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

III. Methods and tools
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
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