Welcome to the October edition of the theoryofknowledge.net free newsletter

News stories & knowledge questions 

1. Dangerous history

AoKs/WoKs: History, human sciences

First order KQs: What role do governments play in deciding what history should be learned?

Second order KQs: In what way can an approach to history be ‘dangerous’? What should the purpose of history be? What can we tell about a culture from the way in which it produces historical knowledge? Who should decide what history we learn?

Description: “Neil MacGregor, the former director of the British Museum, has bemoaned Britain’s narrow view of its own history, calling it “dangerous and regrettable” for focusing almost exclusively on the “sunny side”. Speaking before the Berlin opening of his highly popular exhibition Germany – Memories of a Nation, MacGregor expressed his admiration for Germany’s rigorous appraisal of its history which he said could not be more different to that of Britain.”

Discussion points and exploration: We’ve thought about the purpose of history, and who is in charge of it before, but this is a very clear article that explains how and why using it to celebrate achievements, rather than acknowledge mistakes and moral bungling can provide us with a very misleading picture of our own identities and culture. Look also at the use of the term Mahnmale - why does this word, and what it represents, not exist in the English language? You can read more on these two conflicting approaches to the past, and how MacGregor believes knowledge about the past should be presented, in this article.

Source: Guardian

2. Strange memories

AoKs/WoKs: Memory, human sciences

KQs: Do memories require photographs to keep them alive? 

Description: “as among all snapshots, there is a broader connection too. Walker describes it as a shared relationship to time. “Every person in a photo is older than when that photo was taken,” she elaborated. “I look at a photo and I know someone is probably dead and that one day I'll be dead too. There must be some secret of time held in these images. I can’t help thinking that if I just study them hard enough, I'll finally be able to understand it.”

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Source: The Atlantic

3. Privilege strutting

AoKs/WoKs: Language, ethics

KQs: Does our word choice indicate our ethical perspective? 

Description: “Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra has apologised after being criticised for modelling an "insensitive" top on a Conde Nast Traveller magazine cover. The top has the words "migrant", "refugee" and "outsider" crossed out while the word "traveller" stands out. Both the actress and Conde Nast were criticised over the "privileged" message, with many pointing out that being a refugee was "not a choice". Conde Nast told the BBC their intention was to highlight labelling of people.”

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Source: BBC

4. Three parent family

AoKs/WoKs: Ethics, natural sciences

KQs: How are our ethical views shaped by our perspectives?

Description: “The headlines earlier this week that a baby had been born using DNA from three people got the world very excited… While the little boy isn't the first baby to be created by combining DNA from three people, the method used is a new and significant one that experts say could help families with rare genetic conditions to conceive healthy babies… But it's not such an easy solution. While specialists are calling it breakthrough technology, critics of assisted reproductive technology (ART) warn doctors about playing God.”

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Source: BBC

5. Allure of swearing

AoKs/WoKs: Language, human sciences, ethics

KQs: What makes a swear word offensive? 

Description: “Whether you use “bad” language or not, it’s clear that this is a family of words with unique power. It’s not completely clear why. We’re not talking about slurs, foul language intended to denigrate someone or a group of people. We know where that power comes from — hate — and why it’s potent: It hurts people.”

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Source: Big Think

6. Nostalgia as a way of knowing

AoKs/WoKs: History, human sciences, emotion

KQs: To what extent is our view of the past shaped by nostalgia?

Description: “Reactionaries, I argue, are nostalgic. They're thinking about a past that's been lost, and that past is always there. You may lose hope in a particular picture of the future, but you have a picture of the past that's untouchable, which is why I say... "Hopes can be extinguished but nostalgia is irrefutable."

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Source: Vox

7. Self portrait

AoKs/WoKs: The arts

KQs: To what extent can a person’s ‘essence’ be captured in a portrait? 

Description: “Even when Picasso moved decisively away from descriptive naturalism, there is never any sense that he is slighting his human subjects. Instead, he sought always to find the details that made individuals instantly recognisable to themselves and to others.”

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Source: The Guardian

8. Qualified artist

AoKs/WoKs: Language, human sciences

KQs: What does the change to the meaning of words over time reveal about society? 

Description: “We all need them, but some, like me, love words, and the mind feast they bring. But while words shape our lives, few grasp the weird way they work… Words “won't—and can't—sit still (like, literally),” declares John McWhorter (Words On The Move).”

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Source: Big Think

• What does the change to the meaning of words over time reveal about society? 
• Is quantitative data always more objective than qualitative data? 
• Is our intuitive knowledge about the world always flawed?
• Why does the meaning of words change when they are transplanted to a different culture?
• Can we ever have too much data?
• How does implicit bias influence the way we understand the world? 
• How can we know about the structure of the universe?

• Why did people believe the advice of this video?
• Can we determine if intelligence is due to nature or nurture?
• Can mathematics help us to understand football?
• What can we learn about a culture from its sayings?
• Why do we think emojis were a recent invention?

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