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

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