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

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,
III. Methods and tools
III. Methods and tools
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)
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