Wednesday 2 December 2015

Ethics: What is the Right and what is Wrong?
Everyday, we are faced with choices between what is right and what is wrong. Is it right to ignore the better in order to not be late to school? Is it wrong to cut the line at the cafeteria so that you are not late to your meeting about Syrian refugees? Everyday, we must make choices that question our moral beliefs. However, any TOK student could argue that it is impossible to make a different between good or bad because of perspective. We all come from different parts of the world, with different cultures, different backgrounds, and different ideas. Therefore, what I think is right could seem wrong to someone else. For example, in Saudi Arabia, a man would argue that it is "wrong" to have women go around with their hair uncovered and wearing tight clothes. Meanwhile, an American man would argue the opposite, saying that women must be able to dress as they wish since they are equal to men. Their cultural and religious backgrounds force them to have different opinions on the issue. Who are we to say which one of them is right or wrong? One could go as far as to say that it is wrong to state what is right, since we have no authority in determining ethical and moral absolutes. 

Monday 23 November 2015

Theory of Knowledge Ethics: How do we know what is right and wrong?

Only four men survived the ship wrecked Mignonette in 1884, floating for three weeks in the Atlantic in a lifeboat. On the 19th day the captain Thomas Dudley suggested they drew lots to decide who would be killed and eaten, but one man objected. On the 20th day Dudley told the others to look away, offered a prayer and cut the throat of the cabin boy, aged 17, who was sick from drinking seawater. They ate his body. Four days later they were rescued by another ship and the three survivors were charged with murder in the law case The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens.

It is significant that murder and cannibalism could be argued to be reasonable in this case. On utilitarian grounds the actions of Dudley are justified because they promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. However, using deontological ethical theories, murder is wrong in itself, regardless of the consequences for others. If cannibalism is disgusting and our emotional response is that what happened is intuitively wrong, we might ask is our disgust reasonable? Would we have done otherwise? Or could the case be put that Dudley acted rationally?
In TOK ethics, it is tempting to conclude that because there is no agreement about standards of right and wrong, it follows that there is no knowledge in ethics. After all, individuals and cultures do not have the same moral standards. However, our ethical judgements are just that - judgements. We can make better or worse judgements in ethics and our task in TOK is to know the difference. Paul Grobstein stated that: "there is no such thing as 'right', the very concept needs to be replaced with 'progressively less wrong.' " So although certain knowledge in ethics is hard to find, we can make progress by arriving at moral judgements that are considered. So in your response to the case above, ask yourself 'why do I think that?'
In ethics we are dealing with a plurality of truths. It'll be worth questioning the basis there might be for ethical truth across cultures. What are good reasons for holding our moral beliefs? Pay close attention to the words used to express moral viewpoints; we know that in the language or war, 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter', and in the above case, 'one man's cannibalistic murderer is another man's hero with superior survival instincts.'
Perhaps the challenge in TOK ethics is to look for what moral knowledge cultures might have in common. Even the notion of right and wrong is shared across cultures, even if the standard which that approximates to differs. The idea of shared values is embodied in the idea of universal declaration of human rights (1948).
So to conclude, tolerance of other people's views is a fundamental principle but it does not follow that all moral views are of equal value. Freedom of speech and the right to express your own view is essential, but there may be some moral views that are not as sound as others. The task of ethics is to examine the grounds on which we hold our moral beliefs. How do we decide about the case above; killing a person as a means to an end is objectionable, but the instinct to survive in extreme conditions might demand we re-think our moral paradigms? It's for you to decide.
For more top tips for Theory of knowledge visit Elvira Vian's Theory of Knowledge student
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3779710

This should whet your appetite for ethical debate and moral reflection. Please listen to Michael Sandel's lecture on 'Justice' and 'The Moral Side of Murder' for Harvard University. He tells the story of the Mignonette shipwreck 30 minutes into the lecture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY&list=PL30C13C91CFFEFEA6

If you were a member of the jury trying this case would you rule that the action of the crew was morally permissible, or not?

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Knowledge Questions and History

Below from the TOK Guide, and following a link from a TOK website from the same people that produced the Kickstarters, Newsletter and the TOK Presentation Guide:

Wednesday 11 November 2015

Reliability of History and The Effects of Advancements In Technology


In 1921, archeologists uncovered the coffin of a young woman expected to have been alive 3,400 years earlier near the Danish village of Egtved. Parts of her hair, tooth enamel, nails, brains, and skin were all preserved The use of language in this article is suggestive, which exposes the ambiguous reality behind most history. For example the article notes that “She may have been a priestess of the Nordic sun-worshipping cult”. The use of the word “may” exposes that the historians think this a possibility based off of the evidence they found and the location of her body, but it is not considered a justified true belief and is instead just a deduction. With the progression of technology in the AOK natural sciences, the AOK of history has also developed, as today, new advances in biomolecular and biogeochemical analyses allow for a more in depth analysis of the remains, but the some aspects still remains mere hypotheticals that have pieced together by historians.

-Noreen, Youssef, & Lamia

Tuesday 10 November 2015

The Evolution of Man's Face Over The Course Of 6 Million Years?


One of those intriguing time lapse videos that has us contemplating the evolution of human beings over a VERY long time... Whether you buy it or not (I know I have some creationists out there) do you think we are getting better, and if so better in what sense? I suspect apes (and gorillas for sure) are gentler than a lot of our kind...

Tuesday 3 November 2015

The nuances of language in history


http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-history-class-dilemma/411601/

Perhaps this article really embodies the importance in the nuance of language. Language in detail has tremendous power, it can either acknowledge and respect history or reject it. While the difference of one word may not seem so influential, when we describe history, it comes to hold tremendous power. The article addresses the slaves that were forced to cross the Atlantic ocean in inhumane conditions, while being molested, starved out and crammed in minuscule areas with repulsive unhygienic conditions, only to be compelled to work for American colonizers under the frying blistering sun, thousands of miles away from home, as 'workers'. The use of the word workers to describe African slaves completely rejects this struggle and the truth of history. It corruptively hides the embarrassing and vulgar truth and manipulates history through language. 

Similarities between Historical and Current Diseases

The article "Black Death Skeletons Reveal Pitiful life of 14th Century Londoners" (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/29/black-death-not-spread-rat-fleas-london-plague) tells of a genetic examination of victims of the 14th century Plague in London. It is believed to have killed 6 in every 10 people in the capital city, and was originally believed to be a bubonic plague, spread through fleas on rats. However, the examinations led the researchers to conclude the infection was actually a pneumonic one. The importance of history is particularly evident in this article in my opinion. Just recently, there has been an instance of such a disease in Madagascar. In that regard, history may teach us of the behavior not to adopt, of the required hygiene, and of the necessary precautions one must undertake. Using what happened to 14th century Londoner victims, one must learn what errors not to commit again.

The Price of History

Copy of Mein Kampf signed by Hitler sells for $65,000:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26396882


To what extent is it within reason to value something according to its age?