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Within Areas of Knowledge, How Can We Differentiate Between Change and Progress?
Within Areas of Knowledge, How Can We Differentiate Between Change and Progress?
Within Areas of Knowledge, How Can We Differentiate Between Change and Progress?
TOK 2021
While exploring the title, I think that the concepts of change and progress might be understood
the same as we can use them reciprocally, though there is a difference between them. Progress as
essentially shifting ahead positively. An example of progress could be when you’re shifting from
using landline phones to cell phones which happens due to the development of technology. But,
change as a concept is where you convert into something different which will not always signify
transforming for the positive. It can either be both positive or negative depending on the
knowledge issues within certain areas of knowledge. For example, having objective, unbiased
perspectives influence society to better progress while the subjectivity of our ideas or
perspectives will create ambiguity leading to uncertainty in terms of knowledge. The other
difference between these two terms is that progress usually takes a long time to occur, while
change might occur faster though not always. The progress of the knowledge happens whereas
the change is involved. If there is no change, then there is no progress. As George Bernard Shaw
stated, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot
change anything.” The concepts of progress and change shape our understanding of the world. In
this essay, I will explore the difference or fine line between the concepts of change and progress
Art as an area of knowledge went through the development period bringing many changes to
human society from the Late Stone Age. The humans at the time used either shell, stone, or
paint by creating symbols or pictures. Though prone to subjectivity, the arts aid us to understand
the world by creating our personal knowledge. How can we verify the objectivity of knowledge
claims within the arts? Objectivity within arts allows us to either enter the world of the artist and
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understand the authors’ intentions or messages which can be better explained by experts through
reasoning. The progress within arts occurred owing to changes happening because of new
technology which impacted the mindset of people to explain the artwork from different
perspectives. In fact, the development of the arts influenced our interpretations and beliefs
changing our society and similarly our perspectives. Considering progress and changes within
arts, we can emphasize the role in them differentiating the difference between good and bad arts.
How does the financial value of the artwork impact the quality of the pieces? How do we know
which is a good or bad artwork? Sometimes, the artists only paint something which has more
financial value. In this case, it might affect the quality of the artwork and the interpretation of
this might not lead to objectivity within arts. The value of the best artwork comes from the
audience and experts who help us create objective views within the arts. For example, the
techniques used for Palaeolithic art were either carving, painting the caves, or engraving. The
changes in style and techniques affected how the artists expressed their emotions with the brush
rather than just simply painting and sketching. In this case, we define the fine line between
change and progress as they are closely interrelated which ensured the development of the
artwork changing our mindset. The progress of the arts occurred due to the change of technology
and due to this progress, many changes happened in the process of knowledge production within
arts. Do these modern changes always lead to objective views within arts as an area lof
knowledge? How can we differentiate the progress and change considering the use of modern
technology? In fact, technology has started developing from the 17th century which brought a lot
of changes within arts though not always positive as the use of technology allowed to create
biased understanding which led to uncertainty within the arts. For example, the best art app
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named “Procreate” has all different brushes and a variety of colors rather than spending a lot of
Since technology has made way for artists to discover new opportunities coming their way and
the number of materials and skills that they could access and use to create their own art. It has
also impacted art on the way we use our creativity and how we appreciate art itself. There is a
probability that technology takes away the meaning and the creative feature of art that would be
made from the artists themselves. Within the way art is being changed, the meaning of it is
changing and becomes more meaningless which is a disadvantage. For example, forgery of
artworks such as the famous painting by Vincent Van Gogh named “The Starry Night”, whereas
the ingenuity of the art vanishes. The reason we call the artwork to be a masterpiece is that it
influences the way we understand the artwork and it shows the artist's feelings and messages,
intentions that are significant. This develops profound anticipations of the true meaning behind
the artworks and the reason behind them. This has all gone away and changed dreadfully after
the technology has progressed. I can state that there is a fine line between change and progress
within arts though not always. Sometimes, the difference might be sharp due to the radical
History as an area of knowledge studies the recorded past which allows us to understand many
changes during this period. It should be noted that those changes might happen due to the
progress of some events which might lead to radical changes. The difference between change
and progress as concepts is more clear in history as it reflects the view of the society impacted by
the changes of the ideology or governmental structures .For example, the collapse of the former
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Soviet Union brought a lot of changes to the political world because new countries appeared as a
result of the fall of the former Soviet Union. In this case, we can define the sharp distinction
between change and progress as concepts. The historical event happened due to the progress of
some political cases such as repressions, failed planned economy, restrictions of freedom which
led to a radical change of the ideology.How does the change within history impact the progress
of the human mindset? What is the role of reliability of the sources impacting change and
progress of historical events? The primary sources which were hidden in the KGB archives lead
to biased knowledge about the real face of the country in the former Soviet Union. The
revelation of archives after the collapse of the former Soviet Union in December 1991 allowed
revisionist historians to discover primary sources that allowed a better interpretation of the
historical events that happened during the former Soviet Union. How might the falsification of
real facts influence the creation certainty within history? How can we define the distinction
between change and progress within history? The discovery of reliable sources allowed the
society to create certainty about their past which led to truth affecting their future as well. The
radical changes happening due to the discovery of new facts might lead to better development of
the society as the true knowledge about the past helps make sense of the recent world around
us.On the other hand, I can state that the progress of the society or some historical events might
also lead to changes. As I mentioned above, the collapse of the former Soviet Union led to the
development of society changing our mindset about the world around us. The fall of the Iron
Curtain allowed the people to see the world from different perspectives. Despite radical changes,
we can see the fine line between change and progress which can shape people’s understanding
In conclusion, the term “change” within the style of art has changed a lot over the centuries, and
the term “progress” is how the tools of art have progressed after the technology has been
introduced. For history, it could be different, history has changed due to resources allowing us to
discover the truth about the specific event. Thus, change might lead to either a positive or
negative transition and consequently, the new knowledge is created as we collect and process
new information based on our prior knowledge. On the other hand, the progress is considered to
be a positive modification of the knowledge developed by using the previous information that is
Bibliography
https://philosiblog.com/2013/11/14/progress-is-impossible-without-change-and-those-who-
cannot-change-their-minds-cannot-change-anything/