Workshop Description

We live in a strange and perplexing world. Despite the explosive growth of knowledge in recent decades, we are confronted by a bewildering array of contradictory beliefs. We are told that astronomers have made great progress in understanding the universe in which we live, yet many people still believe in astrology. Science claims that the dinosaurs died out sixty-five million years ago, yet some insist that dinosaurs and human beings lived simultaneously. Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, but is is rumoured in some quarters that the landings were faked by NASA. A work of art is hailed as a masterpiece by some critics and dismissed as junk by others. Some people believe in capital punishment, while others dismiss it as a vestige of barbarism. Millions of people believe in God, yet atheists insist that “God is dead.” Faced with so many different opinions, how are we to make sense of things and develop a coherent picture of reality? The aim of this workshop is not to tell you what to believe, but to look at a range of tools that can help you decide for yourself. The workshop will be interactive in nature and will consist of a range of mini-lectures, case-studies, videoclips and hands-on exercises.

Topics Covered

1. Scepticism and Gullibility Since we inhabit a global market of competing ideas, we need to establish criteria for deciding what to believe. There are dangers not only in being too gullible, but also in being too sceptical. We perhaps need to find a balance between the two and develop an attitude of critical open-mindedness.

2. The Psychology of Belief This session focuses on the nature and sources of belief, and the question of whether our beliefs are determined more by reason or emotion. In particular, we consider how authority, perception, reason and intuition sometimes mislead us and result in false beliefs.

3. Science and Pseudo-science In this session, we look at various criteria for distinguishing between genuine and spurious science. With the aid of various case studies, we then discuss why this distinction might matter and what hangs on it.

4. Dogmatism and Relativism The world is increasingly divided between those who are convinced they are in possession of “the Truth” and those who believe that any opinion is as good as any other. The underlying error of both of these outlooks is to equate knowledge with certainty. Perhaps we do better to focus on cultivating good judgement.

Workshop Description

Students sometimes complain that Theory of Knowledge is irrelevant and has nothing to do with the real world. This one day workshop seeks to answer that complaint by using critical thinking skills to reflect on some of the knowledge issues behind world events since September 2001.

Topics Covered

1. Mental Maps We begin by looking at maps of the world. How accurate are they? What conventions are built into them? How are they culturally biased? We then raise the same questions about our mental maps of reality which also contains various inaccuracies, conventions and cultural biases. Given this, we would do well to distinguish the map from the underlying territory.

2. Information & Disinformation Despite its obvious benefits, the internet raises as many problems as it solves about what we should believe. For it is not only an information super-highway, but also a disinformation superhighway. We look at a variety of internet rumours, and then try to establish some criteria for distinguishing reasonable from unreasonable beliefs.

3. Double-edged Knowledge Tools In TOK, we say that there are four primary knowledge tools : language, perception, reason and emotion; but each of these tools is double-edged and can sometimes distort our picture of the world. Keeping our theme in mind, we focus on four main issues: (a) the difference between freedom fighters and terrorists; (b) the unreliability of eye-witness evidence; (c) the role played by reason in decision-making and risk assessment; (d) the extent to which reason is the slave of emotions.

4. How to Watch TV News We rely on the news media for information about world events, but they are not always objective. We look at various media biases, and focus in particular on the way in which the media can reinforce clichéd and stereotypical thinking.

5. Torture & Tolerance The last section of the workshop focuses on values. We look at how two different ethical theories might approach the question of whether torture is ever justified. We conclude with a discussion of the value of tolerance and the limits of acceptable diversity.

How Should I Live?

“On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.”
[George Orwell, 1903-50]

Workshop Description

One of the ways in which dogs have an easier time of it than we do is that they never have to worry about ethics. We, by contrast, have to think about what is right and wrong and good and bad. This is because, unlike dogs, we are capable of asking the question “What should I do?” The aim of this workshop is to consider how, if at all, we can justify our moral beliefs. After setting up a simple model of moral reasoning, we consider two key threats to ethics and then go on to look at the nature of happiness and how different theories of ethics cast light on various moral dilemmas.

Topics Covered

1. Moral Relativism According to moral relativism, our values are determined by the society we grow up in and there are no universal values. Although such relativism might seem to encourage a tolerant “live and let live” attitude to other cultures, a major drawback is that it robs us of the ability to pass moral judgements about things we find abhorrent. For this reason it is in practice difficult to be a consistent relativist.

2. Egoism & Altruism Some people claim that human beings are always and everywhere selfish. Since selfish behaviour is usually seen as the opposite of moral behaviour, this theory suggests that even if there are objective moral values we are incapable of living up to them. We look at four arguments in support of “psychological egoism” and then consider how we might respond to them. Perhaps to describe everyone as selfish is in the end to empty the word “selfish” of its meaning.

3. The Nature of Happiness Happiness plays an important role in many theories of ethics. The strange thing is that although we all want to be happy, we do not seem to have a very clear idea of what it is or how to achieve it. We look at the role played by such things as sensory pleasures, money and meaning in a happy life, and raise the question of whether there are other things, in addition to happiness that have intrinsic value.

4. Theories of Ethics In the final session, we compare and contrast two different theories of ethics: (a) duty ethics in which the golden rule “Do as you would be done by” plays a central role; and (b utilitarianism which is based on the principle that we should seek the greatest happiness of the greatest number.” We then try to apply these theories to various moral problems. While they may illuminate such problems, it seems that in the end we cannot pass the moral buck and must make our own decisions about what to do.

Workshop Description

1. Why Seek Knowledge? We begin by laying out the case for “cognitive optimism”: truth is good, we are capable of knowing the truth and we naturally seek the truth. We then explore each of these assumptions, and look at various myths which suggest that rather than seeking the truth at any cost, we would do better to be “lowely wise.”

2. Forbidden Science The rapid growth of scientific knowledge raises some disturbing questions about its direction. With particular reference to genetic engineering, we ask: Should some scientific research be stopped? Can it be stopped? Who should decide?

3. Torture & Censorship The focus of this session is on the acquisition and distribution of knowledge. With reference to acquisition, we ask whether there are any circumstances in which one could justify the use of torture to acquire information. With reference to distribution, we ask to what extent people have a right to privacy and when, if at all, censorship is justified.

4. Truth vs. Happiness The final session looks at the trade-off between truth and happiness. To what extent should we tell people the truth if we know that it will make them unhappy? Should we conclude that the unexamined life is not worth living, or should we say instead that, there is some truth in the saying that ignorance is bliss?