ToK Essay Title Nov 2020 Prompt 2: Part 2
ToKTutor • 22 April 2020
What if...? Hypotheticals
In a historical context, counterfactual thinking or ‘virtual history’ engages in ‘what if…?’ speculations about the past as a way of imagining a multitude of present scenarios based on an altered timeline of the past. For example, ‘If the Civil War in the USA hadn’t turned out as it did, what would have happened to slavery?’
However, within the professional community of historians, such thinking is a two edged-sword. Some experts think that ‘what if…?’ hypotheticals are disengaged from the foundations of historical methods: the evidence of primary and secondary sources. However, other experts believed that such counterfactuals can help historians more awareness about HOW they use such evidence in the first place and about their own methodological blind spots. These experts argue that a counter factual analysis of the past breaks the myth that history is deterministic. The nay-sayers argue, however, that counterfactual thinking engages the imagination more than rational analysis and belongs in the field of fiction.
Now, we know that fictional writers, especially science fiction and fantasy writers, naturally think in terms of counterfactual or ‘possible worlds’. This explains in part the success of shows like Star Trek, films like Back to the Future and more recently, the Harry Potter series of books. Now these are not simply escapist fancies. They tell us something both about the culture in which they emerged as well as about the hopes, fears and desires of human beings living during those times. Which brings us to the final point of this post and a closer connection to knowledge…
Stories are particularly good at shaping the mind’s perspectives. In a movie or a gaming situation, we suspend our disbelief about the world we’re about to enter, enabling as to accept the wild and strange events that we’re about to experience. On another, more evolutionary level, stories help us to picture future scenarios, partly as a way of getting to grips with our present circumstances and partly as a way of preparing for unknown future outcomes.
Lewis Dartnell’s book, The Knowledge, seems to bring together, in a way particularly relevant to our present lockdown circumstances, all these different aspects of hypothetical thinking mentioned in these posts. Imagine, he invites us, a post-apocalyptic situation in which only a handful of survivors remained to kick start everything again. He asks: ‘What key knowledge would you need to start rebuilding civilisation from scratch?
This is a fascinating exploration of a ‘what if…?’ situation with clear practical implications, not only for rebuilding a civilisation, but of perhaps building one on another planet in some intergalactic future. There are also far reaching issues linked to the preservation of knowledge at present, something that indigenous cultures who rely on the oral transmission of knowledge have struggled with for a long time. And it is a reflection on the cornerstone of the TOK course: how we use and abuse knowledge and know-how over time…
Thinking about the various challenges involved when experts transfer knowledge between contexts creates various challenges for the experts who and whether or not they underestimated these challenges. Does the analogy of growing tomatoes help understand the question?
‘Fresh’ has the connotations of ‘new’ or ‘innovative’. And when something new arrives into the world, it’s usually accompanied by change. Often it’s hard to measure the impact of change until time has passed and we can look back with the cool, detached eye of objectivity.
Human beings are at the centre of the knowledge universe. This is why in your TOK studies everyone explores the ‘Core Theme’. Figure 3 pictures ‘Me as a knower and thinker’. Anyone who pursues knowledge, whether an expert or not, will at some point have to reflect on the fact that there are various factors, both internal and external, which either promote or constrain their endeavours.
Do we truly need custodians of knowledge, those who safeguard and preserve our collective wisdom throughout time?
Let’s look at two alternative senses in which knowledge might be acquired within ‘bubbles’. One within the Natural Sciences. The other with the Arts. In the former, we explore the notion of scientific 'paradigms'. In the Arts, we look at the notion of 'storyverses' or fictional worlds into which we imaginatively immerse ourselves...
HS experts are supposed to be trained to communicate difficult knowledge about mental health conditions and yet our expectations sometimes ignore the fact that diagnosing and treating mental illnesses is a messy business and not always easy. New tech allows experts to create visualisations which in turn can be helpful in communicating the complexities of a case and potential treatments...
Artists are like magpies who copy from other artists. This form of ‘copying’ is the broad sense of the term ‘replicability’ in this Title. From one point of view, such ‘replication’ leads to the creation of original works of art which make us see the world anew. From another point of view entirely, such copying borderlines on artistic plagiarism, fraud or forgery...
Exploring how a song about apartheid turned into an anthem, voicing the strength of those who have been marginalised from society, sometimes in a violent way. To what extent does such exclusion actually help build resilience and self-knowledge? How far is it harmful?
There is a branch of knowledge, akin to pseudo-scientific knowledge like ‘flat Earth theory’, in which one can seem to have absolute certainty and full confidence, because the truth of that knowledge is somehow ‘guaranteed’ or ‘underwritten’ by a higher power. Faith-based knowledge.
Now, consider a clichéd example when we seem to have the utmost certainty and confidence in knowledge and they both seem to be moving in the same direction: 2 + 2 = 4. On the one hand, this is something you cannot doubt, isn’t it? You know this with 100% certainty.. You might actually be very confident about your knowledge...