IBDP TOK Optional Theme: Knowledge and Politics

What, according to Felix Stalder’s account on page 23 of the Course Companion, was a consequence of the debate between Robert Boyle and Thomas Hobbes in the mid-17th century?

• 
  That knowledge-making and knowledge-sharing are separate from politics.

• That knowledge is power.

• That power is knowledge.

• That power, faith and knowledge are separate, with their own institutions and rules.

Which of the following inferences is not supported by the discussion on pages 24 to 27 of the Course Companion?

• That a person’s ideas, actions, and silence can be political regardless of their intent.

• That knowledge gained from the IB Diploma Programme is politically neutral.

• That power and justice are important considerations in the production, dissemination, and acquisition of knowledge.

• That ideas, actions, and silence can be political.

Which of the following statements does not align with Mike Davis’ account of unnatural disasters on pages 25 and 26 of the Course Companion?

• That popular historical narratives about the developing world may fail to reveal the causal link between vulnerability to ‘natural disasters’ and imperialism and colonialism.

• That the human suffering and death caused by famines in China, India and Brazil was unavoidable due to droughts.

• That some Indigenous and pre-colonial societies had the knowledge and systems to mitigate against and respond to climatic phenomena such as droughts caused by El Niño.

• That state-capacity for defence against famine in 18th-century China rivalled or surpassed most European states.

Consider the discussion about the Overton Window including on pages 29 and 30 of the Course Companion, including the quote by Noam Chomsky.

Which of the following statements is not supported by this quote, or the discussion?

• The media, as well as thought leaders, social commentators and influencers, have a role to play in shaping the Overton Window.

• The Overton Window is shaped by the climate of public opinion.

• Issues of concern, such as climate justice and the rights of women, should not be politicized and should instead "speak for themselves."

• Some stakeholders may intentionally promote extreme ideas to change or expand the Overton Window.

Which of the following inferences is not supported by the discussion about a post-truth public sphere, on pages 31 to 32 of the Course Companion?

• 
  That the perceived rejection of facts and expert opinion may be a feature of values-based political signalling.

• That staying in bubbles primarily occupied by people who agree with you may contribute to increased political polarization.

• That politicians are more dishonest now than in the past.

• There is no clear political consensus about the meaning or existence of a post-truth public sphere.

Which of the following is not supported by the discussion on pages 32 to 34 of the Course Companion?

• Technologically sophisticated tools of political persuasion may have influenced online discourse and engagement in several contexts in recent years.

• Disinformation may spread faster than information in online social spaces.

• We have yet to comprehend and balance the risks and opportunities of social media, as a relatively new space for discourse and political engagement.

• Governments should censor controversial conversations that occur online.

Which of the following inferences is not supported by the discussion on false balance, on pages 35 to 38 of the Course Companion?

• By emphasizing balance, newspapers may give the public the impression of inconclusive scientific debate even though the scientific consensus is well established.

• False balance is a media bias that occurs when journalists attempt to avoid bias by providing a balanced perspective on opposing arguments out of proportion to the evidence supporting these viewpoints.

• Fairness, understood as giving due merit to the value of evidence, is different and distinct from impartiality.

• False balance occurs when the perspectives of experts and of the general public are presented as equally valid in the media or in educational institutions.

Which of the following explains a key difference between a filter bubble (also called an epistemic bubble) and an echo chamber, as described on pages 39 to 41 of the Course Companion?

• Social media is one huge echo chamber, but contains many different filter bubbles.

• An echo chamber refers primarily to online spaces, whereas a filter bubble refers to many different kinds of spaces.

• Exposure to contrary viewpoints and evidence may pop a filter bubble, but can actually reinforce an echo chamber.

• Filter bubbles are created intentionally by an individual for their own benefit, whereas echo chambers are unintended.

In 1984, Audre Lorde famously wrote, “the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.” (Lorde, A. 1984. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, USA. Crossing Press). On page 44 of the Course Companion, Ursula Le Guin unpacks this metaphor in the context of knowledge and education. Which of the following inferences is unsupported by Le Guin’s passage?

• We should be careful to not let education limit the possibilities for reimagining and remaking the world in a more just way and equitable way.

• Democracy and science belong to the past, and we should strive to create new structures for the future.

• One should be open to learning ways of being and knowing from minoritized, exploited, and oppressed groups.

• By learning to use and then using the “master’s tools”, as opposed to new tools, one risks recreating problematic old structures and systems even if one is working to subvert them.

Which individual is attributed with the following quote?

“The last words of the Mahabharata are, ‘By no means can I attain a goal beyond my reach’. It is likely that justice, a human idea, is a goal beyond human reach. We’re good at inventing things that can’t exist.”

• Ursula Le Guin

• Kartik Hosanagar

• Iyad Rahwan

• Angela Nagle

Answer explanation

That’s what Ursula K. Le Guin (October 21, 1929–January 22, 2018) examines in one of the many magnificent pieces in The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination (public library) — that trove of her clear-headed, bright-hearted wisdom on subjects as eclectic and essential as gender, the sacredness of public libraries, the magic of real human conversation, and what beauty really means.