One must credit people who have created knowledge by citing their names in written texts or mentioning them and their contributions when discussing a topic. The first real-world object is the textbook used for the TOK course by Popov (2016) titled “IB theory of knowledge – A student’s guide.” When using materials from this textbook, one should credit the author for the original thoughts and ideas he presented in this textbook. The textbook was included as an example since it is both a source published by Popov and a collection of ideas that others have put forward. When mentioning theories, for example, the ethics approach created by Aristotle, the author has to credit this philosopher. From an ethical perspective, not crediting ideas and publications is comparable to stealing, and knowledge is an intangible object of this crime.
The second object is the website WikiLeaks, which publishes knowledge about the fraud or scandalous actions of politicians or other well-known figures. With this website, another ethical issue arises concerning the need to act using this knowledge to make a change for the better, apart from acknowledging the work that the authors have done to collect this information. WikiLeaks is linked to the prompt because it allows raising a question of responsibility from a perspective of what one must do with the knowledge they access, which is an ethical dilemma. On this website, the authors have published information and evidence proving that some governments and officials engage in fraud, criminal activities, or money laundering. The ethical duty of an individual who accesses this information is to use it to improve their lives because this information points out the inconsistencies of the world around them.
Reference
Popov, A. (2016). IB theory of knowledge – A student’s guide. IB.