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

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