IB TOK 2022 syllabus: Ethics Questions

This element focuses on exploring ethics and the ethical considerations that have an impact on inquiry in the different themes and areas of knowledge. This includes aspects such as the relationship between facts and values, and how ethical and epistemic values are built into the quest for knowledge. It also includes questions relating to knowledge and inequality and injustice. It is crucial that TOK discussions about ethics focus on the knowledge questions that are woven into, and implied, in the ethical issues being discussed, rather than the focus being on debating the ethical issues themselves.

Examples of knowledge questions relating to ethics include the following.

• Should the pursuit of knowledge in these themes/areas of knowledge be subject to ethical constraints?
• What responsibilities rest on the knower as a result of their knowledge in these themes/areas of knowledge?
• How can we know when we should act on what we know?
• Do established values change in the face of new knowledge?

Are there responsibilities that necessarily come with knowing something or knowing how to do something?

• As knowers, do we have a moral duty to examine our own assumptions and biases?

• Under what circumstances, if any, do we have a moral duty to share what we know?

• In what ways do ethical judgments differ from other kinds of judgments? • Is there knowledge that a person or society has a responsibility to acquire or not to acquire?

• If moral claims conflict, does it follow that all views are equally acceptable?

• What personal traits (such as taking seriously the knowledge of others) do we need in order to be ethical knowers?

Technology:

• Are there responsibilities that necessarily come with knowing something or knowing how to do something?
• As knowers, do we have a moral duty to examine our own assumptions and biases?
• Under what circumstances, if any, do we have a moral duty to share what we know?
• In what ways do ethical judgments differ from other kinds of judgments?
• Is there knowledge that a person or society has a responsibility to acquire or not to acquire?
• If moral claims conflict, does it follow that all views are equally acceptable?
• What personal traits (such as taking seriously the knowledge of others) do we need in order to be ethical knowers?

Language: 

• Does ethical language differ in any significant way from other types of language?
• How can we know if language is intended to deceive or manipulate us?
• Do ethical statements simply convey our feelings/emotions rather than making claims?
• If ethical terms and concepts cannot be easily defined, does this mean that they are meaningless?
• Can we define words such as good and bad in terms of objective features of the world?
• Do professional interpreters and translators have any special ethical obligations?

Politics:

• Are political judgments a type of moral judgment?
• Can knowledge be divorced from the values embedded in the process of creating it?
• Do political leaders and officials have different ethical obligations and responsibilities compared to members of the general public?
• When the moral codes of individual nations conflict, can political organizations, such as the United Nations (UN), provide universal criteria that transcend them?
• On what criteria could we judge whether an action should be regarded as justifiable civil disobedience?
• On what grounds might an individual believe that they know what is right for others?
• Are new ethical challenges emerging from the increased use of data analytics in political activity and decision-making?

Religion:

• Do we have an ethical responsibility to gain knowledge of different religions to help us better understand the world and those around us?
• Does religion provide a way to systematize concepts of right and wrong?
• Do religious knowledge claims carry any particular obligation or responsibility for the knower?
• What role do religious leaders and authority figures play in influencing ethical debates?
• If religion is intimately connected with ethics, should we expect those with religious knowledge to act more ethically than those without it?

Indigenous Societies:

• Does the diversity of moral practices that we see in indigenous societies around the world support the case for moral relativism?
• To what extent does deliberate disinformation by educational institutions and governments threaten indigenous knowledge?
• Is cultural appropriation an example of a violation of collective intellectual property rights?
• Is there a difference between moral values and cultural customs?
• Is there any knowledge that a person or a society has a responsibility to acquire, or not to acquire?
• Can the practices of one individual or culture be judged with any validity by applying the moral values of another generation or another culture?