IB TOK class: What George Orwell could teach us about Israel and Palestine
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
This article picked by a teacher with suggested questions is part of the Financial Times free schools access programme. Details/registration here.
Read all our IB ToK picks here.
Specification:
Teacher themes Politics, literature, humanities, impact of great thinkers
IB DP TOK themes & AOKs The arts, Human sciences, Knowledge & the knower
Relevant BQ Experts
Key terms and ideas Truth, Identity, Heuristic, Empathy across ethnic divides, Apostates
Investigating Issues Social media
Exhibition prompt Prompt 22 — experts; possible objects — any object showing what is going on in Gaza, or from another conflict
Click to read the article below and answer the questions:
What George Orwell could teach us about Israel and Palestine
What do you think ‘empathy across ethnic divides’ means?
Why might this be difficult to achieve? Try to support your answer with examples from the real world
From the source: What event is prompting Simon Kuper to reflect on the difficulties of accessing the truth about the world?
What ‘heuristic’ has he arrived at?
Which two ‘knowledge heroes’ does Kuper use to help him interpret events and issues objectively?
What is it about Orwell that made him so reliable (hint: use the word ‘apostate’ in your answer)?
To wrap up: Does focusing on the views of ‘apostates’ give us more chance of accessing the truth about the world?
Michael Dunn, theoryofknowledge.net
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