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

III. Methods and tools
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
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