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IB Level A TOK essay 2021

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  • TOK essay 2021
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  • City University (City)

IB Level A TOK essay 2021: “Within areas of knowledge, how can we differentiate between change and progress? Answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.” Received a 9/10 by IB exam board.

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  • September 17, 2021
  • 7
  • 2020/2021
  • Essay
  • Unknown
  • A+

Subjects

  • tok essay
  • tok essay 2021
  • question 2
  • aok
  • change and progress
  • areas of knowledge
  • wok
  • ways of knowing
  • 910
  • a
  • difference between change and progress

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  • City University (City)
  • City University
  • TOK essay 2021
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1


“Within areas of knowledge, how can we differentiate between change and
progress? Answer with reference to two areas of knowledge.”


According to the American historian, Henry Steele Commager, “Change does not

necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change”,1 a statement which

highlights the challenging task of differentiating between two concepts so intrinsically linked.

Although change and progress deal with knowledge in different ways, progress overlaps with

change in the development of knowledge. I will define change as the rejection and fundamental

replacement of past knowledge and accepted way of thought in a movement towards another

type of knowledge, explicitly representing a paradigm shift. On the other hand, progress relies

on the accumulation and incremental build-up of previous knowledge toward an objective.

Nonetheless, distinguishing between both concepts for each different Area of Knowledge

(AOK) requires different consideration. This essay will argue that it is easier to distinguish

between change and progress in the Natural Sciences, which requires more objective standards

of truth, whereas the distinction is less clear in the Arts, as its emphasis relies more on the

subjective truth.

The difference between change and progress in the Natural Sciences can be clearly

differentiated. As science is motivated by the search to establish provable facts and laws about

the natural world, processes such as the scientific method which rely upon rigorous criterion

suggest that previous knowledge either gets rejected in favour of another type of knowledge or

that it gets incrementally built upon toward an objective. The movement from the Ptolemaic

model to the Copernican model of the solar system is an example of change, and not progress,

as the shift rejected and replaced past knowledge by bringing upon a different understanding

of the universe. Thus, a ‘paradigm shift’- a fundamental replacement of an accepted way of




1
("Henry Steele Commager Famous quote: "Change does not necessarily assure progress, but
progress implacably requires change."", 2021)

, 2


thinking to another- is evident. In around 150 BC, astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy

recorded his planetary hypothesis, the ‘Geocentric Model’, which explained that earth was

stationary and was the centre of the universe, with planets, stars, moon and sun travelling the

circular path around it. However, centuries later, astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus

Copernicus questioned Ptolemy’s theory as he believed that the earth revolved on its axis and

orbited around the Sun. Copernicus’ studies in both astronomy and astrology motivated him

to start observing the universe, known as the ‘retrograde motion’. Moreover, through

mathematical and scientific calculations, Copernicus concluded that the earth rotated daily on

its axis. Subsequently, in 1514, Copernicus’ model, the ‘Copernican Heliocentrism’,

overturned Ptolemy’s prevailing model scientifically incorrect. As Thomas Kuhn wrote,

“To describe the innovation initiated by Copernicus as the simple interchange of the position

of the earth and sun is to make a molehill out of a promontory in the development of human

thought”.2 Therefore, the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican system did not

only calculate the movements of the planets but represented a revolution in astronomy in a

movement towards a completely different worldview.

Nonetheless, not all scientific knowledge gets rejected and replaced. Instead, it can

experience progress where previous knowledge can be accumulated and incrementally built

upon. An example of where scientific knowledge progresses is seen is in the gradual

development of cancer research. Advances through scientific concepts such as molecular

research have improved cancer prevention,3 screening and treatment, in an attempt against

this affliction. In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie discovered the radioactive elements radium

and polonium and by 1903,4 the first use of radiation therapy, built upon the discovery of

radioactive elements, was used in curing cancer. The most recent discovery of whole


2
(Deeping Our Understand, Denning, 2021)
3
("Progress", 2021)
4
("Marie and Pierre Curie isolate radium", 2021)

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