Does it matter if our acquisition of knowledge happens in “bubbles” where some information

and voices are excluded? Discuss with reference two areas of knowledge.

Theory Of Knowledge Essay

1
The nature of human beings is to categorize and organize individuals into groups or so-called bubbles.

Bubbles are communities of individuals with a shared perspective on knowledge. It could be claimed

that bubbles matter ethically, as it is crucial to examine the rational justification for our moral

judgments. Regarding the areas of knowledge (AOKs) of the human sciences and natural sciences,

this essay aims to understand whether it matters or not ethically to acquire knowledge in bubbles

where some voices and information are excluded. In the natural sciences AOK, it will be discussed

the subject of biology were knowledge is acquired through linguistic bubbles. This manner is ethical

as it includes all voices. While for the human sciences AOK, the subject referred to is global politics.

In which knowledge is acquired through technology in isolated academic bubbles and therefore

considered unethical due to it’s nature of exclude voices. These areas of knowledge simultaneously

explore how language and technology shape our perspectives and understanding of the world on the

basis of accessing, engaging and aquiring knowledge. Therefore highlight how bubbles matter in

terms of aquiring knowledge that is ethically inclusive.

In the field of human science, bubbles are an unethical manner of acquiring knowledge. In the case of

global politics, knowledge is divided into the political and philosophical approaches of liberalism and

realism. Liberalism is a doctrine based on expanding the freedoms and rights of individuals. While

realism is the opposing side, that argues on state sovereignty and power. The experts within the field

are grouped into their respective academic communities or bubbles. For example a case study in

politics is the involvement of non-government organizations (NGOs) in Iraq during the War on Terror

period. The case study can be interpreted from a liberal and realist perspective. In a liberal bubble,

this issue would be regarded that it has positive effect on developing peace in Iraq. While in a realist

bubble, it would be considered that it would have a negative effect. In global politics, acquiring

knowledge of a case study in the pure isolation of one’s ideological bubbles reinforces one-sided

arguments. The public tends to do this because as individuals they more inclined to acquire

knowledge that aligns with their beliefs and opinions. The lack of diverse perspectives leads to

neglecting voices and information. This is explained through a phenomenon called confirmation bias.

2
Nevertheless, this leads to a narrow, incomplete and biased understanding of political issues by

excluding certain voices and hence unethical.

In the digital era, technology offers a portal to excess amounts of data within the human sciences.

Expanding the information that individuals have access to shape our perspective and understanding of

the human sciences. Knowledge in technology is filtered to group political affiliations into bubbles.

To explore this, a technology ethicist Eli Pariser has raised concern about the applied algorithms

named ‘filter bubbles’. Social media platforms filter communication of non-rebutted opinions and

beliefs in an insulated closed system, called filter bubble. These ideological frames are a state of

intellectual isolation that reinforces and amplifies opinions. That can result from personalized

searches when a website algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would like to see

based on information about the user, such as location, past click-behavior, and search history. Filter

bubbles distort our understanding of the political issues and hamper our ability to acquire unbiased

knowledge logically and critically. Being in a political filter bubble means these algorithms isolate

individuals from information and perspectives by excluding voices in which a person has not

expressed an interest, meaning they will be excluded from important information. This has the impact

of increasing ideological segregation. By polarising ideological bubbles to the side of a particular

argument to increase user engagement and ultimately increase profit. Even if it means excluding

voices and information with the effect of increasing extremism, social and political polarization. This

is a sign of a decreased democratic identity. In sum, filter bubbles threaten the separation of society,

causing moral exclusion and leading to an inclination to unethical behavior so it can be regarded that

it is not ethically right to acquire knowledge in this manner.

In the field of natural science, bubbles are ethical and do not affect the acquisition of knowledge.

Scientific bubbles are created upon linguistic factors. For example, in biology living organisms are

classified by the binomial system. The binomial system is part of the study of taxonomy and can be

regarded as a universal language. Taxonomy is the study of classifying organisms. This system is a

simple method used universally by biologists and which has been accepted in scientific conferences.

The method consists of the first name being the genus and the second name being the species. An

3
example is Ursus americanus for American grizzly bears. Scientific language is used to create an

understanding in the community bubble. These methods are important as they imposed order in

knowledge, allowing to expand the scientific communities ability to create connections and establish

relationships. The binomial system allows to further classify species into an eight level hierarchy. The

hierarchy includes domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Evolution

scientistic represent a bubble in which knowledge is acquired by linguistic means through the

binomial system. The inclusive bubbles leads to a more universal approach to scientific inquiry and

leads to greater advancements in knowledge in the area of evolution and its processes. It can be

argued that having a universal linguistic bubbles within the natural sciences is crucial for aquiring

knowledge on the basis of communication, collaboration, standardisation, reproductive and progress.

Furthermore, this base represent the inclusion of all voices and information within this area to acquire

broad and ethical knowledge.

In the linguistic area, common language englobes linguistic bubbles that promote unity and inclusion.

This would imply that acquiring knowledge through a common language is positive. This supports the

notion that universal linguistic bubbles give purpose and belonging to individuals inside a group. For

example, in natural sciences, bubbles do not matter as any kind of exclusion cannot be justified due to

the common scientific method. The scientific method is a procedure based on an empirical,

quantitative method of acquiring knowledge by the use of evidence through testing of phenomena. In

the area of knowledge, the scientific method can be regarded as a science common language. These

scientific linguistic bubbles foster the identity of individuals by giving a sense of belonging to an in-

group. Furthermore, the acquisition of knowledge in such a method allows individuals the power to

navigate through different bubbles and pass knowledge and values between bubbles within an

individual’s community. In the greater picture, language is a form of universal communication.

Humans acquire knowledge through an understanding of concepts and/or ideas. For that reason, in the

area of natural science bubbles do not matter as much, as a common language can include voices and

reject exclusion, unlike the human sciences.

4
In conclusion, the study of the areas of knowledge (AOKs) of natural science and human science has

revealed that there is an ethical concern about the issue of the acquisition of knowledge in bubbles

that provokes exclusion. For human science, the acquisition of knowledge matters in bubbles as it

propagates exclusion and radicalization in society through political filter bubbles in technology. While

for the natural sciences, bubbles do not matter as the area of knowledge shares a common language,

such as the binomial system, which prospers the inclusion of voices and individuals. Nevertheless, it

is an ethical matter to strive for knowledge to be acquired in an inclusive, all-rounded manner. For

this reason, it is of utmost importance to be critical of the ethical implications of the acquisition of

knowledge, by the consideration of bursting community bubbles when needed, and considering a

variety of perspectives when acquiring knowledge, to gain a fully inclusive understanding of the

world.

Bibliography

Allred, K. (2018, April 13). The causes and effects of "filter bubbles" and how to Break free.

Medium. Retrieved December 9, 2023, from https://medium.com/@10797952/the-causes-and-

effects-of-filter-bubbles-and-how-to-break-free-df6c5cbf919f 

Broderick, M. (2017). Evolution and Biodiversity. In Biology for the IB diploma. essay, Cambridge

University Press. 

Encyclopedia . (n.d.). Language as a barrier to communication. Language as a barrier to

communication | World Problems & Global Issues | The Encyclopedia of World Problems.

Retrieved December 12, 2022, from http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problem/137300 

Miami Dade College. (n.d.). Libguides: Fake News (and how to fight it): Home. Home - Fake News

(and how to fight it) - LibGuides at Miami Dade College Learning Resources. Retrieved

November 23, 2022, from https://libraryguides.mdc.edu/FakeNews 

Pariser, E. (n.d.). Eli Pariser. Retrieved December 9, 2022, from https://www.elipariser.org/ 

5
University, U. C. P., Chitra, U., University, P., University, C. M. N. Y., Musco, C., University, N. Y.,

University, T. A. M., Spotify, California, U. of, & Metrics, O. M. V. A. (2020, January

1). Analyzing the impact of filter bubbles on social network polarization: Proceedings of the

13th International Conference on Web Search and data mining. ACM Conferences. Retrieved

December 1, 2022, from https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3336191.3371825