared by every man,

woman and child of the globe.”

(UNESCO 1982)

If we think of art as being of value for individual

development and to humankind as a whole, then

distributional issues cannot be avoided.

(Thompson 2004)

303

II. Perspectives


would be best placed to navigate this

Who

museums or national governments? If

tension:

accept that museums might be custodians for

we

goods that belong to all of humanity, what

public

we say about the fact that most of them are

can

Western nations?

in

the “Declaration of the Importance and Value

In

Universal Museums”, the directors of leading

of

including the Metropolitan Museum of

museums

the Getty Museum, the Hermitage Museum

Art,

the British Museum write that “museums

and

not just the citizens of one nation but the

serve

of every nation” (quoted in Matthes

people

Matthes writes that Western museums

2017).

a long history of cultural marginalization”

“have

2017). For instance, he states that non-

(Matthes

this section we explore the methods of

In

and being an artist, and how

becoming

is acquired and produced in the

knowledge

We also look at the role of tools and

process.

child is an artist. The problem is how

“Every

remain an artist once we grow up.” So goes

to

quote, often attributed to Pablo Picasso, but

the

on by many others to suggest that we all

iterated

an innate artistic ability, and that education

have

at best irrelevant to it.

is

yet, going to art school and formally

And

in the knowledge community of

participating

remains something of a stepping stone

artists

the trajectory of many if not most artists.

in

is the purpose of an art education and

What

knowledge that is passed on and acquired

the

mission and values of many leading

The

serve for the collective good

museums—to

humankind—seems at odds with their

of

in just one part of the world. A key

concentration

in the redistribution and repatriation

consideration

artistic works, argues Matthes, is how it can

of

collections also house vast quantities

Private

knowledge away from public access. To

of

extent should governments intervene in

what

collections, and what would be some

private

an education in art looks different

Granted,

the various disciplines—from theatre and

in

to film, dance and so on. And yet,

literature,

diverse art forms, studied in the context of

these

university programmes, may perhaps

modern

more similar than we recognize. What can

be

learn about how knowledge is transferred

we

looking at how art education has changed

by

time and the different forms it takes across

over

cultures?

explore this question we turn to Hindustani

To

music from the northern regions of the

classical

subcontinent. For close to 10 centuries,

Indian

knowledge was traditionally transferred

music

the context of the guru–shishya parampara

in

where a student or disciple (shishya),

system,

knowledge under the direct guidance

acquires

a trusted teacher or master (guru). The guru–

of

is defining as both a professional and

shishya

relationship, marked by ceremony

personal

10

anthropology museums as opposed to art museums,

their designation as ‘primitive’ within the artworld

context, and, despite these aspersions on their

artistic status, the colonialist acquisition of many

such objects.

(Matthes 2017)

facilitate the recognition for marginalized groups.

Western artworks have long been excluded to:

implications of this?


materials.

III.1 Method and art education

through it?

and an initiation into a community and lineage.

304

their guru, the shishya is connected

Through

and belongs to a recognized and reputable

to

lineage, called gharana, which grants

musical

legitimacy as a performer.

them

the guru–shishya paramapara, knowledge

In

transferred orally from one generation to

was

other, through the authoritative teaching

the

the gurus. The different gharanas—or

of

and preserved diverse

lineages—developed

knowledge and practices, and only

music

them with trusted disciples. Attached to

shared

this knowledge was a responsibility

receiving

eventually pass on what is learned, and

to

successfully carry the tradition forward.

to

was essential that the material was passed

It

precisely and remembered exactly. To

on

end, students participated in talim, or

this

musical training, differentiated to each

formal

based on their ability and their guru’s

shishya

for their musicianship. Students were

vision

expected to take part in riyaz, a form of

also

individual practice, demanding

dedicated

and regularity. The specific qualities and

rigour

of both the guru and the shishya

responsibilities

embedded in a centuries-long intellectual

were

tradition.

the 20th century, with the influence of

In

globalization and a nation-building

colonialism,

in India, the role of the guru–shishya

project

as the primary method of transferring

parampara

in Hindustani classical music began

knowledge

shift. Changing social, political and economic

to

to draw waves and the

Learning

Buddha

to the quote we opened this section

Contrary

Hokusai Katsushika, the artist of the

with,

Wave off Kanagawa, the iconic Japanese

Great

print, wrote thefollowing.

woodblock

around the age of six, I had the habit

“From

sketching from life. I became an artist, and

of

fifty on began producing works that won

from

reputation, but nothing I did before the

some

and reformers who sought to

musicians

and democratize this music tradition

modernize

turn it into a matter of national interest and

and

Where we previously see an exclusive

pride.

community propagated through

knowledge

Tradition, individual instruction based on

Oral

and authority, and a diversity of styles

trust

the different gharanas, a new approach

through

transmitting and acquiring knowledge

to

to take shape. Among the reforms

began

a notational system, a standardized

were

and teaching methodology, and

curriculum

institutionalized conventions of theory

new

practice suitable for mass music education.

and

these, notation—which allowed Hindustani

Of

to be written down—was intended to

music

it to the dignity of a “classical” music

raise

asserting its sophistication and

tradition,

and putting it on par with Western

complexity,

music. Hindustani musical texts could

classical

travel further, independent of the one-onone

now

in-person oral transmission between gurus

lot has been written about how these changes,

A

with technological advancements

combined

a global South Asian diaspora, affected

and

reach of this musical tradition. What do

the

imagine was gained, and what was lost,

you

terms of knowledge in the course of this

in

Can some forms of knowledge

transformation?

be transferred and shared in specific ways?

only

how did this allow more diverse knowers

And

have access to this knowledge?

to

explore this idea of mastery, consider these

To

examples.

two

terms:

Search

of Tibetan Proportions

Book

terms:

Search

book

Japanese

wave and ripple Public

of

Review

Domain



and shishyas

circumstances gave rise to non-hereditary

For discussion

Public Domain Review

age of seventy was worthy of attention.”

305


1. Is having knowledge of the arts necessary for being

one speaks of art production, one might

When

the art studio, the theatre company, the

imagine

desk—at least in the popular imagination

writer’s

sites of art production. But how does art

of

out of specific local contexts, and what is

arise

relationship between art and place? How

the

globalization and other forces of modernity

are

traditions of artistic knowledge that

affecting

consider two examples from South India.

Let’s

first arose during the 10th-century dynasty

The

the Chola kings of Tanjore, and reveals how

of

monarchy, religion and divinity came

landscape,

to inspire a resurgence in traditional art.

together

this period, land features such as the hills,

During

and groves surrounding villages were

waterfalls

with spiritual stories connecting them

animated

a pantheon of deities, many of whom had large

to

idols made in their honour. Over time,

stone

idols were replaced with smaller, portable

these

statues. Among the best-known examples

bronze

these are the Chola bronzes, sculptures

of

using the lost-wax casting technique,

made

and produced by the Chola kings

commissioned

Tanjore. The sculptures communicate with

of

the hand and finger gestures of South

mudras,

dance, and are widely described as deeply

Indian

communicating theological truths; they

beautiful,

also sometimes described as unabashedly

are

their near-naked bodies symbolizing

sexual,

and eroticism. While the Chola bronzes

fecundity

be seen as “art from above”, an example of

can

art produced through elite patronage,

religious

also have theyyam from South India, a ritual

we

tradition that is thousands of years old and

dance

10

able to make great art?

In the arts, what is the relationship between

2.

of skill and the quality of knowledge?

mastery

How does the role of convention influence

3.

in the arts?

knowledge

III.2 Method and art production

have continued for centuries?

predates Hinduism.

306

combines theatrical, religious and

Theyyam

culture in a performance that can

lived

space and the identity of the

transform

who is said to be possessed by gods

performer,

it happens, I always get very tense, even

Before

I have been doing this for 26 years now. It’s

though

that I am nervous of the god coming. It’s more the

not

that he might refuse to come. It’s the intensity

fear

your devotion that determines the intensity of the

of

If you lose your feeling of devotion, if it

possession.

once becomes routine or unthinking, the gods

even

stop coming … . When the drums are playing and

may

make-up is nished, they hand you a mirror and

your

look at your face transformed into that of a god.

you

it comes. It’s as if there is a sudden explosion of

Then

A vista of complete brilliance opens up—it blinds

light.

senses … . That light stays with you all the way

the

the performance. You become the deity. You lose

during

fear. Even your voice changes. The god comes alive

all

takes over. You are just the vehicle, the medium. In

and

trance, it is god who speaks, and all the acts are the

the

of the god—feeling, thinking, speaking. The dancer

acts

an ordinary man—but this being is divine. Only when

is

head-dress is removed does it end.

the

or rather the human performers who are

Theyyams,

are Dalits, or untouchables—designated

possessed,

so low a caste that higher-caste Hindus will not

as

them. But because of the perceived strength

touch

authenticity of their possession, theyyams

and

worshipped during the ritual season, from

are

to February, with even the highestcaste

December

Hindus seeking their blessings and touching

feet. How does this example speak to the

their

of artistic knowledge?

production

Das describes his experiences when he is

Hari

performing theyyam

not

nine months a year, I work as a manual labourer.

For

build wells during the week, then at the weekend I

I

in Tellicherry Central Jail. As a warder … . I need

work

make a living. I am poor enough to be ready to do

to

anything if someone pays me a daily wage.

virtually

not for pleasure—it’s very dangerous work … .

It’s

No one dares to mess with them … . I keep

backing.

head down. I never beat any prisoner, and just try

my

avoid being beaten up myself. We all just try to get

to

the day alive and intact.

through

his book Nine Lives (2009) William Dalrymple

In

Hari Das and describes theyyam

interviews

originating from a deeply casteist context

as

even in the 20th century “lower-caste

where,

were still regularly being murdered by

tenants

Nayar (high caste) landlords for failing to

their

Dalits are still expected to show deference

Today

respect, and to avoid physical contact or

and

proximity with higher castes. Dalrymple

close

this context clearly plays a role in the

suggests

inequalities are the fertile soil from which

These

grew, and the dance form has always been

Theyyam

conscious and ritualised inversion of the usual

a

of Keralan life: for it is not the pure and

structures

Brahmins into which the gods choose to

sanctied

but the shunned and insulted Dalits … .

incarnate,

Theyyams take place not in Brahminical temples,

The

small shrines in the holy places and sacred

but

these two examples—the Chola bronzes and

In

methods through which art is

theyyam—the

and the knowledge involved in the

produced,

does not seem typical for this AOK. We

process,

you to reflect on ideas about how art usually

invite

and the processes that produce it. Where

works,

these ideas come from, and how are they

do

Art can be, and often is, entangled

maintained?

the domains of culture and religion, and even

with

This entanglement influences the methods

science.

art, and it may be the case that religious,

of

or cultural knowledge is essential in the

scientific

does the artist sit in the midst of all this?

Where

the interview below, we speak to theatre artist

In

Dinesh about the practices that inform

Nandita

production of her work.

the



during the performance.

(Das quoted in Dalrymple 2009)

present sweets as tokens of their submission”.

theyyam art form.

(Das quoted in Dalrymple 2009)

groves of the countryside …

(Dalrymple 2009)

process of producing art.

The inmates rule the jail. Many have got political

307


The rst thing to nuance here, is the term

[Dinesh]:

While much of my work has occurred in active

‘conict’.

zones (like Kashmir), I’m also curious about the

war

of theatre in conicts that are

potential/limitations

easy to classify as ‘war’: the conicts surrounding

less

in the United States, for example, where a

incarceration

situation exists—although one is less likely to

‘war-like’

the US a ‘war zone’.

call

these contexts of conict, I often go in as an outsider:

In

I’m of a dierent gender, nationality, ethnicity,

because

social condition from that which is being experienced

or

the folks I work with. I say this because this

by

a constant critical engagement

‘outsider-ness’—and

the politics and ethics of that identity—have led to

with

Practically, this means that all my works

[Dinesh]:

an explicit character called ‘The Outsider’: a

contain

who emerges at dierent points in whatever

character

write/create in response to the conict in question; a

I

who problematises the work, while also being

character

of it; a character who is semi-autobiographical,

part

also speaking to observed dynamics between

while

and ‘guest’.

‘host’

in a piece called Chronicles from Kashmir that was

So

over six years with a theatre company in

developed

Kashmir, there are two ‘Guides’ who take the

Srinagar,

on their journey through the world of the

audience

One of these ‘Guides’ is Kashmiri; the

performance.

is non-Kashmiri. And a central emphasis in the

other

is how these two characters engage with

performance

other, while they attempt to present dierent

each

I’m borrowing the term from Primo Levi’s The

[Dinesh]:

and the Saved where he speaks to the ‘gray

Drowned

Jews who had to become complicit within the Nazi

of

to protect themselves and their families.

establishment

Levi nuances his use of the term a lot more, but

Now

stuck with me was the ‘gray zone’ as being an area

what

which the links between ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’

in

harder to dene … where someone/

become

experience contains within it both qualities of

some

and ‘perpetration’. Where simplistic binaries

‘victimhood’

approaching a conict therefore, one of the rst

When

that I embark on is a ‘conict mapping’ of sorts.

things

process in which I try to understand the ‘gray zones’

A

lie between/within mainstream depictions of that

that

never ignoring the reality that some

conict—while

are more powerful than others; some voices are

voices

10

Voices: Interview with Nandita Dinesh

[Interviewer]: In your work making theatre in

contexts of conict, is there a particular ‘method’ or

‘methodology’ that you’ve found to be particularly

useful?

between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are impossible … .

more visible than others.

[Interviewer]: How do you dramatize ‘gray zones’

while also not simplistically saying that ‘everyone is a

victim’?

being the primary tool that I use when

autoethnography

theatre about/with/for/in conicted contexts.

creating

this autoethnographic approach means, for me, is

What

constant [re]negotiation (in the processes of research,

a

and performance) of my own positioning—with

creation,

its biases and limitations.

all

[Interviewer]: What does this look like? Practically?

[Dinesh]: That is a question that I constantly deal with …

[Interviewer]: And how do you deal with that question?

One way I’ve been attempting to integrate

[Dinesh]:

complexity in my work is through particular

this

aesthetic choices.

perspectives from Kashmir to the audience.

[Interviewer]: You’ve often used the term ‘gray zones’

to frame your work. Could you unpack that for us?

zones’ of the Holocaust as being in the experiences

308

example, my works are most often staged in the

For

i.e., audience members don’t sit in one

‘promenade’

and watch a performance on a stage. Instead, they

place

between dierent, unconventional performance

walk

(kitchens, bathrooms, trees, passageways) and

sites

dierent stories through movement. To me,

encounter

notion of moving the audience is an allegory for

this

… . To show the audience, experientially,

complexity

they need to ‘work’ to learn about the complexities

that

conict. That they can’t just sit in a comfortable chair

of

expect to be informed … that they need to move, to

and

to ‘work’, in order to better understand.

walk,

idea that I work with a lot is ‘fragmentation’.

Another

who are more accustomed to Realism expect a

Folks

overarching narrative in a theatrical work. You

certain

the introduction, the rising action, the climax, the

know,

this section we have explored significant

In

personal and cultural practices that take

material,

in the process of producing art, collectively

place

to as “methods”. Before we move on to

referred

pairs, small groups, or as a class consider the

In

questions.

following

To what extent is it necessary to follow a

1.

method in order to produce art?

certain

How does following or not following the

2.

of art affect the quality of the

methods

tools of art—pigments, brushes, but also

The

sets, musical instruments and, recently,

stage

technological tools—participate

increasingly

essential ways in knowledge in the arts.

in

in arts is a deeply material engagement;

Knowing

is not just about knowing how to use tools, but

it

how to work with materials. Artists shape

also

bake clay, chisel and polish stones, melt and

and

metals, take and develop photographs,

mould

paints and apply them to different surfaces

mix

action, and all of that. In my work, I intentionally

falling

apart that linearity—once again because I wonder

break

linear narratives facilitate a problematic outcome of

if

being seen as ‘understandable’ … while the

something

with conict is that so many parts of it escape

trouble

understanding.

our

I work a lot with duration. Chronicles from

Finally,

is a 24-hour long immersive experience where

Kashmir

and actors live together for a day … .

spectators

too, helps me unravel complexity in more

Duration

ways. To bring in narratives from the ‘gray

evocative

while also taking the time to contextualize those

zones’

within the larger fabric of the conict that is being

voices

with. dealt

the tools of art production more closely,

examine

some time to examine this idea of methods,

take

What kinds of knowledge are involved in

3.

methods and how does the artist

artistic

In which ways does method play a similar

4.

different role in art as compared to

or

an embodied experience—arguably to a greater

also

than the other areas of knowledge. We

extent

think of artistic knowledge as requiring

might

whole selves, and especially our bodies—to

our

kinds of knowledge might be unique to

What

arts as a result of its material and embodied

the

Are there any exceptions—among the

nature?

art forms—where tools and instruments

different

a lesser role? And how is the knowledge

play

in the arts different from knowledge

produced

using different tools and methods in

produced

other areas of knowledge?

the



Nandita Dinesh is a 2002 IB graduate.

using the questions that follow.

For discussion

The role of methods in art

acquire them?

science, history or mathematics?

artwork?

III.3 Tools and instruments in art

act, dance, sing or play instruments.

in order to produce art. Knowing in the arts is

309


can be deeply interesting, as we see

Pigments

Kassia St Claire’s The Secret Lives of Color.

in

of us also take for granted that we can

Many

into an arts and crafts store to purchase

walk

set of oil paints, even though that is a

a

new innovation.

relatively

then there is Vantablack—one of the

And

blacks ever made. It absorbs almost

blackest

light—99.965% to be precise—so much

all

that some artists have described it as

so

from carbon nanotubes, by accident

Created

the laboratory of Surrey Nanosystems, an

in

and space science laboratory,

engineering

took the art world by storm.

Vantablack

was not widely available because the

It

had to be created under very specific

pigment

conditions, using a reactor and

laboratory

trained staff.

highly

artists flooded the company

Undeterred,

enquiries. Among them was Anish

with

a prominent contemporary artist,

Kapoor,

of Chicago’s Cloud Gate sculpture

creator

known as “The Bean”), who

(popularly

purchased the rights to Vantablack

ultimately

his exclusive use. Surrey Nanosystems,

for

from the technology world, may

coming

conceived of patents as a legitimate and

have

response to their innovation, and

obvious

the company patented the method and

so

protocols for creating the pigment.

laboratory

use of a technologically derived

Exclusive

is certainly not unheard of in the

material

world; indeed, patents protect

technology

incentives that propel research and

the

(R&D) in science, technology

development

industry. Without patents, the argument

and

organizations would have no pay-off from

is,

costly R&D, and so no incentive

pursuing

Surrey Nanosystems would find out, this

and

markedly different from the ethos and

was

technologies and material possibilities

New

a long history of inspiring new art forms

have

movements. And that these innovations

and

sometimes, or even often, not freely and

are

shared by their inventors is also not

widely

But something about Vantablack deeply

new.

many artists, perhaps none more so than

upset

Semple who, inspired by this episode,

Stuart

go on to democratize pigments. He saw

would

Vantablack patent as elitist and immoral,

the

access to an art material that could

limiting

art collectively. But Semple had been

advance

his own pigments and not sharing

making

and was struck by his own hypocrisy.

them,

so, he made his pigment, the Pinkest

And

available for purchase by other artists

Pink,

a very cheap price. This was both an act

at

sharing as well as a performance, because

of

sale was made on the condition that the

every

was not Anish Kapoor, was not affiliated

buyer

him in any way, and would not allow

with

Kapoor access to the pigment.

Anish

performance went viral, shared

Semple’s

commented upon thousands of times on

or

media. Anish Kapoor somehow got his

social

on the pigment and did a performance

hands

his own, posting a picture on Instagram

of

his middle finger dripping in the Pinkest

of

So commenced a massive feud. Semple

Pink.

with a few others set out to create an

along

to Vantablack, spending years in

alternative

and collaborating with the make-up

R&D

to create Black 3.0, not quite as black

industry

Vantablack, but pretty close. It inspired

as

artist, Diemut Strebe, who alongside

another

scientists ultimately created a blacker

MIT

than Vantablack, a pigment that traps an

black

99.995% of light. Until a blacker

astonishing

comes around, this one is available to

black

artist, including AnishKapoor.

any

10

Case study

Pigment feuds

expectations of many artists.

disturbing and confronting.

This did not go down well with the art world.

to pursue it in the first place. But as Kapoor

310

this example, consider how questions

Within

context, access, values and incentives

of

can play the role of enhancing

Technology

possibilities in the arts, as well

existing

creating new forms of expression and

as

To what extent is this presenting

production.

challenges for knowledge in the arts? The

new

for example, about the artistic status of

debate,

produced poetry and music is a relatively

AI

one, but the questions of authorship,

recent

quality and value are concerns that

originality,

long been at the centre of discourse in the

have

explore an example of the interaction

Let’s

artist and technology in digitally

between

art production methods. Dan Tepfer’s

enhanced

is a self-playing piano powered by an

partner

in the production of artistic

intersect

knowledge.

algorithm. Follow the link to

improvisational

out how Tepfer has produced the algorithm

find

programmed a hybrid piano to co-create

and

pieces with him in real time.

musical

terms: Improvisational

Search

digital player piano

algorithms

can we say about the artistic status of

What

musical compositions? Consider how

Tepfer’s

involvement of the algorithm in this case

the

or complicates your answer to the

changes

What if he had two algorithm-powered

question.

playing with each other?

pianos



arts.

Making connections

as mathematical knowledge? Similarly here, if an

algorithm composes a musical piece that a human

Technology in the arts and mathematics

cannot read or perform, to what extent can we call this

an art piece? Comparing these two cases, consider

In Chapter 11 we encounter the example of nonsurveyable

proof, a computer-generated solution

what happens when technological advancements

outpace our human abilities and what the implications

to a unsolved mathematical problem. There we ask

of this are for knowledge.

the question: if the proof is too long or complex for

humans to check it, can we conrm it and accept it

311

IV. Ethics

may notice that many knowledge questions

You

claims in the arts are concerned with

and

who decides something, and how

judgment:

do that. These are important concerns

they

TOK and especially in the arts,

throughout

of the potentially transgressive and

because

nature of art that aims to change

provocative

and collective attitudes. Around

individual

world, ethical questions pertaining to

the

are being decided by someone, whether

art

is through the creation or exhibition of a

that

work or its censorship, for example. In

given

to understand the implications of these

seeking

we can look to the implications of

decisions,

and policing in art, and what this

censorship

us about the power of art to influence

tells

value systems and moral

preferences,

At the outset of this section, consider

judgments.

What criteria would you use for the

1.

of art, and why?

censorship

Would you agree or disagree that Serrano

2.

to uphold his moral responsibility, as

failed

Consider how we value art. Does it have to

3.

morally good in order to be good art?

be

To what extent could you say that art as an

4.

is better or worse off without works

AOK

the tenth anniversary of the start of the First

On

War, Ernst Friedrich published Krieg

World

Kriege! (War Against War!), an album of

dem

sourced from German military

photographs

what extent artistic knowledge has influenced

to

personal moral values.

your

far is too far in arts? In 1987 Andres

How

submerged a crucifix in his urine. The

Serrano

of the jar has been subsequently

photograph

as a work of art in various exhibitions

displayed

the world, but never with an explanation

around

the artist’s intent, leaving individuals

about

interpret it as they would. It has been

to

by religious communities and

denounced

conservatives, with Serrano receiving

political

for over two decades. The controversy

threats

familiar and perennial knowledge issues

raised

to the arts as an AOK.

pertaining

terms: Andres Serrano

Search

York controversy

New

art such as this one? How would you

of

decide?

Serrano has also worked on an

Andres

about US President Donald Trump,

exhibition

both interest and concern over

spurring

intentions. Serrano has stated: “I’m not

his

in pointing fingers, because I think

interested

boring. I’ve seen a lot of artwork that’s

it’s

and frankly it’s not good, it’s not

anti-Trump,

I’d rather let the man speak for

interesting.

government during wartime. It has been

the

to as a “Pacifist Bible”, and starts with

referred

of toy guns then proceeds into pictures

pictures

death, destruction, starvation, agony,

of

10

I V. E T H I C S

For discussion

Ethical questions in the creation of art

an artist, with this particular work of art?

himself”(quoted in Stanley-Becker2019).

Box 10.8: The power of art to influence ethics

and medical archives that were censored by

mutilation and graves. The photographs’

312

(in four languages) mock militarist

captions

The album was condemned by

ideology.

organizations but praised in anti-war,

patriotic

artistic and intellectual circles as

progressive,

the arts as an AOK, ethical questions

Within

arise at various points in the production,

can

or dissemination of knowledge.

acquisition

TOK, we seek to explore the claims and

In

in relation to ethics in the context

counterclaims

the production and dissemination of art.

of

What was the artist’s intention for the work,

•

why? and

How was the artistic work displayed,

•

or introduced?

exhibited

What impact did the work have on the

•

and who is responsible for that

audience(s),

If there were rewards arising from the work,

•

benefited from them?

who

each of the examples in Table 10.1, identify

For

real-life situation in art where a similar

a

war. By 1930, War Against War! had

against

translated into many languages, and

been

through 10 editions in Germany alone.

printed

yet, within the decade the Second World

And

claims arise with respect to the intention,

These

presentation, impact and/or rewards

creation,

an artistic work. Think of these areas as

of

around which ethical concerns in art

“hotspots”

10.1 contains examples of contemporary

Table

issues with their corresponding

ethical

questions. Within TOK we are not so much

TOK

with arguing right from wrong, but

concerned

in how we form judgment about right and

rather

Hopefully, our judgments about right

wrong.

your example, formulate a set of claims and

to

in response to the knowledge

counterclaims

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

something that would turn public sentiment

War was underway.

Figure 10.9

Image number 30 in Ernst Fridrich’s photograph album Krieg dem Kriege! (War Against War!)

tend tocluster.

Ethics hotspots in art

intention creation presentation impact rewards

• How did the artist go about creating the work?

and wrong are improved as a result.

impact?

Practising skills: Constructing claims and counterclaims

ethical issue finds expression. Next, relating

questions provided.

313

IV. Ethics

artist’s intent to confront the audience

“The

inequality does not justify the

with

framing of people in poverty,

paternalistic

if the audience is moved to donate

even

to charity. The artist should be

money

for showing an uplifting narrative

responsible

artist’s intent to show us the beauty of

“The

Peoples’ dress exploits a power

Indigenous

treats their culture as decorative,

asymmetry,

perpetuates a romanticized and exoticized

and

that further distances the other. Good

ideal

do not absolve the artist of

intentions

years after a photograph was

“Twenty

in a magazine, we learn that the

published

photographer did not follow local

famous

and norms in obtaining the iconic

customs

and did not ask the subject for

portrait,

thereby offending the adults

permission,

scaring the child who was the subject

and

the photograph. We should denounce the

of

and demand the author and magazine

work

to the subject.”

apologize

artistic work inspired an act of

“The

and even though this was never the

violence,

of the artist, she must be held partly

intent

responsible.”

an audience we generously rewarded the

“As

but have forgotten about the subject,

artist

received no share of the financial

who

The artist defended his actions by

rewards.

the person he used as a source of

saying

was barely known before but now

inspiration

an artistic representation of a people ever

Can

“neutral” or objective?

be

an aesthetic bias is inevitable, should we aim

If

regulate it, and if so, how, and who should

to

morality in the arts a matter of

Is

personaltaste?

criteria should we use to find answers

What

the questions above, and do you think

to

people and cultures would agree on

different

criteria?

the

are the implications of using an artistic

What

as a source of knowledge about the

impression

What other sources does it displace?

subject?

should we honour other people’s rights

How

represent themselves while working for a

to

audience?

home

we aim for ethical standards to

If

over time, how should we apply

improve

standards to the past, when

contemporary

“may not have known better”? What

people

is there in interrogating decisions taken

value

the past?

in

we say something was acceptable at the

If

do we marginalize the people who

time,

it was not acceptable at the time, and

thought

change history?

so

what extent are artists responsible for the

To

they inspire in their audience? How do

actions

decide on the boundaries delineating how

we

artists are responsible for the impact of an

far

do we know the difference between

How

and inspiration, and what are

appropriation

implications for this on the ownership of

the

artistic work?

an

10

Example ethical claim in art

Knowledge questions

do this?

that reveals dignity in the face of hardship.”

responsibility.”

artistic work?

enjoys wider recognition.”

Table 10.1

Examples of ethical claims and knowledge questions

314

issue deserving our attention is the

Another

to which we can separate an artwork

extent

the artist. This question has gained

from

in recent years with high-profile

importance

about the crimes committed by

revelations

singers, actors and film-makers. Similar

artists,

are asked in other disciplines—

questions

many influential philosophers and

indeed,

were almost certainly racists,

scientists

or misogynists—but are artists

chauvinists

their art more inextricably linked? Do the

and

or unethical actions of an artist more

crimes

observers have argued that it is the

Some

in people that makes for good art, and

badness

experiencing and learning from their art

that

not mean condoning or perpetuating their

does

or rewarding them financially. (See, for

ideas,

Russell Smith’s article “Good Art by

example,

People” in the Canadian newspaper The

Bad

and Mail, 20 November 2016.)

Globe

2007 Guillermo Vargas exhibited Exposition

In

1, a dog tied to a wall in the Codice Gallery

No

Nicaragua, with the words “You are what

in

read” behind it, while the Sandinista

you

was played backwards. Vargas later

anthem

the dog, named Natividad, eventually

claimed

of starvation and dehydration due

died

the exhibition. This caused widespread

to

but Vargas responded by questioning

outrage

no one in the audience had taken any

why

to feed or free Natividad. Vargas was

action

with a familiar tension: was the artist

playing

or the audience? More to the TOK

responsible,

how would we go about asking that

point,

those who are interested, it is not clear

For

Natividad actually perished—

whether

the gallery’s director, Juanita

reportedly

stated that the dog was treated well

Bermúdez,

Vargas and released the next day. Vargas has

by

confirmed or denied this, insisting that

never

real outcome—the audience’s inaction and

the

clear.

complicity—was

has a significant and perhaps unique power

Art

evoke, provoke, offend or inspire humanity

to

some end. This quality of framing,

towards

distorting, interpreting, revealing or

cropping,

reality towards some truth has made art

hiding

and powerful and, therefore, a target

influential

those who wish to control influence and

for

The practice of censorship is commonly

power.

to governments, but humankind at

attributed

levels has a long history of censorship, based

all

calls to moral propriety and righteousness,

on

and respect for others, social stability

sensitivity

the protection of vulnerable groups.

and

range from the peculiar—Queen

Examples

encounter with the naked, 6-metre

Victoria’s

marble statue of David prompted the

high

of a proportionately accurate “fig leaf”

making

cover his nudity—to the systematic erasure

to

revolutionary icons such as Tank Man. A less

of

form of censorship is in deciding what

obvious

and is not, art, because artistic status confers

is,

and legal protections to a work.

social

of censorship in the arts abound

Examples

the reasons for censorship are similarly

and

In groups, discuss the following

varied.

questions.

1. Think about who censors art.

2. What are tacit, or informal, forms of

II outlined how art can serve at the

Section

of humanity’s social, political

vanguard

moral evolution. With the advantage of

and

we can identify works of art that

hindsight,

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

IV.2 Censorship

deeply affect how we experience their artwork?

IV.1 The role of the audience

For discussion

Censoring art

(a)

How are they given this power?

(b)

What criteria do they use?

censorship?

question?

IV.2.1 Censorship as a response to

transgression

were transgressive—violating the social,

315

IV. Ethics

or moral boundaries of the time—to

political

a progressive agenda. For example,

promote

works from an exhibition, Art AIDS

artistic

may have helped to foster progressive

America,

towards AIDS, and yet were

attitudes

and/or censored in their time. This

condemned

an obvious and recurring theme in art that

is

become something of a cliché. Should we

has

conclude that censorship is wrong? Of

therefore

the situation is much more complicated.

course,

history of art is filled with works that

The

and provoked outrage and yet failed

offended

deliver any positive social change. If it is

to

to recall particular examples, it may be

difficult

we scarcely noticed them (or because

because

were quickly censored), but there are many

they

of sexist, racist or religiously hateful

instances

masquerading as art.

work

big part of the problem of what to censor and

A

to permit, is the difficulty in rigorously

what

art. This provides people with a

defining

shortcut to censorship: “Oh, that’s

convenient

art, that’s [something else]”. Should artists

not

able to challenge our conceptions of human

be

or religious righteousness? Of course

sexuality

should. Are there limits to how they can

they

this? Apparently, yes, in every society and

do

that we know of. How are those limits

nation

at, who decides them and what are the

arrived

of such censorship? These are TOK

implications

would be fooled by survival bias to

We

that art should not be censored

conclude

it changes the world for the better;

because

would also be foolish to fail to realize that

we

artists never get that chance, because of

some

And without censorship, would

censorship.

not lose some of its transgressive powers

art

provoke, question and incite? Part of the

to

power of art comes from the

progressive

to it—the impulse to outrage and

response

Ultimately, how we strike that

censorship.

is a result of the forces and voices that

balance

peculiar subset within the topic of censorship

A

the censoring of art from the past. If history

is

anything to go by, our tolerance to art

is

increased with time; works that were

has

in the past, perhaps because of their

censored

or provocative tone, are more

blasphemous

accepted today. However, there is a

widely

movement to censor works from

contemporary

past. What does this suggest about popular

the

of morality and progress in art? Is

conceptions

in art more contextual than truth in other

truth

AOKs?

in 2001, the music critic Anthony

Writing

described the distinction between

Tommasini

and reality—art takes many forms and is

art

always easy to define, but it is always one

not

removed from reality. Well-known images

step

Vietnamese children running from a napalm

of

or of the falling twin towers might be

attack

and captivating to view,

artistically-composed

Tommasini stresses, we must recognise

but,

as truth rather than art. Would you agree

them

Tommasini’s distinction between truth

with

art? and

the Tate Modern Museum of

Conversely,

lists photojournalism as a form of art

London

emphasizing its need to remain “honest

while

impartial”. To what extent is that possible?

and

discussed in section II, there can be value

As

considering photojournalism as an art even

in

its status as a documentary medium is

though

accepted. Documentary photographers,

widely

invoking particular aesthetics and

by

can have a significant impact in

narratives,

realm, much like artists striving to create

this

certain mood in their work. Therefore,

a

comply with strict ethical

photojournalists

that have evolved and continue

guidelines

improve over time. Let’s explore how

to

aesthetic decisions in photography can

the

the meaning of a work, beginning with

affect

particularly shocking images taken by

the

Wallace Hooper of the Madras

Willoughby

of 1876–1888.

famine

10

IV.2.2 Censorship of the past

IV.3 The ethics of aesthetics

questions.

put forward their case on either side.

316

terms: Mukherjee Who

Search

the photographer who

was

dehumanizing images

took

famine

Madras

1876 the Sanitary Commissioner of

In

Dr Cornish, had felt that a

Madras,

might help rally the British

photographer

and political class to lend relief to

public

famine. If they could “see the living

the

assembled at feeding houses”, as

skeletons

had, perhaps they could be moved to act

he

quoted in Digby 1878). Others in the

(Cornish

special correspondent, Friend of India

(unnamed

quoted in Digby 1876)

newspaper,

intentions of Cornish and the unnamed

The

correspondent were to help the afflicted

special

of their district. The photographer

inhabitants

answered their call was Willoughby

who

Hooper, and his photographs crossed

Wallace

line between photojournalism and perverse

a

with accompanying captions such

aesthetic,

“Forsaken” and “The Last of the Herd”. A

as

incident describes how Hooper, at the

separate

of a gangster, interrupted the firing

execution

at the last moment to adjust his camera’s

squad

Once he was satisfied he asked them

focus.

photographs to accuse and possibly

“For

a moral response, they must shock”

invoke

terms: The

Search

Images of

Conversation

can bring about

suffering

change

Graphic magazine, 6 October 1877. The magazine featured

The

of the Madras famine in an exploitative aesthetic. This

images

photographs are from long ago but

These

ethical implications of aesthetic decisions

the

not gone away. Consider the linked

have

by Alison Dundes Rentein (2018).

article

examines the power of visual media,

Rentein

photography, in the politics of

particularly

aid and human rights. The ethical

poverty,

surrounding the practice and impact of

issues

genre of photography, sometimes called

this

have been thoroughly discussed

poverty-porn,

both academic and social discourse. The TOK

in

within this area are still worth examining

issues

side of the debate is outlined by Jonathan

One

writing in the UK newspaper the

Jones,

that “mobilizing shame” through

Guardian,

can move people to contribute

photographs

philanthropy, activism and

through

assistance.

development

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

Case study

Imagin(in)g the Global South

region felt similarly.

I feel an irresistible longing to send you

photographs of some of the living skeletons, of

Figure 10.10 Photograph by Willoughby Wallace Hooper, from

which there are evidently hundreds in the districts

immediately surrounding Madras. Words convey a

photograph was among the least disturbing of Hooper’s images;

poor idea of the appearance of a human being for

some days before he dies of starvation.

others were deemed too hard-hitting for inclusion.

as they will drive dilemmas of the future.

to carry on.

wrote Judith Butler (2007).

317

IV. Ethics

fact that people far away can see with visceral

The

the facts of a crisis like the one now

immediacy

the Horn of Africa is one of the most optimistic

hitting

of the modern world. Consciences are

aspects

by the camera. Don McCullin’s pictures

awakened

Biafra in 1969 are moving examples of the

of

photographers have forced the world to see

way

reality of hunger. It is only since the dawn of

the

photojournalism that global conscience has

modern

the hunger of others as a responsibility.

accepted

the camera it was almost incredibly easy to

Before

famine. Victorian Britain ignored it in Ireland,

ignore

near and yet so far. Artists painted beautiful

so

that rarely even hinted at the real lives

landscapes

the rural poor. Only in paintings of apocalyptic

of

such as Bruegel’s ‘Triumph of Death’ do we

horror

photograph can put suering on the front of your

A

while you eat breakfast.

paper

the narrative of the Global South,

However,

with Western literature in the 16th

beginning

and continuing through photographs

century

into the 21st century, has perpetuated

well

and disempowering stereotypes

inaccurate

fails to foreground important contextual

and

How many pictures of starving

factors.

in Africa simultaneously condemn

children

legacy of colonialism? Do modern

the

therefore continue to flatten

photographs

narrative, reducing the subjects of such

the

to objects of pity, without context

photographs

Campbell, a professor of cultural and

David

geography, has raised questions

political

the “compassion fatigue” and damage

about

by stereotypical mother-and-child

caused

of poverty. He quotes the report

photographs

of Africa” published by Oxfam that

“Image

the media representation of the

studied

famine:

Ethiopian

these pictures overwhelmingly showed people

All

needing our pity—as passive victims. This was

as

a de-contextualised concentration on mid-

through

close-up shots emphasising body language

and

facial expressions. The photos seemed mainly

and

be taken from a high angle with no eye contact,

to

reinforcing the viewer’s sense of power

thus

with their apathy and hopelessness.

compared

decisions may sometimes appear

Aesthetic

but subtle signalling can still

inconsequential,

powerful. For example, consider a 2010

be

about rising food costs published in the

article

newspaper the Guardian. The same article

UK

presented with a different image in the

was

and online editions. In the printed

printed

there was a starving young boy in

version,

foreground against straws of grain in the

the

(Figure 10.12a). The online version uses

sunset

image of Somali men apparently rioting

an

high food prices (Figure 10.12b). The

against

is largely the same across both versions

text

can be accessed by following the link

and

To what extent do the different images

here.

your understanding and/or response to

affect

terms: Guardian 2010

Search

prices rise UN report

Food

10

Figure 10.11

This photo tells a dierent story from the one that

comes out of the photographer’s camera

glimpse the experience of famine in pre-modern art.

(Jones 2011)

(van der Gaag, Nash 1987)

or agency?

the article?

318

and editors have been aware

Photojournalists

this issue for a long time, and so there has

of

some improvement. In 2010, Doctors

been

Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

Without

and VII Photo launched a project

(MSF)

Starved for Attention to rewrite the

called

terms: Starved for

Search

documentary

attention

of the things that was important

“One

this project was trying to go beyond

about

obvious photos of malnutrition”,

the

photographer Ron Haviv (quoted

said

Johnson 2009). That meant avoiding

in

images of starving children with

cliché

stomachs, and documenting

distended

more holistic and complex story. The

a

documentary was nominated for

resulting

Emmy Award.

an

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

story of childhood malnutrition.

Figure 10.12b

The online article

Figure 10.12a

The printed article

319

IV. Ethics

terms: Northrup

Search

true story of the

Disturbing

the linked video, YouTube vlogger Tony

In

examines the ethical issues involved

Northrup

the famous photograph of Sharbat Gula,

in

as Afghan Girl, that appeared on the June

known

cover of National Geographic. It is the most

1985

photograph and one of the most

recognized

prints of the photograph have been sold

Larger

up to $178,900 at auctions.

for

light of what we have encountered so far

In

the artistic and ethical implications of

about

poses her like an 80s glamour shot,”

“He

says (2019), “shoulder tilted towards

Northrup

camera, forehead forward a little bit, nice

the

to illuminate the eyes, and direct eye

light

[that] she would never

contact—something

do”. Northrup describes Sharbat Gula

ever

a little Pashtun girl facing a Western man.

as

has been guilty of awful

“Photojournalism

through history, often exploiting the

abuses

for profit and celebrity”, he says (2019).

poor

episode witnesses a collision of two

The

photography communities and

different

35 years apart: YouTube vloggers

practices

1980s photojournalists. It also reveals

and

of the key difficulties in separating

some

from art.

photojournalism

critique serves as an example of

Northrup’s

culture and is presented as furthering

“call-out”

ethical cause. However, his critique is

an

because he stands to benefit from

complicated

on his YouTube channel. Northrup has

views

been accused of doing a “hit piece” for

thus

gain. The renowned photographer

commercial

took Sharbat Gula’s portrait, Steve

who

is yet to personally respond but his

McCurry,

has responded to Northrup with

foundation

described in the video. The facts of

corrections

case may never be clearly established, and

the

Gula herself has described mixed

Sharbat

about the photograph.

feelings

Girl Follow-up:

Afghan

sources & answers

corrections

an April 2002 follow-up story by National

In

Sharbat Gula described feeling

Geographic,

when the photograph was taken. In 2017

angry

told the Pakistani newspaper The Express

she

that “the photo created more problems

Tribune

benefits. It made me famous but also led

than

my imprisonment”, but she also added “now

to

am very happy that it gave me honour and

I

me popular among people” (The Express

made

19 January 2017).

Tribune,

are individuals and communities

How

shaping artistic, journalistic and even

online

standards, and disrupting traditional

ethical

What would make this desirable or

platforms?

Is Northrup’s critique legitimized

undesirable?

his large following of over 1.3 million

by

on YouTube? Is it less credible because

people

stands to gain from his YouTube channel?

he

suggested ethical guidelines for

Northrup’s

are nothing new—ethical

photojournalists

exist in various forms for all professional

codes

organizations—but his

photojournalist

reach many more people precisely

guidelines

of his presence on YouTube. They

because

Don’t bend cultures to your aesthetics … or

•

stereotypes.

Proceeds from images of the poor

•

benefit the poor more than the

should

what extent are these ethical guidelines

To

or different to, for example, the NPPA’s

similar

terms: NPPA Code of

Search

ethics

10

For discussion

National Geographic,

Afghan Girl YouTube

YouTube

famous covers in the history of the magazine.

photography, consider the following.

include the following.

• Choose subjects based on their story, not looks.

• If a photo is … staged or posed, declare it.

photographer. (Northrup 2017)

code of ethics? (linked here).

320

11 Mathematics

th AOKs, mathmatis stands apart in important ways. It is said to th languag of th

Among

sins, an important ally to th human sins, and a slf-ontaind disiplin in its own

natural

Without mathmatis, som of th othr AOKs might waknd, and yt mathmatis would

right.

to do prftly wll y itslf. Or would it? In this haptr, w xplor what it mans to know

sm

univrs mathmatially, whthr it has n disovrd or ratd, and why it is thought of

th

as a languag, prati and ody of knowldg.

simultanously

with all th AOKs, th oundaris of

As

ar not dfinitivly drawn. Thr

mathmatis

vidn of humans pratising mathmatis

is

as long as writtn rords xist. In anint

for

algra, arithmti and gomtry

Msopotamia,

usd for various appliations inluding

wr

astronomy and arhittur as arly

taxation,

3000 bce. W still masur tim and angls

as

th numral systm asd on 60 (alld th

using

systm) dvlopd in Baylonian

sxagsimal

might be the ultimate intellectual

[M]athematics

… numeracy is one of the dening

endeavour.

of modernity… . Perhaps more than any other

features

mathematics is about the study of ideas.

subject,

is mathmatis? Philosophrs and

What

oftn answr this qustion y rfrring

historians

I . S C O P E

(Levy-Eichel 2018)

to th ontnts and mthods of mathmatis.

mathmatis.

321

I. Scope

mathmatis arris an aura of

Notaly,

aus mathmatial proofs ar 100%

authority

and a supposd usfulnss that justifis

rtain

privilgd status in many duation systms.

its

ar th limits of mathmatis? It is

Whr

assumd that thr ar non—that

somtims

is a univrsal form of knowldg and fatur

it

intllignt lif. S th opning xampl in

of

4 aout how mathmatis was hosn as

Chaptr

ommon ground on whih to ommuniat

th

pla to look for th limits of mathmatis

On

in what it an dsri, xplain or prdit. As

is

xampl of physis nvy in Chaptr 8 shows,

th

may hav n takn too far in th

mathmatis

for rigour in th soial sins. In 1931

qust

mathmatiian Kurt Gödl pulishd two

th

thorms that logially provd that

inompltnss

formal systm of mathmatis will ontain

any

that annot provn from within that

truths

Through mathmatis, Gödl gav us

systm.

limitations of mathmatis and snt powrful

th

through th disiplin. Othrs hav

shokwavs

that mathmatis sts th nhmark for what

said

think of as truth, and is th oldst “sintifi

w

in Wstrn thinking”, with “prhaps th

tool

sintifi authority”, as long as w do

gratst

aout Gödl’s thorms! (Chiodo,

notthink

Bursill-Hall2018).

Whr would you outlin th sop of

1.

Considr what happns

mathmatis?

its sop—think of phnomna

outsid

would say ar yond mathmatis.

you

What vidn is thr to suggst that

2.

ar som things that w will

thr

al to dsri or xplain

nvr

mathmatially?

Is mathmatial dsription mor

3.

ar mathmatial xplanations

aurat,

tru and ar mathmatial

mor

mor rtain than thos of

prditions

this statmnt writtn y Galilo

Considr

(1564–1642).

Galili

philosophrs hav agrd with, uilt on

Many

srutinizd his words. “Th Unrasonal

or

of Mathmatis in th Natural

Efftivnss

an ssay writtn y thortial

Sins”,

and mathmatiian Eugn Wignr,

physiist

Galilo’s vision of mathmatis.

hos

wrot that it is a “miral” that

Wignr

onpts lad to “amazingly

mathmatial

dsriptions” of physial phnomna

aurat

1960). H idntifid th following thr

(Wignr

Mathmatis xplains th strutur of th

•

univrs.

Thr is an apparnt dp strutur to th

•

univrs.

Human ings ar apal of this

•

mathmatis.

it rally as miraulous as Wignr suggsts—

Is

thr no rational xplanation? H was

ould

th ompany of Alrt Einstin (1922), who

in

wondrd, “how an it that mathmatis,

also

aftr all a produt of human thought whih

ing

indpndnt of xprin, is so admiraly

is

11

I.1 Becoming conversant in the

language of the universe

[The universe] cannot be read until we have learnt

the language and become familiar with the characters

in which it is written. It is written in mathematical

language, and the letters are triangles, circles and other

geometrical gures, without which means it is humanly

impossible to comprehend a single word.

with any xtratrrstrial intlligns.

(Galileo 1632)

miraulous oinidns.

For discussion

The enormous usefulness of mathematics in the

The nature and limits of mathematics

natural sciences is something bordering on the

mysterious, and there is no rational explanation for

it. It is dicult to avoid the impression that a miracle

confronts us here.

(Wigner 1960)

othr AOKs?

appropriat to th ojts of rality?”.

322

vidn for this unrasonal, vn

As

fftivnss of mathmatis,

miraulous,

hav givn xampls of astrat

philosophrs

that somhow om usful in

onjturs

appliations. For xampl, omplx

ral-world

wr long onsidrd to irrlvant

numrs

rmovd from matrial rality, ut now sm

and

to quantum mhanis.

nssary

law of gravitation is anothr xampl;

Th

onivd to xplain falling odis

originally

Earth, it was xtndd on th asis of “vry

on

osrvations” to dsri th motion

santy

plants, whr it “provd aurat yond

of

rasonal xptations” (Wignr 1960).

all

th 1970s dvlopmnts in ryptography

In

you might know as th mathmatis

(whih

WhatsApp nryption thnology and

hind

drw on numr thory, and

ryptourrnis)

fundamntal thorm of arithmti, whih

th

n onsidrd for 200 yars to among

had

“purst” of pur mathmatis for having

th

ral world valu. Suh xampls onrn

no

just mathmatis’ fftivnss, ut also th

not

twn dfining what is applid and

tnsion

is astrat mathmatis. On th on hand,

what

Hardy has said that pur mathmatis is

G.H.

usful than applid”, aus it trains

“mor

thniqu so wll (Hardy 1940).

mathmatial

th othr hand, w hav Loahvsky’s

On

that thr is no suh thing as

argumnt

mathmatis, aus all mathmatis

“astrat”

somday applid to th ral world

will

wll-known ritiqu of Wignr’s argumnt,

A

mathmatiian Rihard Hamming (1980),

y

four “partial xplanations” to argu

provids

th fftivnss of mathmatis in th

that

sins is nithr miraulous nor

natural

unrasonal.

We see what we look for: “muh of what w

•

oms from th glasss w put on” wrot

s

We create the kind of mathematics

•

look for: for xampl, in fforts to

we

physial fors, physiists

undrstand

trid salars, thn vtors, and finally

first

tnsors. And Nwton's thory of

invntd

was rplad y th nwr, ttr

gravity

of gnral rlativity. Instad of a

modl

fftivnss, w s hr trial

miraulous

Mathematics and natural science address

•

a part of human existence, answering

only

few problems: this,

comparatively

and politial philosophy, for

asthtis

ar rtainly not fftivly

xampl,

y mathmatis. Chaptr 8

xplaind

how mathmatis may hav n

xplors

too far in th human sins.

takn

Evolution has primed humans to think

•

our mathmatial aility

mathematically:

not a oinidn, w hav survivd

is

of it. This argumnt is on of

aus

I. Scope

I. Scope

(Loahvsky quotd in dPillis 2002).

(1980). Th xampls w find aris

Hamming

th mathmatial tools usd, in a slf-

from

rfrntial logi.

Statu of Galilo Galili in Florn, Italy

Figure 11.1

and rror.

survival ias.

323

I. Scope

of th arly xampls of this “unrasonal

Most

wr appliations of mathmatis

fftivnss”

physis. As th mathmatiian Isral Glfand

in

aov, it would misguidd to laim that

quips

has n miraulously fftiv in

mathmatis

sins. That said, Glfand am on of

othr

pionrs of iomathmatis. Towards th nd

th

th 20th ntury iologists wr systmatially

of

xtnsivly applying omplx mathmatis

and

a varity of filds. If you hav th intrst, do

in

rsarh on stohasti modlling of nzym

som

swarm intllign and spatial

dynamis,

If mathmatis is th languag in whih

1.

xprsss itslf, is it ttr

natur

as a mthod in th natural

dsrid

rathr than a ody of knowldg

sins

2. Whn onsidring knowing mathmatis:

What vidn suggsts thr is mor

(a)

mathmatis than mthod?

to

Is knowing mathmatis knowing

(b)

to prform mathmatial

how

or is thr mor to this

alulations,

of knowldg?

ody

far, our disussion has ntrtaind th

Thus

that mathmatis is th languag

possiility

th univrs; and that through it w gain

of

into th strutur of th univrs. Th

insights

to this laim, suggstd y Hamming

ountr

othrs, is that mathmatis is only our way

and

dsriing and undrstanding th univrs,

of

thr is nothing inhrntly mathmatial

that

th univrs, or univrsal aout

aout

mathmatis.

physiist Drk Aott (2013) has

Th

that th supposd "unrasonal

suggstd

of mathmatis is an illusion

fftivnss"

y human timsals; that w liv

inflund

di so quikly that th univrs appars to

and

govrnd y mathmatial laws ut may not

disours aout mathmatis’ “unrasonal

This

raiss two rlatd qustions:

fftivnss”

mathmatis is disovrd or invntd,

whthr

whthr a numrial sns is iologially

and

this xris to not your intuitions

Us

mathmatis. Writ an nding to

aout

following sntn: “Mathmatial

th

is diffrnt from othr typs of

knowldg

you do this xris as a lass, ollt

If

ompltd sntns and

vryon’s

th rang of viws and lifs. Thn

disuss

th sntns into sts of laims and

organiz

11

There is only one thing which is more unreasonable

than the unreasonable eectiveness of mathematics

in physics, and this is the unreasonable

ineectiveness of mathematics in biology.

(Gelfand quoted in Borovik 2018)

Mathematics is biology’s next microscope, only

better; biology is mathematics’ next physics,

only better.

(Cohen 2004)

atually so.

vrsus ulturally ndowd.

Practising skills: Constructing

knowledge claims

modlling of nural ntworks.

For discussion

What is mathematics about?

knowldg in that ….”

in itslf—and why?

ountrlaims.

324

is a prime, not because we think so, or because

317

minds are shaped in one way rather than another,

our

because it is, because mathematical reality is

but

that way.

built

Hardy’s prsptiv shapd y his ultural

Is

or is it univrsal? Blow w xplor

ontxt,

aout th origins of mathmatis. Dos it

laims

in th world outsid of human xprin, or

xist

it a produt of th human mind? W will larn

is

rogniz th assumptions that aompany

to

laims, and xplor th impliations of ths

ths

prsptivs towards mathmatis.

diffrnt

many physical systems have mathematical

…

the segmented arrangements in

representations:

pine cones and pineapples (Fibonacci

sunowers,

the curve of nautilus shells, elephant

numbers);

and rams horns (logarithmic spiral); … atoms,

tusks

and galaxies, which all now have powerful

stars

descriptors; even the cosmos as a whole,

mathematical

represented by the equations of general relativity …?

now

does the real world actualise maths at all? …

Why

physicists still explain this by some form of

Most

Platonism, which in its oldest form

philosophical

that the universe is moulded by mathematical

says

ralism assrts that mathmatis

Mathmatial

indpndntly of th human mind, that

xists

is disovrd, and not ratd, y humans.

it

a form of ralism, holds that th

Platonism,

is omposd of astrat and trnal

univrs

ntitis”. This has n among

“mathmatial

most datd topis in th philosophy of

th

If you ar a mathmatial ralist,

mathmatis.

unrasonal fftivnss of mathmatis

th

not sm that unrasonal aftr all,

might

th othr hand, anti-ralist prsptivs

On

that mathmatial ntitis do not xist,

argu

that mathmatis is a languag humans

and

invntd to talk aout quantity, strutur,

hav

and hang. Th philosophr Hugh

spa

famously dsrid mathmatis as

Lhman

“thortial jui xtrator" that is usful for

a

maning out of things, ut has no

squzing

argu that ths anti-ralist prsptivs,

Othrs

as nominalism, might appaling ut

suh

not quit mak sns aus th truths

do

ar rvald to us through mathmatis

whih

fat xistd long for humans startd to

in

thm or had a languag with whih

undrstand

of th omplling anti-ralist argumnts is

On

on th qustion of why humans ar al to

asd

astrat mathmatis in th first pla.

“know”

would w know th diffrn twn

How

ratd y th human mind and

mathmatis

indpndnt of it? Within TOK

mathmatis

nd not solv ths riddls. But anyon

w

alulating and modlling ral-world

masuring,

mathmatially should awar of

phnomna

laims and assumptions aout th natur of

th

why dos any of this mattr?

Ultimatly,

xampls w look at nxt suggst that

Th

prsptivs influn attituds in th

ths

ommunity and, thrfor, th

mathmatis

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives


II.1 Was mathematics discovered

or invented?

(Hardy quoted in Tarlach 2014)

aus th univrs is “mathmatial”.

ontnt in itslf.

to dsri thm.

rality thy rst on.

relationships which precede the material world.

(Wertheim 2017)

325

II. Perspectives

of mathmatial knowldg. Our

prodution

ar shapd y, and in turn shap,

prsptivs

mathmatial ommunity around us, and

th

mathmatis intrats with th widr

how

Thrfor, it is worth xamining th

world.

of having a divrsity of prsptivs

valu

and mathmatiian Jams

Philosophr

invits us to onsidr whthr thr

Franklin

ntitis of mathmatial natur at a tim

wr

humans thought aout mathmatis

for

had a languag with whih to dsri

and

(Franklin 2014). H quikly suggsts that

it.

thr wr many suh proprtis, and

indd

is among th ttr xampls. Th

symmtry

ilatral symmtry of animals

approximat

th irular symmtry of trs hav n

and

as xampls for th way mathmatis

usd

in th world indpndnt

manifsts

this vido, mathmatiian Marus du Sautoy

In

symmtry not in th imagind world

xplors

humans, ut in mid-13th ntury Islami

for

art.

gomtri

trms: Sautoy

Sarh

rality’s riddl

Symmtry,

taks us to th Alhamra in Granada

Sautoy

th south of Spain. Wath th vido and

in

mathmatis is an invntion, who gts

If

for it, and why do w tah it as if it

rdit

univrsal? If it is disovrd, has it n

wr

indpndntly, through diffrnt

disovrd

y various ulturs throughout

mthods,

How hav diffrnt popls diffrntly

history?

w know that th Moorish artists paintd

Today

17 mathmatially possil symmtris on th

all

ilings and floors of th Alhamra. Thy

walls,

this six nturis for humans had provd

did

17 is th maximum numr of symmtris

that

a two-dimnsional plan.

on

If two ulturs arriv at a mathmatial

1.

suh as symmtry sparatly, using

onpt

mthods, how dos this afft your

diffrnt

of whthr mathmatis is disovrd,

viw

What might othr xplanations for th

2.

dsrid in qustion 1?

oinidn

Considr th pattrns in th symmtris

3.

in th Alhamra.

sn

(a) In what sns ar th pattrns “ral”?

(b) What vidn is thr for this?

11

disovrd mathmatis?

inmathmatis.

For discussion

Was symmetry there before we

found it?

ofhumans.

as opposd to ing invntd?

onsidr th qustions low.

Making connections

the theme “Knowledge and religion”. How do artistic,

religious and mathematical knowledge practices

Knowledge in mathematics, art and religion

interact with one another in this example? What

The example of Islamic geometrical art places

challenges or opportunities arise when they intersect?

mathematics at an intersection with AOK “The arts” and

326

apparnt timlssnss of knowldg in

Th

may lad on to th assumption

mathmatis

mathmatial knowldg is produd in a

that

way. In rality, th prati of mathmatis

timlss

mddd in ultural ontxts and has hangd

is

ovr tim.

markdly

18th-ntury Europ th ida of mathmatis

In

th hiddn languag of th univrs was

as

aptd, and mathmatiians fashiond

widly

as “natural mn” (Alxandr

thmslvs

Prsptivs on mathmatis shift, along

2010).

th norms and valus of mathmatial

with

Rvaling this “hiddn ordr“ in

ommunitis.

mathmatial strutur of rality may attrat

th

partiular kind of mathmatiian: somon al

a

grappl with astrat thoris whil groundd

to

th ral world. Ths Enlightnmnt-ra

in

wr dsrid as unorruptd

mathmatiians

th formalitis, sptals, rivalris and

y

of soity; and thir ontmporaris

jalousis

iographrs praisd th “simpliity” and

and

of thir pursuit. Ths dpitions,

“purity”

ontrast, th prsptiv that mathmatis

In

onrnd with th rlationships twn

is

onpts may hav attratd a vry

astrat

prsonality. Historian of mathmatis

diffrnt

Alxandr xamins how, at th ginning

Amir

th 19th ntury, th Enlightnmnt’s

of

mn” gav way to a nw gnration

“natural

ofmathmatiians:

prsptiv of mathmatis, Alxandr

This

has haratrizd th disiplin sin th

argus,

of th 19th ntury: it has “lgitimizd

ginning

allowd for a nw typ of mathmatial

and

impratial, slf-rfrntial,

knowldg:

to worldly lif, and judgd only y its

irrlvant

TOK w oftn sarh for disagrmnts to

In

a light on diffrnt prsptivs. Howvr,

shin

aout mathmatis appars to mak

somthing

asir to rsolv; w do not oftn

disagrmnts

of mathmatial ontrovrsis. Could it

har

mathmatis has lss sop for disagrmnt?

that

that th prati of mathmatis, or th

Or

of mathmatiians, is partiularly

ommunity

in avoiding, silning or rsolving

fftiv

prsptivs? Kp ths qustions in

onfliting

thorms and onjturs in

Many

arry th nams of individuals.

mathmatis

Do individuals hav an aility to mak

1.

disproportionat impat in th fild

a

mathmatis as ompard to othr

of

disiplins?

How has th rol and influn of

2.

in mathmatis hangd ovr

individuals

Is th fild of mathmatis lss or mor

3.

ompard to othr disiplins?

ollaorativ

Has mathmatis n disproportionatly

4.

y partiular ulturs? If so, dos

shapd

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

II.2 Individuals and the mathematical

community

purity, its truth, and its auty” (2010).

mind as you rad through Box 11.1.

For discussion

The humans of mathematics

turn, shapd soial idals and idas aout

in

and mathmatiians, with long-

mathmatis

lasting ffts.

tim?

it ontinu to ?

mathematics . . . was a wondrous alternative

reality governed solely by the eternal laws of pure

mathematics, unsullied by the crass realities of

the world around us. Unlike their elders, the new

mathematicians were not so much interested in

acquiring new and useful results as they were

focused on the internal architecture of mathematics

itself, its interconnections, and the precise meaning

of its statements. Mathematics, for them, was its

own self-contained world and could be judged by

mathematical standards alone.

(Alexander 2010)

327

II. Perspectives

onpts an appar so stal,

Mathmatial

and timlss that thy sldom attrat

astrat

attntion of non-spialists or prompt soial

th

An important xampl to th

ontrovrsis.

involvs mathmatial indivisils,

ontrary

wr on at th hart of intlltual,

whih

and rligious lif in 17th-ntury

politial

Aording to Alxandr, th rsult of

Europ.

ontrovrsy around thm “hlpd opn th

th

to a nw and dynami sin, to rligious

way

and to politial frdoms unknown

tolration,

human history”(2014).

in

wr mathmatial indivisils a mattr

Why

onrn to politial and rligious authoritis

of

wll as to mathmatiians and sintists?

as

first xamin what w man y an

Lt’s

Imagin a straight lin that is

indivisil.

of tiny littl lins, so small that thy

omposd

dividd. Prhaps you might hav a

annot

littl pis on this lin, in whih as

illion

siz of ah is 1 illionth of th ig lin.

th

dividing it into illions is aritrary, you

But

divid it into two and thn divid it into

ould

in whih as you would hav two

illions,

pis. You ould oviously divid th

illion

in many diffrnt ways, and hav diffrnt

lin

of indivisils. But ould you arriv

numrs

an infinit numr of indivisils? It is a

at

qustion, aus an infinit

onfounding

of tiny pis ould an infinitly

numr

lin. Could ah littl pi of th lin

long

zro siz? If so, how ould thy add up

hav

a positiv magnitud? This prolm is mor

to

posd y Zno’s paradox.

suintly

tortois hallngs Ahills to a ra, starting

A

a 10-mtr had start. Aording to Zno,

with

ditats that Ahills an nvr ath

logi

By th tim h has ovrd th 10 mtrs,

up.

tortois will hav movd a tiny it mor,

th

4 ntimtrs. By th tim Ahills

prhaps

thos 4 ntimtrs, th tortois will

ovrs

advand a littl furthr, and so on, ad

hav

an infinit numr of finit

hallng:

thus an infinit numr of tims—

distans,

argus Zno, adds up to an infinit

whih,

of tim.

amount

a short vido xplanation of Zno’s

For

visit this link.

paradox,

trms: Kllhr

Sarh

is Zno’s paradox?”

“What

do w ronil this logi with our

How

Ahills oviously dos ath up

xprin?

th tortois, ut to solv th paradox w

with

know what is wrong with th argumnt,

must

as is widly livd, th prolm lis in

If,

laim that th sum of an infinit numr

Zno’s

things is an infinit thing, thn th solution

of

fairly straightforward: th alulus of

is

sris shows us that th sum nd

onvrgnt

infinit. Think aout utting a pi of

not

into infinitly small pis of string: th

string

of ths is still finit, quivalnt to th

sum

11

Box 11.1: A bitter dispute regarding human liberty and the infinitely small

not just its onlusion.

lngth of th original string.

Zeno’s paradox and infinity

Zno’s paradox assrtd that Ahills ould nvr

Figure 11.2

ath up with th tortois, aus vry tim h got los, th

tortois movd a littl furthr, in an innit numr of nit

stps. An anint Chins paradox dsris th sam prolm:

“a on-foot stik, vry day tak away half of it, in a myriad ags

it will not xhaustd” (Frasr 2017). Th paradox is attriutd

to philosophrs of th Mohism shool twn 500–200 bce,

around th sam priod that Zno was ativ.

infinitum. Ahills is fad with an impossil

328

st of prolms has n known sin at

This

th 6th ntury bce. Nonthlss, lassial

last

with only fw xptions

mathmatiians,

as Arhimds, avoidd th topi and its

suh

thniqus for aout two millnnia.

rlatd

th prolms ould not xpliatd

Sin

thy wr outsid th ralm of

gomtrially,

mathmatis”. Th rtainty providd

“propr

gomtry was widly onsidrd an idal

y

all intlltual ndavours should striv

that

Prhaps th anint mathmatiians did

for.

want to ruin this rputation with paradoxs

not

riddls thy ould not solv. Whil othr

and

prodution fforts produd disputs,

knowldg

dmonstration had for nturis uilt

gomtrial

as of smingly inontstal knowldg.

a

was not until th 1500s that a

“It

gnration of mathmatiians

nw

Arhimds’s xprimnts

rdisovrd

infinitsimals … Thir oldnss

with

off, as th “mthod of indivisils”

paid

… arly modrn

rvolutionizd

making possil alulations

mathmatis,

aras, volums and slops that wr

of

unattainal. … th mthod

prviously

formalizd at th hands of Nwton

was

Liniz, and am th rlial

and

that w all th “alulus,” …

algorithm

mthod of indivisils, foundd on

th

paradoxial dotrin of th infinitly

th

am th foundation of all

small,

mathmatis.” (Alxandr 2014)

modrn

ordr for this nw mathmatis to om

In

ing, th old ordr ndd to shift, and

into

was rsistan. By th mid-17th ntury,

thr

intlltuals, and powrful politial

prominnt

rligious figurs from aross Europ

and

organizing to invalidat infinitsimal

wr

and liminat this topi from th

thniqus

disours.

intlltual

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

329

II. Perspectives

did th st minds of th arly

“Why

world fight so firly ovr

modrn

infinitly small? … Th fight was

th

th fa of th modrn world. Two

ovr

onfrontd ah othr ovr th

amps

On th on sid wr rangd

infinitsimal.

fors of hirarhy and ordr—Jsuits,

th

Frnh royal ourtirs, and

Hosians,

Churh Anglians. Thy livd

High

a unifid and fixd ordr in th

in

oth natural and human, and

world,

firly opposd to infinitsimals.

wr

th othr sid wr omparativ

On

suh as Galilo, Wallis,

“liralizrs”

th Nwtonians. Thy livd in

and

mor pluralisti and flxil ordr,

a

th disput ovr indivisils

During

aov, mathmatis njoyd an

dsrid

prominnt pla in puli lif.

unusually

that might wlomd, th fild of

Whil

was also sujt to xtrnal

mathmatis

prssurs and rligious influns.

politial

this is mind, onsidr th following

With

qustions.

show us what happns whn

Infinitsimals

domains of knowldg, powr and lif

th

Chaptr 2 xplors th rasons why

ovrlap.

domains hav n kpt sparat. This

ths

movs on to onfront th diffiulty

haptr

this sparation, and to onsidr laims

of

mathmatial knowldg is politial and

that

in ultur.

mddd

th arly 1980s, th fild of

Sin

has formd around

thnomathmatis

of th ida that mathmatis

xplorations

nithr ultur-fr nor valu-nutral.

is

that might aommodat a rang of

on

and divrs ntrs of powr, and

viws

infinitsimals and thir us in

hampiond

(Alxandr 2014)

mathmatis.”

lav this story aout th lash ovr

W

Havn and Earth hr.

mathmatis,

who ar intrstd may wish

Radrs

sk out Alxandr’s work to furthr

to

how th “dangrous ida” of

xplor

ntrd mathmatis and

infinitsimals

rfltion aout what it mans to

promptd

and lgitimiz knowldg. Alxandr

lok

laims aout th ffts of this lash

maks

politial and rligious authority; laims

on

should and ar ing valuatd y

that

othrhistorians.

In mathmatis, and othr AOKs, is thr

1.

trad-off twn th powr of idas

a

How dos an ovrlap in sujt

2.

twn mathmatis, politis

mattr

rligion afft th prati of

and

and th knowldg

mathmatis

of mathmatis to nompass

prsptivs

idas of small-sal Indignous soitis

th

hav n largly xludd from th

that

and history of mathmatis. For

prati

in on of th arly thnomathmatis

xampl,

survys, Maria Ashr xplors

litratur

mathmatial traditions of a wid rang

th

ulturs and offrs xplanations of Navajo

of

of spa tim, Warlpiri undrstanding of

notions

rlations, omplx pattrns in Malkula

kinship

traing and so on. W do not hav th

sand

to go ovr ths xampls in a way that

spa

thir intlltual traditions. Instad w

fits

that you will tak this as an invitation

hop

xplor th mathmatis of othr ulturs.

to

w offr idas and qustions to guid

Blow

11

For discussion

Mathematics on the public stage

and th autonomy of th fild?

produd y it?

II.3 Is mathematics universal

or culture-bound?

Rsarhrs in this fild hop to xpand

you in doing so.

330

ulturs do not isolat mathmatis

Many

a sparat and spifi ativity or ara

as

knowldg, and do not nssarily hav

of

omparal to what w all

somthing

Mathmatial idas an found

mathmatis.

domains w would rogniz as rligious

in

art and dsign, gams and storis,

knowldg,

navigation and orintation pratis. How

or

w know whn and whthr othr ulturs

an

doing mathmatis? Ethnomathmatiians

ar

this qustion and th prolms

xplor

aris from it. Thy tak ar to pla

that

modrn prati of mathmatis has rarly

Th

Indignous mathmatial traditions.

aknowldgd

xption is th prati of kõlam. Kõlam,

On

“auty” in th south Asian languag

maning

is th nam of dsigns drawn in ri flour

Tamil,

a nturis-old tradition. Although

following

pattrns ar a form of dvotional art, thy

kõlam

mathmatial prinipls of symmtry and

mody

n studid y mathmatiians and

hav

sintists. Follow th link to find out

omputr

aout this ulturally mddd dsign

mor

and how it has ontriutd to th fild of

tradition

from Vijaya R. Nagarajan, author of

mathmatis

a Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual and Ecology

Feeding

whih thy aris, aus isolating thm

from

lind us to thir dpth.

an

mathmatial idas that ar

Considring

in ulturs othr than your own,

mddd

What maks a ultur’s mathmatial

1.

mathmatial? Is it that thy onform

idas

your undrstanding of mathmatis

to

so you idntify thm as suh, or is

and

somthing univrsal aout thm, or

thr

ls ntirly?

somthing

How an w rogniz and undrstand

2.

mathmatial idas of othr ulturs

th

thy do not hav omparal formal

if

prati?

mathmatial

trms: Vijaya Nagarajan

Sarh

YouTu

Kolam

of mathmatis as artisti or rligious

Exampls

suh as kõlam, draw attntion to th

prati,

in mathmatis of knowing y doing.

possiility

ida is xplord furthr in III.5.

This

thr a diffrn twn undrstanding,

Is

and knowing mathmatis? Th writr

doing

Wrthim givs ross-ultural

Margart

of mathmatial know-how

xampls

for it was xprssd as a formula.

long

rading th xrpt low, onsidr

Whn

th popl ar doing mathmatis.

whthr

mathmatis is dfind as somthing that

If

n or an mathmatially provn,

has

answr might hav to “no”. To say

th

would man xpanding th dfinition

“ys”

mathmatial knowldg and prati into

of

trritoris of ultural, rligious and artisti

th

Rmmr that this dmaration

traditions.

knowldg into diffrnt trritoris

of

is a rlativly nw, and far from

(disiplins)

approah. What is lost and gaind

univrsal,

doing so? Is thr a as that mathmatis

y

ths oundaris mor radily than

transnds

AOKs?

othr

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

For ref lection

Mathematical ideas in different

cultures

rflt on th following qustions.

mathmatial idas in th ultural ontxts

in India, an Exploration of the Kõlam.

331

II. Perspectives

writs that long for Europans knw

Wrthim

wr only 17 typs of symmtry on a plan:

thr

medieval mosaicists working with their hands

…

the Hasba method knew about them all. [They]

using

discovered aperiodic tiling, which is a way

also

lling a plane where the pattern never repeats.

of

mathematicians discovered these tilings

Western

in the 1960s, again after centuries of theorising

only

adds that Afrian raftsman had

Wrthim

fratals nturis ago. “A wid

disovrd

of fratal pattrns ar inorporatd into

varity

txtils, hairstyling, mtalwork,

Afrian

painting and arhittur”

sulptur,

2017). Follow th link to wath

(Wrthim

Eglash’s Td Talk “Th fratals at th

Ron

of Afrian dsigns”.

hart

trms: Ron Eglash on

Sarh

fratals

Afrian

what xtnt is a numr sns natural?

To

answr to this qustion has signifiant

Th

for how w think aout human

impliations

and diffrn, and aout th

samnss

of mathmatis. Furthr, how w

univrsality

this qustion rvals muh aout our

answr

of human iology, ognition

undrstanding

volution, and th sop and limitations

and

our knowldg in ths aras, as wll as th

of

of spial human apaitis for musi,

origins

and languag. This as study onsidrs

art

argumnts of nurosintists and ognitiv

th

as prsntd y th writr Philip Ball.

sintists,

of his argumnts ar quotd low,

Many

pratis an somtims look

Mathmatial

diffrnt twn ulturs—ut is all

strikingly

ultural variation asd on a univrsally

this

mathmatial aility? Early 20th-

shard

thorists viwd Indignous Popls as

ntury

of sophistiatd analytial thought or

inapal

logial rasoning. Cntral to this prjudi

formal

th qustion of whthr all human minds

was

ulturs ar al to oniv of th onpt

and

numrs. Ovr th past ntury, rsarhrs

of

movd away from this lin of thinking.

hav

th qustion of numray rmains

Nvrthlss,

question of the universality of mathematical

The

overlaps with the discussion about the

reasoning

of the human faculty of language in

universality

4, and of the nature-nurture debate in

Chapter

8. The assumptions made and the methods

Chapter

to explore these questions in dierent

used

meet in the case study below. As you read

disciplines

consider whether questions at the intersection

on,

multiple disciplines benet from or require an

of

approach.

interdisciplinary

trms: Philip Ball “Why

Sarh

humans hav numrs?”

do

have long claimed that our ability with

Scientists

is indeed biologically evolved—that we

numbers

count because counting was a useful thing for

can

brains to be able to do … .

our

othr animals hav dmonstratd an

Indd,

to diffrntiat twn small quantitis

aility

things. Prhaps it is a iologial gift. But

of

numr of ognitiv sintists argu that

a

“numr sns” is atually a produt of

this

Ball sums up as follows.

ultur.

11

that such patterns were impossible … .

(Wertheim 2017)

ompliatd, as th as study low illustrats.

Making connections

Universality

Case study

Looking for numbers in the brain

and in culture

(Ball 2017)

ut follow th link to rad th full artil.

332

argue that, while there’s a biological grounding,

I’d

and cultural traits are necessary for the

language

animals hav a quantitativ sns, for

Many

ing al to distinguish whih undl

xampl

with newborns and infants show that, if

Studies

show them eight dots repeatedly and then

you

it to 16 dots, areas in the right parietal

change

of the brain respond to a change in

cortex

has ld som rsarhrs to thoriz that

This

numrial sns is innat.

a

suh as Rafal Núñz, argu that th

Othrs,

of a iologially ndowd numr

argumnt

is asd on skthy sin: inaurat

sns

of iologial volution, ovr-

undrstanding

on WEIRD population sampls (as

mphasis

in Chaptr 8) and ovrintrprtation

disussd

rsults from traind animals. W must also

of

th diffrn twn quantial and

not

ognition: quantial rlats to how

numrial

appls thr ar in a askt, or how many

many

on a oard, whras numrial ognition

dots

with symols suh as 3, 4 and 5.

dals

because a behaviour seems to derive from an

Just

capacity, that doesn’t mean the behaviour

innate

itself innate. ... No non-human animal has yet

is

found able to distinguish 152 items from 153.

been

can’t do that, no matter how hard you train

Chimps

yet many children can tell you even by the

them,

of ve that the two numbers dier in the same

age

as do the equally abstract numbers 2 and 3:

way

rsarhrs do not apt that numrial

Othr

is a ulturally drivd aility.

ognition

that th rain is “prdisposd to aquir

argus

numr systm” that ultur an furthr

a

and rfin. But without this iologial

shap

humans would nvr hav a numr

apaity,

Chaptr 8 w nountr th ida of

In

an argumnt that natur

naturultur,

ultur ar so tightly onntd in

and

rlationships that w ar ttr off

ologial

sparating thm. If w apt Núñz’s

not

for th momnt, that quantial

argumnt

annot volv into numrial

ognition

without th influn of ultur, what

ognition

do w hav? Núñz suggsts that

vidn

ulturs around th world hav no words

many

symols for numrs largr than fiv or six.

or

words quivalnt to “many” ar usd.

Instad,

the language of the Munduruku people of the

In

for example, adesu indicates ‘several’

Amazon,

ade implies ‘really lots’. These cultures

whereas

with what to us looks like imprecision: it really

live

matter if, when the oranges are divided

doesn’t

one person gets 152 and the other 153. And

up,

if we aren’t so number-xated, it really

frankly,

matter. So why bother having words to

doesn’t

diffrns twn larg numrs

Small

mattr for many thnologial and

larly

appliations. Howvr, on argumnt

sintifi

that humans’ innat quantial sns is

is

th diffrn twn on and

logarithmi:

is muh gratr than twn fiv and six,

two

for most ativitis in th human ra, this

and

suffiint.

was

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

establishment of number itself’.

(Ball 2017)

aility (Nidr quotd in Ball 2017).

of food is iggr, and it appars innat to humans.

numerosity. This response is very similar in adults.

(Ansari quoted in Ball 2017)

distinguish them?

(Ball 2017)

Arithmetic scale

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 13 16

namely, by 1 … .

Logarithmic scale

(Núñez quoted in Ball 2017)

6 7 8 9 12 16

1 2 3 4 5

Arithmti and logarithmi sals

Figure 11.3

Nuroiologist Andras Nidr, for xampl,

333

II. Perspectives

ognitiv nurosintist Stanislas

Th

has suggstd that whil Wstrn

Dhan

and hildrn gnrally us an vnly

adults

numr lin, th Munduruku

spad

a logarithmi sal. Th rsarhrs

us

that hildrn who larn to spa

spulat

arithmtially must first ovrom

numrs

logarithmi intuitions. Howvr,

innat

is an insapal irony in Wstrn

thr

attmpting to prisly quantify

sintists

impris mapping of quantitis y a

th

group of Indignous Popl doing

small

Th rsarhrs hav notd that th

puzzls.

in thir rsults is too grat to allow

variaility

aout outoms from th rpliation

Thinking

to what xtnt would you gnraliz

risis,

aout humans having a logarithmi

laims

sns?

quantial

easy to read this as a ‘primitive’ way of reasoning,

It’s

anthropology has long dispelled such patronising

but

… . You develop words and concepts for

prejudice

truly matters to your society. From a practical

what

one could argue that it’s actually the

perspective,

homogeneous group of industrialised

somewhat

that look odd, with their pedantic distinction

cultures

1,000,002 and 1,000,003.

between

mathmatiian Morris Klin has writtn

Th

that “ompard with th

ondsndingly

of thir immdiat sussors,

aomplishmnts

Grks, th mathmatis of th Egyptians

th

Baylonians is th srawling of hildrn just

and

to writ as opposd to grat litratur”

larning

attituds xprssd in this quot hav

Th

strongly ritiizd and nouragd th

n

ffort in mathmatis. Klin’s

dolonization

hos th sam myths nountrd

ommnt

furthr ompliat mattrs, thr is

To

that th two systms—quantial and

vidn

prossd diffrntly in th

numrial—ar

and thrfor appar to unorrlatd.

rain,

hallngs th ida that th quantial

This

volvd into a numrial systm.

systm

dos this mattr for knowldg? Th

How

influn mathmatis duation,

impliations

xampl. Rsarhrs at th Johns Hopkins

for

showd a orrlation twn

Univrsity

aility to disriminat twn

14-yar-olds’

numrial quantitis (suh as th numr

xat

dots in an imag) and thir tst sors in

of

all th way ak to kindrgartn

mathmatis

et al 2008). Th orrlation has n

(Halrda

to dvlop duational tools to assss and

usd

mathmatial aility, for xampl in

improv

that ask hildrn to quikly assss how

tsts

languag th origin of our numrial

Could

and of mathmatis? Did w gin

sns,

in itself may be a necessary condition for

Language

but it is not sucient for it … . All known

number,

cultures have language, but by no means all

human

exact quantication in the form of number.

have

history and th human and

lswhr—in

sins—that non-Wstrn ulturs and

natural

is a urious and hallnging

Mathmatis

in th widr movmnt for duational

as

and dolonizing duation. Enrgizd

quity

hav arisn in at last two aras. On

dats

how th history of mathmatis is told and

is

Th sond takls th prsistnt lif

taught.

mathmatis is nutral from th point of

that

lass and gndr. This has n th sit of

ra,

dat and ontrovrsy, suh as th

signifiant

movmnt in lat 2017.

#IStandWithRohll

11

for strong onlusions.

many dots ar on a pag.

ounting whn w ould nam numrs?

(Núñez quoted in Ball 2017)

(Ball 2017)

II.4 Diversity and many mathematics

intlltual traditions lag hind.

(Klin 1985).

334

of mathmatis duation, Rohll

Profssor

dlivrd a talk on “mathmatx”,

Gutiérrz

to a mathmatis rimagind in oth of

rfrring

following ways.

th

It is awar of th urrnt dominan of

•

idas in th fild.

urontri

It ativly sks to inorporat Indignous

•

into th tahing and prati of

knowldgs

has a fundamntally politial outlook

Gutiérrz

th fild of mathmatis. Sh maintains that

on

ordr for studnts and profssionals to ring

in

full slvs to thir work and larning, thy

thir

to tak stps towards “rhumanizing”

nd

Sh xplains ths stps in a

mathmatis.

sgmnt (16:15–25:55) from th talk, at

10-minut

link. this

trms: Gutiérrz:

Sarh

mathmatis: a

Rhumanizing

Gutiérrz’s laims, suh as “on

Whn

lvls, mathmatis itslf oprats as

many

(Gutiérrz 2018) wr notid

whitnss”

sh am a targt of hat mail, thrats,

onlin,

raist and misogynist attaks. Aadmi

and

and profssional organizations

ollagus

y issuing statmnts ondmning

rspondd

attaks and xprssing solidarity with

th

Th laim that mathmatis is

Gutiérrz.

ntangld with powr and politis

invitaly

was mddd in th

#IStandWithRohll

of th Unitd Stats, ut w an

ontxt

th qustion aout why idntity and

gnraliz

appar ntangld in this ultural

mathmatis

Strotyps aout rtain gndrs,

momnt.

and ulturs ing good or ad at

thniitis

on your akground and loation,

Dpnding

issu of idntity in th prati and

th

of mathmatis may not urgnt

tahing

you. But th assumptions of th nutrality

for

mathmatial knowldg and prati

of

politial. To what xtnt is th laim that

is

II. Perspectives

II. Perspectives

A stion of th Rhind papyrus, a 5-mtr-long Egyptian sroll datd 1550 bce. Th Rhind papyrus ontains arithmti and

Figure 11.4

gomtry, and spially outlins a mthod for approximating th valu of π to within 1% auray.

had provokd a strong ration.

mathmatis.

mathmatis ar still widsprad.

vision for th futur YouTu

mathmatis is nutral a dnial of its potntial

335

II. Perspectives

prptuat inquality or injusti? Dos

to

nutrality assumption limit our aility

th

addrss prolms with mathmatis and

to

improv it? W rvisit this qustion in

to

trms: Brodi Th

Sarh

Dolonisd

Convrsation

th link to th artil “Ys, Mathmatis

Follow

Dolonisd. Hr’s How to Bgin”, y

an

duation profssor Karin Brodi,

mathmatis

sh offrs th following thoughts.

whr

has a prolm with

“Mathmatis

All ovr th world, lak and

divrsity.

mathmatiians rmain rar. Thy

womn

don’t tak mathmatis at highr

simply

lvls as muh as thir whit

aadmi

mal prs. … But maths should and

and

Filds Mdal, stalishd in 1924, has only

Th

awardd to a woman on, in 2014. Hr

n

is Mariyam Mirzakhani, and you an follow

nam

link to larn mor aout hr and hr work.

th

trms: Wird.om

Sarh

Filds Mdal

Mirzakhani

that th profssion and tahing of

Claims

ar gndrd and raializd ar

mathmatis

ing datd. Manwhil, tahrs in

still

lassrooms find that studnts

mathmatis

fl supportd whn th divrsity of

an

studid in th urriulum

mathmatiians

th divrsity in th lassroom, and

rflts

thy an s thmslvs rfltd in

whn

Th movi Hidden Figures (2016), whih

it.

th story of Afrian-Amrian fmal

tlls

as thy wr alld at th

mathmatiians—or

alulators—at NASA during th Spa

tim,

and th raial sgrgation ra, was wll

Ra

y popular ultur.

rivd

IV. Ultimatly, do duators hav a

stion

to tah an anti-disriminatory

rsponsiility

duation, rathr than mrly a

mathmatis

on?

non-disriminatory

ass to its auty and its

dsrvs

vryody should al to

powr—and

ak whn th disiplin is usd to

push

and opprss.” (Brodi 2016)

dstroy

suggsts that studnts’ idntitis

Brodi

important in tahing and larning

ar

Considr hr artil and what

mathmatis.

hav ovrd so far in this stion as

w

What rol dos idntity play in th

1.

and transfr of mathmatial

aquisition

How is th rol of idntity that you idntifid

2.

qustion 1 similar to or diffrnt from th

in

11

For discussion

Decolonizing mathematics

mathmatis

you disuss th following qustions.

knowldg?

rol of idntity in othr AOKs?

dos long to vryody. Evryody

Figure 11.5 Iranian-Amrian mathmatiian Mariyam

Mirzakhani, th only woman to awardd th Filds Mdal

336

TOK w rgularly ngag with th onpts

In

rtainty, truth and ojtivity. Mathmatis, it

of

laimd, has a spial rlationship with ths

is

ing al to ahiv thm through th

onpts,

of mathmatial proof. A proof is tru

pursuit

if it is always tru. This standard of rigour

only

rtainty, arrivd at through rasoning

and

from mpirial argumnts, is oftn said

dtahd

proofs ar uilt using logial

Mathmatial

from thorms, whih ar prviously

infrns

onjturs, and axioms, whih ar ithr

provn

or assumd statmnts usd as th

slf-vidnt

point. Th ovious “wak spot”, if thr is

starting

in mathmatial proof is in th axioms usd.

on,

1. Consid mathmatial axioms.

(a) On what asis an axioms hosn?

(b) Who hooss axioms, using what

Is all of mathmatis prdiatd on our

2.

hoi of axioms?

prdssors’

If our prdssors had hosn a diffrnt

3.

of axioms, would w hav a diffrnt

st

Do mathmatial ralists and anti-ralists

4.

diffrnt answrs to qustion 3?

hav

5. (a) Do mathmatiians hav faith in

To what xtnt dos faith play a rol

(b)

mathmatis?

in

all th stps in th proof ar logially sound,

If

oms a thorm. Mathmatial proof is

it

from th vidn-asd proof in law,

diffrnt

xampl, in that on provn a thorm is

for

and final. Th mathmatial ommunity

onlusiv

hks th stps and judgs th ompltnss,

thn

and originality of th proof. That last

auray

is important: for all th rigour and rtainty

point

to mathmatial proofs, thorms ar

attriutd

in a soial pross that is not infallil.

vrifid

mathematicians prove theorems . . . . The

When

of the arguments is determined by

correctness

scrutiny of other mathematicians, in informal

the

in lectures, or in journals … the means

discussions,

which mathematical results are veried is

by

a social process and is thus fallible.

essentially

[T]he history of mathematics has many stories

…

false results that went undetected for a long

about

In addition, … important theorems have

time.

such long and complicated proofs that very

required

people have the time, energy and necessary

few

to check through them. And some proofs

background

extensive computer code to, for example,

contain

a lot of cases that would be infeasible to check

check

hand. How can mathematicians be sure that such

by

are reliable? To get around these problems,

proofs

scientists and mathematicians began

computer

develop the eld of formal proof. A formal proof

to

one in which every logical inference has been

is

all the way back to the fundamental axioms

checked

mathematics. … [S]uch proofs are so long and

of

that it would be impossible to have

cumbersome

checked by human mathematicians. But now

them

can get “computer proof assistants” to do the

one

this nxt stion w xamin how th us of

In

is affting mathmatis.

omputrs




III.1 Once proven: The eternal truth

of mathematics

to a hallmark of mathmatis.

For discussion

A closer look at axioms

ritria?

mathmatis today?

checking.

(American Mathematical Society 2008)

axioms?

337


onsidr two ontrasting laims aout

Lt’s

truth. Th first, y Avigad (2018),

mathmatial

that “th truth of a mathmatial

assrts

dos not rly on historial ontxt or

statmnt

irumstans of th spakr”. On th othr

th

Lvy-Eihl argus that mathmatis

hand,

th laim that onsnsus on a proof

Considr

mathmatis forms unontrovrsially.

in

What argumnt an you offr to support

1.

laim? this

How would you onstrut and support a

2.

ountrlaim?

how rahing onsnsus in

Considr

ompars to th pross of

mathmatis

What ar signifiant similaritis and

3.

twn onsnsus in

diffrns

What an you say aout th sours of

4.

similaritis and diffrns?

ths

today, as th standard of rigour in

assum

proof has hangd throughout

mathmatial

Th advnt of omputr proof

history.

and automatd thorm provrs,

assistants

disussd low, has alrady gun to

as

what is mant y mathmatial rigour

hang

vry onpt of ‘asolut’

“Th

rigour is not immutal.

mathmatial

variaility of th onpt of rigour

Th

that somthing ls sids

shows

astration must ntr

mathmatial

th makup of mathmatis.” (von

into

ould this “somthing ls” that von

What

rfrs to?

Numann

11

andproof.

has no timlss standard, dspit what many


For reflection

A mathematical “je ne sais quoi”

John von Numann statd th following.

rahing onsnsus in othr AOKs.

and in on othr AOK of

mathmatis

hoi?

your

Numann 1947)

Figure 11.6 Th four-olour thorm. Th four-olour thorm stats that only four olours ar rquird on a map so that no two adjant

rgions hav th sam olour. It was th rst major thorm provd using omputr assistan, in 1976 y Knnth Appl and Wolfgang

Haknand, ut was not aptd y all mathmatiians as no individual human ould hk it. Nw forms of th proof (all of whih hav usd

omputr assistan in som form) hav n asir for humans to vrify.

338

will advans in omputing afft

How

To answr this qustion w nd

mathmatis?

hav a grasp on what mathmatis is, and

to

prisly, what mathmatiians do, and

mor

omputational powr fits with that. W

how

that formal proofs an partiularly

mntiond

vn impossil, for a mathmatiian to

long,

so omputr proof assistants hav om

vrify,

hav usd omputrs not just

Mathmatiians

vrify ut to gnrat proofs for som tim.

to

four-olour thorm ompltd in 1976

Th

11.6) was th first suh proof. It was

(Figur

ompliatd that no human ing ould

so

it without having to trust th softwar.

vrify

xampl is th 1998 proof of th Kplr

Anothr

whih ontaind ovr 3 gigayts of

onjtur,

“Proof y xhaustion” is a trm givn to

data.

whr a omputr has hkd all possil

proofs

Proofs of this natur ar onsidrd

ass.

aus thy an’t vrifid y a

prolmati

prson—som popl disrgard thm on

singl

asis, ut othrs apt thm.

this

thorm provrs (ATPs) ar

Automatd

that an prov mathmatial rsults

programs

using a st of axioms. ATPs an also

logially

millions of simulations in mission-ritial

run

suh as in nular powr plants,

appliations,

nsur a systm is working proprly—a task

to

would prov xtrmly tim-onsuming

that

human ings. ATPs ar hanging how w

for

Yt omputrs solv diffrntly

smathmatis.

humans, who look for graful onntions

from

possiilitis. Computr proofs an

twn

and awkward—as long as thy find a

lumsy

ths ar just th prolms assoiatd

Prhaps

a nw thnology; prhaps mathmatiians

with

omputr sintists may vntually al

and

od ATPs to dlivr autiful proofs that

to

nw insights to thir human dvloprs.

rval

prhaps not: whthr softwar is apal

Or

th fats of intuition and imagination that

of

th st xampls of human

haratriz

whthr ATPs will al to math

of

xd thir human ountrparts, th

or

of dvloping thm is dpning our

pursuit

of what it mans, and taks, to

undrstanding

is also possible to let computers loose to explore

It

on their own, and in some cases they

mathematics

come up with interesting conjectures that went

have

by mathematicians. We may be close to

unnoticed

how computers, rather than humans, would do

seeing

mathematics.

ommon far is, of ours, that on softwar is

A

nough at proving rsults, and in diding

good

rsults to prov, human mathmatiians

whih

om irrlvant. How would you did if

will

some supercomputer … reported a

Suppose

… which was so long and complex that no

proof

could understand it beyond the

mathematician

general terms. Could we have sucient faith

most

computers to accept this result, or would we say

in

the empirical evidence for their reliability is not

that

Tymozko oind th trm “nonsurvyal

Thomas

proof” to dsri proofs that ar

for a human mathmatiian to vrify,

infasil

as th 1979 omputr-assistd proof y

suh

and Hakn of th four-olour thorm.

Appl

argud that mathmatial proofs must

Tymozko

Conviningnss: th proof an prsuad a

•

vrifir of its onlusion.

rational

Survyaility: th proof is assil for

•

y humans.

vrifiation

Formalizaility: th proof uss only logial

•

twn onpts.

rlationships



III.1.1 Mathematical proof in the digital age

mak a mathmatial proof.

usful.

(American Mathematical Society 2008)

this far is misguidd or valid?

III.1.2 Non-surveyable proof

enough?

(Tymoczko 1979)

proof, thy hav don thir jo.

mt thr ritria.

mathmatis is an opn qustion. Rgardlss

339


proofs wr ritiizd as

Computr-assistd

rquiring too many logial

non-survyal,

to vrifial y humans. Tymozko

stps

that suh proofs wr hanging th

argud

of mathmatial proof, rplaing

natur

ddution with trust in an empirical

logial

pross. Apting th four-

omputational

thorm, for instan, rquirs hanging

olour

non-survyal or diffiult-to-survy proof

A

onvining and yt fail to nlightn

may

th link to this artil aout Doron

Follow

a mathmatiian at Rutgrs

Zilrgr,

trms: Quanta

Sarh

In omputrs

Magazin

Do you agr that omputr programs

1.

rditd as authors whn thy

should

or hlp prov, a mathmatial

prov,

thorm?

to stion I for a rmindr of Gödl’s

Rfr

thorm, thn onsidr ths

inompltnss

mathmatial proofs, thnology is

Byond

allowing mathmatiians to ollaorat

also

ral tim on onlin platforms, solvingprolms

in

togthr and vrifying thir

work. But it is th potntial

ollagus’

omputr mathmatiians, working

of

or for thir human ollagus, that

alongsid

xits many osrvrs, and prompts

most

argumnt ut as an osrvation,

mathmatial

this xposs mathmatis to a muh highr

and

do mathmatiians did whthr a

How

is survyal or not? Paul Tllr (1980)

proof

that this is ontingnt on tim and pla,

argus

th ailitis and tools of th ommunity of

on

attmpting to vrify it. It is a

mathmatiians

pross ontingnt on th mathmatial

soial

Survyaility may not an

ommunity.

quality of a proof, ut mor a rfltion

inhrnt

is rtainly not th last to hav

Hals

this prolm. Shinihi Mohizuki

nountrd

a 500-pag proof of th ABC

sumittd

in 2012, ut as of 2020 no on has

onjtur

For somthing to ount as mathmatial

2.

should humans al to

knowldg,

Do you think that in th futur ATPs ould

1.

th thorm?

ovrom

What would nd to happn for ATPs to

2.

th thorm?

ovrom

xampl, what ar mathmatial proofs

For

Thr is valu in oth knowing that

for?

is tru as wll as in how it was

somthing

Th st proofs rval dpr

solvd.

into mathmatis, xplaining “why”

insights

ar tru. What would it man to hav

things

don y omputr that no human

proofs

ould undrstand? What would w

ing

11

potntial for rror.

our undrstanding of “thorm” and “proof”.

th radr as to why it is tru; srving not as a

of th mathmatiians of th tim.

Box 11.2: “In computers we trust?”

Univrsity.

wtrust?

Considr th following qustion.

n al to vrify whthr it is orrt.

it, or is proof y omputr

undrstand

nough?

For reflection

Overcoming the limitations of

mathematics

qustions.

partiularly maningful TOK qustions.

los and gain?

340

10 reports that articial intelligence has

Chapter

in a very short period of time, succeeded

already,

producing music and poetry that appeals to

in

tastes. In the arts the question of intent is

human

from aesthetics and metaphysics—we

inseparable

yet escape the doubt about whether software

cannot

to make art. To what extent does this

“intends”

of intent apply in the case of ATPs producing

concern

are numbers beautiful? It’s like asking why is

Why

Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don’t

Beethoven’s

why, someone can’t tell you. I know numbers are

see

If they aren’t beautiful, nothing is.

beautiful.

of mathmatis hav somtims

Philosophrs

that mathmatial asthtis ar

ommntd

statd. What maks a proof autiful,

vaguly

lgant, spially in omparison to anothr

or

is also logially tru? At th sam tim, to

that

xtnt is auty any mor or lss tightly

what

in th othr AOKs, and should w xpt

dfind

to diffrnt?

mathmatis

auty is sujtiv and

Mathmatial

do not always agr, ut many

mathmatiians

know a autiful proof or rsult whn thy

will

it. Nahin (2006) laorats as follows.

s

a Shakespearean sonnet that captures the very

Like

of love, or a painting that brings out the

essence

of the human form that is far more than just

beauty

deep, Euler’s equation reaches down into the

skin

formula (e iπ + 1 = 0) is itd as an

Eulr’s

of dp mathmatial auty. Fynman

xampl

alld it “our jwl” and “th most

(1977)

formula in mathmatis”. It ontains

rmarkal

of th asi arithmti oprations, ah

thr

xatly on, and links togthr fiv

ourring

mathmatial onstants: 0, 1, π,

fundamntal

i. , π and i ar ompliatd and smingly

and

numrs, so som mathmatiians

unrlatd

rmarkd that it is “amazing that thy ar

hav

y this onis formula” (Pry quotd in

linkd

2014).

Gallaghr

in 2014 usd funtional magnti

Rsarhrs

imaging (fMRI) to osrv th ativity in

rsonan

rains of 15 mathmatiians whn thy viwd

th

formula thy had individually ratd

mathmatial

autiful, indiffrnt or ugly. Th xprimnt

as

that xprining mathmatial auty

showd

with motional ativity in th rain in th

orrlats

way as th xprin of auty from othr

sam

(Zki et al 2014). Davis and Hrsh hav

sours

that an asthti sns is univrsal

ommntd

pratising mathmatiians. But to what

among

is mathmatial auty assil only to

xtnt

auty is said to rfr to a rsult or

Dp

that ontains unxptd insights into

mthod

struturs. Trivial thorms lak

mathmatial

as do proofs or rsults drivd in an

auty,

or rptitiv way, or whih apply only to

ovious

ass. Hardy (1940) suggstd that auty

spial

from th “invitaility”, “unxptdnss”

oms

“onomy” of a work. H also argud that

and

mathmatis is inhrntly suprior in auty

pur

applid mathmatis aus it annot

to

for ommon or violnt human amitions.

usd

and auty hav n asrid to proofs

Elgan

ar unusually suint, asd on original

that

hav an lmnt of surpris, us a

insight,

of assumptions and an gnralizd

minimum

solv similar prolms.

to

appliations of mathmatis to sin,

Th

and nginring ar widly

thnology

ut thr is also a dimnsion of

disussd,

as joy, as art and as litratur.

mathmatis

for xampl, has ompild

Shinrman,

autiful” thorms and proofs in The

“joyful,

Lover’s Companion (2017), arrivd

Mathematics

“through th swat of intlltual play that,

at

th st poms, ontain prftly xprssd

lik

aout th world” (Lvy-Eihl 2018).

truths



Making connections

Exploring the question of intent

”elegant” mathematics?

III.2 Beauty

mathmatiians?

(Devlin 2000)

very depths of existence.

(Nahin 2006)

341


10 features a poem by Elizabeth Alexander

Chapter

considers the kind of deeper truths that poetry

and

us access to. Consider whether these are

gives

to the deeper truths we glean through

similar

Is this depth something you need to

mathematics.

to know?

experience

th rol of auty for th truth in

Considr

as wll as th arts.

mathmatis

rightly viwd, posssss

“Mathmatis,

only truth, ut suprm auty—a

not

old and austr, lik that of

auty

without appal to any part of

sulptur,

wakr natur, without th gorgous

our

of painting or musi, yt

trappings

pur, and apal of a strn

sulimly

suh as only th gratst art

prftion

show. Th tru spirit of dlight,

an

xaltation, th sns of ing mor

th

Man, whih is th touhston of

than

highst xlln, is to found

th

mathmatis as surly as potry.”

in

1919)

(Russll

What rol dos auty play in rlation to

1.

in mathmatis?

truth

In th quot low, Brtrand Russll

2.

th “old and austr” auty

dsris

Do you agr with this dsription,

(a)

if so why?

and

If you do not agr with Russll’s

(b)

how would you dsri

dsription,

A Mathematician’s Lament (2009) Paul Lokhart,

In

shool tahr, xprsss dp disappointmnt

a

mathmatis is oftn taught in a way that

that

to rval th xitmnt, auty and passion

fails

drivs mathmatiians. Rad th xrpt

that

to xplor how auty and asthti

low

rlat to th tahing and larning of

tast

As you rad, rflt on whthr

mathmatis.

has n a part of your own xprin of

this

mathmatis.

larning

no time are students let in on the secret that

At

like any literature, is created by

mathematics,

beings for their own amusement; that works

human

mathematics are subject to critical appraisal; that

of

can have and develop mathematical taste. A

one

of mathematics is like a poem, and we can ask

piece

tool for science and technology. Everyone knows

of

poetry and music are for pure enjoyment and

that

uplifting and ennobling the human spirit … but

for

math is important.

no,

inspirs qustions rlvant to us in

Lokhart

suh as to what xtnt dos th pross of

TOK,

mathmatis lav spa for larnrs

larning

rah thir own onlusions? Th ar for

to

to th fild of mathmatis sms

ontriutions

high; indd, for th ovrwhlming

vry

of larnrs th journy of mathmatis

majority

wll for thy ontriut or vn

nds

advans in th fild. For th fw who

nountr

th frontir of mathmatis, th knowldg

rah

thr is sldom popularizd or widly

produd

ommuniatd.

PhD thss ar not usually th kind

Mathmatis

ontnt to go viral on th intrnt, ut Pipr

of

11

III.3 How should mathematics be

Making connections

taught and communicated?

Truth in mathematics and the arts

For reflection

No truth without beauty, no beauty

without truth?

it satises our aesthetic criteria: … Is it simple

if

elegant? Does it get me closer to the heart of

and

the matter? …

… think they do know what math is about—

People

are apparently under the gross misconception

and

mathematics is somehow useful to society! …

that

is viewed by the culture as some sort

Mathematics

(Lockhart 2009)

of mathmatis.

mathmatial auty?

Harron’s am los to intrnt fam. Harron flt

342

mathmatis was too important to go

that

or rmain inomprhnsil to

misundrstood

Hr dotoral thsis, ntitld “Th

most.

of Latti Shaps of Rings of

Equidistriution

of Cui, Quarti, and Quinti Numr

Intgrs

An Artist’s Rndring” is prsntd at

Filds:

lvls. Th first lvl is a “laysap” with

diffrnt

using languag appropriat and

“laysplanations”,

to th layprson or studnt of

undrstandal

Nxt, Harron prsnts th

mathmatis.

and “mathsplanations”, for th

“mathsap”

mathmatiian or prs in th

amatur

mathmatis ommunity. Sh invits

profssional

to follow th argumnts up to thir

radrs

thrshold, and you an try to find

mathmatial

y following th link.

yours

trms: Equidistan of

Sarh

shaps Pipr thsis

latti

is on of th aras of knowldg

Mathmatis

whih studnts ommonly hold limiting

in

aout thir aility. Tahrs an

lifs

ths lifs or rat and rinfor

hallng

Blow ar two artils rlvant to this

thm.

of knowldg aquisition in mathmatis.

issu

1, y profssor of mathmatis

Sour

Jo Boalr, xplors how disovris

duation

nurosin should rshap th

from

and larning of mathmatis. Boalr

tahing

mathmatis lss as a mattr of

approahs

answrs and provn mthods, and mor

right

an xris that ahivs undrstanding

as

ollaoration and rativity. Follow th

through

1: Boalr, J. 2019. “Evryon Can Larn

Source

to High Lvls: th Evidn from

Mathmatis

that Should Chang our Tahing”

Nurosin

Mathmatial Soity Blogs)

(Amrian

trms: AMS Boalr

Sarh

an larn

Evryon

prinipl, hr full argumnt should possil

In

grasp at ithr lvl, and th thsis is intndd

to

“approximatly radal y approximatly

to

(Harron 2016).

anyon”

an intrviw pulishd in The Hindu (Dsikan

In

Harron idntifis th ida of th gnius

2016)

as on of th harmful myths

mathmatiian

in th mathmatis ommunity, and

prptuatd

for it to disardd. “Thr’s th ida that

alls

is fixd, you gt it or you don’t; that thr’s

math

right way to think aout things. … W nd

a

diffrnt popl in math. W nd diffrnt

mor

of thinking in math” (Harron quotd in

ways

2016).

Dsikan

11.3 xplors two onptions of, and

Box

possiilitis rgarding, th aquisition of

two

2, y Barara Oakly, prsnts a

Sour

ut rlatd vision of mathmatis, on

diffrnt

movs away from undrstanding, whthr

that

at rativly or through rot larning.

arrivd

instad xplors th ida of fluny in

Oakly

in lin with th onption of

mathmatis,

as a languag. Oakly livs

mathmatis

mathmatis is a hait of mind, a pattrn

that

thinking that is dvlopd through sustaind

of

In Oakly’s viw, mathmatial

prati.

is losr to know-how than to

knowldg

Follow th link to rad th dtails.

know-that.

2: Oakly, B. 2016. “How I Rwird my

Source

to Bom Flunt in Math” (Nautilus,

Brain

trms: Oakly How I

Sarh

my rain Nautilus

rwird

w think mathmatis is affts how w

What

and larn it. It affts what ass and

tah

to mathmatis larning looks lik, and

arrirs

it mans to fail and sud in aquiring

what



mathmatial knowldg.

Box 11.3: The “maths brain” and mathematical fluency

link to rad th artil in full.

15 Sptmr 2016)

mathmatis to high lvls

knowldg in this AOK.

343


mathmatis is ommonly undrstood

Knowing

th aility to rason through mathmatial

as

and symols. Is it possil to know

formula

in othr ways, not as languag or

mathmatis

ut as ativity or prforman—

rprsntation

as know-how? Exampls from

mathmatis

show that th mind is not

thnomathmatis

only hannl into th ralm of mathmatis,

our

that it an “known” through th whol

ut

as an modid prati, and vn through

ody

arrangmnt of othr ojts in th physial

th

If w an do and find mathmatis

world.

of th human mind, how far an w go

outsid

for mathmatis?

looking

slugs do maths, electrons do maths, minerals

Sea

maths. Rainbows do an incredible mathematical

do

Euler’s 18th-century formula, with its unique

Leonhard

properties, is enacted here by a bird.

mathematical

th link to rad th full artil: “How to

Follow

Mathmatis”.

Play

trms: Aon Thr’s

Sarh

maths in slugs

mor

can we say that sea slugs and corals know

But

geometry? I want to argue here that in

hyperbolic

sense they do. … The world is full of mundane,

some

unconscious things materially embodying

meek,

complex pieces of mathematics. How can

endishly

make sense of this? I’d like to propose that …

we

natural systems are engaged in what we

modest

call the performance of mathematics. Rather

might

thinking about maths, they are doing it. In the

than

of their beings and the ongoing continuity of

bres

growth and existence they enact mathematical

their

and become mathematicians-by-

relationships

… Rather than being a remote abstraction,

practice.

can be conceived of as something more

mathematics

music or dancing; an activity that takes place not

like

much in the writing down as in the playing out.

so

do ths raturs hallng what it mans

How

“know” mathmatis? Wrthim likns

to

to musi; th intrstion of th two

mathmatis

has a omprhnsiv disours in

disiplins

aross many diffrnt ultural traditions.

itslf,

ragas of Indian lassial musi, for xampl,

Th

passd down aurally from mastr

traditionally

studnt, ar rognizd as inhrntly

to

Th Sanskrit word prastara mans

mathmatial.

study of mathmatially arranging ragas and

th

What is th diffrn twn trating

1.

as a languag vrsus

mathmatis

(a) Do you hav to know how to writ

2.

to do mathmatis?

mathmatis

(b) To what xtnt is this th as in th

To what xtnt is playing musi without

3.

al to rad musi omparal to

ing

mathmatis without ing al to

doing

mathmatis?

rad

11

III.4 In what ways can mathematics

be known?

(Wertheim 2017)

… Next time you see a good rainbow,

performance

and take a look … classical geometric optics

stop

begin to capture its complexity. A stunning

doesn’t

of mathematical performance is enacted by a

piece

falcon as it hurtles towards its prey; with its

peregrine

held straight so it can x one eye steadily on the

head

at a constant angle of 40 degrees, it swoops

quarry

at 200 mph in a perfect logarithmic spiral.

down

rhythms into plasing ompositions.

(Wertheim 2017)

For discussion

Language, reading and writing

trating it as an ativity?

othr AOKs?

Figure 11.7 Sa slug

344

gomtry was dismissd for

Hyproli

of yars as impossil, aus it

hundrds

Eulid’s axiom aout paralll lins. It

violats

also xtrmly diffiult to visualiz or

was

vn using omputrs. Daina Taimina

modl,

using roht to onstrut tangil 3D

gan

that mad it asir to omprhnd. If you

modls

urious aout tatil mathmatis and

ar

roht, you an follow th link to

hyproli

out mor.

find

trms: Crohting

Sarh

plans YouTu

hyproli

roht modls, ragas and sa slugs in

With

w should ask to what xtnt mathmatis

mind,

modid knowldg. Wrthim

an

it as a knowing that mrgs from

dsris

prforming mathmatis, a kind of

hands

figuring—ut would shools and

modid

hsitat to us roht in advand

tahrs

lasss? Do algrai quations

mathmatis

mor or lss valid as a tahing tool? Is

fl

fling drivd from a partiular ultural

that

shap shown in Figur 11.8 onsists of 4

Th

dodagons and 12 dagons, with 28

rgular

gaps in th shap of quilatral triangls.

littl

it is also an impossil shap, with

Howvr,

that will not mt at th dgs. It

polygons

not al to los, ut it works aus

should

atgory of almost prft mathmatis

This

alld nar-miss mathmatis. Thr is no

is

dfinition of a nar miss, ut Craig

pris

lif is that th mathmatial

Kaplan’s

is omparal to pratial rrors

rror

from using “ral-world matrials and

arising

imprft hands” (Kaplan quotd in

your

Lam2017).

xampl of nar-miss mathmatis

Anothr

th missing-squar puzzl (s Figur 11.9).

is

A is ut into four pis and arrangd

Triangl

triangl B, ut suddnly a gap appars.

into

an this ? It is anothr nar miss: th

How

ar not atually triangls, as th

triangls

is not a straight lin—th gradint

hypotnus

from 0.4 (lu hypotnus) to 0.375

hangs

hypotnus). To what xtnt do nar

(rd

diminish or add to our knowldg aout

misss

Is thr valu in pratial, ut

mathmatis?

mathmatis that annot gaind

impossil,



Figure 11.8 A mathmatially impossil shap, mad possil only

aus of imprptil warping of th papr

ontxt?

III.5 Doing impossible mathematics

from astrat mathmatis?

of vry slight warping of th papr.

A

The fudge factor that arises just from working in the

real world with paper means that things that ought to

be impossible actually aren’t.

(Kaplan quoted in Lamb 2017)

B

Figure 11.9 Th missing-squar puzzl

345


writrs of The Simpsons tlvision

Th

somtims ommuniat with thir

sris

viwrs y asually

mathmatially-inlind

nar misss into th akground

dropping

mathmatis is mor than a uriosity or

Nar-miss

for pratial joks. Th rason pianos hav

asis

kys in an otav, for xampl, is du to a nar

12

Th two most important musial intrvals

miss.

an otav (a frquny ratio of 2:1) and a fifth (a

ar

of 3:2), ut it is impossil to divid an otav

ratio

a way that nsurs all th fifths will prft.

in

is mathmatially impossil to ronil th

It

frqunis (tons) of otavs and fifths.

diffrnt

you an gt vry los y dividing th otav

“But

12 qual half-stps, svn of whih giv you

into

frquny ratio of 1.498. That’s good nough for

a

also th Ramanujan onstant: e π √163 ,

Considr

almost quals a whol numr:

whih

sns. In th pisod “Th Wizard of

of

Trra”, Homr Simpson writs

Evrgrn

th quation on thir alulators may

hkd

n shokd to find that Homr Simpson

hav

disprovd Frmat’s last thorm! In fat,

had

alulators ar not pris nough to

most

is a vry nar-miss. Frmat’s last

whih

is saf.

thorm

writrs of The Simpsons ar known for

Th

rfrns to advand mathmatis

inluding

th show. Simon Singh, author of Fermat’s

in

(1998) and The Simpsons and Their

Enigma

Secrets (2013), xplains furthr in

Mathematical

linkd vido.

th

trms: Homr’s last

Sarh

YouTu

thorm

How

262,537,412,640,768,743.99999999999925.

thr irrational numrs omin to form a

do

numr? Could it a lu to a dpr

rational

of mathmatis? Th mathmatiian John

pi

misss hav inspird pratial appliations

Nar

wll as uriosity in mathmatiians to look

as

and dig dpr. Thy an srv as lus

losr

what disovris might tru, y

aout

almost tru. Mathmatiians disovr

ing

misss through xprimntation, play,

nar

imprftions, and trial and rror—

ral-world

that ar not typially assoiatd with

words

11

Box 11.4: D’oh! That time Homer Simpson nearly solved Fermat’s last theorem

out th quation

3987 12 + 4365 12 = 4472 12

violats th thorm that a n + b n = c n

whih

no intgr solution if n > 2. Viwrs who

has

show th lft sid of th quation:

3,987 12 + 4,365 12 = 4,472.0000000070576171875 12

Baz, among othrs, thinks so.

most popl” (Lam 2017).

mathmatialmthods.

346

on or mor of th statmnts

Considr

drawn from past prsrid titls

low,

th TOK ssay. Basd on what w

for

disussd so far or on your prvious

hav

what an you laim, argu or

knowldg,

as an xampl from th prsptiv of

offr

in mathmatis is vry ommonly

Ethis

with th thial impliations of applid

onrnd

in nvironmntal sin, onomi

mathmatis

industry and thnology. In hr ook

poliy,

of Math Destruction, mathmatiian Cathy

Weapons

illustrats th dangrs of our rlian on

O’Nil

powrd y mathmatis. Ths

appliations

sh xplains, wr programmd

appliations,

“fallil human ings”. Built with good

y

th modls hav unavoidaly inhritd

intntions,

prjudis and iass of thir human rators

th

as suh, thy prptuat th injustis in our

and,

Th programms ar so omplx that, sav

soity.

a fw xprts, thir outputs ar not qustiond.

for

th sam tim, algorithms in “ig data” and

At

risk managmnt hav n idntifid

finanial

potntial sours of privay violations and

as

instaility.

onomi

th powr and valu of mathmatial

Givn

to ths domains, an argumnt an

knowldg

mad that spial thial rsponsiilitis fall

mathmatiians.

on

should that rsponsiility rst with

Or

sintists, thnologists, onomists

th

nginrs rsponsil for applying

and

knowldg to thir rsptiv

mathmatial

Whr is th lin of rsponsiility

domains?

mathmatis and its appliation? For

twn

lt’s onsidr David Li, rditd with

xampl,

innovations that powrd th ollatralizd

th

oligations that playd a starring rol in

dt

finanial risis of 2007–08. His work on

th

knowldg thr is always a trad-off twn

“In

and simpliity.” (IBO May 2016)

auray

th group to vrify it, knowldg is

“Without

possil.” (IBO Novmr 2015)

not

oth nals us to produ

“Thnology

and limits th knowldg that is

knowldg

opula was usd to alulat finanial

Gaussian

y invstmnt anks in th run-up to th

risk

risis. Th writr Flix Salmon dsrid

2007

as a “rip for disastr” and “th formula

it

killd Wall Strt” (Salmon 2009).Yt, vn

that

admirrs wr singing his praiss in 2005,

whn

for th risis, Li himslf was autioning

wll

th limitations of his modl, saying “Th

aout

dangrous part is whn popl liv

most

oming out of it” (Li quotd in

vrything

2005). H would latr xplain that

Whithous

formula “gains its popularity owing to its

his

ut that thr was “littl thortial

simpliity”

to it (Li quotd in Missnr 2008).

justifiation”

2007–08 finanial risis was ausd y many

Th

inluding govrnmnt suprvisory

prolms

fraud, moral hazard and prdatory

failurs,

pratis. It prsntd an nylopdia

usinss

thial ollapss. To fous th lam on Li

of

as ridiulous as it isignorant.

would

issu of attriuting thial rsponsiility

Th

mathmatiians for appliations of thir

to

is dply ompliatd. It may also hav

work

som mathmatiians to rtrat into

inspird

supposd safty of pur mathmatis, in

th

lif that suh work is not rlvant to

th

ommon, vulgar or violnt intrsts of

th

humankind.

Hardy rjoid that pur mathmatis

G.H.

so far rmovd from human ativitis that

was

would stay “gntl and lan” (1940). H

it

to tak prid in this aspt of his work,

appard

IV. Ethics


IV. Ethics


mathmatis in rspons?

produd.” (IBO Novmr 2013)

I V. E T H I C S

347

IV. Ethics

that “I hav nvr don anything

assrting

No disovry of min has mad, or is

‘usful’.

to mak, dirtly or indirtly, for good

likly

ill, th last diffrn to th amnity of th

or

(1940). Though Hardy was ultimatly

world”

aout th lak of utility of purly

wrong

rsarh, as w saw in stion I,

mathmatial

ould not hav known that at th tim. Evn

h

som mathmatiians ontinu to argu

today,

pur mathmatial rsarh is rmovd

that

qustions of this aus it is nutral

from

andharmlss.

the extent that an applied mathematician gets

To

with a real-world activity, like geology or

involved

he has to deal with the ethical issues

engineering,

that eld, not because he’s a mathematician, but

of

[W]hat about pure mathematics? Mathematicians

…

merely prove theorems. Is there any ethical

who

comparable to what you nd in other

component

of science…?

elds

pure mathematics, when restricted just to research

In

not considering the rest of our professional life,

and

ethical component is very small … . I can’t think

the

any other eld of which you could say that. That’s

of

people say pure mathematicians live in an ivory

why

One answer to this could be, “…There’s no

tower.

whatever we like”. … But when I think about this

do

l nd it rather scary. Because it means that

attitude,

we become totally immersed in research on pure

if

we can enter a mental state which is

mathematics,

asid th prolms of dmarating

Laving

and pur mathmatis, Run Hrsh’s

applid

sntns rval a mathmatial onrn

losing

aout mathmatial knowldg itslf, ut

not

th rursiv impat on mathmatis, that

aout

prhaps uniqu to th disiplin: its potntial

is

to, and dtahmnt from humanity. A

irrlvan

argumnt along th sam lins was mad

rnt

Paul Ernst. “Thr is signifiant ollatral

y

ausd y larning mathmatis … th

damag

of pur mathmatis itslf lads to styls

natur

thinking that an damaging whn applid

of

mathmatis to soial and human issus”

yond

2018).

(Ernst

Rohll Gutiérrz’s argumnt, from II.4,

Rall

w nd to “rhumaniz” mathmatis

that

divrsity and inlusion. It is not

towards

to Ernst’s fars that “thial

dissimilar

in th tahing of mathmatis

nutrality”

support a “dhumanizing outlook” that

may

studnts to sparat thir intlltual

trains

motional livs. This onrn is shard

and

mathmatis duators who work towards

y

quity, as w disussd in stion II.

duational

spifi rommndation is that

Ernst’s

and this ar inludd in th

philosophy

3 explores the sources of bias in machine

Chapter

and articial intelligence, and the implications

learning

this for the predictive power and application of that

of

A recurring tension is whether we can

knowledge.

biases inherent to the algorithim versus

separate

in the data sets used to train the articial

biases

hav sn that th prolm with th

W

nutrality of pur mathmatis is that

supposd

lin twn pur and applid mathmatis is

th

and ontinuously shifting. This haptr

impris

11

IV.1 Is pure mathematics ethically

neutral?

tahing of mathmatis at all lvls.

Making connections

because he’s involved in that application.

The myth of impartiality

intelligence.

for mathematicians to have a code of ethics,

need

what we do matters so little that we can

because

rather inhuman, rather totally cut o from humanity.

(Hersh 1990)

348

with Wignr’s unrasonal fftivnss

opnd

and xampls of pur mathmatial

thsis,

that had no appliation for dads,

thorms

nturis, inluding omplx numrs (now

or

in quantum mhanis) and numr

applid

(ntral to ryptography). Hardy’s sap

thory

pur mathmatis in th 1940s was drivn

into

his prption of th lak of usfulnss of

y

thory or quantum mhanis. What

numr

sm thially nutral today may wll

an

prolmati tomorrow. How thn

thially

w think of fators that afft th this of

should

Should w sk to untangl intnt

knowldg?

impliation and fft?

from

and Bursill-Hall add that many

Chiodo

ar taught to liv that

mathmatiians

is thially nutral, that any thial

mathmatis

lay with th usr of th tools that thy rat.

issus

many usrs of ths tools will also dny soial

Yt

laiming thy ar using only what

rsponsiility,

givn to thm, or that somody ls would

was

us what xists towards thir own

invitaly

Bhind many a pur mathmatiian, thr

nds.

funding for th rsarh—from a univrsity, a

is

a think-tank or a orporation. It is

govrnmnt,

that all of ths organizations ar funding

unlikly

pursuit for th sak of knowldg, lgan or

th

Do mathmatiians hav a rsponsiility

auty.

omprhnd, influn or hallng

to

thsagndas?

th widly hld Platonist viw of mathmatis,

In

ss mathmatis as oupying an astrat

whih

transndntal rality, thial impliations

or

do not aris. Howvr, Chiodo and

simply

knowledge and truth

Ethics,

Intnt is a fundamntal onrn within

1.

Do good intntions, or th lak of

(a)

intntions, asolv produrs

ad

mathmatial knowldg from

of

for th appliation of

rsponsiility

What ritria might w us whn

(b)

intntions, and who

onsidring

Th statistiian and hdg fund managr

2.

Tal (quotd in a Royal

Nassim

Soity rport 2001) said:

Statistial

got vry xitd aout

“[p]opl

Gaussian opula aus of its

th

lgan, ut th thing

mathmatial

workd … anything that rlis on

nvr

is harlatanism”. To what

orrlation

an w us statistial orrlations

xtnt

infr truths aout rality?

to

3. Mor gnrally:

In mathmatis is thr a trad-off

(a)

auray and simpliity?

twn

How is th rlationship twn

(b)

and simpliity in

auray

similar to or diffrnt

mathmatis

th othr AOKs?

from

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

Bursill-Hall argu that:

no matter how Platonist they may be, it does not

obviate their social and ethical responsibilities.

Mathematics may well ‘exist’ in the sense of being

a dierent kind or type of reality, but it is done

(discovered, developed, studied, understood, used)

by humans in our very material, social world and

therefore exists for us in some sort of social matrix or

social context.

(Chiodo, Bursill-Hall 2018)

Sophisticated mathematics is already ubiquitous

in 21st century technology. Even the most ardent

purists in number theory or algebra can no longer

For discussion

claim to ‘just do the mathematics’ and ‘leave the

implications to ethicists’ as recent revelations

about global mass surveillance have underscored

the immediate social and political impact of their

work. It is now evident that one can wield practically

this.

all branches of mathematics in ways that have

profound social consequences, both for good and

occasionally for ill, and that ethical questions can be

raised everywhere in pure and applied mathematics.

It seems that professional social responsibility

and engagement in mathematics-specic ethical

that knowldg?

issues is unavoidable for mathematicians; we would

suggest that those who deny this may be abdicating

responsibility and power to others in the most

would did thos ritria?

dangerous way.


349

IV. Ethics

old adag, widly itd and oftn misattriutd

An

Mark Twain, is “Thr ar thr kinds of lis:

to

damnd lis, and statistis”. This stion taks

lis,

losr look at th impliations of knowldg

a

drdging is on xampl of a statistial

Data

with murky this. It involvs th

prati

sanning of larg data sts for

spulativ

without having a prdfind

orrlations,

Sin a 95% onfidn intrval is

hypothsis.

usd, maning a 5% han of finding

usually

orrlation twn ompltly random

a

spurious yt statistially signifiant

varials,

ar almost rtainly found. On ovious

rsults

is that any hypothsis found using data

solution

must tstd against anothr data st

drdging

usd in th original drdging.

not

w may not s any rason to qustion

Oftn,

and statistial vidn. Most of th

orrlations

as non-xprts, w may not hav th skills

tim,

dig dpr, and must instad valuat th

to

of xprts to prform in th funtion

rdiility

puli intlltuals.

of

paradox is a phnomnon in

Simpson’s

and statistis in whih a trnd that

proaility

in svral diffrnt data groups rvrss or

xists

whn th groups ar omind, du

disappars

a “lurking” varial (also alld a onfounding

to

that is not aountd for. This paradox

varial)

how orrlations an distortd y

rvals

rrors, and th dangr in making

sampling

th xampl shown in Tal 11.1:

Considr

Univrsity of California, Brkly 1973

th

11.1 shows that mn appar mor likly

Tal

womn to admittd to th univrsity,

than

an admissions ias. Howvr, on

indiating

admissions rats y dpartmnts,

analysing

trnd rvrss, and it appars that mor

th

(A, B, D and E: s Tal 11.2)

dpartmnts

a ias in favour of admitting womn. Th

had

and orrtd data showd a “small ut

poold

signifiant ias in favor of womn”

statistially

et al 1975).

(Bikl

B 860 63% 25 68%

D 417 33% 375 35%

E 191 28% 393 24%

F 373 6% 341 7%

paradox ariss from th fat that mn

Th

to dpartmnts suh as nginring

applid

hmistry that had fwr appliants

and

highr admission rats, whras womn

and

to dpartmnts with a gratr numr

applid

appliants and a lowr rat of admission. Of

of

th laim of a statistially signifiant

ours,

in favour of womn dos not nssarily

ias

thr was a pratial ias in favour of

man

womn.

paradox itslf is xplaind in th TED-Ed

Th

linkd hr.

vido

trms: Liddll How

Sarh

an mislading

statistis

11

IV.2 The trouble with statistics

admissions statistis.

Women

Men

Applicants Admitted Applicants Admitted

Total 8442 44% 4321 35%

drivd from statistis and th authority it arris.

Table 11.1 Univrsity of California, Brkly: admissions 1973

(Bikl t al 1975)

Women

Men

Department

Applicants Admitted Applicants Admitted

A 825 66% 108 82%

C 325 37% 593 34%

Table 11.2 Dat for dirnt dpartmnts (Bikl et al 1975)

ausal intrprtations of orrlations.

350

Univrsity of California Brkly

Th

ias issu is xplaind in this

gndr

Clark was ausd of having killd hr

Sally

hild at 11 wks of ag and hr sond

first

at 8 wks of ag. Sir Roy Madow, a

hild

and onsultant padiatriian, tstifid

profssor

an xprt witnss that th proaility of two

as

in th sam family dying from suddn

hildrn

dath syndrom (SIDS, also alld ot

infant

was approximatly 1 in 73 million. This

dath)

a gross undrstimat, arrivd at y taking

was

proaility of a singl SIDS dath (1 in

th

and squaring it, with th assumption that

8,543)

proaility of suh daths is unorrlatd

th

infants. Howvr, that assumption

twn

unjustifid, and in fat th opposit would

was

tru if a gnti prdisposition to SIDS

Rporting on th inidnt, Ray Hill

xists.

onludd that “aftr a first ot dath th

(2004)

of a sond om gratly inrasd”,

hans

a ot dath mothr is ausd

“Whn

murdr, th prosution somtims

of

a tati suh as th following.

mploys

th parnts ar afflunt, in a stal

If

and non-smoking, th

rlationship

will laim that th hans

prosution

th dath ing natural ar gratly

of

and y impliation that th

rdud,

trms: Ar univrsity

Sarh

iasd? Simpson’s

admissions

inrasd. But this impliation is

gratly

fals, aus th vry sam fators

totally

mak a family low risk for ot dath

whih

mak it low risk for murdr.”

also

faulty mathmatis did not stop thr.

Th

if th 1-in-73 million assssmnt was

Evn

this was not th proaility of

aurat,

innon, ut rathr an a priori

Clark’s

that ndd to wighd

proaility

th a priori proailitis of th

against

of thm vry unlikly—

altrnativs—all

wr:

whih

1. two sussiv SIDS daths in th

2. doul homiid

3. othr possiilitis (suh as on homiid

was an instan of th “prosutor’s

It

Cruially, proaility stimats

fallay”.

outoms 1 and 2 should hav n

of

in th statistial analysis of th

ompard

Clark was onvitd in 1999.

prosution.

Royal Statistial Soity raisd onrns

Th

th dision, issuing a prss rlas

aout

statd th following.

that

th rnt highly-puliisd as of R v. Sally Clark, a mdial xprt witnss drw on pulishd

“In

to otain a figur for th frquny of suddn infant dath syndrom in familis having som of

studis

haratristis of th dfndant’s family. H wnt on to squar this figur to otain a valu of 1 in 73

th

for th frquny of two ass of SIDS in suh a family.

million

approah is, in gnral, statistially invalid. It would only valid if SIDS ass aros

This

within familis, an assumption that would nd to justifid mpirially. Not only

indpndntly

no suh mpirial justifiation providd in th as, ut thr ar vry strong a priori rasons for

was

that th assumption will fals. Thr may wll unknown gnti or nvironmntal

supposing

that prdispos familis to SIDS, so that a sond as within th family oms muh mor

fators

likly.

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics

paradox part 2 YouTu

linkd vido.

Box 11.5: Faulty statistics and the “prosecutor’s fallacy”

(Hill 2004)

family

and also statd th following.

and on SIDS).

351

IV. Ethics

wll-puliisd figur of 1 in 73 million thus has no statistial asis … . Th tru frquny of familis

Th

two ass of SIDS may vry muh lss inriminating than th figur prsntd to th jury at trial.

with

from its invalidity, figurs suh as th 1 in 73 million ar vry asily misintrprtd. Som prss

Asid

at th tim statd that this was th han that th daths of Sally Clark’s two hildrn wr

rports

This (mis-)intrprtation is a srious rror of logi known as th Prosutor’s Fallay. Th jury

aidntal.

to wigh up two ompting xplanations for th ais’ daths: SIDS or murdr. Two daths y

nds

or two murdrs ar ah quit unlikly, ut on has apparntly happnd in this as. What mattrs

SIDS

th rlativ liklihood of th daths undr ah xplanation, not just how unlikly thy ar undr on

is

as of R v. Sally Clark is on xampl of a mdial xprt witnss making a srious statistial rror,

Th

whih may hav had a profound fft on th outom of th as.

on

many sintists hav som familiarity with statistial mthods, statistis rmains a spialisd

Although

Th Soity urgs th Courts to nsur that statistial vidn is prsntd only y appropriatly

ara.

statistial xprts, as would th as for any othr form of xprt vidn.” (Royal Statistial

qualifid

2001)

Soity

onvition was ovrturnd in 2003

Clark’s

vidn mrgd that th pathologist

aftr

xamind oth ais had withhld

who

that on of thm may hav did

vidn

a rviw of hundrds of similar ass,

Aftr

two womn onvitd of murdring

anothr

hildrn had thir onvitions

thir

A third woman who had

ovrturnd.

n ausd of murdring hr thr

also

was aquittd in Jun 2003. Roy

hildrn

had tstifid as an xprt witnss in

Madow

as, dsriing th unliklihood of

ah

op with th thial hallngs arising from

To

prodution or appliation of mathmatial

th

a numr of initiativs hav

knowldg,

rlativly rntly. In th aftrmath

formd

th Camridg Analytia sandal, whih

of

disuss at lngth in Chaptrs 2 and 3,

w

Camridg Univrsity sholars, Mauri

two

and Pirs Bursill-Hall, st up th

Chiodo

in Mathmatis (EiM) Projt, whih

Ethis

its first onfrn in 2018. “So

organizd

as w know, thr is no univrsity in th

far

that urrntly offrs a wid-ranging

world

ot daths in a singl family. H was

multipl

from th mdial rgistr y th

rmovd

Mdial Counil in 2005 for srious

Gnral

misondut, ut latr rinstatd.

profssional

or, mor spifially, statistis

Mathmatis

usd rgularly in riminal lgal ass.

is

vidn, and its rlatd statistial

DNA

is rgularly usd oth in

intrprtations,

invstigations and on tlvision,

riminal

it is portrayd as fool-proof

whr

How should ourts nsur

vidn.

jurors ar apal of undrstanding

that

mathmatis, or that lawyrs do not

th

mathmatial argumnts?

misus

mathmatial thial training for

spifially

thy writ (Chiodo, Bursill-

mathmatiians”,

2018). To fill this gap, thy hav dsignd

Hall

pilotd a ours alld “Ethis for th

and

mathmatiian”, a sris of ight hourlong

working

lturs. Follow th link to larn mor

trms: Ltur ours:

Sarh

for th working

Ethis

11

xplanation. …

from an inftion.

IV.3 Professional standards

aout th issus it xplors.

mathmatiian Chiodo

352

can do this from outside the profession.

Nobody

mathematicians can talk to mathematicians

Only

ethics … and we need to begin the process of

about

a community: supporting each other, sharing

forming

experiences, best practice, and a vision of

knowledge,

we can teach our students.

what

mathmatis organizations hav

Profssional

thial guidlins and ods of

pulishd

18 August 2006 th New Yorker magazin

On

an artil (linkd hr) that tlls a

pulishd

story of ontrovrsy in th intrnational

rar

ommunity. Th ontrovrsy

mathmatis

th Poinaré onjtur, whih

onrnd

widly aptd to tru, rmaind

although

for ovr 100 yars. It is on of svn

unprovn

Priz Prolms sltd y th

Millnnium

Mathmatis Institut, proofs of whih

Clay

ah rwardd with a million-dollar priz.

ar

trms: Th Nw

Sarh

Manifold dstiny

Yorkr

Novmr 2002 Russian mathmatiian

In

Prlman pulishd th first pi of

Grigori

thr-part proof of th Poinaré onjtur.

a

ah part th xitmnt among

With

grw that th Poinaré

mathmatiians

might finally provn. Prlman

onjtur

alrady widly rognizd in th

was

mathmatis ommunity as an

intrnational

giftd mathmatiian. H was

xptionally

rlusiv and y som aounts ntri.

also

offrs from ovtd aadmi

Dlining

h rturnd to St Ptrsurg,

institutions,

ak in with his mothr, took up a

movd

at a loal institut, and thrw himslf

position

his proof was omplt, h limitd

Whn

y only slf-pulishing it on th

puliity

aadmi prati. Th as study low

of

on issu of a profssional ontrovrsy

xplors

mathmatis. Although not partiular to

in

AOK, what would om known as

this

Prlman affair aquird a distintiv

th

and raisd an important qustion:

dimnsion

what xtnt ar thial issus in mathmatis

to

to th individuals involvd, traal

spifi

th ultur of th mathmatis ommunity,

to

gnral issus of aadmi prati and

or

Considr this qustion as you rad

malprati?

as study.

th

and going on a spaking tour of th

intrnt

Stats. Byond this, h livd that

Unitd

work should spak for itslf: “[i]f th

th

is orrt, thn no othr rognition is

proof

(Prlman quotd in Nassr,

ndd”

2006).

Grur

slf-pulishd th proof y

Prlman

a pr-print to arXiv.org, whih w

sumitting

in Chaptr 7. It was risky for him to

xamin

pr-prints; had thr n an rror or

pulish

in his logi, anyon who ould idntify

fault

fix it ould laim th proof as thir own.

or

this was not a onrn for Prlman. “My

But

was: if I mad an rror and somon

rasoning

my work to onstrut a orrt proof I

usd

plasd”, h said in an intrviw for

would

New York Times magazin (Nassr, Grur

th

On h had rturnd from his US tour,

2016).

distand himslf from th pross

Prlman

vrifying his proof out of th dsir to avoid

of

it, to th point of not rplying to

influning

Manwhil, som of th rightst

-mails.

in th fild wr usy with a formal

minds

of his work. It took thm svral

xpliation

working in tams, to losly xamin

yars,

hk th proof, whih was oth vry rif

and

th summr of 2006, just as on group

In

ompltd a manusript analysing

had

proof, a 328-pag artil y Huai-

Prlman’s

Cao and Xi-Ping Zhu was pulishd,

Dong

IV. Ethics

IV. Ethics


ondut, ut ths typially fous on issus

Case study

Pure and simple

and vry omplx.

at th Poinaré onjtur.

taking up a whol issu of th Asian Journal

353

IV. Ethics

Mathematics. Th artil prsntd thir

of

as “a rowning ahivmnt” and

work

first omplt and original proof of th

th

onjtur. Cao and Zhu rognizd

Poinaré

work as a stpping ston ut also

Prlman’s

to gaps in his logi that thir artil

allgd

th nsuing months, a story unfoldd

In

that th artil y Cao and Zhu had

showing

rushd to puliation, sidstpping

n

usual hks of th pr-rviw pross.

th

on of th ntral argumnts in thir

Whn

turnd out to idntial to prvious

papr

y mathmatiians Bru Klinr and

work

Lott, Cao and Zhu rtratd thir artil

John

th journal issud a lttr of apology.

and

involvmnt in this affair of Harvard

Th

Shing-Tung Yau, who was

mathmatiian

and Zhu’s mntor and ditor-in-hif of

Cao

journal that pulishd thir artil, has

th

th sujt of muh ontrovrsy. Was

n

a as of a powrful and stalishd

this

rahing protool and using

mathmatiian

influn to upstag an ntri young

his

gnius? Or was it mrly an

mathmatial

lash of gos and rilliant minds

unfortunat

a high-staks ra?

in

a lttr to th Amrian Mathmatial

In

Joan Birman, an stmd

Soity

and profssor, alld th

mathmatiian

“a vry puli and vry ad lak

pisod

on th ntir profssion (Birman 2007).

mark”

mathmatiian, Phillip Griffiths,

Anothr

that “politis, powr, and ontrol

ommntd

no lgitimat rol in our ommunity, and

hav

thratn th intgrity of our fild” (quotd

thy

Alxandr, 2010).

in

New Yorker magazin artil dtails

Th

story of why, instad of njoying du

th

for his aomplishmnt, Prlman

rognition

th fild of mathmatis in protst ovr th

lft

thial standards and tolran

profssion’s

dishonsty. H also rjtd th prstigious

of

Mdal, whih was offrd to him at a

Filds

rmony that h did not attnd in 2006.

puli

2010, Prlman was finally awardd th

In

Millnnium Priz, whih h also

million-dollar

mathmatiian Mikhail Gromov is

Russian

as saying aout Prlman that “[t]o do

quotd

work, you hav to hav a pur mind. You

grat

think only aout th mathmatis. Evrything

an

is human waknss. Apting prizs is

ls

waknss” (Gromov quotd in Nassr,

showing

2006). In light of all th strotyps, myths

Grur

prjudis that w sk to ovrturn, thos

and

and Prlman’s ations ontinu to ring

words

as w los this haptr.

poignantly

11

filld.

dlind.

354

12 Assessment

aims to enable students to engage with

TOK

complexity, ambiguity, uncertainty and

the

in the world with a sense of

contradictions

and to make them feel empowered to

wonder,

knowledge with agency. The objectives

pursue

value of TOK therefore extend beyond the

and

IB assessment tasks—creating an exhibition

two

writing an essay—although these present

and

opportunities for you to synthesize your

rich

in TOK. As in your course work, in

learning

two tasks you will explore knowledge

these

and in the process:

questions,

develop and demonstrate your ability to

•

arguments

construct

offer examples as evidence in support of

•

claims

your

chapter aims to help you meaningfully

This

with and score well in TOK assessment.

engage

central to both assessment tasks, this chapter

is

with a closer look at what knowledge

begins

questions

Knowledge

are knowledge questions different from

How

questions? Knowledge questions are

“normal”

to do something specific: they do some

intended

the work for you, by setting you up to discuss

of

we claim to know and how we come to

what

it. To achieve this, knowledge questions

know

phrased in a way that invites you to explore

are

perspectives on how we produce,

different

disseminate or apply knowledge in

acquire,

world. The knowledge questions exist to

the

your exploration of knowledge and make

guide

that your discussion stays in the realm of

sure

and not ethics, politics, psychology or

TOK,

IB also suggests that knowledge questions

The

the characteristics shown in Figure 12.1.

have

questions are and how to approach them.

• engage with different perspectives

• draw conclusions that are of consequence.

philosophy more generally.

Given that the exploration of knowledge questions

about knowledge

Knowledge

contestable

question

draw on TOK

concepts

Figure 12.1 Characteristics of knowledge questions

Based on: Theory of Knowledge Guide, First Assessment 2022 (IBO)

355

I. THE EXHIBITION

questions are questions about

Knowledge

how knowledge is produced,

knowledge—about

shared and used; what it is and what it is

acquired,

who has it and who does not; and who decides the

not;

to these questions. Instead of focusing on

answers

content or specic examples, students

subject-specic

on how knowledge is constructed and evaluated.

focus

this sense, knowledge questions are distinct from

In

of the questions that students encounter in other

many

subjects.

questions are contestable in that there are

Knowledge

number of plausible answers to them. Dealing with

a

section examines knowledge questions in

This

detail because they are the basis for both

some

TOK exhibition and the TOK essay. They

the

throughout this book and will have

appear

many of your classroom discussions.

anchored

learning is assessed through your ability

Your

of the two ways in which you will

One

your learning in TOK is by creating

demonstrate

exhibition. In a subject like TOK, which may

an

strike you as abstract or conceptual,

sometimes

an exhibition is an opportunity to

creating

how knowledge manifests tangibly in

explore

does this mean? The processes of

What

are bound up with the material world.

knowing

dance and make music, participate in online

We

examine historical archives, grow

discussions,

prepare food, take photographs, record

and

notes, perform experiments, tell and

field

to stories, study religious texts, travel to

listen

places, learn and practise new skills, and

new

although some students can nd the lack of a single

TOK,

answer slightly disorienting. In TOK discussions, it

“right”

perfectly conceivable that answers to a question may

is

matters is that the analysis is thorough,

dier—what

and eectively supported by examples and

accurate

evidence.

questions also draw on TOK concepts

Knowledge

terminology, rather than using subject-specic

and

or specic examples. Knowledge questions

terminology

on central TOK concepts such as evidence,

draw

from: Theory of Knowledge Guide, First

Adapted

2022 (IBO)

Assessment

to the areas of knowledge (AOKs) as

relation

as the world around you.

well

you do not have to worry

Importantly,

constructing your own knowledge

about

because the IB provides them in the

questions

tasks, so that you can focus on

assessment

and live in ecological environments.

investigate

these processes through which we come

Often

know disappear from view, and all we are

to

with is a knowledge claim. The exhibition

left

an opportunity for us to be reminded

provides

the material practices and processes that

of

us to make knowledge claims. It is

enable

an opportunity to consider the material

also

of applying knowledge in the

consequences

The exhibition encourages you to think

world.

knowing as something we do with our whole

of

and not just our intellect, and as a process

selves

necessarily involves objects and materials,

that

just concepts and ideas.

not

the task actually entails is outlined on the

What

page. next

12

certainty, values and interpretation.

these open contestable questions is a key feature of

to explore knowledge questions critically in

formulating the answers.

I . T H E E X H I B I T I O N

objects around you.

356

a starting point, you will choose one of the 35 prompts below to serve as the basis for your

As

The exhibition consists of only three objects, and all three need to be linked to the

exhibition.

1. What counts as knowledge?

will explain why each object is included in the exhibition. You should

You

what your exhibition is about, the context each object comes from and

include

relationship with the prompt. You have 950 words for this, and a great deal of

its

about how to use them. Remember to state your selected prompt as the

freedom

2. Are some types of knowledge more useful than

3. What features of knowledge have an impact on

4. On what grounds might we doubt a claim?

5. What counts as good evidence for a claim?

will showcase your exhibition to an audience. This might be

You

TOK class or a community event.

your

How does the way that we organize or classify

6.

affect what we know?

knowledge

What are the implications of having, or not

7.

knowledge?

having,

8. To what extent is certainty attainable?

Are some types of knowledge less open to

9.

than others?

interpretation

What challenges are raised by the dissemination

10.

communication of knowledge?

and/or

I. THE EXHIBITION

12

FIRST

sameprompt.

NEXT

title and include images of your objects with your commentary all in a single file.

FINALLY

I.1 TOK exhibition prompts

others?

its reliability?

357

I. THE EXHIBITION

11. Can new knowledge change established

15. What constraints are there on the pursuit of

16. Should some knowledge not be sought on

17. Why do we seek knowledge?

18. Are some things unknowable?

19. What counts as a good justification for a claim?

What is the relationship between personal

20.

and knowledge?

experience

21. What is the relationship between knowledge

What role do experts play in influencing

22.

consumption or acquisition of

our

How important are material tools in the

23.

or acquisition of knowledge?

production

are five steps to clarify how you can select

Below

approach a prompt, curate objects and write

and

an exhibition draws on many of the

Curating

asked in TOK, such as: who decides

questions

is relevant and meaningful? In this task,

what

decide and have a responsibility to make

you

decisions about how you explore

informed

questions in the world. It is also a creative

these

that may be messy at times. We hope

process

will find joy in it: the uncertainty; the

you

that you have too many ideas or none

realization

all; the feeling of being stuck and also getting

at

moving towards clarity, and ultimately

unstuck;

something to be proud of.

producing

How might the context in which knowledge

24.

presented influence whether it is accepted

is

To what extent is objectivity possible in the

28.

or acquisition of knowledge?

production

29. Who owns knowledge?

What role does imagination play in

30.

knowledge about the world?

producing

31. How can we judge when evidence is

32. What makes a good explanation?

How is current knowledge shaped by its

33.

development?

historical

In what ways do our values affect our

34.

of knowledge?

acquisition

35. In what ways do values affect the production

of Knowledge Guide,

Theory

Assessment 2022 (IBO)

First

should you decide which prompt to

How

First, read and give some consideration

choose?

every one of the prompts. Maybe one of them

to

out for you, or makes you think of an

stands

or objects that align well with it. At first

object

the prompts might all sound confusing,

glance

you might have difficulty imagining how

and

relate to objects in the real world.

they

are some prompts easier than others? Some

So,

may seem easier to address simply

prompts

of the way they are phrased. Consider,

because

example, prompt 23 “How important are

for

tools in the production or acquisition

material

knowledge?” Reading this may quickly

of

to mind the various objects in a scientific

call

or an artist’s studio. Prompt 25 “How

laboratory

12

values or beliefs?

12. Is bias inevitable in the production of

knowledge?

How can we know that current knowledge is

13.

improvement upon past knowledge?

an

Does some knowledge belong only to

14.

communities of knowers?

particular

or rejected?

25. How can we distinguish between knowledge,

belief and opinion?

Does our knowledge depend on our

26.

with other knowers?

interactions

Does all knowledge impose ethical

27.

on those who know it?

obligations

knowledge?

ethical grounds?

adequate?

and culture?

knowledge?

of knowledge?

I.2.1 Choosing a prompt

I.2 Curating a compelling TOK

exhibition

the commentary.

can we distinguish between knowledge, belief

358

opinion?” might initially seem a lot more

and

Remember, a 950-word write-up

challenging.

some depth of exploration. The prompts

requires

are obviously about objects may not be the

that

choice. Once you begin developing your

best

your view may change. You may find

exhibition,

the objects and concepts that seemed like

that

choices are limiting your discussion at

obvious

level. We give further guidance about

superficial

to go into depth in your exhibition in

how

about deciding between prompts that

What

very similar? If you think prompt15

sound

constraints are there on the pursuit of

“What

is interesting to explore from an

knowledge?”

you are interested in how knowledge

Suppose

over time. Both prompt 13 “How

changes

we know that current knowledge is an

can

upon past knowledge?” and

improvement

33 “How is current knowledge shaped

prompt

its historical development?” align with this

by

Whereas prompt 13 specifically asks

interest.

improvement over time, prompt 33 is

about

more open exploration of the relationship

a

past and current knowledge. As

between

example, let’s look at developing this

an

in the context of knowledge and

exhibition

perspective, you might be conflicted

ethical

you read prompt 16 “Should some

when

not be sought on ethical grounds?”

knowledge

few prompts in the list sound alike. Keep

A

your thoughts around a cluster of

developing

and gradually settle on one prompt

questions

fits best. Remember that you need to

that

the inclusion of each object in relation

justify

the prompt, while at the same time avoiding

to

three objects should not have the

repetition—all

for a prompt that is wide enough to

Look

your different objects, but not so

encompass

that all of your objects relate to it in the

narrow

way. Consider the following example.

same

have changed what we know

techniques

Pluto.

about

suppose you settled on prompt 13. Two

Let’s

our objects could be the low- and high-res

of

of Pluto shown below. You should be

photos

to not just include other objects that

careful

the same point—that more powerful

make

tools allow us to improve our

technological

about phenomena in the world.

knowledge

to diversify your exhibition, consider,

Instead,

example, how the design of the bicycle has

for

over time and how we know whether

changed

I. THE EXHIBITION

12

exact same relationship to the prompt.

2. “Selecting objects”.

technology, specifically about how imaging

or not this counts as an improvement.

Figure 12.2b

Pluto taken by New Horizons 16 hours before

Pluto taken by the Faint Object Camera of the

closest approach in July 2015. This is the raw, compressed

Figure 12.2a

Hubble Space Telescope in 1994; the highest resolution image

version seen by scientists shortly after midnight on 13 July. It

demonstrates the dramatic improvement in imaging science

achieved from Earth.

content available from a yby mission. The right-hand part is a

close-up of the pits in the heart-shaped region of Pluto.

359

I. THE EXHIBITION

a new subject can sometimes lead

Including

in a different direction from what you

you

imagined. This can be exciting or it

originally

be a dead-end, and you should explore a

can

further until you know. Let’s say that after

little

a bit more about the history of bicycle

reading

confused about where to start? The IB

Still

encourages students to place their

strongly

in the context of the core theme

exhibition

one of the other themes. If you are having

or

devising your exhibition, read the list

difficulty

prompts again but this time with a particular

of

in mind. You might find that you have

theme

clarity, for example, on prompt 29 “Who

more

gendered dimensions of the development

and

the bicycle, as well as how what we know

of

Pluto today has been shaped and

about

by its former status as a planet and

influenced

subsequent demotion. In this case, a broader

its

such as prompt 33 might be more

question

knowledge and Indigenous societies—you

of

remember reading about cultural appropri-

may

or stolen Indigenous artefacts in museums

ation

private collections (discussed in Chapters 5

and

10). Alternatively, the same prompt considered

and

in the context of knowledge and technolo-

might remind you of open source software,

gy

commons licenses or digital remix

creative

12

design, you want to explore the social, cultural

appropriate.

owns knowledge?” when seen through the lens

culture.

360

12.3 The cabinet of curiosities: Ferrante Imperato’s

Figure

in Naples, 1599

museum

play an important role in knowing—as

Objects

things that are known, the materials and tools

the

which we come to know things, or as

through

of the application of knowledge. Human-

results

objects are intertwined with the processes of

made

and are therefore suitable to be included

knowing,

the exhibition. Naturally occurring objects

in

relate to knowledge, such as celestial objects,

that

or rock formations can also be used.

clouds

that the exhibition asks for objects, it is

Given

appropriate to include living beings. Specific

not

of living beings may be used as long

photographs

it is the photograph, and not the being, that is

as

presented. We explore this nuance below.

being

objects may be too large to actually exhibit.

Some

may be privately owned or otherwise hard

Others

access. In these cases an image of the object

to

be presented instead. Digital objects, such as

can

tweet or an Instagram post, are also suitable for

a

exhibition. It should be clear whether you are

the

an image in place of the physical object

exhibiting

as a photograph of La Sagrada Familia

(such

Barcelona) or the image itself (such as the

in

photograph of Sharbat Gula by journalist

1984

McCurry called Afghan Girl). Note: in the

Steve

example, be clear that it is that particular

latter

featured on the National Geographic

photograph,

a photograph that is iconic and potentially

cover,

not the person. In the case of La Sagrada

and

your discussion should clearly focus on

Familia,

basilica as the object in the exhibition, rather

the

the qualities and features of the image such

than

about objects you have created? These may

What

included as long as they are pre-existing; that

be

they have not been specifically created for the

is,

of this exhibition. Challenge yourself to

purpose

meaning in objects that already exist in the

find

and be curious about the incredible things

world

the rest of the world’s humans have made,

that

and used. With this orientation you can

found

objects more interesting than any you

discover

have imagined. Margaret Mead describes

might

and inclusion—why these

Selection

and not others?

objects

making your selection of objects, be

In

about the objects you include and

curious

To practise, consider prompt 1

exclude.

counts as knowledge?”

“What

As a class, brainstorm at least 10 objects

1.

would include in an exhibition on

you

Discuss as a class what your objects reveal

2.

your biases and gaps

about

What kinds of knowledge are

(a)

underrepresented?

(b) Why did these not readily come to mind?

Consider again the 10 objects your class

3.

selected. Working on your own, select

has

that you would personally include.

three

your selection with that of a

Compare

Discuss where and how they differ.

partner.

were your reasons for including those

What

12

I.2.2 Selecting objects

What can I use and how do I choose?

as the lighting or perspective in the photograph.

this orientation as:

the open-mindedness with which one must look and

listen, record in astonishment and wonder, that which

one would not have been able to guess.

(Mead 1950)

For ref lection

this prompt.

problematic, that is the object of the exhibition,

specific objects and excluding the rest?

361

I. THE EXHIBITION

that objects do not speak for

Recognizing

how you represent them is essential

themselves,

this task. Creating a successful TOK exhibition

in

not only describing each object in its

includes

using generic objects or images that

Avoid

in for entire categories of things.

stand

you are exploring prompt 9 “Are

Suppose

types of knowledge less open to

some

than others?” and you wish

interpretation

discuss the interpretation of religious

to

Your exhibition will not benefit from a

texts.

image of bibles even if you have deep

stock

of biblical exegesis and can fully

knowledge

the magisterium of the Catholic

explain

or the Reformation principle of Sola

Church

Remember, the objects you present

Scriptura.

not obstacles to be overcome just so that

are

can move on to what you wanted to

you

to choose and contextualize objects that

Try

specific functions in the world,

perform

explain how this is the case. Consider,

and

example, the 2011 graphic novel Sita’s

for

context, but also connecting it to your

real-world

TOK prompt and justifying its inclusion

chosen

the exhibition. The better you contextualize

in

objects in a real-world setting, the more

your

will be your argument for why they

convincing

been included and how they respond to the

have

which retells the Hindu epic from

Ramayana,

perspective of the queen, repositioning

the

female character as the protagonist. This

the

interpretation is itself inspired by a

modern

of the Ramayana by the Bengali 16thcentury

retelling

poetess Chandrabati. Sita’s Ramayana

further entangled in questions about

is

the Ramayana can be considered a

whether

historical or religious text, and what

literary,

of these would mean about its openness

each

12

I.2.3 Linking your objects to the prompt

Representation

prompt.

tointerpretation.

write.

Figure 12.4 The front cover of Sita’s Ramayana (2011)

362

related pitfall to avoid is using objects to

A

ideas symbolically. In exploring, for

represent

prompt 6 “How does the way that

example,

organize or classify knowledge affect what

we

know?” you might offer an image of a

we

mirror to symbolize the fragmentation

broken

knowledge into separate disciplines. This

of

be a mistake.

would

is tempting to engage with objects

It

because we can attribute

symbolically

to any object and gain approval.

meaning

exhibition is intended to engage with

The

in their own right—with their origin

objects

uniqueness, purpose and meanings

stories,

those you personally give them.

beyond

prompt 6 still in mind, consider Figure

With

an image of The Siku Quanshu, the 18thcentury

12.5,

encyclopedia of Chinese knowledge.

79,000 chapters and 800 million words,

At

Siku Quanshu is a compendium of a body

The

knowledge so large in volume that it has

of

been surpassed by Wikipedia, and that

only

summary, the objects in your exhibition

In

meet these criteria.

should

They should be pre-existing, not created for

•

purposes of your exhibition.

the

They need to represent themselves, not

•

ideas.

abstract

only happened recently. It is organized

has

to traditional classification into

according

Branches ( 部 ): (a) the Classics ( 經 ), (b) the

“4

( 史 ), (c) the Masters ( 子 ), and (d)

Histories

Anthologies ( 集 )”. This complex system

the

over the course of 15 centuries

developed

does not neatly map onto the domains

and

knowledge in Western thought. Including

of

Siku Quanshu in your exhibition allows

The

to engage with its specific historical and

you

meanings and make compelling

cultural

to both the prompt and the world.

connections

can explore how applying categories

You

as “literature” and “philosophy” to

such

thought prior to the 18th century

Chinese

or distorts our understanding of them.

limits

you can consider limitations and

Indeed,

that occur when we apply one way

distortions

organizing knowledge to an intellectual

of

that organizes knowledge differently.

tradition

The Siku Quanshu, the 18th-century encyclopedia

order to make your objects relevant to the

In

you need a good understanding of

prompt,

specific origins and histories. It is helpful

their

draw on objects you are already familiar

to

or committed to finding out more

with,

in order to avoid misrepresentations,

about,

and generalizations.

oversimplifications

in this exhibition with objects

Working

in the real world keeps you

contextualized

for the claims you make about

accountable

I. THE EXHIBITION

12

Figure 12.5

of Chinese knowledge consisting of 79,000 chapters

• They should be specific, not generic.

363

I. THE EXHIBITION

you describe them, what you claim

them—how

how they fit in the world and how you

about

when referring to objects coming

Especially

material cultures you are not familiar

from

you should be respectful of the

with,

traditions they are embedded

knowledge

and the limitations of your own

in

One of the prompts (14) even

understanding.

“Does some knowledge belong only to

asks

communities of knowers?” When

particular

objects, consider what is your role

selecting

intention in having this object represented.

and

the story of the Ma-taatua Wharenui, a

Let

Maori meeting house (figure 12.6),

carved

as a lesson. In the 1870s, it was

serve

and packed onto a steamship

disassembled

from what is now known as New

travelling

to the British Empire Exhibition in

Zealand

trains across multiple destinations

and

the Empire, and was even trimmed to

in

inside museum buildings. It would be

fit

100years before this meeting house

another

returned home. On its first stop

ultimately

Sydney, the Ma-taatua was reassembled

in

the intricate carvings facing the outside,

with

full view of the visitors, but also in full

in

of Maori protocol. By way of this

disregard

the Mataatua went from being

transformation,

culturally significant gathering site to being

a

ethnological curiosity for strange people

“an

look at the wrong way and in the wrong

to

(Te Runanga o Ngati Awa 1990). Don’t

place”

like the British Empire. In the exhibition the

be

to represent objects is inseparable

opportunity

the responsibility to do it well and

from

accurately.

terms: Mataatua Visitor

Search

History

Centre

12

explain their relationship to the prompt.

Sydney. The Ma-taatua was hauled on ships

Mataatua Wharenui in Sydney 1879. Notice how the entire structure has been reassembled so that the interior carvings are now

Figure 12.6

on the exterior.

364

back to the three objects you chose in

Think

previous exercise, to represent prompt 1

the

counts as knowledge?” Reflecting

“What

your selection, consider the following.

on

Do your objects contain any of the pitfalls

1.

poor choices we discuss in this

and

Are you confident in your ability to offer

2.

accurate and responsible description of

an

Why would you say that you have chosen

3.

objects?

interesting

you work to establish the relationship

As

each of your objects and your

between

keep in mind how the exhibition is

prompt,

up as a whole. You add value not

shaping

by identifying, describing and linking

only

individual objects to the prompt,

three

also by selecting them such that they

but

present a nuanced understanding

collectively

example, in creating an exhibition around

For

4 “On what grounds might we doubt a

prompt

it would be a good idea to select objects

claim?”

highlight different causes for doubt.

that

one of the objects is Figure 12.7, a

Suppose

medieval miniature painting of Muslim

fake

at work. These paintings are a

scientists

phenomenon and they are done to

curious

degrees of sophistication. Many

various

paintings are for sale in Istanbul’s

similar

Second Hand Book Market (Sahaflar

historic

while many more circulate on the

Çarşısı),

A keen eye is often not enough to

internet.

them as modern forgeries, and at least

reveal

background knowledge in the history of

some

and technology or the history of art is

science

can reveal the difference between fakes

fields

the real thing. For example, there may be

and

in the timelines of the spread

inconsistencies

technologies, use of pigments that would

of

have been available at the time, or cultural

not

such as garments that would not

inaccuracies

been worn in the way depicted. So, the

have

miniatures show us that inconsistencies,

fake

by someone with experience and

detectable

knowledge, are good reasons to cast

specialized

might this object relate to your other two

How

say a screenshot of a deepfake video to

objects,

I. THE EXHIBITION

12

For ref lection

Being accountable for descriptions

section?

each of the objects?

I.2.4 Creating meaning

of the prompt.

Fake painting of Muslim scientists at work

Figure 12.7

doubt on a claim about a painting’s authenticity.

necessary. Experience and expertise in these

illustrate the role and limitations of intuition

365

I. THE EXHIBITION

doubt, and a tweet by a politician included

in

show doubt as distrust towards the claims-

to

Can you make our understanding of

maker?

more refined by substituting one or both

doubt

thinking about your exhibition as a whole,

In

how tensions between the objects and

consider

different ways they relate to the prompt can

the

to a more thorough understanding

contribute

the concepts in the prompt. How can you,

of

an intentional selection of objects, offer

through

compelling exploration of doubt, to follow the

a

we started out with?

example

if you have gone through the process

Even

been intentional about your choice

diligently,

objects and have a good sense about their

of

to the prompt, it is important that

relationship

articulate those decisions and intentions.

you

have 950 words to do this. The word

You

is generous enough for you to present

allocation

detail, and also difficult to fill if there is not

some

might be wondering how to approach and

You

this written component. How much

structure

should you give to individual object

space

versus discussing the prompt or the

descriptions

as a whole? The IB does not require a

exhibition

structure, and this gives you freedom in

specific

you write about and present your work. The

how

guidance may help you.

following

Open with an exhibition rationale. Why is

•

exhibition on this prompt significant?

the

will the exploration of this prompt

How

your selected objects help us better

through

the concepts in the prompt? You

understand

to be convinced of the rationale before

need

can write it convincingly. Include the

you

only if it adds value and allows

rationale

to open strongly. It does not have to be

you

than a sentence or two. Keep in mind

longer

this sets the tone for your exhibition and

that

it should not be trivial.

so

If you are placing your exhibition in the

•

of a theme, make this clear. Explain

context

it might be particularly interesting,

why

example, to look at prompt 9 “Are

for

types of knowledge less open to

some

than others?” through the lens

interpretation

Write significant descriptions of the

•

Focus on what is of significance—

objects.

details about their origin, history

which

ownership and use, past and current

of

are relevant? Which are essential

location

contextualizing each object in its place

to

the world? Your objects should be

in

grounded in a real-world

simultaneously

and linked to your chosen prompt.

context

of the objects’ description and the

Think

for including them into the

justification

as two sides of the same coin.

exhibition

Address “the big picture” of your

•

Once you have described and

exhibition.

each of your objects to the prompt,

linked

out and consider the picture that

zoom

To fail to do so would be a missed

emerges.

to extract meaning from the

opportunity

Ideally, each of your objects will

exhibition.

a unique relationship to the prompt. By

have

these three specific objects together,

putting

should be able to say something unique

you

the prompt. What do your chosen

about

seen together, allow you to say about,

objects,

example, what counts as knowledge, or

for

what grounds we might doubt a claim?

on

may be tensions and contradictions

There

your objects; this is not something

between

need to hide or necessarily aim to

you

Indeed, you may have even

resolve.

selected your objects to create

intentionally

tensions. Highlighting them in relation

these

the prompt demonstrates that you have

to

understanding that knowledge manifests

an

the world in complex and messy ways. If

in

well, this can add depth and nuance to

done

the purpose of the written account

Ultimately,

to make your thinking visible to anyone who

is

visiting your exhibition, even virtually, and

is

may not know you and your motivations.

who

12

of these objects for a different one?

of knowledge and religion.

I.2.5 Writing it all up

Making your intentions visible

much substance to your exhibition.

your exhibition.

366

written explanation should convince

The

that you have not found these objects

them

chance, and that you have thought about

by

can articulate the reasons for including

and

in your exhibition. In doing this, you are

them

that you understand how TOK

demonstrating

determine how well you have done on the

To

your teacher will use the rubric

exhibition,

As you develop your exhibition, consult

below.

to ensure that you understand the demands

it

I. THE EXHIBITION

12

I.3 Assessment for the TOK exhibition

of the task, and that you are meeting them.

manifests in the world.

Does the exhibition successfully show how TOK manifests in the world around us?

Excellent 9–10 Good 7–8 Satisfactory 5–6 Basic 3–4 Rudimentary 1–2 0

The exhibition

The exhibition

The exhibition

The exhibition

The exhibition

The

clearly identifies

identifies three

identifies three

identifies three

presents three

response

three objects

objects and

objects, although

objects, although

objects, but

does not

and their specific

their real-world

the real-world

the real-world

the real-world

reach the

real-world

contexts. Links

contexts of

contexts of the

contexts of these

standard

contexts. Links

between each of

these objects

objects may be

objects are not

described

between each

the three objects

may be vaguely

implied rather than

stated, or the

by the other

of the three

and the selected

or imprecisely

explicitly stated.

images presented

levels or

objects and the

IA prompt are

stated. There

Basic links between

may be highly

does not

selected internal

explained,

is some

the objects and

generic images

use one

assessment

although this

explanation

the selected IA

of types of object

of the IA

(IA) prompt are

explanation may

of the links

prompt are made,

rather than being

prompts

clearly made and

lack precision

between the

but the explanation

specific real-world

provided.

well-explained.

and clarity in

three objects

of these links is

objects. Links

There is a strong

parts.

and the selected

unconvincing and/

between the

justification of

IA prompt.

or unfocused. There

objects and the

There is a

the particular

is a superficial

selected IA prompt

justification of

There is some

contribution that

justification for

are made, but

the contribution

justification for

each individual

the inclusion of

these are minimal,

that each

the inclusion of

object makes to

each object in the

tenuous or it is

individual object

each object in

the exhibition.

exhibition.

not clear what the

makes to the

the exhibition.

All, or nearly all,

student is trying

exhibition. Many

Some of the

Reasons for the

of the points are

to convey.

of the points

points are

inclusion of the

well-supported

are supported

supported by

objects are offered,

There is very

by appropriate

by appropriate

evidence and

but these are

little justification

evidence

evidence and

references to

not supported

offered for the

and explicit

references to

the selected IA

by appropriate

inclusion of each

references to

the selected IA

prompt.

evidence and/

object in the

the selected IA

prompt.

or lack relevance

exhibition. The

prompt.

to the selected

commentary on

IA prompt. There

the objects is

may be significant

highly descriptive

repetition across the

or consists only

justifications of the

of unsupported

different objects.

assertions.

Possible characteristics

Focused

Adequate

Simplistic

Ineffective

Convincing

Competent

Limited

Descriptive

Lucid

Relevant

Precise

Coherent

Acceptable

Underdeveloped

Incoherent

367

II. THE ESSAY

other way you demonstrate your learning

The

TOK is by writing an essay, in response to

in

of six prescribed titles (PTs) issued by the

one

each year. Unlike creating an exhibition,

IB

writing tasks are something you will be

extended

with. And yet there are some differences

familiar

the TOK essay and other essays or

between

written tasks. An effective TOK essay is an

long

of TOK concepts and ideas, through

exploration

development and articulation of arguments,

the

by real examples representing a

supported

of perspectives, and consolidated into

diversity

conclusion that is of consequence. The essay is

a

opportunity to demonstrate that knowledge

an

in the world, and has significant

matters

and consequences.

implications

PTs published by the IB will be in the form of

All

questions, which we discussed earlier in

knowledge

chapter. A worthy reminder here, however,

this

regarding the contestability of knowledge

is

will by definition be open to

questions—they

multiplicity of possible good answers. But

a

say that there is no right or wrong answer

to

a knowledge question is not the same as to

to

there are no poor answers to a knowledge

say

The TOK essay task asks for an

question.

of the knowledge question contained

exploration

the PT, but also asks for this to be done

within

Next, you should have an opportunity to share with your teacher your ideas about

2.

you are planning to explore your chosen PT.

how

Based on this discussion and your teacher’s feedback, you will proceed to

3.

a draft of the essay.

write

the following pages, we walk through

In

elements in the thinking and writing

different

for the essay and offer some essential

process

on moving through them while

guidance

Your teacher will read your draft and comment with suggestions

4.

how it can be improved, and you will get an opportunity to act

on

Finally, you will hand over a final version of your essay

5.

submission to the IB.

for

address perhaps the biggest pitfall of all

We

at the start: you will notice that at no

here

in the process does it say “visit one of the

point

TOK help websites online” or “google

many

12

I I . T H E E S S AY

clearly and critically.

1. First, together with your teacher or as a class, you will discuss the list of PTs.

on these comments and incorporate the feedback.

avoiding some of the most common pitfalls.

your PT word for word”. Whatever you do,

368

not let the internet be the first place you

do

to start thinking about your essay. There

go

a lot of material online specific to the TOK

is

designed to “help” with the task, and the

essay,

you find there can be poor, misleading or

advice

Some websites even prey on students’

outdated.

and charge for their “service”. If

insecurities

have worked through this book, you know

you

you need to know to tackle the essay.

what

confidence in that knowledge and in your

Have

we dive in, here is an overview of the

Before

of the task.

requirements

The essay has to be written on a single PT

•

the examination session that you are

from

in. You may not write your own

registered

or alter a PT in any way. Your essay

title

be a full and direct response to the

should

which should be clearly stated at the

PT,

The word limit for the essay is 1600words.

•

examiner is not required to read

The

over this word limit. An essay

anything

is significantly under the word limit

that

self-penalizing and unlikely to be a fully

is

response to the PT.

developed

There is no prescribed structure for

•

theessay.

you first see the list of PTs, much like the

When

exhibition prompts, they might strike you

TOK

very abstract and conceptual. Unpacking

as

the TOK concepts and key

them—identifying

something you will want to do for all

words—is

to some extent. This process will help you

PTs

your understanding of what each PT is

clarify

and how you might approach answering

asking

also, which is the one you wish to explore

it;

However, endlessly unpacking PTs can

further.

you that confidence. In fact, the model

give

templates and suggested examples

responses,

something away from you that is far more

take

your unique, individual approach

important:

the questions. Teachers have been warning

to

about this for years and we hope that

students

will trust us, and trust yourself. Provide

you

with time and space to think and

yourself

critically, honour your knowledge and

reflect

is enough—and let the essay be a

experience—it

The TOK essay is not primarily a research

•

You are not expected to do a review

task.

the literature or find out what everyone

of

you has said on the topic. That said,

before

you refer to someone else’s

whenever

or ideas, you must cite the source.

words

you have questions or need further

If

about what and how to cite, ask

guidance

The essay should be formatted in a

•

font (such as Arial) in 12 pt, and

standard

spaced throughout. No cover page

double

other special formatting is necessary.

or

No identifying information, such as your

•

or candidate number, should appear

name

the essay document. The script should

in

anonymous in order to support the

be

emphasize unpacking PTs here because

We

is the first step in ensuring a sustained

this

of knowledge in your essay.

discussion

helps you identify what it is that you

It

maintain focus on as you begin to

should

Failure to do this can mean that you

write.

into your essay with an inaccurate

launch

of the demands of the question.

interpretation

connection of your essay to the PT is one

The

the aspects that is assessed, and this needs

of

be clear to you in order to be clear in your

to

Let’s practise unpacking one of the

writing.

II. THE ESSAY

12

ability to think independently. No website can

celebration of what you have learned in TOK.

your teacher.

top of your essay.

impartiality of the marking.

II.1 Unpacking the PT

turn into a form of procrastination.

prescribed PTs.

369

II. THE ESSAY

what extent do the concepts that we use

“To

the conclusions that we reach?”

shape

good place to start is to pay attention

A

the requirements in the PT. Some PTs

to

specify an AOK to be discussed, or the

will

of AOKs you must explore in the

number

Follow these requirements closely; your

essay.

must address the PT fully in order

response

be effective. If the PT calls for two AOKs,

to

a third and a fourth is seen as taking

including

and words away from offering a

attention

analysis of the two that were required.

deeper

particular PT leaves that open—you can

This

discuss any number of AOKs, as

technically

key terms that stand out are “concepts”

The

“conclusions”. Having an understanding

and

these terms, and offering a discussion around

of

will be crucial to an effective response.

them

is where students sometimes turn to

This

definitions. This is ineffective and

dictionary

discouraged for a reason—unless you

strongly

specifically discussing the formation of

are

as a knowledge issue, it is mostly

definitions

to rely on and include dictionary

unhelpful

of key terms in your TOK essay.

definitions

consider what concepts look like in

Instead

AOKs, starting perhaps with the

different

you have encountered in your subjects.

concepts

these concepts generally accepted, or

Are

among practitioners in the AOK they

disputed

to? What are the relationships between

belong

and theories, schools of thought or

concepts

And what kind of conclusions do

ideologies?

different AOKs seek to reach? Are concepts

the

and useful for being able to reach

necessary

in these AOKs? Think about

conclusions

like these early and you will be well

questions

to develop a strong essay.

placed

also that this PT asks a question of

Note

this type of question is common in PTs.

extent;

can be given a statement or quote and

You

about the extent to which you agree

asked

it, or the extent to which this is the case

with

a number of AOKs. This specific PT asks

in

the extent of the influence of concepts

about

conclusions, and offers the term “shape” to

on

that influence. You should evaluate

describe

extent of the shaping influence of concepts

the

then there is the word “we”—very easy

And

overlook, and yet critical to an effective

to

In a PT, always look for the knower

response.

community of knowers that is being

or

to. Is it mathematicians, historians,

referred

scientists, or is it—as is the case in

experts,

PT— an unspecified “we”? “We” should

this

be taken as an invitation to write an essay

not

a general group of unspecific knowers,

about

if such a group even existed. Instead, it

as

be seen as an opportunity to explore

should

knowers. For instance, does the

different

of concepts on conclusions differ

influence

experts versus non-experts? Is it more

for

is important to flag that you must make sure

It

to alter the PT in the process of unpacking it,

not

to respond to it exactly as it was presented.

and

a few questions in relation to the

Brainstorming

can be helpful to identify in which directions

PT

take your response, but these questions

to

not displace the PT. In the case of this PT

must

might consider whether it is possible to

you

different conclusions by using the same

reach

or the same conclusion by using

concepts,

concepts. As you begin writing, always

different

that your discussion is related to what the

check

is asking for and that you are giving adequate

PT

to all the key terms in the PT.

attention

this sequence, try unpacking a

Following

all—of the PTs in your session. If you

few—or

doing this for practice before they become

are

try one of the PTs in the sections

available,

or a different one provided by your

below,

teacher.

12

Consider this PT from May 2016.

on conclusions throughout your essay.

long as you consider different perspectives.

significant in one AOK as opposed to another?

370

unpacking the PT is something you do

Finally,

as a step in the process of thinking about

both

essay and in the writing of your essay.

your

effective introduction will include your

An

of what the question is asking

understanding

as well as your plan for how you are going

for

approach and explore it. Meaningfully

to

the prescribed title is a critical first

unpacking

in structuring the argumentative arc of

step

response.

your

you have a good understanding of the

Once

title and what it asks for, it is time

prescribed

articulate a few arguments in response, and

to

thinking about what kind of evidence you

start

offer in support. Note here that the way you

can

your response in writing does not need to

advance

your thinking process—will you lead with

follow

examples, or with your arguments? Either

your

how you might construct a response

Consider

this PT from May 2016.

to

knowledge there is always a trade-off

“In

accuracy and simplicity.” Evaluate

between

statement in relation to two areas of

this

knowledge.

is a lot in this PT that requires careful

There

For example, the title says “in

unpacking.

without identifying a specific

knowledge”,

or context. You may choose to respond

process

this title by exploring how the trade-off

to

accuracy and simplicity manifests

between

the context of 1) the production and 2) the

in

of knowledge in two AOKs. Before

transfer

continue, it is important to note that when

we

PT calls for a discussion of the production

a

knowledge, then it is appropriate to focus

of

on the activities of specialists and

specifically

fine for the purposes of the TOK essay, and the

is

of your essay should be able to adapt to

structure

fact, conforming your essay to a strict

In

of claim-counterclaim or example-

structure

can lead to generalizations,

counterexample

distinctions, misrepresentations and

arbitrary

dichotomies. Exploring a range of evidence,

false

within and across AOKs, allows you to

from

some nuance and honour the complexity

offer

messiness of knowledge in the real world.

and

is essential that your examples are grounded

It

the real world, that they refer to how actual

in

and students of different disciplines

practitioners

and share knowledge. Hypothetical and

gain

examples, as well as anecdotal ones

speculative

are impossible to verify, are therefore rarely

that

The kind of support you offer for your

effective.

should reflect what you have learned

arguments

this course about what makes for good

in

evidence.

the first part of your essay you can explore

In

alleged inverse relationship between

the

and simplicity in how knowledge

accuracy

produced in two AOKs. Combinations of

is

proof and natural laws, models

mathematical

economic and biological processes, scientific

of

political theories, historical narratives

and

art performances can be invoked here

and

explore the accuracy and simplicity in

to

production.

knowledge

It is not uncommon for students to

•

choose AOKs that seem

opportunistically

give opposing answers to the question

to

hand. This can result in arguments

at

one thing happens in one AOK and

that

the opposite happens in the other.

exactly

arguments tend to be supported by

These

examples, that misrepresent

oversimplified

II. THE ESSAY

12

the type of prescribed title you have chosen.

II.2 Articulating arguments and

supporting them with examples

Here are some pitfalls to avoid

experts in the AOKs.

the AOKs as monoliths.

371

II. THE ESSAY

Another weak approach is to offer

•

both in favour and against the

arguments

in both AOKs, effectively concluding

title,

This “both-sides-of-the-story”

nothing.

sounds as if you are doing

approach

without evaluating the relative

TOK—but

of the arguments in context, there is

merits

much to say at the end.

not

Another pitfall is to hang onto a strong

•

in the PT, such as “always”, and

word

that while there may be a tradeoff

argue

between accuracy and simplicity,

is not always the case in your chosen

this

This approach can be limiting

AOKs.

you only offer a counterexample and

if

it at that. However, if you can

leave

some discussion or analysis of the

offer

this approach may still

counterexample

the example of this prescribed title, you

In

make a more nuanced argument, such

can

Engaging with a diversity

II.3

perspectives and evaluating

of

the TOK essay you will need to demonstrate

In

of multiple points of view, as

awareness

as an ability to evaluate them. These

well

points of view can come from various

different

On a big-picture level, there are

perspectives.

perspectives of the different AOKs—the

the

the human and natural sciences, history

arts,

mathematics. Within each AOK there

and

different fields or disciplines, and within

are

of the disciplines there are subdisciplines

each

schools of thought. Even within a single

and

there can be a multiplicity of

subdiscipline

made by a variety of

perspectives—claims

For example, in the visual arts

claims-makers.

can have the perspective of the artist, the

we

critic, the student of art, the curator, the art

art

simplicity in one or both of your AOKs

and

best described as something other than

is

trade-off. You can then give examples of

a

specific conditions of the production of

the

in your AOKs, and how they

knowledge

the relationship between accuracy and

affect

the second part of the essay you may turn

In

the transfer of knowledge in the same two

to

Throughout this book we discuss

AOKs.

of the distortions that arise when

examples

is simplified for the purpose

knowledge

education—for example in the way it is

of

in textbooks. You might recall

presented

from genetics (Chapter 7), history

examples

9) or economics (Chapter 8). You

(Chapter

argue that this trade-off is inevitable

may

order for the transfer of knowledge to

in

and examine the effect—positive or

work,

sacrificing some degree of

negative—of

for simplicity.

accuracy

awareness of different perspectives is

Your

through the selection of points of

reflected

that you include in your essay. But more

view

than just having them represented is

important

you do with the different perspectives—

what

kind of analysis and evaluation can

what

offer? One thing that is often overlooked

you

students in such analyses is that the

by

among disciplines and AOKs are

similarities

interesting as the differences. When we

as

similarities between two academic

encounter

about what counts as evidence or what

fields,

means to give an explanation, it is important

it

pause and consider not only what makes

to

different, but also how they are similar

AOKs

the ways they produce, share and apply

in

whenever we focus on the differences,

And

we so often do in TOK, it is important to

as

where do these differences come from?

ask:

come reliability and accuracy take on

How

12

simplicity.

be successful.

as that the relationship between accuracy

differences

knowledge.

collector, the audience and so on.

372

meanings in different AOKs? Does

different

legitimacy of experts come from different

the

in different AOKs? It is not enough

sources

way of TOK analysis to say that different

by

happen in mathematics and history

things

they are different AOKs; that is

because

how you might engage with and

Consider

different points of view in this PT

evaluate

is no reason why we cannot link facts

“There

theories across disciplines and create

and

common groundwork of explanation.”

a


To

might notice that the title contains the

You

word “we”, and we discussed earlier

tricky

it is important and necessary to specify

why

it is referring to. In this specific title,

whom

can choose to answer the question with

you

to, for example, 1) experts and

reference

who produce knowledge, 2)

researchers

and communicators who disseminate

teachers

or 3) students and individuals

knowledge,

acquire and make sense of knowledge.

who

of these groups of knowers, and

Each

are likely to have different reasons

subgroups,

why we can or cannot “create a common

for

of explanation”. Notice how in

groundwork

the key term “we” you are inviting

specifying

perspectives into your essay. This is

different

else to keep in mind is that in an

Something

a raft of rhetorical questions is not a

essay

for analysis. Your analysis might raise

substitute

questions than it answers, but it must

more

Drawing conclusions that are of

II.4

consequence

you have done the work we talked about so

If

by this point you should be well placed to

far,

differences and, as we mentioned earlier,

their

Even if it is difficult to articulate,

similarities?

is still worth thinking about why it is that we

it

these different ways of coming to know

have

the world. Let’s see what this looks like

about

practice.

in

meaningful conclusion; the better you do

a

the more convincing the outcome of your

this

will be. In what context and at what

analysis

are you going to explore the linking of

level

PT in itself deals with multiple

This

various points of view

perspectives—the

exist across disciplines. Consider in

that

ways linking facts and theories across

which

from the same AOK (economics,

disciplines

and psychology, for example)

anthropology

differ from doing the same across

might

and mathematics. In your essay

history

should demonstrate awareness of the

you

and differences between and

similarities

AOKs, as well as the source of those

within

and differences. What might

similarities

the source? Consider what role having a

be

set of methods and tools, or having a

similar

main pitfall you are going to want to

The

here is generalizing perspectives at

avoid

level of AOKs, uncritically presenting

the

as monoliths; for example, “in the

disciplines

your essay meaningfully. Below we

conclude

what that could look like.

discuss

conclusions should leave the reader—and

The

a sense of having got somewhere

you—with

the end of your essay. In other words, we

at

not be back exactly where we started,

should

come full circle, to conclude that “it

having

or that it is true “to some extent”. We

depends”

that already, and 1600 words later, ideally

knew

would know a bit more. By the time you

we

II. THE ESSAY

12

obvious. What can you say about the source of

from the May 2015 session.

facts and theories?

statement?

shared set of assumptions, plays in this PT.

arts we see X, while in the sciences we see Y.”

an important step towards being able to draw

answer some.

373

II. THE ESSAY

to present the conclusion, you should be

need

to say something about what it depends on,

able

the circumstances are, which factors affect

what

and why we should care about any of it.

it

so, if you remember one thing about TOK

And

conclusions, let it be this: do not just give

essay

the possibility of knowing. Yes, we spend

up

lot of time and effort in TOK questioning

a

reliability and skill of those who produce

the

the legitimacy and trustworthiness

knowledge;

the institutions or persons who disseminate

of

and our own ability to discern among

it;

and often conflicting perspectives.

multiple

much so, it seems, that in the end students

So

what you might conclude in

Consider

to this PT from May 2014.

response

which is accepted as knowledge today

“That

sometimes discarded tomorrow.” Consider

is

issues raised by this statement in

knowledge

areas of knowledge.

two

has the word “sometimes”—and it would

It

easy, but also underwhelming, to flatly

be

on the basis of your extensive

conclude

that yes, sometimes this or

exploration

can be the case; the end. This title also

that

another tricky word, “tomorrow”, that

has

well drag you into entirely speculative

could

about what might happen to

conclusions

in different fields in the future.

knowledge

you will have recognized both

Hopefully

these challenges with the title well in

of

and written an essay that discusses

advance,

second part of the prescribed title:

the

knowledge issues that arise from this

the

strong conclusion should demonstrate

A

ability to extract meaning from the

your

of knowing, with little to inspire

challenges

in knowledge. It can be tempting,

confidence

this standpoint, to conclude that since so

from

of knowledge is contestable, uncertain,

much

and tentative that it is all relative,

incomplete

unreliable and suspect. We hope that

biased,

your conclusion, and in what you take away

in

TOK, you can see both the difficulties of

from

knowledgeable and the achievement

becoming

having overcome them.

of

knowing, TOK is not easy, but it is not

Like

either. It should certainly not be

impossible

kind of frustrating that makes it hard to

the

why knowledge matters in the world.

appreciate

perspectives you have explored.

different

what have we learned from when

Consider:

how knowledge has been discarded in

and

past? On what grounds was it discarded?

the

happens to discarded knowledge in

What

chosen AOKs? If there were significant

your

surprising similarities and differences

or

your AOKs—how can you

between

strong conclusion also requires an

A

of the implications of the

awareness

and the ability to articulate a

conclusion

that is of consequence. So,

conclusion

what does the possibility of being

consider:

mean for the knowledge we have

discarded

that we offer questions here to give you

Note

sense of the kinds of ideas you can include

a

a conclusion. You can also offer some

in

questions, but it is expected

outstanding

you will attempt to answer them, and

that

courageously—if provisionally—to

respond

12

can be overwhelmed with the limitations and

It matters too much to give it up.

explain these?

today and the confidence we have in it?

statement in two AOKs.

the PT.

374

examiner will refer to the rubric below to

Your

your essay. You too can refer to it in

evaluate

process of writing your essay to understand

the

criteria, self-assess and make sense of your

the

II. THE ESSAY

12

II.5 Assessment for the TOK essay

teacher’s feedback.

Does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title?

Excellent 9–10 Good 7–8 Satisfactory 5–6 Basic 3–4 Rudimentary 1–2 0

The discussion

The discussion

The discussion

The discussion is

The discussion is

The

has a sustained

is focused on

is focused on

connected to the

weakly connected

discussion

focus on the title

the title and is

the title and

title and makes

to the title.

does not

and is linked

linked effectively

is developed

superficial or limited

reach the

While there

standard

with some links

effectively

links to areas of

to areas of

may be links

to areas of

knowledge.

described

knowledge.

to areas of

to the areas of

by the other

knowledge.

knowledge.

The discussion is

knowledge, any

Arguments are

levels or

Arguments are

relevant points

largely descriptive.

Arguments are

clear, coherent

is not a

clear, coherent

and supported

offered and are

Limited arguments

are descriptive

response to

supported by

and effectively

or consist only

by examples.

are offered but they

one of the

supported

examples.

are unclear and are

of unsupported

There is

prescribed

assertions.

not supported by

by specific

There is some

awareness and

titles for

effective examples.

examples. The

the correct

awareness of

some evaluation

implications of

assessment

different points

of different

arguments are

session.

of view.

points of view.

considered.

There is clear

awareness and

evaluation of

different points

of view.

Possible characteristics

Pertinent

Ineffective

Underdeveloped

Insightful

Acceptable

Descriptive

Basic

Relevant

Mainstream

Convincing

Accomplished

Superficial

Adequate

Incoherent

Analytical

Lucid

Formless

Organized

Competent

Limited

375

as unspoken and unspeakable truths

art

295–7

artisanry and women creatives

artwork,

282–3

repatriation and redistribution of

patrimony,

297–304

art

as a response to transgression

censorship

315–16

all culture belong to all humankind?

does

303–4

knowledge, indigenizing the

decolonizing

118–19

curriculum

education for tolerance and mutual

religious

162

understanding

arguments and supporting them

articulating

examples 372–3

with

conclusions that are of consequence

drawing

374–5

with a diversity of perspectives and

engaging

differences 373–4

evaluating

in the human sciences

experimentation

235–7

the frontier of conventional historiography

at

269–73

markers of signicance and

changing

omissions 256–7

correcting

and its “others” coexisting in time

history

249–50

unpacking the PT 370–2

censorship of the past 316

A

ethics 18

academic freedom 50–2

certainty 15

accuracy 220–2

arts 312–20

climate justice 242–3

colonization 99–100

can AI be unethical? 82–6

AIDS 178–80

coming to know 120–1

Ainu 113–14

history 273–4

appropriation of artworks 301–2

complexity 199–200

human sciences 240–3

mathematics 347–8

concepts 15–16

Easter Island and the British Museum 302–3

representing Indigenous Peoples 133–5

role of museums 303–4

conservation 121

articial intelligence (AI) 82–6

science 202–4

battle of religious conservationists 159

credibility 20–1

secular alternatives to religious ethics 163–4

arts 278–81

art and access 292–5

cultural property 300–1

technology 77–8

ethnographic methods 229–30

evidence 15

artists and artisans 281–3

culture 16

experimentation 194–5

D

artworld and the art market 294–5

deaf culture 100–1

replicability and reproducibility 237–9

censorship 315–16

expert knowledge 28–9, 292–2

decolonization 118–19

ethics 312

Democracy Club 45–6

explanation 16

ethics of aesthetics 316–20

dialects 94–5

expertise and aesthetic judgment 291–2

F

digital subcultures 46–50

Han van Meegeren 287–91

digital technology 72–5

facts 12–13

it is what it is, but is it art? 284–5

faith 23

Dinesh, Nandita 307–9

method and art education 304–6

discovery 248–51

false balance 35–7

method and art production 306–9

falsicationism 168

diversity 20–1

diversity and histories 253–4

feminist critiques 190–2

diversity and many mathematics 334–6

eldwork 229–30

pigment feuds 310–11

lter bubbles 39–43

power of art to inuence ethics 312–15

linguistics and epistemic diversity 93–6

role of the audience 315

tools and instruments in art 309–11

E

G

echo chambers 39–43

genetics 186–7

truth and knowledge in art 284–6

Gettysburg, Battle of 269–70

atoms 175–6

education 116–17

governance 28–9

Australian Aboriginals 115–16

authority 9

Ladakh, India 117–18

H

land-based education 119–20

habits 13–15

B

herbalism 130–2

barter 220–1

electrons 176

beliefs 10–12

historiography 252, 269–73

history 246–7, 261

category of problematic beliefs 19

emergence 201

emotion 108–9

Benin Bronzes 298–9

Boke, Charis 130–2

English as global lingua franca 96–9

Battle of Gettysburg 269–70

epistemic injustice 20–1

Boyle, Robert 23

can history know itself? 275–6

Buddhism 141–2, 165–6

essay (PT) 369–70

diversity and histories 253–4

C

assessment for the essay 376

campus politics 50–2

does the past speak for itself? 264

ethics 273–4

censorship 315

376

understanding and textbook

international

257–61

revision

the past by the standards of the

judging

276–7

present

history and thresholds of signicance

making

254–7

natural laws to human behaviour

applying

212

in the human sciences

experimentation

235–7

to growth and limits of human

limits

243–5

knowledge

and objectivity in eldwork and

neutrality

methods 229–30

ethnographic

are the humans in human sciences?

who

222–4

knowledge as local, holistic and

indigenous

114–15

dynamic

ecological knowledge (TEK)

traditional

127–32

do we know what we know about

how

101–3

language?

and the other-than-human world

language

106–8

conversant in the language of the

becoming

322–4

universe

Simpson and Fermat’s last theorem

Homer

346

should mathematics be taught and

how

342–3

communicated?

what ways can mathematics be known?

in

344–5

and the mathematical community

individuals

327–30

mathematics universal or culture-bound?

is

330–4

pure mathematics ethically neutral?

is

348–50

for numbers in the brain and in

looking

332–4

culture

mathematics discovered or invented?

was

325–6

coming to know 120–1

history of history 267–9

conservation 121

Inca writings 90–1

education for all 116–120

Indigenous Peoples 124–7

ethics and politics of representation 133–5

just language 109–10

literacy and discovery 248–51

language and colonization 99–100

perspectives 116

perspectives 251–3

research as a relational activity 123–4

language, emotion and truth 108–9

role of language 124–7

should history “be” something? 274–5

limitless language 88–92

study of the past 247–8

songlines 115–16

linguistics and epistemic diversity 93–6

using history to predict the future 270–2

neuroscience 102–3

what remains of the past? 261–7

problems with translation 104–5

uncontacted peoples 136–7

HIV 178–80

who and what is indigenous? 112–13

religious knowledge and language 154

Hobbes, Thomas 23

role of metaphor 92–3

intellectual entitlement 18

Hobson-Jobson 99

intellectual humility 9–10

liberation theology 164


lies 32–5

interpretation 15

limits of knowledge 243–5

limits to growth 243–5

J

destigmatizing loss of condence 239–40

ethics 240–3

literacy 248–51

justication 15

M

K

heroines and heretics 218–19

knowledge 1–3

mathematics 321–3

implications of WEIRD research 224–9

beauty 341–2

appeals to authority 9

is good parenting universal? 225–7

category of problematic beliefs 19

concepts 15–16

diversity and many mathematics 334–6

epistemic diversity and epistemic justice 20–1

mathiness and physics envy 209–11

doing impossible mathematics 345–7

ethics 18

myth of barter 220–1

ethics 347–8

“here be dragons” 5–6

how we run away from facts 12–13

perspectives 213–16

impact of ignorance 6–7

politics and science of pain 213–15

intellectual entitlement 18

intellectual humility 9–10

replicability and reproducibility 237–9

knowledge matters 7–8

simplicity and accuracy 220–2

knowledge, or knowledges? 3–4

trouble with normality 216–18

perspectives 8–9

what we measure matters 231–5

thinking patterns and habits 13–15

varying our metaphors of knowledge 16–17

why do people believe strange things? 10–12

I

your intellectual autobiography 17–18

IB assessment 356

mathematical uency 343

mathematical indivisibles 328–3

essay 369–76

exhibition 357–68

mathematical proof 337–8

L

mathematical proof in the digital age 339

knowledge questions 356–7

Ladakh, India 117–18

ignorance 6–7

non-surveyable proof 339–40

language 87–8

professional standards 353–5

Inca writings 90–1

babies and foetuses 109

indigenization 119

trouble with statistics 350–3

deaf culture and signed languages 100–1

Indigenous Peoples 111–12

dialects 94–5

Ainu of Japan 113–14

English as the global lingua franca 96–9

appreciation or appropriation 135–6

mathiness 209–11

377

otherwise by measuring differently

knowing

233–5

disasters and explanations in religious

natural

160–1

knowledge

pure mathematics ethically neutral?

is

348–50

the past by the standards of the

judging

276–7

present

politics with psychographic

disrupting

52–7

technology

and Boyle on knowledge, power and

Hobbes

23 faith

power and the politics of knowledge

religion,

152

and transferring knowledge in

acquiring

153–4

religion

power and the politics of knowledge

religion,

152

education for tolerance and mutual

religious

162

understanding

the sharing of scientic

democratizing

182

knowledge

in the application of scientic

ethics

203–4

knowledge

and the articial in experiments

natural

195–6

emergence and complexity

reductionism,

199–201

and responsibilities of scientic journals

role

180

statistics and the “prosecutor’s fallacy”

faulty

351–3

secular Buddhism 141–2

physics envy 210–11

measuring 231–3

spiritual and political 142–3

pigment feuds 310–11

touchpoints and tensions 141

pluralism 50–2

Mendel, Gregor 186–7

what is and is not religion? 139–41

politics 22–3, 43–6

metaphors 92–3

women and religion 149–52

campus politics 50–2

microtargeting 56–7

repatriation of artworks 299–300

danger of fair and balanced 37–8

Mitchell, Joseph 45–6

what is cultural property? 300–1

digital subcultures 46–50

morality 163–4

replicability 237–9

museums 302–4

reproducibility 237–9

do artefacts have politics? 78–80

responsibility 16

do lies spread faster than truth? 32–5

N

responsibilities of scientic journals 180

nature 155–8

echo chambers and lter bubbles 39–43

responsibilities of technologists 81–2

battle of religious conservationists 159

expert knowledge and governance 28–9

restitutive history 274

Neptune 173–4

S

impact of behavioural microtargeting 56–7

science 167–9, 193

neuroscience 102–3

is everything political? 24–7

is there a post-truth public sphere? 31–2

neutrality 35–7

cost-benet analysis 204–5

Overton window 29–30

eldwork and ethnographic methods 229–30

politics and science of pain 213–15

disagreement in the public eye 189

religion 142–3

neutrinos 175

disseminating scientic knowledge 181–5

ethics 202

Newton’s laws of gravity 173–5

no-platforming 50–2

ethics in scientic methodology 202–3

representing Indigenous Peoples 133–5

truth, neutrality and false balance 35–7

non-violent moral protest 166

post-colonial critiques 192–3

normality 216–18

falsicationism 168

power 15, 23, 152

feminist and post-colonial critiques 190–3

is knowledge power? 170–1

O

is knowledge power? 170–1

objectivity 16

power of art to inuence ethics 312–15

Mendel in the textbook 186–7

psychographic technology 52–7

eldwork and ethnographic methods 229–30

science 198–9

psychometrics 72–5

observation 194

objectivity 198–9

observation and experimentation 194–5

scientic observation as method 196–7

R

what is observable? 195

reductionism 200–1

Overton window 29–30

religion 138–9, 161

science as golem 205

P

does religion seek truth? 146–7

science communication 183

pain 213–15

engaging with religious multiplicity 145–6

science for citizenship 188–90

parenting 225–7

liberation theology 164

scientic consensus and disagreement 177–81

past 247–8, 261–7

morality and religion 163

censorship of the past 316

scientic observation as method 196–7

multiple perspectives 147–8

students of science 185

religion and nature 155–61

two historical perspectives on science 171–6

religion and science 144–5

patta-nikkujjana-kamma 166

signed languages 100–1

Pauli, Wolfgang 175

religion and violence 164–6

simplicity 220–2

perspectives 8–9

social networks 72–5


songlines 115–16

Indigenous Peoples 116

statistics 350–1

religion 147–8

religious knowledge and language 154

secular alternatives to religious ethics 163–4

science 171–6

378

T

58–60

technology

we predict the impacts of technology?

can

80–1

technology, social networks and

digital

72–5

psychometrics

outside the scope of technology

knowledge

63

sharing and universal access to

preserving,

70–1

knowledge

between technology and society

relationship

64

U

Nations Earth Charter 157

United

V

Thorsten 50–1

Veblen,

W

164–5

war

(Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich,

WEIRD

222–4

Democratic)

295–7

do lies spread faster than truth? 32–5

application of scientic knowledge 62–3

does religion seek truth? 146–7

eternal truth of mathematics 337–41

can AI be unethical? 82–6

language, emotion and truth 108–9

post-truth 31–2

democratizing or authoritarian? 67–8

truth and knowledge in art 284–6

truth, neutrality and false balance 35–7

do artefacts have politics? 78–80

ethics 77–8

gender identity and technology 64–7

Buddhist monks and military coups 165–6

moral ambiguity in war 165

responsibilities of technologists 81–2

sum of all human knowledge 68–70

technological culture and knowledge 61–2

implications of WEIRD research 224–9

technology as our offspring 85

Whig history 171

technology at the frontier of knowledge 75–7

women and art 282–3

using data to know humans 71–5

religion 149–52

thinking patterns 13–15

technology 64–7

TOK exhibition 357–8

assessment for the TOK exhibition 368

choosing a prompt 359–61

creating meaning 366–7

linking your objects to the prompt 363–6

selecting objects 362

TOK exhibition prompts 358–9

writing it all up 367–8

traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) 127–8

examples of TEK in practice 128–30

Western herbalism 130–2

translations 104–5

resisting translation 105

truth 15

art as unspoken and unspeakable truths

379

J. 2017. “The Triage of Truth: Do Not Take Expert

Baggini,

Lying Down”. 2 October 2017. https://aeon.co/

Opinion

ideas/the-triage-of-truth-do-not-take-expert-opinion-lying-down

A. 2004. “Stance Relativism: Empiricism

Chakravartty,

Metaphysics”. Studies in History and Philosophy of

Versus

WK. 1877. The Ethics of Belief. London, UK.

Clifford,

Macmillan.

D. 2017. Understanding Ignorance: The Surprising

DeNicola,

of What We Don’t Know. Cambridge, MA, USA. The

Impact

D. 2018. “You Don’t Have a Right to Believe

DeNicola,

You Want To”. 14 May 2018. https://aeon.co/

Whatever

cle/why-people-y-from-facts/

ideas/you-dont-have-a-right-to-believe-whatever-youwant-to

K, Kertzer, J and Zeito, T. 2014. “The Less Americans

Dropp,

Know About Ukraine’s Location, the More They

US to Intervene”. 7 April 2014. www.washington-

Want

post.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/07/the-less-

S. 2012. Ignorance: How it Drives Science. New

Firestein,

USA. Oxford University Press.

York,

M. 2007. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of

Fricker,

New York, USA. Oxford University Press.

Knowing.

J. 2017. “The Tree of Knowledge is not an Apple

Ganeri,

an Oak but a Banyan”. 23 June 2017. https://aeon.co/

or

G. 2000. “The Nonexistence of Character Traits”.

Harman,

of the Aristotelian Society. Vol 11. Pp 223–226.

Proceedings

K. 2018. “There is No Middle Ground for Deep

Kappel,

about Facts”. 15 October 2018. https://

Disagreements

americans-know-about-ukraines-location-the-more-they-

want-u-s-to-intervene/

ideas/the-tree-of-knowledge-is-not-an-apple-or-an-oakbut-a-banyan

aeon.co/ideas/there-is-no-middle-ground-for-deep-disagreements-about-facts

E. 2010. “The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s

Morris,

Wrong but You’ll Never Know What it is (Part

20 June 2010. https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.

1)”.

com/2010/06/20/the-anosognosics-dilemma-1/

JP. 1946. Existentialism and Humanism. Edition published

Sartre,

1973. London, UK. Methuen.

M. 2018. “Chief’s ‘Hubris’ Steered Cambridge

Ahmed,

to Data Scandal”. 23 March 2018. www.ft.com/

Analytica

B and Horvath, B. 2017. “The Rise of the

Anderson,

AI Propaganda Machine”. 12 February 2017.

Weaponized

https://medium.com/join-scout/the-rise-of-the-weaponized-ai-propaganda-machine-86dac61668b

H. 1951. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Berlin, Germany.

Arendt,

Schocken Books.

M and Boyko, J. 2004. “Balance as Bias: Global

Boyko,

and the US Prestige Press”. Global Environmental

Warming

Broadcasting Corporation. 2011. “BBC Trust Review

British

of Impartiality and Accuracy of the BBC’s Coverage

C. 2016. “Google, Democracy and the Truth

Cadwalladr,

Internet Search”. 4 December 2016. https://www.

about

C. 2017. “Revealed: How US Billionaire

Cadwalladr,

to Back Brexit”. 26 Feb 2017. https://www.

Helped

Science”. July 2011. www.h2mw.eu/redactionmedicale/2011/08/BBC%20trust_science_impartiality.pdf

of

theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/04/google-democracy-truth-internet-search-facebook

theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/us-billionaire-mercer-helped-back-brexit?CMP=share_btn_link

D. 2019. “Why the Guardian is Changing the

Carrington,

it Uses about the Environment”. 17 May 2019.

Language

E. 2016. “Donald Trump, Pepe the Frog, and White

Chan,

An Explainer”. 12 September 2016. http://

Supremacists:

A and Potenza, A. 2018. “Cambridge Analytica’s

Chen,

Data Abuse Shouldn’t Get Credit for Trump”. 20

Facebook

N. 1998. The Common Good. Odonian Press.

Chomsky,

https://openlibrary.org/publishers/Odonian_Press

N and Hakim, D. 2017. “Data Firm Says ‘Secret

Confessore,

Sauce’ Aided Trump; Many Sco”. 6 March 2017. New

J et al. 2016. “Consensus on Consensus: A Synthesis

Cook,

Consensus Estimates on Human-caused Global Warm-

of

Environmental Research Letters. Vol 11, number 4.

ing”.

DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002.

M. 2001. Late Victorian Holocausts. New York, USA.

Davis,

Verso.

Bibliography and further reading

Chapter 1

T and Friesen, J. 2015. “Why People ‘Fly from

Campbell,

3 March 2015. www.scienticamerican.com/arti-

Facts’”.

E, Messing, S, and Adamic, LA. 2015. “Exposure

Bakshy,

Ideologically Diverse News and Opinion on Face-

to

book”. Science. Vol 348, number 6239. Pp 1130–1132.

Science. Vol 35. Pp 173–184.

Change. Vol 14, number 2. Pp 125–136.

MIT Press.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/

why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-usesabout-the-environment

web.archive.org/web/20160913005409/https://www.

hillaryclinton.com/feed/donald-trump-pepe-the-frogand-white-supremacists-an-explainer/

2018. www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17138854/

March

cambridge-analytica-facebook-data-trump-campaign-psychographic-microtargeting

York Times.

Chapter 2

content/e4e95b6c-2dac-11e8-9b4b-bc4b9f08f381

C. 2016. “How Bernie Sanders Became the Lord of

Dewey,

Memes’”. 23 February 2016. https://www.wash-

‘Dank

ingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/02/23/

how-bernie-sanders-became-the-lord-of-dank-memes/

E and Blank, G. 2018. “The Echo Chamber is

Dubois,

The Moderating Eect of Political Interest and

Overstated:

Media”. Information, Communication & Society. Vol

Diverse

number 5. Pp 729–745.

21,

RS. 2014. “The Danger of Fair and Balanced”.

Eshelman,

Journalism Review. 1 May 2014. https://archives.

Columbia

S, Goel, S and Rao, JM. 2016. “Filter Bubbles,

Flaxman,

Chambers, and Online News Consumption”. Public

Echo

K, De Francisci Morales, G, Gionis, A and Mathioudakis,

Garimella,

M. 2018. “Political Discourse on Social Media:

Chambers, Gatekeepers, and the Price of Bipartisanship”.

Echo

In “WWW 2018: The 2018 Web Conference, April

2018”. New York, USA. ACM. https://arxiv.org/

23–27,

pdf/1801.01665.pdf

A, Nyhan, B and ReiÁer, J. 2018. “Selective Exposure

Guess,

to Misinformation: Evidence from the Consumption

Fake News During the 2016 US Presidential Campaign”.

of

European Research Council. P 1.

ED. 2015. Hacking the Electorate: How Campaigns

Hersh,

Voters. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University

Perceive

K. 2016. “Blame the Echo Chamber on

Hosanagar,

But Blame Yourself too”. 25 November 2016.

Facebook.

J. 2017. “How to Fight Fake News in a

Kestler-D’Amours,

Truth Environment”. 24 April 2017. www.aljazeera.

Post

https://www.wired.com/2016/11/facebook-echo-chamber/

com/indepth/features/2017/03/Àght-fake-news-posttruth-environment-170327162945897.html

M, Stillwell, D and Graepel, T. 2013. “Private

Kosinski,

and Attributes are Predictable from Digital Records

Traits

Human Behavior”. Proceedings of the National Academy of

of

of the United States of America. Vol 110, number 15.

Sciences

Guin, UK. 2004. The Wave in the Mind. Boston, MASS,

Le

Shambhala Publications.

USA.

S, Pilditch, TD, Madsen, JK, Oreskes, N

Lewandowsky,

Risbey JS. 2019. “InÁuence and Seepage: An Evi-

and

Minority can Aect Public Opinion and

dence-resistant

Belief Formation”. Cognition. Vol 188. Pp 124–

ScientiÀc

J. 2017. “The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon

Mayer,

the Trump Presidency”. 17 March 2017. www.

Behind

were-not-in-a-post-fact-era/

newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusivehedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency

A. 2017. Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from

Nagle,

and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right. Alresford,

4Chan

Scientist. 2016. “Free Speech has met Social Media,

New

Revolutionary Results”. 1 June 2016. www.newscien-

with

tist.com/article/mg23030763-000-free-speech-has-met-so-

cial-media-with-revolutionary-results/

B. 2018. “Fake News and Bots may be Worrisome,

Nyhan,

their Political Power is Overblown”. 13 February 2018.

but

E. 2011. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding

Pariser,

You. New York, USA. Penguin Books.

From

P. 2012. “Broadcast News is Losing its Balance

Preston,

the Post-truth Era”. 9 September 2012. https://www.

in

well-speech-transcript/

theguardian.com/media/2012/sep/09/post-truth-politics-us-broadcasting

LT. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies. London, UK.

Smith,

Books. Zed

F. 2019. “The Crisis of Epistemology and

Stalder,

Institutions of Learning” in The New Alphabet.

New

139.

A. 2016. “No, We’re Not in a ‘Post-fact’ Era”.

Mantzarlis,

July 2016. www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2016/no-

21

2016. “Yes, I’d Lie To You”. 10 September 2016.

Economist.

www.economist.com/brieÀng/2016/09/10/yes-id-lie-toyou

cjr.org/essay/the_danger_of_fair_and_balance.php

Hampshire, UK. Zero Books.

Times. 2019. “India: The WhatsApp Election”.

Financial

www.ft.com/content/9fe88fba-6c0d-11e9-a9a5-351eeaef6d84

Opinion Quarterly. Vol 80, number S1. P 298.

A. 2016. “How Big Data Got the Better of Donald

Nix,

11 February 2016. www.campaignlive.co.uk/arti-

Trump”.

cle/big-data-better-donald-trump/1383209

www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/upshot/fake-news-andbots-may-be-worrisome-but-their-political-power-is-over-

blown.html

G. 2017. “The Myth of Post-Truth Politics”. 20

Gillett,

2017. https://georgegillett.com/2017/04/20/the-

April

myth-of-post-truth-politics/

B. 2017. Transcript of Farewell Speech. 11 January

Obama,

http://time.com/4631007/president-obama-fare-

2011.

Press.

M. “War on Truth”. 18 February 2019. www.alja-

Ressa,

zeera.com/programmes/witness/2019/02/maria-ressa-

war-truth-190214144801371.html

D. 2018. “The Myth of the Online Echo

Robson,

17 April 2018. www.bbc.com/future/sto-

Chamber”.

ry/20180416-the-myth-of-the-online-echo-chamber

Pp 5802–5805.

R. 2017. “Post-truth? It’s Pure Nonsense”. 10 June

Scruton,

www.spectator.co.uk/2017/06/post-truth-its-pure-

2017.

nonsense/

https://www.hkw.de/mediathek/hkw/_default/assets/000/071/065/71065_download_the-new-alphabet-

opening-days-pr_sxymtt.pdf

H. 2017. “Cambridge Analytica, Trump, and the

Tworek,

Old Fear of Manipulating the Masses”. 15 May 2017.

New

KP and Parti, T. 2015. “Cruz Partners with Donor’s

Vogel,

Firm”. Politico. 7 July 2015. www.politico.

‘Psychographic’

www.niemanlab.org/2017/05/cambridge-analyticatrump-and-the-new-old-fear-of-manipulating-the-masses/

com/story/2015/07/ted-cruz-donor-for-data-119813#ixzz3zR4A2d8U

S, Roy, D and Aral, S. 2018. “The Spread of True

Vosoughi,

False News Online”. Science. Vol 359, number 6380. Pp

and

J. 2018. “Cambridge Analytica: Can Targeted

WakeÀeld,

Online Ads Really Change a Voter’s Behaviour?” 30

2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43489408

March

P. 2016. “The British Data-crunchers Who Say They

Wood,

Donald Trump to Win”. 3 December 2016. www.

Helped

tics/2005/09/psy-ops-propaganda-goes-mainstream.html

spectator.co.uk/2016/12/the-british-data-crunchers-whosay-they-helped-donald-trump-to-win/

Y, Kosinski, M and Stillwell, D. 2015. “Computers

Wu,

Personalities Better Than Humans”. Proceedings of

Judge

National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

the

Vol 112, number 4. Pp 1036–1040.

Understanding State-Sponsored Trolls on Twitter

Warfare:

Their InÁuence on the Web”. 4 March 2019. https://

and

T, Chang, KW, Zou, J, Saligrama, V and Kalai,

Bolukbasi,

2016. “Man is to Computer Programmer as Woman is

A.

Homemaker? Debiasing Word Embeddings”. 21 July

to

https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.06520

2016.

P. 2016 . “Tay, The Neo-Nazi Millennial Chatbot,

Bright,

Autopsied”. 26 March 2016. https://arstechnica.

Gets

truth-about-post-truth-politics/

com/information-technology/2016/03/tay-the-neo-nazi-millennial-chatbot-gets-autopsied/

J. 2018. “Gender Shades”. http://gendershades.org/

Buolamwini,

A, Bryson, JJ and Narayanan, A. 2017. “Semantics

Caliskan,

Derived Automatically from Language Corpora Con-

Human-like Biases”. Science. Vol 356, number 6334. Pp

tain

183–186.

S. “Project al-Khwarizmi (PAK)”. Date unknown.

Dinkins,

www.stephaniedinkins.com/project-al-khwarizmi.html

D. 1977. Rays of Hope: The Transition to a Post-Petroleum

Hayes,

World. New York, USA. WW Norton.

S, Markle, GE, Peterson, JC, and Pinch, TJ (eds).

Jasano,

Handbook of Science and Technology Studies. Thousand

2001.

M, Stillwell, D and Graepel, T. 2013. “Private

Kosinski,

and Attributes are Predictable from Digital Records

Traits

Human Behavior”. Proceedings of the National Academy of

of

of the United States of America. Vol 110, number 15.

Sciences

I. 2018. “The Man Who Saw the Dangers of

Lapowsky,

Analytica Years Ago”. 19 June 2018. www.

Cambridge

D. 2018. “In Search of an Ethics for the Age of

Levitt,

25 October 2018. www.publicseminar.

Animation”.

wired.com/story/the-man-who-saw-the-dangers-of-cambridge-analytica/

org/2018/10/in-search-of-an-ethics-for-the-age-of-animation/

SC, Kosinski, M, Nave, G and Stillwell, D. 2017.

Matz,

of the National Academy of Sciences of the United

Proceedings

J. 2014. “Internet Pioneer Brewster Kahle Has a

Minard,

Access to All Knowledge”. 28 August

Dream—Universal

https://aeon.co/videos/internet-pioneer-brewsterkahle-has-a-dream-universal-access-to-all-knowledge

2014.

C. 2016. “Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big

O’Neil,

Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy”. New

Data

M. 2019. “Is ArtiÀcial Intelligence Racist?”.

Santamicone,

April 2019. https://towardsdatascience.com/https-me-

2

dium-com-mauriziosantamicone-is-artiÀcial-intelli-

gence-racist-66ea8f67c7de

S and Wakabayashi, D. 2018. “‘The Business of

Shane,

Google Employees Protest Work for the Pentagon”.

War’:

April 2018. www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html

4

S. 2009. An Introduction to Science and Technology

Sismondo,

Chichester, UK. Wiley Blackwell.

Studies.

R. 2018.“ArtiÀcial Intelligence Needs All of

Thomas,

19 October 2018. https://www.youtube.com/

us”.

Alstyne, M and Brynjolfsson, E. 1996. “Electronic

Van

Global Village or Cyberbalkans?” http://

Communities:

J. 2001. “Feminist Theories of Technology” in

Wajcman,

S, Markle, GE, Petersen, JC and Pinch, T (eds).

Jasano,

Oaks, CA, USA. Sage Publications.

Pp 5802–5805.

1146–1151.

S. 2005. “You Can’t Handle the Truth” 19

Weinberger,

2005. https://slate.com/news-and-poli-

September

States of America. Volume 114, number 48. Pp 12714–12719.

York, USA. Penguin Random House.

T. 2016. “The Truth About ‘Post-truth Politics’”.

Young,

July 2016. https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/07/the-

16

S, CaulÀeld, T, De Cristofaro, E, Sirivianos,

Zannettou,

Stringhini, G and Blackburn, J. 2018. “Disinformation

M,

arxiv.org/abs/1801.09288

Chapter 3

S. 2002. “Looking at War”. 9 December 2002.

Sontag,

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/12/09/looking-atwar

watch?v=LqjP7O9SxOM&feature=youtu.be

K. 2017. “Anil Dash: Tech’s Moral Reckoning”. 12

Tippett,

2017. https://onbeing.org/programs/anil-dash-

January

techs-moral-reckoning-jan2017

web.mit.edu/marshall/www/papers/CyberBalkans.pdf

of Science and Technology Studies. Thousand Oaks,

Handbook

USA. Sage Publications.

CA,

J. 2018. “Are You Scared Yet? Meet Norman,

WakeÀeld,

Psychopathic AI”. 2 June 2018. www.bbc.com/news/

the

L. 1980. “Do Artifacts Have Politics?”. Daedalus.

Winner,

109, number 1. Pp. 121–136.

Vol

P. 2016. “The British Data-crunchers Who Say They

Wood,

Donald Trump to Win”. 3 December 2016. www.

Helped

spectator.co.uk/2016/12/the-british-data-crunchers-whosay-they-helped-donald-trump-to-win/

Y, Kosinski, M and Stillwell, D. 2015. “Computers

Wu,

Personalities Better than Humans”. Proceedings of the

Judge

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

National

112, number 4. Pp 1036–1040.

Vol

CM. 2017. Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in

Adichie,

Suggestions. New York, USA. Knopf Publishing.

Fifteen

L. 2009. “How Does our Language Shape the

Boroditsy,

we Think?” 6 November 2009. www.edge.org/con

Way

versation/how-does-our-language-shape-the-way-wethink

D. 2019. “Why the Guardian is Changing the

Carrington,

it Uses about the Environment”. 17 May 2019.

Language

W. 2003. “An Interview with Wade Davis”. NPR/

Davis,

Geographic Society. https://www.npr.org/pro

National

grams/re/archivesdate/2003/may/mali/davisinterview.

html

K. 2017. “The College Student Who Decod

Davis-Young,

the Data Hidden in Inca Knots”. 14 December 2017.

ed

www.atlasobscura.com/articles/khipus-inca-empire-har

vard-university-colonialism

LJ, Romaine, S, Mittermeier, RA and Wal

GorenÁo,

K. 2012. “Co-occurring Linguistic

jker-Painemillla,

Biological Diversity”. Proceedings of the National

and

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

2012, 201117511. www.pnas.org/content/ear

May

ly/2012/05/03/1117511109

JR. 1998. “Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way

Herman,

the Power of the Way” by Ursula K. Le Guin”. Journal

and

the American Academy of Religion. Vol 66, number 3. Pp

of

686–689.

E. 2019.“Reviewing NPR Language for Covering

Jensen,

29 May 2019. www.npr.org/sections/pub

Abortion”.

liceditor/2019/05/29/728069483/reviewing-nprs-lan

guage-for-covering-abortion

V. 2012. “Linking Twin Extinctions of Species

Klinkenborg,

Languages”. 17 July 2012. https://e360.yale.edu/

and

features/linking_twin_extinctions_of_species_and_languages

G and Johnson, M. 1980. Metaphors We Live By.

Lako,

IL, USA. University of Chicago Press.

Chicago,

V. 2019. “Inside a Translator’s Mind”. Das Neue

Latronico,

Berlin, Germany. Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt

Alphabet.

J. 2016. “What’s a Language Anyway? 19

McWhorter,

2016. www.theatlantic.com/international/

January

W. 1996. The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows

Lutz,

Anyone is Saying Anymore. New York, USA. Harper-

What

archive/2016/01/dierence-between-language-dialect/424704/

C and Hulme, M. 2019. Geoforum. “Telling One

Norton,

or Many? An Ecolinguistic Analysis of Climate

Story,

Stories in UK National Newspaper Editorials”.

Change

Vol 104. Pp 114–136.

Geoforum.

S. 2010. Migritude. Los Angeles, CA, USA. Kaya

Patel,

Press.

M. 2016. “A Small Dark Light: Ursula K. Le Guin

Popova,

the Legacy of the Tao Te Ching and What It Continues

on

Teach Us About Personal and Political Power 2,500

to

Later”. 21 October 2016. https://www.brainpick-

Years

ings.org/2016/10/21/lao-tzu-tao-te-ching-ursula-k-le-

guin/

J. 2016. “The Pioneer Plaque: Science as a Universal

Rosenthal,

Language”. 20 January 2016. www.planetary.org/

blogs/guest-blogs/2016/0120-the-pioneer-plaque-scienceas-a-universal-language.html

N. 2018. “The Race to Save the World’s Disappearing

Strochlic,

Languages”. 16 April 2018. www.nationalgeo-

International. 2019. “Indigenous Languages Hold

Survival

Key to Understanding Who We Really Are”. https://

the

graphic.com/news/2018/04/saving-dying-disappear-

ing-languages-wikitongues-culture/

survivalinternational.org/articles/3567-indigenouslanguages

D. 2017. Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging

Tanu,

at an International School. New York, USA. Berghahn

N wa. 1986. Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of

Thiong’o,

in African Literature. London, UK. James Currey.

Language

technology-44040008

(HKW).

Collins.

Chapter 4

M and Urton, G. 2018. “The Inca’s Knotty History”.

Medrano,

26 July 2018. www.sapiens.org/technology/khipu-incas-knotty-history/

H. 2014. “Introduction for the English Reader” in

Belting,

Anthropology of Images: Picture, Medium, Body. Prince-

An

ton, NJ, USA. Princeton University Press

www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/

why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-usesabout-the-environment

D. 2017. “Discovery May Help Decipher Ancient

Stone,

String Code”. 19 April 2017. www.nationalgeograph-

Inca

ic.com/news/2017/04/inca-khipus-code-discovery-peru/

Books.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunities

Australian

and Torres Strait Islander Social

Commission/Aboriginal

Commissioner. 2002. “Human Rights and Equal

Justice

Commission, Submission G160”. 13 May

Opportunity

www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/legal/protection-genetic-information-indigenous-peoples.

2002.

GR. 1995. Heeding the Voices of our Ancestors. Kahnawake

Alfred,

Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Nationalism. Toronto,

SJ. 2004. Indigenous Peoples in International Law

Anaya,

edition). Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press.

(second

A, Mason, R, Mason, R, Palahicky, S and Rodriguez

Antoine,

de France, C. 2018. “Glossary of terms” in Pulling

A Guide for Curriculum Developers. https://opentextbc.ca/indigenizationcurriculumdevelopers/back-matter/glossary/

Together:

KA, Zurba, M, Bhattacharyya, J, Chan, DE, Brown,

Artelle,

Housty, J and Moola, F. 2019. “Supporting Resurgent

K,

Governance: A Nascent Mechanism for

Indigenous-led

and Eective Conservation”. Biological Conservation

Just

S. 2014. Quoted in “Criticisms of Jimmy Nelson’s

Corry,

They Pass Away’”. Survival International. Novem-

‘Before

2014. www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3373-

ber

jimmy-nelson-before-they-pass-away

AR. 1997. Guidelines for Environmental Assessments

Emery,

Traditional Knowledge. Unpublished. Ottawa, Canada.

and

B. 2011. The Biggest Estate on Earth: How the

Gammage,

Made Australia. Crow’s Nest, NSW, Australia.

Aborigines

E, Cook, K, Plain, R, Sanchez, K, Waghiyi, V,

Hoover,

P, Dufault, R, Sislin, C and Carpenter DO. 2012.

Miller,

Peoples of North America: Environmental

“Indigenous

Exposures and Reproductive Justice”. Environmental

N. 2007. “The Six Faces of Traditional Ecological

Houde,

Challenges and Opportunities for Canadian

Knowledge:

Arrangements”. Ecology and Society. Vol

Co-Management

number 2.

12,

HP and Mymrin, N. 1998.“Traditional Ecological

Huntington,

Knowledge of Beluga Whales”. Cultural Survival

K. 1992. “Towards Theories of Maori Feminisms”.

Irwin,

du Plessis, R (ed). Feminist Voices: Women’s Studies Texts

In

Aotearoa/New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand. Oxford

for

Press.

University

RW. 2014. Braiding Sweetgrass. Minneapolis,

Kimmerer,

USA. Milkweed Editions.

MN,

D. 2014. In “Criticisms of Jimmy Nelson’s ‘Before

Kopenawa,

They Pass Away’”. Survival International. November

www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3373-jimmy-nelson-before-they-pass-away

2014.

J. 2014. “Jimmy Nelson’s Wrong: Tribal Peoples

Lagoutte,

Passing Away, They Are Fighting Against Brutal

Aren’t

12 November 2014. www.opendemocracy.

Oppression”.

net/en/opendemocracyuk/jimmy-nelsons-wrong-tribal-

peoples-arent-passing-away-they-are-Àghting-/openDe-

mocracy

Guin, UK. 2004. “A War Without End” in The Wave in

Le

Mind. Boston, MASS, USA. Shambhala Publications.

the

Guin, UK. 2016. Late in the Day. Oakland, CA, USA. PM

Le

Press.

F. 2006. “Western Science and Traditional

Mazzocchi,

EMBO Reports. Vol 7, number 5. Pp 463–466.

Knowledge”.

F. 1997. Former Director General of UNESCO cited

Mayor,

Emery, AR. 1997. Guidelines for Environmental Assess-

in

and Traditional Knowledge. Unpublished. Ottawa,

ments

Centre for Traditional Knowledge.

Canada.

J. 2014. “Gorgeous Portraits of the World’s Vanishing

Nelson,

People”. October 2014. https://www.ted.com/talks/

jimmy_nelson_gorgeous_portraits_of_the_world_s_vanishing_people

J. 2017. The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us

Robbins,

Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future. Spiegel and

About

J. 2018. “Native Knowledge: What Ecologists

Robbins,

Are Learning From Indigenous People”. 26 April

J and Gowen, A. 2018. “God, I Don’t Want to Die,’

Slater,

Missionary Wrote Before he was Killed by Tribe on

U.S.

LT. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and

Smith,

Peoples. London, UK. Zed Books.

Indigenous

Chapter 5

Canada. Oxford University Press.

Vol 240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108284

J. 2014. “‘Before They Pass Away’: Endangered

Merrill,

Photographed ‘like Kate Moss’”. 28 Septem-

Communities

2014. www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/

ber

art/features/before-they-pass-away-endangered-communities-photographed-like-kate-moss-9757549.

W. 2003. “Dreams from Endangered Cultures”.

Davis,

2003. www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_en-

February

dangered_cultures

Centre for Traditional Knowledge.

Allen & Unwin.

Grau, New York, USA.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-knowl-

2018.

edge-what-ecologists-are-learning-from-indigenous-peo-

ple

Health Perspectives. Vol 120, number 12. Pp 1645–1649.

V. 1993. Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on

Shiva,

and Biotechnology. London, UK. Palgrave Mac-

Biodiversity

millan.

Island”. 22 November 2018. www.washingtonpost.

Indian

com/world/2018/11/21/american-believed-dead-after-encounter-with-remote-indian-tribe-hostile-outsiders/

Magazine. September 1998. www.culturalsurviv-

Quarterly

al.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/tradition-

al-ecological-knowledge-and-beluga-whales

C. 2008. “The Role of Indigenous Peoples in

Sobrevila,

Conservation: The Natural but Often Forgot-

Biodiversity

ten Partners”. Washington DC, USA. The World Bank.

HK. 1999. From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and

Trask,

in Hawaiʻi. Honolulu. University of Hawaiʻi

Sovereignty

B. 2014. Quoted in “Criticisms of Jimmy Nelson’s

Wenda,

They Pass Away’”. Survival International. Novem-

‘Before

2014. www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3373-

ber

jimmy-nelson-before-they-pass-away

S. 2019. “How a Resurgence in Indigenous Governance

Wood,

is Leading to Better Conservation”. 27 November

https://thenarwhal.ca/how-a-resurgence-in-indigenous-governance-is-leading-to-better-conservation/

2019.

N. 2014. Quoted in “Criticisms of Jimmy

Yawanawá,

‘Before They Pass Away’”. Survival Internation-

Nelson’s

November 2014. www.survivalinternational.org/articles/3373-jimmy-nelson-before-they-pass-awaal.

A. 2018. “How Conservation Became Colonialism”.

Zaitchik,

16 July 2018. https://foreignpolicy.

com/2018/07/16/how-conservation-became-colonialism-environment-indigenous-people-ecuador-mining/

San Suu Kyi. 1995. Freedom from Fear and Other Writings.

Aung

Penguin. London, UK.

W. 1990. Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness

Anderson,

with the Earth. London, UK. HarperCollins.

PL. 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent

Berger,

Religion and World Politics. Ethics and Public Policy

B. Eerdmand Publishing Company.

Centre/William

www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standard-

J and Ruse, M. 2014. “The Evolution of the Science–Religion

Bradley,

Debate”. 26 June 2016. https://onbeing.

org/programs/jim-bradley-michael-ruse-the-evolutionof-the-science-religion-debate/

F. 2010. The Dao of Physics: An Exploration of the

Capra,

Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism.

Parallels

D. 1987. Patterns of Action: Religion and Ethics in

Chidester,

Comparative Perspective. Belmont, CA, USA. Wadsworth.

a

D. 2003. Empire of Religion: Imperialism & Comparative

Chidester,

Religion. Chicago, IL, USA. University of Chicago

K. 2019. “When Religion is Not Religion: Inside

Chitwood,

Studies’ Fight for Religious Literacy in the Pub-

Religious

Sphere. 21 August 2019. www.religiousstudiesproject.

lic

com/2019/08/21/when-religion-is-not-religion/

M. 1927. Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments

Gandhi,

with Truth. Ahmedabad, India. Jitendra T Desai

C. 1967. Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and

Glacken,

in Western Thought from Ancient Times to the End of

Culture

Eighteenth Century. Berkeley, CA, USA. University of

the

Press.

California

D. 2004. Destructive Emotions: A ScientiÀc Dialogue

Goleman,

with the Dalai Lama. New York, USA. Bantam Dell.

A. 2015. The Good Book: Writers ReÁect on Favorite

Gopnik,

Passages. New York, USA. Simon & Schuster.

Bible

P. 2015. The Territories of Science and Religion.

Harrison,


Chicago,

S. 1999. The Young John Muir: An Environmental

Holmes,

Madison, WI, USA. University of Wisconsin

Biography.

RF. 1967. Wilderness and the American Mind. New

Nash,

CT, USA. Yale University Press.

Haven,

J. 1984. Seeing Green: The Politics of Ecology Explained.

Porritt,

Oxford, UK. Wiley-Blackwell.

J. 2003. The Dignity of Dierence: How to Avoid the

Sacks,

of Civilizations. New York, USA. Continuum.

Clash

O. 2016. “The Spiritual is Political”. 11 August 2016.

SaÀ,

https://onbeing.org/blog/the-spiritual-is-political/

P. 2010. Practical Ethics. New York, USA. Cambridge

Singer,

University Press.

JZ and Green, WS (eds). 1995. The HarperCollins

Smith,

of Religion. New York, USA. HarperCollins.

Dictionary

JG. 1989. “The Nude of Landscape Painting:

Sweeney,

PersoniÀcation in the Art of the Hudson River

Emblematic

Smithsonian Studies in American Art. Vol 3, number

School”.

4. Pp 42–65.

B (ed). 2005. Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature.

Taylor,

York, USA. Continuum.

New

K. 2001. “Jean Bethke Elshtain, John Paul Lederach

Tippet,

Michael Orange Justice and a Just War”. 9 November

and

K. 2005. “Jelle De Boer and Ursula Goodenough

Tippett,

The Morality of Nature”. 7 April 2005. https://

onbeing.org/programs/jelle-de-boer-and-ursula-goodenough-the-morality-of-nature/

Press.

Navajivan Mudranalaya.

of British Columbia. 2009. First Nations Studies

University

Foundation. https://indigenous-

Program/Indigenous

foundations.arts.ubc.ca/global_actions/

M. 1971. Culture, Man, and Nature: An Introduction

Harris,

General Anthropology. New York, USA. Thomas Y Crow-

to

ell.

Press.

G. 2018. Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for

Younging,

by and About Indigenous Peoples. Edmonton, Alber-

Writing

ta, Canada. Brush Education.

Chapter 6

B and Martin, C (eds). 2017. Stereotyping Religion:

Stoddard,

Critiquing Clichés. London, UK. Bloomsbury Publishing.

No=0802846912&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true

S. 2011. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. Boston, MA,

Suzuki,

Shambhala Publications.

USA.

Boston, MA, USA. Shambhala Publications.

Press.

https://onbeing.org/programs/jean-bethke-elsh-

2001.

tain-john-paul-lederach-and-michael-orange-justice-and-

a-just-war/

K. 2006b. “Leila Ahmed Muslim Women and Other

Tippett,

Misunderstandings”. 7 December 2006. https://onbe-

ing.org/programs/leila-ahmed-muslim-women-and-oth-

er-misunderstandings/

K. 2007. “Varadaraja V. Raman the Heart’s Reason:

Tippett,

Hinudism and Science”. 22 November 2007. https://

onbeing.org/programs/varadaraja-v-raman-the-heartsreason-hinduism-and-science/

K. 2009. “Robert Coles The Inner Lives of Children”.

Tippett,

1 January 2009. https://onbeing.org/programs/

K. 2010. Einstein’s God: Conversations about Science

Tippett,

the Human Spirit. New York, USA. Penguin.

and

K. 2017. “Adam Gopnik Practicing Doubt, Redrawing

Tippett,

Faith”. 7 December 2017. https://onbeing.

org/programs/adam-gopnik-practicing-doubt-redrawing-faith-dec2017/

A. 2003. Buddhism and Science. New York, USA.

Wallace,

University Press.

Columbia

S. 1999. “Address at the Conference on Cosmic

Weinberg,

American Association for the Advancement of

Design,

L. 1967. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological

White,

Science. Vol 155, number 3767. Pp 1203–1207.

Crisis”.

D. 2008. Passion for Nature. Oxford, UK. Oxford

Worster,

Press.

University

J. 2013. “Who’s Afraid of Peer Review?” Science.

Bohannon,

Vol 342, number 6154. Pp 60–65.

LM. 1978. “The Idea of the Neutrino”. Physics

Brown,

Vol 31, number 9. Pp 23–28.

Today.

J. 1994. “The Duesberg Phenomenon”. Science. Vol

Cohen,

number 5191. Pp 1642–1644.

2666,

Collins HM. 1981. “Son of Seven Sexes: The Social De-

of a Physical Phenomenon”. Social Studies of

struction

Vol 11, number 1. Pp 33–62.

Science.

HM and Pinch, T. 2012. The Golem: What You

Collins,

Know About Science (second edition). Cambridge,

Should

F. 1995. The Astonishing Hypothesis: The ScientiÀc

Crick,

for the Soul. New York, USA. Schribner.

Search

L and Lunbeck, E (eds). 2011. Histories of Scientific

Daston,

Observation. Chicago, IL, USA. University of Chicago

D. 1997. The Fabric of Reality. New York, USA.

Deutsch,

Penguin.

CZ. 2017. True Enough. Cambridge, MA, USA. The

Elgin,

Press. MIT

M. 2010. “Elsevier to Editor: Change Controversial

Enserink,

Journal or Resign”. 8 March 2010. https://

S. 1996. Impure Science. Oakland, CA, USA. University

Epstein,

of California Press.

J. 2000. In the Shadow of Man. New York, USA.

Goodall,

Mariner Books.

First

I. 1983. Representing and Intervening: Introductory

Hacking,

in the Philosophy of Natural Science. Cambridge, UK.

Topics

I. 2012. “Foreword” in 50th Edition of Kuhn, T.

Hacking,

Structure of ScientiÀc Revolutions. Chicago, IL, USA.

The

SG (ed). 2011. The Postcolonial Science and Technology

Harding,

Studies Reader. Durham, NC, USA. Duke University

M. 2005. “Chernobyl Ecosystems ‘Remarkably

Hopkin,

Nature. 9 August 2005. https://www.nature.

Healthy’”.

M, Davies, SR and Irwin, A. 2017. The Handbook of

Horst,

and Technology Studies (fourth edition). Cambridge,

Science

R. 1996. “Truth and Heresy about Aids”. The New

Horton,

Review of Books. 23 May 1996.

York

K. 2006a. “Peter Berger and Rosabeth Moss

Tippett,

Globalization and the Rise of Religion”. 12 Octo-

Kanter:

2006. https://onbeing.org/programs/peter-bergerbeand-rosabeth-moss-kanter-globalization-and-the-rise-of-

religion/

UK. Cambridge University Press.

Press.

robert-coles-the-inner-lives-of-children

web.archive.org/web/20100312091113/http://news.

sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/03/elsevier-to-editor-change-contro.html

K. 2013 “Thupten Jinpa Translating the Dalai

Tippett,

21 February 2013. https://onbeing.org/pro-

Lama”.

grams/thupten-jinpa-translating-the-dalai-lama/

K. 2014. “Reza Aslan Islam’s Reformation”. 20

Tippett,

2014. https://onbeing.org/programs/re-

November

za-aslan-islams-reformation/

Keller, E. 1996. ReÁection on Gender and Science (10th

Fox

edition). New Haven, CT, USA. Yale Univer-

anniversary

sity Press.

K. 2018. “Stephen Batchelor Wondrous Doubt”.

Tippett,

March 2018. https://onbeing.org/programs/ste-

1

phen-batchelor-wondrous-doubt-mar2018/

Cambridge University Press.

University of Chicago Press.

Science”. April 1999. Washington DC, USA.

Press.

Chapter 7

com/news/2005/050808/full/news050808-4.html

David F. 1975. “Ideas in Biomedical Science:

Horrobin,

for the Foundation of Medical Hypotheses”. Med-

Reasons

ical Hypotheses. Vol 1, number 1. Pp 1–2.

MA. The MIT Press.

T. 1962. The Structure of ScientiÀc Revolutions. Chicago,

Kuhn,


J. 2008. “AIDS ‘Dissident’ Seeks Redemption …

Lenzer,

a Cure for Cancer”. 15 May 2008. http://discoverma-

and

gazine.com/2008/jun/15-aids-dissident-seeks-redemp-

tion-and-a-cure-for-cancer

G and Feigl, H (eds). 1962. Minnesota Studies

Maxwell,

the Philosophy of Science, Vol. III. Minnesota, MN, USA.

in

JR. 1947. Physics in the Contemporary World.

Oppenheimer

MA, USA. MIT Press.

Cambridge,

MKEL. 1968. ScientiÀc Autobiography and Other

Planck,

Translated from German by Gaynor, F. Westport,

Papers.

KR. 1979. Objective Knowledge. An Evolutionary

Popper,

Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press.

Approach.

G. 2016. “Teach students the biology of their

Radick,

Nature. Vol 553, number 7603.

time”.

R. 1999. “Selected Philosophical Works”. Indianapolis,

Sargent,

IN, USA. Hackett Publishing.

L, Rupieper, Y, Stadtler, M and Bromme, R. 2017.

Scharrer,

Science Becomes too Easy: Science Popularization

“When

Laypeople to Underrate their Dependence on

Inclines

Public Understanding of Science. Vol 26, number 8.

Experts”.

American. 2007. “When Pariahs have Good

ScientiÀc

1 May 2007. https://www.scientiÀcamerican.com/

Ideas”.

S. 2010. An Introduction to Science and Technology

Sismondo,

Oxford, UK. Wiley Blackwell.

Studies.

CP. 1959. The Two Cultures and the ScientiÀc Revolution.

Snow,

Cambridge UK. Cambridge University Press.

C. 1992. Spaceship Neutrino. Cambridge University

Sutton,

Cambridge, UK.

Press,

K. 2015. “Estimated Social Cost of Climate Change

Than,

Accurate, Stanford Scientists say”. 12 January 2015.

not

nal-natural-born-killers-rp

https://news.stanford.edu/2015/01/12/emissions-social-costs-011215/

M and Mabe, M. 2015. The STM Report: An Overview

Ware,

ScientiÀc and Scholarly Journal Publishing. The Hague,

of

International Association of ScientiÀc, Technical

Netherlands.

and Medical Publishers.

WFR. 1902. “Mendel’s Laws of Alternative Inheritance

Weldon,

in Peas” Biometrica. Vol 1, number 2. Pp 228–254.

A. 2015. The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of

Wulf,

von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science. London,

Alexander

H. 2006. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the

Arendt,

of Evil. London, UK. Penguin Classics/Penguin

Banality

M. 2015. “Over Half of Psychology Studies Fail Reproducibility

Baker,

Test”. 27 August 2015. https://www.nature.

M. 2016. “Psychology’s Reproducibility Problem is

Baker,

Psychologists”. 3 March 2016. https://

Exaggerated—Say

com/news/over-half-of-psychology-studies-fail-reproducibility-test-1.18248

www.nature.com/news/psychology-s-reproducibility-problem-is-exaggerated-say-psychologists-1.19498

K. 1973. “Energy Reorganization Act of 1973: Hearings,

Boulding,

Ninety-third Congress, First Session, on H.R. 11510” .

J. 2014. “This Won’t Hurt a Bit: The Cultural

Bourke,

of Pain”. New Statesmen. 19 June 2014. www.new-

History

statesman.com/culture/2014/06/wont-hurt-bit-cultural-

history-pain

M . 2007. The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get

Buchanan,

Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks

Richer,

DS. 2018. “Scientists Rarely Admit Mistakes. A

Chawla,

Project Wants to Change That”. 7 February 2018.

New

https://undark.org/2018/07/02/loss-of-conÀdence-project-replication-crisis/

E. 2015. “The Original Natural Born Killers”. 3 December

Tenner,

2015. http://nautil.us/issue/31/stress/the-origi-

J. 2011. “Genetics and Genomics.” In Reiss, M (ed).

Lewis,

Secondary Biology. London, UK. Hodder Educa-

Teaching

tion.

University of Minnesota Press.

N. 2009. “Still Crazy After All These Years: The

Nattrass,

of AIDS Denialism for Science”. AIDS and Be-

Challenge

havior. Vol 14, number 2. Pp 248–5.

UK. John Murray.

Chapter 8

Random House.

CT, USA. Greenwood Press Publishers.

FA, Walker, R and Nixon, LL (eds). 2009. Medical

Paola,

and Humanities. Burlington, MS, USA. Jones & Bart-

Ethics

lett Publishers.

B. 2018. “The Lifespan of a Lie”. 7 June 2018.

Blum,

https://medium.com/s/trustissues/the-lifespan-of-a-lied869212b1f62

Washington, DC, USA. United States Congress.

Pp 1003–1018.

J. 2011. What It Means to Be Human: Historical

Bourke,

from 1791 to Present. Berkeley CA, USA. Coun-

ReÁections

terpoint Publishing.

article/when-pariahs-have-good-ideas/

Like You. New York, USA. Bloomsbury.

BK, Chakraborti, A, Chakravarty, SR and

Chakrabarti,

A. 2013. Econophysics of Income & Wealth Distri-

Chatterjee,

butions. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press.

M. 2007. “The Denialists”. 5 March 2007. https://

Specter,

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/the-denialists

HSD, Freeman, C, Jahoda, M, Pavitt, KLR (eds).

Cole,

Models of Doom: A Critique of the Limits to Growth.

1973.

D. 2014. GDP: A Brief but Aectionate History. Princeton,

Coyle,

NJ, USA. Princeton University Press.

W. 2003. “Dreams from endangered cultures”.

Davis,

www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures/transcript?language=en#t-1049427%20around%20

17:25

E. 1895. The Rules of Sociological Method. 1982

Durkheim,

published in New York, USA. Free Press/Simon &

edition

M, Ollion, E and Algan, Y. 2015. “The Superiority

Fourcade,

of Economists” in Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol

SM and Hartzell-Nichols, L. 2012. “Ethics and

Gardiner,

Climate Change”. Nature Education Knowledge . Vol

Global

C. 1967. “Under the Mosquito Net”. The New

Geertz,

Review of Books. 14 September 1967. https://www.

York

nybooks.com/articles/1967/09/14/under-the-mosquito-net/

D. 2007. Stumbling on Happiness. New York USA.

Gilbert,

Vintage.

D. 2011. Debt: The First 5000 Years. Hoboken, NJ,

Graeber,

Melville House Publishing.

USA.

J. 2013. “Circular Economy isn’t Just Recycling

Gunter,

Repair and Reuse are Also Vital”. 4 December

Products;

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/circular-economy-recycling-repair-reuse

2013.

K. 1990. “The Ethnographic Present: A Reinvention”.

Hastrup,

Cultural Anthropology. Vol 5. Pp 45-61.

J, Heine, SJ and Norenzayan, A. 2010a. “Most

Henrich,

are Not WEIRD”. Nature. Vol 466. P 29.

People

J, Heine SJ and Norenzaya, A. 2010b. “The Weirdest

Henrich

People in the World?”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Vol

C. 1985. “Barter and Economic Disintegration”.

Humphrey,

Man. Vol 20, number 1. Pp 48–72.

D. 2018. “You Can’t Characterize Human Nature

Hruschka,

if Studies Overlook 85 Percent of People on Earth”. 16

2018. “Manifesto to the European Union: ‘Europe,

ICTA.

Time to End the Growth Dependency’”. 17 Septem-

It’s

2018. https://ictaweb.uab.cat/noticies_news_detail.

ber

php?id=3484

GG. 1959. “Further Remarks about Early Uses of

Iggers,

Term ‘Social Science’”. Journal of the History of Ideas. Vol

the

A. 2015. “Addiction, Connection and the Rat Park

Jae,

14 August 2015. https://www.psychologytoday.

Study”.

com/intl/blog/all-about-addiction/201508/addictionconnection-and-the-rat-park-study

J and Yardley, J. 2007. “Choking on Growth: As China

Kahn,

Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes”. 26 August

H. 2018. “Universality Claim of Attachment

Keller,

Children’s Socioemotional Development Across

Theory:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Cultures.”

of the United States of America. Vol 115, number 45. Pp

P. 2009. “How did Economists get it so

Krugman,

New York Times. 2 September 2009. https://

Wrong?”.

www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.

html

B and Rubin, O. 2009. “The Dustbin of History:

Lomborg,

to Growth”. 9 November 2009. https://foreign-

Limits

policy.com/2009/11/09/the-dustbin-of-history-limits-to-

growth/

K. 2017. “This 38-year-old Study is Still

MacBride,

Bad Ideas About Addiction”. 5 September

Spreading

B. 1922. Argonauts of the Western PaciÀc: An

Malinowski,

of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipel-

Account

of Melanesian New Guinea. London, UK. Routledge

agoes

Kegan Paul.

and

Bloomington, IN, USA. Universe Publishing.

R. 2016. “Spot the WEIRDo”. 20 July 2016.

Colvile,

https://aeon.co/essays/american-undergrads-are-tooweird-to-stand-for-all-humanity

33, number 2–3. Pp 61–83.

J, Heine SJ and Norenzaya, A. 2015. “Beyond

Henrich

Towards a Broad-based Behavioral Science”. Be-

WEIRD:

havioral and Brain Sciences. Vol 33, number 2–3. Pp 111–35.

Schuster.

2018. https://theconversation.com/you-cant-

November

characterize-human-nature-if-studies-overlook-85-per-

cent-of-people-on-earth-106670

2004. “The Pursuit of Happiness”. 16 December

Economist.

2004. https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2004/12/16/the-pursuit-of-happiness

2016. BrieÀng: “The Trouble with GDP”.

Economist.

April 2016. https://www.economist.com/brief-

30

ing/2016/04/30/the-trouble-with-gdp

R. 2007. “The Myth of the Teen Brain”. 1 June

Epstein,

https://www.scientiÀcamerican.com/article/the-

2007.

myth-of-the-teen-brain-2007-06/

20, number 3. Pp 433–36.

29, number 1. Pp 89–114.

RG (ed). 1991. Recapturing Anthropology: Working in

Fox,

Present. Sante Fe, NM, USA. School of American Re-

the

search Press.

2007. The New York Times.

3, number 5. P 5

11414–11419.

J. 2010. “The Rise and Fall of the G.D.P.” 13 May

Gertner,

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/maga-

2010.

zine/16GDP-t.html

B and Hall, S (eds). 1993. Formations of Modernity:

Gieben,

Modern Societies—An Introduction. Cam-

Understanding

bridge, UK. Polity Press.

https://theoutline.com/post/2205/this-38-year-

2017.

old-study-is-still-spreading-bad-ideas-about-addic-

tion?zd=1&zi=yesiyxii

J . 2018. “The Birthplace of Gross National Happiness

McCarthy,

is Growing a Bit Cynical”. 12 Feb 2018. https://

D, Ojalehto B, Marin, A and Bang, M. 2017. “Systems

Medin,

of (Non-)diversity”. Nature Human Behaviour. Vol 1.

J, van IJzendoorn MH and Sagi-Schwartz A.

Mesman,

“Cross-cultural Patterns of Attachment: Universal

2008.

Contextual Dimensions”. In Cassidy, J and Shaver PR

and

Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical

(eds).

(second edition). New York, USA. Guilford

Applications

Press.

A. “What is Social Physics?”. Accessed 26 June

Pentland,

www.endor.com/social-physics

2019.

S. 2012. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence

Pinker,

Has Declined. New York, USA. Random House.

MS, Martingano, AJ and Ginges, J. 2018. “Toward a

Rad,

of Homo sapiens: Making Psychological Science

Psychology

Representative of the Human Population”. Proceedings

More

of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of

K. 1999. Economics: Case, Fair, Heather, Gartner.

Randall,

New York, USA. Prentice Hall.

1999.

J. 2018. “Few Things are as Dangerous as Economists

Rapley,

with Physics Envy”. 9 February 2018. https://aeon.

co/ideas/few-things-are-as-dangerous-as-economistswith-physics-envy

K, Drouet, L, Caldeira K and Tavoni, M. 2018.

Ricke,

Social Cost of Carbon”. Nature Climate

“Country-level

PM. 2015. “Mathiness in the Theory of Economic

Romer,

American Economic Review. Vol 105, number 5. Pp

Growth”.

EA. 2019. “Grant Robertson: ‘New Zealand’s Prosperity

Roy,

is About Much More than GDP Growth’”. 11 June 2019.

A. 2010. See Fox, J. 2012. Harvard Business Review. “The

Sen,

of Well-being”. January-February 2012. https://hbr.

Economics

P. 2009. The Trashing of Margaret Mead: Anatomy

Shankman,

of an Anthropological Controversy. Madison, WI, USA.

L. 2006. “Risk taking in Adolescence: What

Steinberg,

and Why?” New York Academy of Sciences. Vol

Changes

W. 1883. “Electrical Units of Measurement”.

Thomson,

delivered at the Institution of Civil Engineers. 3

Lecture

1969. “Behavior: Margaret Mead Today: Mother to

Time.

World”. 21 March 1969. http://content.time.com/

the

G. 2004. “Fixing GDP: Green Accounting in

Wagner,

United States”. 9 April 2004. https://web.archive.

the

org/web/20070602190235/http://gwagner.com/writing/2004/04/Àxing-gdp-green-accounting-in-united.html

P. 2001. A History and Theory of the Social Sciences:

Wagner,

All That is Solid Melts Into Air. London, UK. Sage.

Not

E. 2018. “Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running

Yong,

of Excuses” 19 November 2018. www.theatlantic.

Out

na/2007-04/19/content_853917.htm

com/science/archive/2018/11/psychologys-replication-crisis-real/576223/

M. 2017. “Indigenous Lives, the ‘Cult of Forgetfulness’

Allbrook,

and the Australian Dictionary of Biography”.

J. 2018. “Why Sexist and Racist Philosophers

Baggini,

Might Still be Admirable”. 7 November 2018.

I. 1969. Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford, UK. Oxford

Berlin,

Press.

University

H. 2019. “History According to EH Carr”. 8 May

Carr,

www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/05/

2019.

N. 2015. “Hindsight is Not So Wonderful After All

Chater,

Scientists” 22 January 2015. www.wbs.ac.uk/news/

Say

RG, Dray, WH, van der Dussen, WJ. 1999.

Collingwood,

Principles of History and Other Writings in Philosophy of

The

P. 2019. “Decolonising the Dictionary: Reclaiming

Daley,

History for the Forgotten”. 16 February 2019.

Australian

https://aeon.co/ideas/why-sexist-and-racist-philosophers-might-still-be-admirable

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/17/decolonising-the-dictionary-reclaiming-history-for-the-forgotten

M. 1986. How Institutions Think. New York, USA.

Douglas,

University Press.

Syracuse

S and Faire, L. 2012. Research Methods for History.

Dunn,

UK. Edinburgh University Press.

Edinburgh,

B (ed). 1993. School and Society in Tsarist and Soviet

Eklof,

London, UK. Palgrave Macmillan.

Russia.

time/magazine/article/0,9171,839916,00.html

www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/02/12/584481047/

happiness-is-grow-

the-birthplace-of-gross-national

ing-a-bit-cynical

Pp 1–5.

S. 2007. “Call for “Return to Green Accounting”.

Xiaohua,

19 April 2007. www.chinadaily.com.cn/chi-

Chapter 9

November 2015. http://theconversation.com/indig-

1

enous-lives-the-cult-of-forgetfulness-and-the-australi-

an-dictionary-of-biography-86302

America. Vol 115, number 45. Pp 11401–11405.

Carr, EH. 1961. What is History? London, UK. Penguin.

Change. Vol 8. Pp 895–900.

eh-carr-what-is-history-truth-subjectivity-facts

89--93.

hindsight-is-not-so-wonderful-after-all-say-scientists/

History. New York, USA. Oxford University Press.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/11/

grant-robertson-new-zealand-prosperity-growth-wellbeing

org/2012/01/the-economics-of-well-being

University of Wisconsin Press.

1021, number 1.

May 1883.

G. 1991. Return to Essentials: Some ReÁections on the

Elton,

State of Historical Study. Cambridge, UK. Cam-

Present

bridge University Press.

W. 2012. “Ethics and Historical Research”. In

Gallois,

S and Faire, L (eds). Research Methods for History.

Dunn,

T. 2012. “Looking at the Battle of Gettysburg

Horowitz,

Robert E. Lee’s Eyes”. December 2012. www.

Through

vinism

smithsonianmag.com/history/looking-at-the-battle-ofgettysburg-through-robert-e-lees-eyes-136851113/

E. 1993. “The New Threat to History”. New

Hobsbawm,

Review of Books. 16 December 1993. www.nybooks.

York

M. 2015. Fifty Key Thinkers on History

Hughes-Warrington,

edition). London, UK. Routledge.

(third

K. 1995. On What is History? From Carr and Elton to

Jenkins,

and White. London, UK. Routledge.

Rorty

KV and Lässig, S (eds). 2013. History Education

Korostelina,

and Post-ConÁict Reconciliation. Reconsidering Joint

D. 1985 History and Criticism. New York, USA.

LaCapra,

University Press.

Cornell

BK. 1992. Teaching the Postmodern. London, UK.

Marshall,

Routledge.

G. 1998. “Defender of the Faith: Georey Elton and

Roberts,

Philosophy of History”. Chonicon 2. R1: 1–22. http://

the

F. 1952. A History of Muslim Historiography.

Rosenthal,

Netherlands. Brill Publishers.

Leiden,

Historical Society. 2018. Race, Ethnicity and Equality

Royal

UK History: A Report and Resource for Change. London,

in

PR and Mrozowski, SA, (eds). 2014. The Death of

Schmidt,

Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press.

Prehistory.

LT. 1999. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous

Smith,

Peoples (second edition). London, UK. Zed Books.

GM. 1992. “History and Post-Modernism”. Past

Spiegel,

Present. Vol 135, number 1. Pp 194–208.

and

L. 2012. “Human Cycles: History as Science”.

Spinney,

News. 1 August 2012. https://www.nature.com/

Nature

K. 2012. “How We Made: John Berger and Michael

Abbott,

on ‘Ways of Seeing’”. 2 April 2012. www.theguard-

Dibb

ian.com/culture/2012/apr/02/how-we-made-ways-see-

ing

E. 2005. American Sublime: Poems. Minneapolis.

Alexander,

USA. Graywolf Press.

MN,

KA. 2006. Cosmopolitanism. New York, USA. WW

Appiah,

Norton.

T. 1968. Art in Africa. Budapest, Hungary. Kossuth

Bodrogi,

Printing House.

A. 1937. “A New Vermeer”. Burlington Magazine.

Bredius,

71. Pp 210–211.

Vol

J. 2007. “Torture and the Ethics of Photography”.

Butler,

and Planning D: Society and Space. Vol 25. Pp

Environment

J.2001. “Museums and the Acquisition of Antiquities”.

Cuno,

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. Vol 19,

W. 2009. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in

Dalrymple,

India. New York, USA. Vintage Books.

Modern

P. 2015. “Indigenous Leaders Fight for Return of

Daly,

Featuring in Major New Exhibition”. 14 February

Relics

A. 1964. “The Artworld”. The Journal of Philosophy.

Danto,

61, number 19. Pp. 571–584.

Vol.

W. 1878. The Famine Campaign in Southern India

Digby,

and Bombay Presidencies and Province of Mysore)

(Madras

J. 2015. “To Return or Not: Who should Own

Farago,

Art?” 21 April 2015. www.bbc.com/culture/

Indigenous

C. 2013. “Ill-gotten Gains: How Many Museums

Franzen,

Stolen Objects in their Collections?” 13 May 2013.

have

S. 2017. “Deported Afghan Girl says NatGeo Picture

Gula,

More Pain than Gain”. 19 January 2017. https://

Caused

for-indigenous-relics-spirited-o-to-the-uk

www.theverge.com/2013/5/13/4326306/museum-artifacts-looted-repatriation

tribune.com.pk/story/1299147/deported-afghan-girlsays-natgeo-picture-caused-pain-gain/

S. 2019. “Zombie Formalism: Or How Financial

Hegenbart,

Values Pervade the Art” 31 July, 2019. https://aesthet-

icsforbirds.com/2019/07/31/zombie-formalism-or-how-

Ànancial-values-pervade-the-arts/

Chapter 10

R J. 2014. “‘What If’ is a waste of time” 13 March

Evans,

www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/13/coun-

2014.

terfactual-history-what-if-waste-of-time

Edinburgh, UK. Edinburgh University Press.

R. 2019. “The Historian and Chauvinism.” 8 March

Guha,

www.theindiaforum.in/article/historian-and-chau-

2019.

E. 2016. “The Desire to Know Each Other”

Alexander,

11 April 2016. https://onbeing.org/programs/de-

.

sire-know-elizabeth-alexander-2/

Berger, J. 1972. Ways of Seeing. London, UK. BBC/Penguin.

com/articles/1993/12/16/the-new-threat-to-history/

951–966.

Textbook Projects. Routledge. London, UK. Routledge.

number 1. P 85.

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolo-

2015.

nial-blog/2015/feb/14/it-taunts-us-spiritually-the-Àght-

R. 2015. “What If?”. 8 December 2015. https://

Onion,

aeon.co/essays/what-if-historians-started-taking-the-what-if-seriously

A. 2019. “The Trouble with Uplift”. 10 July 2019.

Reed,

https://thebaer.com/salvos/the-trouble-with-upliftreed

1876–1878. London, UK. Longmans.

xml.ucc.ie/chronicon/elton.htm

story/20150421-who-should-own-indigenous-art

UK. The Royal Historical Society.

news/human-cycles-history-as-science-1.11078

C. 2018. “You Have Our Soul”: Easter Island

Holland,

with British for Statue’s Return”. 22 November

Pleads

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/easter-island-british-museum-moai-return/index.html

2018.

K. 2009. “From China, Iraq and Beyond, but Is It

Johnson,

19 February 2009. www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/

Art?”

C. 2019. “Does Art Have A Homeland?”. 6 March

Joy,

www.sapiens.org/culture/patrimony-heritage-art/

2019.

Guin, U. 2016. Words are My Matter. Easthampton, MA,

Le

Small Beer Press.

USA.

EH. 2017. “Repatriation and the Radical Redistribution

Matthes,

of Art”. Ergo. Vol 4, number 32. P 1.

J H. 1986. “Two Ways of Thinking About Cultural

Merryman,

Property”. The American Journal of International Law.

R. 2019. “Mind my Picasso … Superyacht Owners

Neate,

to Protect Art”. 2 February 2019. www.theguard-

Struggle

ian.com/news/2019/feb/02/cornÁakes-on-the-basquiat-

perils-of-superyacht-art

Adichie, Chimamanda. 2006. “Our ‘Africa’ Lenses

Ngozi

From the West, Big Labels but Little Context”. 13

2006. www.washingtonpost.com/archive/

November

opinions/2006/11/13/our-africa-lenses-span-classbank-

headfrom-the-west-big-labels-but-little-contextspan/a9f-

2cc39-88f7-4ea6-832c-0e80eba43557/

A. 2006. “The Ethics of the World Heritage Concept”.

Omland,

In Scarre, C and Scarre, G (eds). The Ethics of Archae-

Philosophical Perspectives on Archaeological Practice . P

ology:

Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press.

247.

P. Quoted in 1976. “Modern Living: Ozmosis in

Picasso,

Park”. Time Magazine. 4 October 1976. http://con-

Central

tent.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918412,00.

html

NS. 2019 “Unpacking Medieval African Art’s

Sandy,

Global Legacy”. 21 January 2019. www.artsy.

Profound

net/article/artsy-editorial-unpacking-medieval-african-arts-profound-global-legacy

I. 2019. “He Dunked a CruciÀx in his own

Stanley-Becker,

His Next Artistic Subject: Donald Trump”. 2 April

Urine.

K. 2015. “Museums and Looted Art: The Ethical

Tharoor,

of Preserving World Cultures”. 29 June 2015.

Dilemma

donald-trump/

www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jun/29/museums-looting-art-artefacts-world-culture

J. 2003. “Cultural Property, Restitution and

Thompson,

Journal of Applied Philosophy. Vol 20, number 3. P

Value”.

J. 2004. “Art, Property Rights, and the Interests

Thompson,

Humanity.” The Journal of Value Inquiry. Vol 38, number

of

N. 2015. Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the

Thompson,

Century. New York, USA. Melville House.

Twenty-First

K. 2016. “Elizabeth Alexander The Desire to

Tippett,

Each Other”. 11 April 2016. https://onbeing.org/

Know

A. 2001. “Music: The Devil Made Him Do

Tommasini,

September 2001. www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/

It”.30

News Desk. 2017. “Deported Afghan Girl says

Tribune

Picture Caused More Pain than Gain”.

NatGeo

de Gaag, N and Nash, C. 1987. Images of Africa: The UK

van

Oxford, UK. Oxfam.

Report.

E. 1926. Religiöse der Naturvölker. Frankfurt, Germany.

Vatter,

Frankfurter Verlags-Anstalt.

F. 2006. I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the

Wynne,

Greatest Forger. New York, USA.

Twentieth-Century’s

D. 2013. “The Reasonable Ineectiveness of Mathematics

Abbott,

(Point of View),”. Proceedings of the IEEE. Vol 101,

A. 2014. InÀnitesimal. London, UK. Oneworld

Alexander,

Publications.

M. 1991. Ethnomathematics: A Multicultural View of

Ascher,

Ideas. Boca Raton, FL, USA. CRC Press.

Mathematical

arts/design/20new.html

252.

W. 2010. “In Focus: Starved for Attention”.13 July

Johnson,

www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/in-fo-

2010.

cus-starved-for-attention

4. Pp 558–559.

E. 2014. The African Bronze Art Culture of the Bight

Konde,

Benin and its InÁuence on Modern Art. Albany State Uni-

of

versity. Albaby, GA, USA.

programs/desire-know-elizabeth-alexander-2/

arts/music-the-devil-made-him-do-it.html

Vol 80, number 4. P 836.

January 2017. https://tribune.com.pk/story/1299147/

19

deported-afghan-girl-says-natgeo-picture-caused-paingain/

Bloomsbury Press.

Chapter 11

number 10. Pp 2147–53.

A. 2010. Duel at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the

Alexander,

of Modern Mathematics. Cambridge, MA, USA. Har-

Rise

vard University Press.

J. 2018. “Principia”. 28 September 2018. https://

Avigad,

aeon.co/amp/essays/does-philosophy-still-need-mathematics-and-vice-versa

P. 2017. “How Natural is Numeracy?” Aeon. 26 October

Ball,

2017. https://aeon.co/essays/why-do-humans-havenumbers-are-they-cultural-or-innate

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/02/he-

2019.

dunked-cruciÀx-his-own-urine-his-next-artistic-subject-

PJ, Hammel, EA and O’Connell, JW. 1975. “Sex

Bickel,

in Graduate Admissions: Data From Berkeley”.

Bias

Vol 187, number 4175. Pp 398–404. doi:10.1126/

Science.

PMID 17835295.

science.187.4175.398.

J. 2007. “Mathematical Community Should Police

Birman,

Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Vol 54,

Itself”.

A. 2018. “Unreasonable Ineectiveness of Mathematics

Borovik,

in Biology” 14 April 2018. https://micromath.

wordpress.com/2018/04/14/unreasonable-ineectiveness-of-mathematics-in-biology/

CB. 1991. A History of Mathematics (second edition).

Boyer,

York, USA. Wiley.

New

K. 2016. “Yes, Mathematics can be Decolonized.

Brodie,

How to Begin”. 13 October 2016. https://thecon-

Here’s

versation.com/yes-mathematics-can-be-decolonised-her-

es-how-to-begin-65963

K. 2019. “Zeno and the Paradox of Motion”. ReÁections

Brown,

on Relativity. MathPages. https://mathpages.com/

M and Bursill-Hall, P. 2018. “Four Levels of

Chiodo,

Engagement Discussion” paper 18/1. Cambridge

Ethical

Ethics in Mathematics Project. https://ethics.

University

maths.cam.ac.uk/pub

M and Bursill-Hall, P. 2019. “Motivation of the

Chiodo,

5 April 2019. https://ethics.maths.cam.ac.uk/

Workshop”.

JE. 2004. “Mathematics is Biology’s Next Microscope,

Cohen,

Only Better; Biology is Mathematics’ Next Physics,

J. 2002. 777 Mathematical Conversations. Washington,

dePillis,

DC, USA. Mathematical Association of America.

S. 2016. “Math is Awesome, Math Culture is

Desikan,

Interview with Piper Harron. 23 August 2016.

Terrible”.

https://www.thehindu.com/thread/arts-culture-society/

article9022211.ece

K. 2000. The Math Gene: How Mathematical Thinking

Devlin,

And Why Numbers Are Like Gossip. New York, USA.

Evolved

A. 1922. Geometry and Experience. London, UK.

Einstein,

& Co.

Methuen

P (ed). 2018. The Philosophy of Mathematics Education

Ernest,

Today. ICME-13 Monographs. Cham, Switzerland.

RP. 1977. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. I.

Feynman,

MA, USA. Addison-Wesley.

Boston,

J. 1991. “Ethics of Mathematics”. The Mathematical

Franklin,

Intelligencer. Vol 13, number 1.

C. 2017. “School of Names”. The Stanford Encyclopedia

Fraser,

of Philosophy (Spring 2017 edition). Zalta, EN (ed).

https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/

school-names/

G. 1632. Opere Il Saggiatore (The Assayer). https://

Galileo,

P 171.

www.loc.gov/item/29030462.

J. 2014. “Mathematics: Why the Brain Sees

Gallagher,

as Beauty”. 13 February 2014. Institute of Math-

Maths

and its Applications. https://www.bbc.com/

ematics

news/science-environment-26151062

R. 2018. “Political Conocimiento for Teaching

Gutierrez,

Why Teachers Need it and How to Devel-

Mathematics:

it”. In Kastberg, SE, Tyminski, AM, Lischka, AE and

op

WB (eds). Building Support for Scholarly Practices

Sanchez,

Mathematics Methods. Charlotte, NC, USA. Information

in

Publishing.

Age

J, Mazzocco, MM and Feigenson, L. 2008. “Individual

Halberda,

dierences in non-verbal number acuity correlate

R. 1980. “The Unreasonable Eectiveness of

Hamming,

The American Mathematical Monthly. Vol 87,

Mathematics”.

GH. 2004. Originally published 1940. A Mathematician’s

Hardy,

Apology. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University

P. 2016. “The Equidistribution of Lattice Shapes of

Harron,

of Integers of Cubic, Quartic, and Quintic Number

Rings

An Artist’s Rendering”. Proceedings of the American

Fields:

Society.

Mathematical

R. 1990. “Mathematics and Ethics”. The Mathematical

Hersh,

Intelligencer. Vol 12, number 3. P 22.

R. 2004. “Multiple Sudden Infant Deaths—Coincidence

Hill,

or Beyond Coincidence?” Paediatric and Perinatal

M. 1985. Mathematics for the Nonmathematician. New

Kline,

USA. Dover Publications.

York,

M. 1990. Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern

Kline,

Times. New York, USA. Oxford University Press.

H. 1974. “Is Mathematics a Theoretical Juice Extractor?”

Lehman,

Philosophical Forum. Vol 6, number 2. P 237.

J. 2014. “The Mathematical World”. 7 April 2014.

Franklin.

https://aeon.co/essays/aristotle-was-right-about-mathematics-after-all

number 1. P 6.

M and Thomas, R. 2015.“The Future of Proof”.

Freiberger,

April 2015. https://plus.maths.org/content/fu-

10

ture-proof

rr/s3-07/3-07.htm

with maths achievement”. Nature. Vol 455. Pp 665—668.

EiM2/

number 2. Pp 81–90.

Only Better”. PLoS Biology. Vol 2, number 12. Pp 2017–23.

Press.

Basic Books.

Epidemiology. Vol 18. Pp 320–326.

R. 1999. African Fractals: Modern Computing and

Eglash,

Design. Piscataway, NJ, USA. Rutgers Universi-

Indigenous

ty Press.

GG. 2011. The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European

Joseph,

of Mathematics. Princeton, NJ, USA. Princeton Uni-

Roots

versity Press.

Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77760-3_12

E. 2017. “The Impossible Mathematics of the Real

Lamb,

8 June 2017. http://nautil.us/issue/49/the-ab-

World”.

surd/the-impossible-mathematics-of-the-real-world

P. 2009. A Mathematician’s Lament. New York,

Lockhart,

Bellevue Literary Press.

USA.

G. 1956. Mathematics Magic and Magic. New York,

Martin,

Dover Publications.

USA.

G (ed). 2008. The DeÀnitive Guide to CDOs. London,

Meissner,

UK. Risk Books.

VR. 2019. Feeding a Thousand Souls: Women, Ritual

Nagarajan,

and Ecology in India, an Exploration of the Kōlam. Oxford,

PJ. 2006. Dr. Euler’s Fabulous Formula: Cures Many

Nahin,

Ills. Princeton NJ, USA. Princeton University

Mathematical

S and Gruber, D. 2006. “Manifold Destiny”. The

Nassar,

Yorker. 28 August 2006. Retrieved from https://www.

New

of the American Mathematical Society. 2008.

Notices

Eective In Verifying Mathematical Proofs”.

“Computers

C. 2016. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data

O’Neil,

Inequality and Threatens Democracy. New York,

Increases

Statistical Society. 2001. “Royal Statistical Society

Royal

by Issues Raised in Sally Clark Case” 23 Octo-

Concerned

2001. https://www.rss.org.uk/Images/PDF/inÁuencing-change/2017/SallyClarkRSSstatement2001.pdber

B. 1919. Mysticism and Logic: And Other Essays.

Russell,

UK. Longman.

London,

F. 2009. “Recipe for Disaster: The Formula that

Salmon,

Wall Street”. 23 Feb 2009. https://www.wired.

Killed

S. 1998. Fermat’s Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the

Singh,

Greatest Mathematical Problem. New York, USA.

World’s

S. 2013. The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets.

Singh,

York, USA. Bloomsbury.

New

T. 1979. “The Four-Color Problem and its

Tymoczko,

SigniÀcance”. The Journal of Philosophy. Vol

Mathematical

Neumann, J. 1947. Works of the Mind Volume I Number

von

Chicago. IL, USA. University of Chicago Press.

1.

M. 2005. “How a Formula Ignited Markets

Whitehouse,

Burned Some Big Investors”. 12 September 2005.

That

Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/

The

SB112649094075137685

E. 1960. “The Unreasonable Eectiveness of Mathematics

Wigner,

in the Natural Sciences”. Communications in Pure

S, Romaya JP, Benincasa, DMT and Atiyah, MF. 2014.

Zeki

Experience of Mathematical Beauty and its Neural

“The

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.

Correlates”.

org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00068

M. 1950. Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive

Mead,

First published 1935. London UK. Routledge and

Societies.

Vol 77, number 12. Pp 797–803.

M. 2018. “Mathematics as Thought”. 11

Levy-Eichel,

2018. https://aeon.co/essays/the-secret-intellec-

October

tual-history-of-mathematics

76, number 2. Pp 57–83.

M. 2017. “How to Play Mathematics”. 7 February

Wertheim,

2017. https://aeon.co/essays/theres-more-maths-inslugs-and-corals-than-we-can-think-of

UK. Oxford University Press.

Press.

and Applied Mathematics. Vol 13. Pp 1–14.

newyorker.com/magazine/2006/08/28/manifold-destiny

N. 2013. “In Computers We Trust?” 22 February

Wolchover,

2017. https://www.quantamagazine.org/in-computers-we-trust-20130222/

6 November 2008.

Chapter 12

USA. Crown Publishing, Penguin Random House.

Kegan Paul.

com/2009/02/wp-quant/

Random House.

Teller, P. 1980. “Computer Proof”. The Journal of Philosophy.

Campbell and Justin Friesen: ‘Why People “Fly from Facts”’, Scienti¿c American, 3 March 2015,

Troy

© Scienti¿c American 2015, used by permission of Scienti¿c American, a division of Nature

copyright

Inc. All rights reserved. Edward Hallett Carr: What is History? The George Macaulay lectures

America,

in the University of Cambridge, January- March 1961 (Penguin, 1964), copyright © Edward

delivered

Carr 1961, 1964, used by permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of

Hallett

Hallett Carr. Helen Carr: ‘History according to E H Carr’, New Statesman, 8 May 2019, used by

Edward

of New Statesman Ltd. Nick Chater: quoted in ‘Hindsight is not so wonderful after all say

permission

by Ashley Potter, WBS News (Warwick Business School), 22 Jan 2015, from The Human Zoo,

scientists’

Radio 4, January 2015, used by permission of Nick Chater and Ashley Potter. Maurice Chiodo and

BBC

Bursill-Hall: ‘Four Levels of Ethical Engagement’, Discussion paper 18/1; and ‘Motivation of the

Piers

EiM2: The second meeting on Ethics in Mathematics, https://ethics.cam.ac.uk/EiM2/,

Workshop’,

University Ethics in Mathematics Project, used by permission of the authors. Noam Chomsky:

Cambridge

Common Good (Odonian Press, 1998), copyright © Noam Chomsky 1998, used by permission of the

The

Agency on behalf of the author. Harry M Collins and Trevor J Pinch: The Golem: What You

Roam

Know About Science (2e, Cambridge, 2012), copyright © Harry M Collins and Trevor J Pinch

Should

used by permission of Cambridge University Press through PLSclear. Robert Colvile: ‘Spot the

1998,

Aeon (aeon.co), 20 July 2016, used by permission of Aeon Media Group Ltd, aeon.co. William

WEIRDo’,

‘The Dancer of Kannur’ in Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Bloomsbury/

Dalrymple:

2009), copyright © William Dalrymple 2009, used by permission of the publishers, Bloomsbury

Knopf,

plc, and Alfred A Knopf, am imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of

Publishing

Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Lorraine Daston and Elizabeth A Lunbeck (eds):

Penguin

to Histories of Scienti¿c Observation (U Chicago Press, 2011), used by permission of the

introduction

The University of Chicago Press, through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. Mike Davis: Late

publishers,

Holocausts (Verso, 2000), copyright © Mike Davis 2000, used by permission of Verso Books.

Victorian

Davis: ‘An interview with the anthropologist Wade Davis’ by Alex Chadwick, on NPR ‘Radio.

Wade

May 2003; and ‘Dreams from endangered cultures’, Ted Talk TED 2003, used by permission

Expeditions’,

the author Daniel R DeNicola: Understanding Ignorance: The Surprising Impact of What we Don’t

of

(MIT, 2017), used by permission of The MIT Press; and ‘You don’t have a right to believe whatever

Know

want to’, Aeon (aeon.co), 14 May 2018, used under CC BY-ND 4.0 Licence. Nandita Dinesh;

you

used by permission of Nandita Dinesh. Stephanie Dinkins: ‘Project al-Khwarizmi’, www.

intervew

used by permission of Stephanie Dinkins. Sylvia Earle: ‘Her deepness’,

stephaniedinkins.com,

by Krista Tippett, 7 June 2012, onbeing.org,, used by permission of Syvia Earle, and the On

interviewed

Project. Economist Writer: ‘The Trouble with GDP’, The Economist, 30 April 2016, copyright

Being

Economist 2016, used by permission of The Economist Group Ltd, conveyed through Copyright

©The

Center, Inc. Geoffrey R Elton: ‘Some Prescriptions’ in Return to Essentials: Some ReÀections

Clearance

the Present State of Historical Study (Cambridge, 1991), copyright © Geoffrey R Elton 1991, used by

on

of Cambridge University Press through PLSclear. Robert Epstein: ‘The Myth of the Teen

permission

Scienti¿c American, 1 June 2007, copyright © Scienti¿c American 2007, used by permission of

Brain”’,

American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. Steven Epstein: Impure

Scienti¿c

AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (University of California Press, 1996), copyright ©

Science:

Epstein 1996, used by permission of the University of California Press conveyed through Copyright

Steven

Center, Inc. Robert S Eshelman: ‘The Danger of Fair and Balanced’, Columbia Journalism

Clearance

, 1 May 2014, used by permission of the Columbia Journalism Review. Richard J Evans: ‘”What

Review

is a waste of time’, The Guardian, 13 March 2014, copyright © Guardian News & Media Ltd 2014,

if”

by permission of GNM. Jason Farago: ‘To return or not: Who should own indigenous art?’, BBC

used

21 Apr 2015, used by permission of the BBC. First Nations and Indigenous Studies: ‘Global

Culture,

copyright © First Nations and Indigenous Studies 2009, used by permission of FNIS. Marion

Actions’,

Etienne Ollion and Yann Algan: ‘The Superiority of Economists’, Journal of Economic

Fourcade,

Vol 29, No 1, p 89 (Winter 2015), copyright © American Economic Association 2015, used

Perspectives,

permission of the authors and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Miranda Fricker: Epistemic

by

Power and the Ethics of Knowing (OUP, 2007), copyright © Miranda Fricker 2007, used by

Injustice:

of Oxford University Press through PLSclear. Nikki van der Gaag and Cathy Nash for

permission

‘Images of Africa project: the UK report’, November 1987, used by permission of Oxfam, Oxfam

Oxfam:

John Smith Drive, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK, www.oxfam.org.uk. Oxfam does not necessarily endorse

House,

text or activities that accompany the materials. William Gallois: ‘Ethics and Historical Research’,

any

© William Gallois 2012, in Research Methods for History edited by Simon Gunn and Lucy Faire

copyright

University Press, 2012), used by permission of Edinburgh University Press through PLSclear.

(Edinburgh

Ganeri: ‘The tree of knowledge is not an apple or an oak but a banyan’, Aeon (aeon.co), 23

Jonardon

2017, used under CC BY-ND 4.0 Licence. Stephen M Gardiner and Lauren Hartzell-Nichol:

June.

& Global Climate Change’, Nature Education Knowledge , Vol 3, No 5 (2012), used under the

‘Ethics

of Use of the Knowledge Project. Daniel Gilbert: ‘Journey to Elsewhen’ in Stumbling on Happiness

Terms

2007), copyright © Daniel Gilbert 2006, used by permission of Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of the

(Vintage,

Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, and HarperCollins

Knopf

Ltd. All rights reserved. Adam Gopnik: ‘Practising Doubt, Redrawing Faith’, interviewed by

Publishers

Tippett 7 Dec 2017, onbeing.org, used by permission of Adam Gopnik, and The On Being Project.

Krista

Graeber: Debt: The First 5000 Years (Melville House, 2014), copyright © David Graeber2011,

David

2014, used by permission of Melville House Publishing LLC. Reuben Hersh: ‘Mathematics and

2012,

The Mathematical Intelligencer, 12:3 (1990), copyright © 1990, used by permission of Springer

ethics’,

Ray Hill: ‘Multiple sudden infant deaths deaths – coincidence or beyond coincidence?’, Paediatric

Nature.

Perinatal Epidemiology, 18 (2004), copyright © 2004, used by permission of John Wiley & Sons,

and

through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. Tony Horowitz: ‘Looking at the Battle of Gettysburg

conveyed

Robert E. Lee’s Eyes’, Smithsonian magazine, Dec 2012, copyright © Smithsonian Institution

Through

used by permission of Smithsonian Enterprises. All right reserved. Richard Horton: ‘Truth and

202,

About AIDS’, New York Review of Books, 23 May 1996, used by permission of The New York

Heresy

of Books. Kartik Hosanager: ‘Blame the Echo Chamber on Facebook. But Blame Yourself Too’,

Review

25 Nov 2016, copyright © Condé Nast 2016, used by permission of Condé Nast. Marnie Hughes-

Wired,

‘Introduction to the second edition’, Fifty Key Thinkers on History (2nd ed, Routledge,

Warrington:

copyright © 2007, used by permission of Taylor & Francis Group through PLSclear. ICTA - Institut

2007),

Ciència i Tecnología Ambiental, University of Barcelona: ‘Manifesto to the European Union: “Europe,

de

Time to End the Growth Dependency.”’, 17 September 2018, used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence.

It’s

Jaffe: ‘Addiction, Connection and the Rat Park Study’, Psychology Today, 14 Aug 2015 , copyright ©

Adi

Jaffe 2015, used by permission of Dr Adi H Jaffe. Jonathan Jones: ‘Consciences awakened by the

Adi

theguardian.com, 22 July 2011, copyright © Guardian News & Media Ltd 2011,2020, used by

camera’,

of GNM Heidi Keller: ‘Universality claim of attachment theory: Children’s Socioemotional

permission

across Cultures’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of

Development

Vol 115, No 45, 11414 (2018), used by permission of PNAS. Klemens Kappel: ‘There is no

America.

ground for deep disagreements about facts’, Aeon (aeon.co), 15 Oct 2018, used under CC BY-ND

middle

Licence Robin Wall Kimmerer: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scienti¿c Knowledge and

4.0

Teachings of Plants (Milkweed, 2014), copyright © Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013, used by permission of

the

Editions. Simone Lässig: ‘Post-conÀict reconciliation and joint history textbook projects’,

Milkweed

© Simone Lässig 2013, in Karina V Korostelina & Simone Lässig (eds): History Education and

copyright

Reconciliation: Reconsidering Joint Textbook Projects (Routledge, 2013), used by permission

Post-ConÀict

Taylor & Francis Group through PLSclear. Michal Kosinski, David Stillwell, and Thore Graepel:

of

Traits and Attributes are Predictable from Digital Records of Human Behavior’, Proceedings of the

‘Private

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol 110, No 15, 5802 (2013), used by

National

of PNAS Julia Lagoutte: ‘Jimmy Nelson’s wrong: tribal peoples aren’t passing away, they are

permission

against brutal oppression’, Open Democracy, 12 Nov 2014, used by permission of the author.

¿ghting

Lewis: ‘Genetics and Genomics’ in Teaching Secondary Biology edited by M Reiss (Hodder

Jenny

2011), used by permission of Dr Jenny Lewis. Ursula K Le Guin: The Wave in the Mind: Talks

Education,

Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination (Shambhala, 2004), copyright © Ursula K Le

and

2004; and from introduction to Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Shambhala, 1997)

Guin

© Ursula K Le Guin 1997, used by permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of

copyright

Publications, Inc, www.shambhala.com; and from Foreword to Late in the Day - Poems (P M

Shambhala

2016), copyright Ursula K Le Guin 2016, used by permission of MBA Literary Agents Ltd on behalf

Press,

the author; Paul Lockhart: A Mathematician’s Lament (Bellevue Literary Press, 2009), copyright ©

of

Lockhart 2009, used by permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Bellevue Literary

Paul

www.blpress.org. William D Lutz: The New Doublespeak Why No One Knows What Anyone’s

Press,

Anymore (HarperCollins, 1996) copyright © William D Lutz 1996, used by permission of the author

Saying

Jean V Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. Brenda K Marshall: Teaching the Postmodern: Fiction and

c/o

(Routledge, 1992), copyright © Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc 1992, used by permission of

Theory

and Francis Group LLC through PLSclear. Erich Hatala Matthes: ‘Repatriation and the Radical

Taylor

of Art’, Ergo, Vol 4, No 32 (2017), used by permission of the author, and under CC-BY-ND-

Redistribution

4.0 Licence. Sandra Matz, Michal Kosinski, G Nave, and David Stillwell: ‘Psychological targeting

ND

an effective approach to digital mass persuasion’, copyright © the authors 2017, Proceedings of the

as

Academy of Sciences Vol 114, No 48 (2017), used under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Licence. Fulvio

National

‘Western Science and Traditional Knowledge’, EMBO Reports 7, No 5 (2006), copyright ©

Mazzocchi:

Molecular Biiology Orgsanization, used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, conveyed through

European

Clearance Center, Inc. Manuel Medrano and Gary Urton: ‘The Khipu Code: the knotty

Copyright

of the Inkas’ 3D records’, Aeon (aeon.co), 13 June 2018, used under CC BY-ND 4.0 Licence

mystery

Mitchell: Interview on the Democracy Club, used by permission of Joe Mitchell. Madhumita

Joseph

Stephanie Findlay and Andres Schipani: ‘India: the WhatsApp election’, Opinion, FT.com, 5

Murgia,

2019, used by permission of the Financial Times. All rights reserved. Federico Mayor: Foreword to

May

Knowledge in Tropical Environments’, Nature and Resources, vol 30, No 1, (1994), used by

‘Traditional

of UNESCO Publishing Angela Nagle: Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4Chan and

permission

to Trump and the Alt-Right (Zero Books, 2017), used by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd.

Tumblr

Pariser: ‘Beware online “¿lter bubbles”’ Ted Talk, TED 2011, and The Filter Bubble: What the

Eli

is Hiding From You (Penguin, 2011), used by permission of the author. Shailja Patel: lines from

Internet

in Gurajati’, from Migritude (Kaya, 2010), copyright © Shailja Patel 2010, used by permission

‘Dreaming

Kaya Press. Gregory Radick: ‘Teach students the biology of their time’, Nature News, Vol 553, No

of

17 May 2016, copyright © 2016, used by permission of Springer Nature. Iyad Rahwan : quoted in

7603,

Wake¿eld: ‘Cambridge Analytica: Can targeted online ads really change a voter’s behaviour?’, BBC

Jane

30 March 2018, used by permission of Professor Iyad Rahwan and BBC News John Rapley: ‘Few

News,

are as dangerous as economists with physics envy’, Aeon (aeon.co), 9 Feb 2018, used under CC BY-

things

4.0 Licence Paul Romer: ‘Mathiness in the Theory of Economic Growth’, American Economic

ND

Vol 105 no 5, 2015, used by permission of the author. Jake Rosenthal: ‘The Pioneer Plaque:

Review,

as a Universal Language’, The Planetary Society, 20 Jan 2016,used by permission of the author.

Science

Statistical Society: ‘Royal Statistical Society concerned by issues raised in Sally Clark case’, Press

Royal

23 Oct 2001, used by permission of the Royal Statistical Society Bertrand Russell: ‘The Study of

Release,

in Mysticism and Logic (Longmans Green & Co, 1918), used by permission of the Bertrand

Mathematics’

Peace Foundation. Jonathan Sacks: The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of

Russell

(Continuum, 2003), copyright © Jonathan Sacks 2002, 2003, used by permission of Rabbi

Civilizations

Sacks via Louise Greenberg Books Ltd. Omid Sa¿: ‘The Spiritual is Political’, interviewed by Krista

Lord

11 Aug 2016, onbeing.org, used by permission of Professor Omid Sa¿ and the On Being Project.

Tippett,

R Schmidt and Stephen A Mrozowski: The Death of Prehistory (OUP, 2014), copyright © Peter R

Peter

& Stephen A Mrozowski 2014, used by permission of Oxford Publishing Ltd, Oxford University

Schmidt

through PLSclear. Scienti¿c American Editors: ‘When Pariahs have good ideas’, Scienti¿c

Press,

1 May 2007, copyright © Scienti¿c American 2007, used by permission of Scienti¿c American,

American,

division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. Roger Scruton: ‘Post Truth? It’s Pure Nonsense’,

a

Spectator, 10 June 2017, used by permission of the Literary Executor for the late Sir Roger Scruton,

The

The Spectator. Amartya Sen: interview with Nahbub uk Haw of the UNDPO 2010, used by permission

and

Professor Amartya Sen. Paul Shankman: The Trashing of Margaret Mead: Anatomy of an

of

Controversy (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009), copyright © the Board of Regents of

Anthropological

University of Wisconsin System 2009, used by permission of The University of Wisconsin Press.

the

Shiva: Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology (Zed Books,

Vandana

copyright © Vandana Shiva 1993, used by permission of Zed Books Ltd through PLSclear. Sergio

1998),

An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies (2e, Wiley, 2010), copyright © 2010, used

Sismondo:

permission of John Wiley & Sons, conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. C P Snow: The

by

Cultures and a Second Look: An expanded version of The Two Cultures and the Scienti¿c Revolution

Two

1959), copyright © C P Snow 1959, used by permission of Cambridge University Press,

(Cambridge,

PLSclear. Susan Sontag: ‘Looking at War’ ¿rst published in The New Yorker, 9 Dec 2002, from

through

Photography (Penguin, 1979), copyright © Susan Sontag 1972, 1977, 2003, used by permission of

On

Books Ltd and Farrar, Straus & Giroux LLC. Stanford University Institute for Human-Centred

Penguin

Intelligence: Mission statement, uesd by permission of Stanford University HAI. George

Arti¿cial

‘From Textbook Comparison to Common Textbooks? Changing Patterns of International Textbook

Stöber:

copyright © George Stöber 2013, in Karina V Korostelina & Simone Lässig (eds): History

Revision’,

and Post-ConÀict Reconciliation: Reconsidering Joint Textbook Projects (Routledge, 2013),

Education

by permission of Taylor & Francis Group through PLSclear. Survival International Writers:

used

languages hold the key to understanding who we really are’, and Criticisms of photographer

‘Indigenous

Nelson’s Before They Pass Away’, used by permission of Survival International, www.

Jimmy

Danau Tanu: Growing Up In Transit: The Politics of Belonging at an

survivalinternational.org.

School (Berghahn Books, 2018), copyright © Danau Tanu 2018, used by permission of

International

Books, Inc. Bron Taylor (Ed): Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (Continuum, 2005),

Berghahn

© Bron Taylor 2005, used by permission of the publishers, Continuum, an imprint of Bloomsbury

copyright

Plc. Edward Tenner: ‘The Original Natural Born Killers’, Nautilus, Issue 31, 3 Dec 2015, used

Publishing

permission of the author. Ker Than: ‘Estimated social cost of climate change not accurate, Stanford

by

say’, Stanford News, 12 Jan 2015, used by permission of the Stanford University News Service

scientists

Tharoor: ‘Museums and looted art: the ethical dilemma of preserving world cultures’, The

Kanishk

25 June 2015, copyright © Guardian News & Media Ltd 2015, used by permission of GNM.

Guardian,

Thompson: Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty-¿rst Century (Melville House, 2015),

Nato

© Nato Thompson 2015, used by permission of Melville House Publishing LLC. Nikola

copyright

‘Looking for language in the brain’, used by permission of Nikola Vukovic. Judy Wacjman:

Vukovic;

Theories of Technology’ in Handbook of Science and Technology Studies edited by S Jasanoff, G

‘Feminist

Markle, J C Peterson, and T J Pinch (Sage, 2001), used by permission of the author. Margaret

E

‘How to play Mathematics’, Aeon (aeon.co), 7 Feb 2017, used by permission of Aeon Media

Wertheim:

Ltd, aeon.co. Langdon Winner: The Whale and the Reactor: A Search for Limits in an Age of High

Group

(University of Chicago Press, 1986), copyright © University of Chicago 1986, used by

Technology

of University of Chicago Press, conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. Frank

permission

I Was Vermeer: The Forger Who Swindled the Nazis (Bloomsbury, 2006), copyright © Frank

Wynne:

2006, used by permission of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Ed Yong: ‘Psychology’s Replication

Wynne

Is Running Out of Excuses’, The Atlantic, 19 Nov 2018, copyright © The Atlantic Media Co. 2018,

Crisis

third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties should

Any

to the copyright holders indicated in each case.

apply

we have made every effort to trace and contact all copyright holders before publication, this has

Although

been possible in all cases. If noti¿ed, the publisher will rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest

not

used by permission of Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

opportunity.

get in contact:

to

www.oxfordsecondary.com/ib

web

I. Scope

For discussion

Let’s agree on the facts

has been great concern, especially in

There

years, that people ignore facts and dismiss

recent

To what extent do you agree that this is

1.

thecase?

Chapter 1, we introduced the counterclaim

In

people are not ignoring “the facts”; they do

that

accept them as facts in the first place and

not

to believe a different set of facts. Facts

choose

to have become a signal for identity and

appear

solidarity.

political

mass leaders seize the power to t reality to

Before

lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme

their

for facts … for in their opinion fact depends

contempt

on the power of man who can fabricate it.

entirely

I.1 Is everything political?

is often said that anything can be political. The

It

people choose to wear, the music they

clothes

the kind of language they use, the food

enjoy,

eat, and especially the food they do not

they

schools.enquiries.uk@oup.com

email

+44 (0)1536 452620

tel

Who can legitimately establish what

2.

facts are and who can legitimately

the

Is there any knowledge that is beyond

3.

dispute?

Is it important for at least some knowledge

4.

be non-contestable?

to

practice, consider and critically explore

For

what extent universal human rights are

to

Can you think of any other

non-contestable.

facts”? Aren’t all facts universal?

“universal

have Meatless Mondays and all-gender

though:

been politicized, or were eating

bathrooms

every day and having gender-segregated

meat

in public spaces already political

bathrooms

What aspects of life have been

statements?

depoliticized?

boundaries of politics are difficult to draw.

The

of our choices, actions and claims are

Many

on assumptions and values that are

based

and therefore fall within the domain

contestable,

politics. Arguably, this is the case whether

of

not we are aware of our assumptions and

or

or not our actions are intentionally

whether

political.

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE 2 0 2 0 E D I T I O N

Making TOK relevant to the students and to current global issues is the focus of

this book. To this end, it centers the politics of knowledge and “doing” TOK. Through

Authors

inspiring and diverse case studies and activities, students will seek to understand

how the responsibilities of the knower relate to complex and present-day challenges.

Marija Uzunova Dang


All content is arranged around the Framework of four common headings (Scope,

Perspectives, Methods and tools, and Ethics) to give students a comprehensive

understanding of complex new ideas. The book includes the core theme, the

optional themes and the AOKs with a separate chapter on how to get the most out of

assessment requirements.

FOR FIRST ASSESSMENT

IN 2022

Oxford’s DP resources are developed in cooperation with the IB which

means they are:

➜ The most comprehensive and accurate match to IB specifications

➜ Written by experienced IB practitioners

What's on the cover?

Stained glass on artificial

➜ Packed with thorough assessment support

intelligence, knowledge and

communication

➜ Aligned with the IB philosophy, challenging learners with fresh and topical TOK

2

Build critical and independent thought,

strengthening assessment potential

disputethem?

evidence when it contradicts their beliefs.

Global case studies keep learning fresh and

develop outward-looking learners

(Arendt 1951)

All new content using contemporary and

diverse examples and extracts

eat, are all discussed as political acts. Consider

24

ISBN 978-0-19-849770-7

1

How

fax +44 (0)1865 313472 9 780198 497707

Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?